What specifics foods/live supplements are good for alcoholism?

raw wine if you're looking for alcohol

I've thought of that...but when you live with an alcoholic in Vermont, they go for the beer or whatever is available. You don't see raw wine in stores and it wouldn't be very affordable anyway because it wouldn't last long. I need some healing advice.
Thanks anyway though!

Most champain and wine is raw, heat is not part of process to make those. Cider should be raw as well, but now many commercial places that are using concentrated apple juice rather than raw fresh apple juice.

The only hard liquor that I've which is raw vegan is Apple Jack. To make this, freeze some cider (the water freezes first) and pour off the alcohol.

Being raw vegan allowed me to get the most out of alcoholism, I could get drunk every night, still show up to work looking good, get plenty of exercise, stay fit, never get a "beer gut", not get depressed. But now I don't drink so much, too many other things to do which don't go well with being drunk (i.e. tango dancing).

Cheers,
Ian.

B vitamins!

Try juicing leafy greens, celery, cucumbers, beets, ginger, lemon...

Make raw soups- veggie juice base with some blended tomatoes, seaweed flakes


Sea veggies are full of minerals.

Lemon juice would help I think...

I believe that alcohol can cause magnesium deficiencies, you may want to look into that. If the person has stopped drinking and is in a recovery process, you might want to look at the herb milk thistle. It should help with repairing damage to the liver.

I also read once about a connection between a sensitivity to sugar and a sensitivity to alcohol, so anyone with an alcohol problem might want to avoid sweets in case they trigger more cravings.

A naturopath would probably be a really great resource for getting back on track. He/she could help figure out a great personalized nutritional program for recovery.

Good luck!
Sapphire

Now, are you ready to follow me? Come on...

A spiritual experience of the miraculous or educational type will help one to not drink again, provided they work with others with the same issue: drinking.

The above is nothing I thought up all by myself -AA has worked for millions who wanted to be finally free from booze.

I would call the AA Hot Line in your area, have them give you a number of meeting addresses, and I'd then give them to your partner. Then I'd pray they go. Then I'd let go.

Thanks,

Arilraw

Well said, Arilraw. I would also add - in order to "let go" as Arilraw suggested, and to make sure that I was not enabling my loved one to continue drinking in a comfortable "no consequences manner" I would get myself to Al-Anon.

As a member of AA myself, I would even suggest that you might go to a few AA Open meetings and ask that they do a 1st Step meeting for you. There are some differences in AA meetings from area to area - and I don't know how it's done where you live, but where I live we go around the room and each person tells a little nutshell version of their story. By the end of the meeting, the loved one (you) has managed to hear some things that they need to hear, to feel comforted, to feel clearer, to know some things to do and some things to not do, to have a better understanding of exactly what is alcoholism.

Living with an active alcoholic can make you literally sick - body, mind and spirit. So I highly suggest (urge) that you get a support system around and under you and don't try to bear it alone. You deserve the support.

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Life Is Good!

alive!

B12 maybe. But the mathylcobalamin form, NOT the cyanocobalamin form which is useless.

I appreciate all of the advice very much. I was just specifically wondering about healing foods and I think I have a better idea.
-Peace and faith,
Marika

marika
as doug graham says....there are no "healing foods"....its the body that does the healing....
its about living a healthy lifestyle...you know...exercise...fresh air...raw food...enough sleep...
as far as the food thing...maybe you could try eating high sugar fruits....since alcohol is mostly sugar anyway...
best to you....you can heal....

My mom was an alcoholic. Often she would sneak drinks throughout the day, but she did go through long periods of time where she would start at 'social' hour. In other words, she would start with drinks with Dad when he got home from work. On those days, if she had fruit juice or ate something she no longer wanted to drink. So it very well may have been connected to a blood sugar problem.

However, when she described not wanting to drink after eating, she did so as a complaint. She would say she didn't want to have a snack because that would make her not want a drink. In other words, she liked drinking, independent of the physiological stuff or blood sugar. She wanted to be drunk.

She got off the booze after Dad died and she started having neurological symptoms (numbness in extremities) from all the years of drinking. She was in her 80s at the time. When she realized that she would likely face being in a wheelchair within a few months if she didn't give it up, she finally had the incentive to quit.

