If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  When you say yes to sobriety, we have to say no to hanging around certain old friends. If we say yes to overcoming eating binges, then we must learn to say no to sugar and high carbohydrates when shopping.

If we are going to march steadily down a new road, we have to keep away from slippery people and slippery places.

It is imperative as we look at change and at the equality of our decisions, that we know what our slippery people and slippery places are. Changing our lifestyle to avoid slippery people and slippery places often means giving up certain events, people and entertainment that we have become very comfortable with. That’s difficult. But saying no is really important.

Changing bad habits is central to healthy recovery. Every time we allow ourselves to be around the old people and places we are giving the old habit power again. Changing habits and changing patterns must always move toward the new. It is obviously very important to keep away from those people and places that tend to generate the old stimuli, the old feelings, and the old responses. As you look at the habit that gets in the way of your recovery, think carefully about what you are going to have to say yes and no to.

A conversion experience is like putting a match to gunpowder. The big burst of initial power that really gets you off the launching pad may make you feel that you are totally beyond it. But habits die hard and whatever is alive fights to the death to stay alive. To let down your guard, to think that you have it beat, is to delude yourself. As soon as the light and the heat of the conversion experience is past, it is all too easy, six months down the road, to find yourself right back where you started.

A crucial quality of a valid decision is the clear-eyed realization that once is not enough. You have to act against your habit over and over and over again. Since you didn’t become alcoholic overnight, you are going to have to undo a lot of stinking thinking to change your feelings to change your behavior.

I’m not saying that you should become a Perfectionist and lean so hard on yourself that every time you slip and find yourself back in old patterns, you should declare your recovery ruined and kick yourself for not making better progress. Be very patient and kind with yourself. But if you choose to go back to the old ways, don’t tell yourself that it doesn’t make a difference.  Nothing changes if nothing changes!

Change is civil war in our head and recovery centers on change. If we are not willing to go to war with ourselves, we will not have the success we want in recovery. When things get hard, it is vitally important that we keep our sights on the goal. We have made a difficult decision to put up this fight. We are clear about why we have to keep going, because we understand that we are going to lose if we don’t. Don’t lose sight of your goal.

All too often in the fight, we feel so overwhelmed with how hard it is and with the struggle to overcome our old habits that we don’t focus on the favour that we are doing ourselves. What are we going to gain? And, in fact, what are we gaining every day as we move along? It is important to spend time thinking about this. It is important enough that we might keep a daily diary of the progress we have made. Every day we should call to mind the reason why we are willing to go to war with these old habits. Keep your eye on the goal. There is life after alcohol.

You can take the alcohol out of the fruitcake but you still have the fruitcake!  There is a lot of work to do in recovery and we need to remind ourselves what it was like, what happened and what life is like today.  Recovery is, and demands, change.

As well as 100% vigilance, you need to take care of your nutrition and dietary supplements.

I recommend Tyrosine Mood Food, necessary for the manufacture of dopamine and noradrenaline, which are required for concentration, alertness, memory and a happy, stable mood. Tyrosine is required for the manufacture of adrenalin in the adrenal glands and most alcoholics suffer with adrenal exhaustion.

The state of your liver has a big impact on your state of mind so that those with a fatty liver may find themselves irritable and moody with a poor memory and difficulty keeping up with life’s demands. Depression and poor sleep may be associated with a fatty liver and these things resolve when we improve the liver function. I also recommend Livatone Plus, a more powerful formula that can support liver function when there are more serious liver problems due to alcoholism.

L-Glutamine, found in our Ultimate Gut Health Powder, is an amino acid and has been shown to improve brain function in alcoholics, resulting in improved sleep, decreased anxiety and a reduced craving for alcohol.

Vegetable juice has been successfully used to clear out fatty livers too. Juicing, along with the above supplements, B-vitamins and Vitamin C, may be a real long-term help with cirrhosis of the liver. Dr. Cabot has a great juice book that’s easy to follow and has recipes to help rejuvenate your liver - Raw Juices Can Save Your Life.

Magnesium Ultra Potent can be taken before bed to assist with a deep and restful sleep. It also helps to reduce stress, very beneficial to a recovering alcoholic.  Magnesium is also known as the “great relaxer”.  Dr. Cabot’s book, Help for Depression and Anxiety is an excellent read for recovering alcoholics.