I'd like to make a bet with you all

I bet you that if you follow this one Golden Moderation Rule, you will see improvement in your drinking.

The Golden Rule is:

Never, ever, drink on an empty stomach.

Just try it, I bet you'll drink less and less urgently if your tummy is full or fullish of good real food. (I mean by real food; any meat, fish, eggs, fruit and vegetables you like. Avoid sugars and refined carbs as they actually create alcohol cravings)

Eat a protein based meal or snack before you start drinking, when you take your Nal, for example. Drink a big glass of water and wait and see what happens

Any takers?

Curi

Curi, I posted to you earlier today, and then about 3 hours ago, I noticed THIS thread...I've been squirming ever since.

Remember my Shetland pony analogy back when I was a newbie??? Well of course the best way to get that pony to do something resembling a run, is to drink on an empty stomach...I can't fool you!

So I've been pondering this and decided that yes, I want to put my money where my mouth is and add this challenge to my own "2/3, 2/3" goal for the week. I SAY I want to get to your result, so I guess I'd better follow the guidelines you've laid out a # of times. For this week, my motto is "WWCD?" And as for my not waiting the full hour before drinking, I'm guessing where you would come down on that... Since my week started yesterday and it was AF, I'm already 14% done, right???

Hi Chrissie,

I'm glad you're going to give it a try.

It's such a simple and indisputable fact, yet it took me years to truly embrace it. But just because it's simple, doesn't make it easy, it does take a little bit of planning. Fake food is cheaper, faster and easier to prepare, and when you come home from work tired and stressed, preparing a proper real food meal and waiting for it to be ready to eat can be more than we can manage, especially if there are family and children to look after. There is too much effort and time involved. Processed carbs and alcohol are so much easier.

I don't know about you, but I used to have this thing about spoiling my appetite, so even when I knew I was hungry, starving even, I wouldn't eat before dinner, but of course I'd pop open a bottle of wine and then dinner would get postponed, sometimes to 2 am!

The trick is to not let yourself get hungry by eating regularly and having protein with every meal. Or if you do get hungry, eat! right then and there, don't put it off. Eat something small, a piece of cheese, a chicken leg, an egg, a fist full of nuts, or what ever type of real food protein snack.

The stomach and the brain are not in sync. It takes a while for the brain to realize that we've had enough food and that it's time to stop eating, which is why it's always recommended to eat slowly, we actually eat less when we eat slowly, as the stomach has time to tell the brain that we are full. So having that small protein snack, and spoiling my appetite, not only takes the urgency away and prevents me from over drinking, but it also prevents me from over eating. Double bonus.

So, have protein cooked and ready in the fridge so that you can quickly take it out and either eat it cold or zap it in the microwave. Cook up some drumsticks, hard boil some eggs, have humous and raw veg sticks ready, nuts, ham, beef jerky, as well as fruit, salads, vegetables, soups etc... Whatever you like as long as it's real food and not processed carbs. Any form of sugar, which includes carbs, makes our blood sugar spike and after the spike comes the crash, and with the crash comes cravings. Protein keeps our blood sugar much more stable, so no spikes and therefore no crashes.

Don't aim for perfection, aim for 80%, allow yourself to get it wrong sometimes,that's ok, practice makes perfect

Good luck and tell us how you get on.

Curi

CuriousOne, I'll take you up on your bet. I know from personal experience that I am a hypoglycaemic alcoholic - that one sip of alcohol goes right through my blood like a tablespoon of sugar!! But when I have something on my stomach like real food (even 1/4 cup of coconut milk, two tablespoons of butter, a slice of meat, or a spoonful of nut butter) I'm much less likely to feel that sugar/alcohol rush.

So your advice is very sound. It is quite a challenge though because I was brought up never to eat between meals. Like my poor mother is going to reach up from the grave and slap me if I eat a snack before dinner!!!! I'll make sure from now on that I go absolutely crazy and actually have something to eat before I drink!!! WOW!! what a rebel!!!!

I'm wondering about the timing of taking naltrexone though. If I take that one hour before drinking I'll have to have a little bite of something one half hour before drinking. I think that should be enough time for the naltrexone to be absorbed in the stomach and the little bite to still be there when the first sip hits, eh?

Oh, remember when life used to be simple?

CO, your advice about nutrition echoes what my doc. said recently: cut the refined carbs and eat more protein. The older I get, the more dear the calories are and I've come to see protein gives me the most bang for my buck, in terms of hunger and energy. So your advice serves a double purpose.

I started out great this week on your challenge, but had a blow out on day 5: drank 6 au's w/o Nal, on pretty much an empty stomach , assuming you would NOT count 8 Hersey Kisses as "quality food". Still, I learned from that experience: I've been in this SAME situation and gotten the SAME result several times! Crazy. I always feel COMPLETELY surprised when "it happens" to me. I've taken steps to keep it from happening again, by stocking a small pill box w/ one Nal and one antabuse tablet. When I'm in doubt, I will put it in my pocket and cover my bases that way. Just feeling it there is reassuring and a reminder to "fly right".

The other 2 days I drank was on a full stomach, and that sure takes the punch out of that first drink! Anyway, I will re-up to this challenge for another week, & a holiday and several social events thrown in will actually be helpful (as opposed to drinking at home). Onward!

Chrissie - I almost always carry some sort of food with me. I eat low-carb too so I'm not guaranteed to get what I need when I'm out. I carry walnuts or macadamia nuts, sometimes a hard boiled egg, or thin sliced meat, or some fatty cheese like brie if I can. A little snack size zip bag just fits into my purse and away I go. I've even been known to go into the washroom, eat my carry-with food and then join the others - at least I'm not pouring gasoline on the fire that way!

Hi guys!

I'm sorry for not posting in so long. Revert, great to see you on board too!

Chrissy, don't beat yourself up over drinking on an empty stomach. When we are trying to eliminate old habits and/or start new ones, these things happen, especially where food is involved. Eating good or proper food is not easy and it takes practice. Concentrate on the food part and the drinking will fall into place. Revert's idea is great, if you are away from home for a lot of the day, it's better to bring food with you as it's very hard to find non carb/sugar snacks on the go. Eat protein with every meal/snack and eat at regular intervals, the trick is to not let yourself get hungry, to keep your blood sugar levels constant. If you do, you will avoid sugar rushes and crashes.

When our blood sugar is low, our willpower is low. This has been proved so many times in scientific studies, our willpower goes out the window when we are hungry and tired. Not only in terms of controlling our drinking but pretty much everything, like resisting a pair of shoes in a sale to making a bad investment or cheating on your spouse, we are far more inclined to make bad choices when blood sugar levels are low. Steady blood sugar levels gives us the strength to resist temptation.

Revert, I usually take my Nal and then prepare some food and eat it if I'm hungry during that hour before I start drinking. I also always have food with my drinks, sometimes it's nuts and other nibbles like carrot sticks and dip etc... or a meal, it depends on the situations I'm in.

A great drink to take if you find yourself in a situation where no food is available, is tomato juice, it lines the stomach and looks like a cocktail. And of course, any food is better than no food at all before drinking, so if your only option is chips, cake, bread etc... then eat them.

The great thing about eating like this is that the more you do it, the better you feel and the more you want to do it, and then one day to your astonishment, you realize that you genuinely do prefer radishes and humous to nachos or chocolate cake.

Nal on!

Curi