IMHO people drink because they want to avoid painful feelings. I don't think it's a 'disease' caused by physical makeup or chemistry, although it can alter the chemistry, for sure. In other words, it's not something hard-wired and it is fixable. (In fact, historically, the AMA classified it as a disease so as to be able to qualify for insurance reimbursement/government funds to treat it.)

In other words, adjusting your diet may help quite a bit, but the real motivator to stop drinking is to want something better than being drunk. The diet can be an aid, but the real push has to come from within.

As a coach, I find it is almost impossible for my clients to stop habits, but quite easy for them to form new habits. (There are actual neurological reasons for this, but that's another story.)

So the trick is, find some new, enjoyable habits that eliminate the drinking. For instance, if you usually drink at a certain time, devise some activities that you like at that time - jogging, social activites, etc., that are more pleasurable sober than with a drink, or that actually make it impossible for you to drink at that time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2007 08:57PM by greenie.

P. S. I tried to edit my previous post but the system wouldn't let me.

I wanted to add:

If you want to help another get off the booze, follow the same principles. For instance, arrange fun activities for him to do, that he will really enjoy, that require sobriety.

Good luck!

Kudzu extract is used to curb the desire for alcohol.

;o)

Judy

Well put Greenie. The first two paragraphs of your post I can relate to well. The major insentive for me to not drink is social dancing, I can't drink during the dance since it would effect my balanace and coordination, also if I'm slightly groggy the next day, it will effect my dance as well. I kind of miss drinking and getting drunk, but I'd miss dancing a lot more.

I guess, if you enjoy something and it's not good for you, you've gotta replace it with something you enjoy even more!

Cheers,
Ian.

Marika,

My oldest son is an alcoholic. The rest of us a teetotalers and have been his entire life. I think we eat to self medicate ourselves... lots of obesity among all these teetotalers. But my son uses chemicals for everything... need to relax, have a cigarette, alcohol to make you feel mellow, drugs to make you feel good... my son chooses the chemical route for dealing with everything.

So recently he was fired from a job and called me very depressed. He did not want to be alone. I picked him up (he was very drunk but I knew he'd sleep it off that night because it was very late.) At my house we don't have alcohol or tobacco or even coffee... so you think this might be tough on a very chemical man. But he woke up the next day, and ate raw with us... he had a little bit of cooked, but almost all raw. Stayed with us for 6 days, eating raw.... no alcohol, no cigarettes, no coffee... nothing but good food, and I have never seen him more relaxed in my life! It was amazing.

Sad in to the story... he went home after 6 days, and started drinking again!

He knows that at some point he's got to get off of alcohol, but he enjoys it too much. They say that every alcoholic has to hit bottom before they can pull themselves up.... we're terrified of where "bottom" is... evidently it hasn't happened yet. He's lost his wife, child, a couple of jobs... I hope he hits bottom soon.

When he does, I'll be stuffing him with lots of raw food, because I have no doubt that it was the food that made him be able to go 6 days without alcohol or cigarettes and actually be relaxed instead of pacing the way he normally does if he doesn't have a cigarette.

Good luck, if you find out anything else that helps, I hope you post it here!

KathyT

I would like to add that besides AA being extremely helpful to the alcoholic, Al-Anon is great for family members. The steps are excellent and a Godsend. Alcoholism runs in my family so I have experience with recovery, too. Like KathyT says, each alcoholic has to hit their own bottom. Some bottoms are higher than others.

Also, if a person changes to a raw diet and sticks to it, after several months or about a year, they will find they have no interest in drinking anymore. There is no specific food that I know of that will curb drinking. It's cleansing the body that will decrease the desire. The cleaner the body becomes, the less likely the person has a desire to drink. I stopped drinking completely two years ago after 10 months of raw and have never wanted another drink.

AA and Al-Anon help you live one day at a time, help your relationships, help your perceptions and understanding of self. AA helps many people find sobriety without diet.

All my best,

Mona

Within our wonderful new world,
we have found freedom from our fatal obsession.

I don't know about alcohol, but going raw has made me completely lose all desire for cigarettes. It's very strange. I've white-knuckled it in regards to smoking on and off for years. Going raw was the first time I'd ever just stopped wanting cigarettes.

thanks for posting that, willow... I suspected that eating raw had made a difference, because even when my son was sober, he was never without cigarettes... and for him to go 6 days without smoking was incredible. I thought the raw diet was what helped, now after reading yoru post, I'm convinced of it!

KathyT