I quit drinking by accident in an effort to cut back. I thought I could moderate and knew I needed to. After four years of nightly drinking, I decided to take a little break. Life-threatening withdrawals struck me down about forty-eight hours in, which you can read about here. After surviving the withdrawals and suffering through two and a half weeks of illness, I was surprised that I had cravings to drink! I heard of drugs that would curb cravings, but I didn’t want them, because those can be addictive as well! I wanted to know how to stop alcohol cravings naturally.
How To Stop Alcohol Cravings Naturally
Understand Cravings Reduce With Time
While there are many ways to stop alcohol cravings naturally, it is crucial to be patient and understand that cravings reduce with time. Alcohol addiction alters the brain and tricks you into thinking that the only way to have fun and reduce stress is through substance abuse.
I don’t mean this in a religious way, but my cravings seriously sounded like a demon. You have to starve the demon to reduce its power. It can take a long time to die. For an entire year, I was harassed by a voice in my head that told me to drink hundreds of times a night. Something about that one-year milestone reduced my cravings significantly.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “a growing number of studies indicate that at least some alcohol use disorder induced brain changes—and the changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that accompany them—can improve and possibly reverse with months of abstinence.”
Understanding that cravings to drink will reduce with time gives you something to look forward to because I promise it does get easier. You just have to push through.
Keep Busy
One of the challenges to quitting any addictive behavior is that your body has muscle memory and finds comfort in old habits. If you want to stop alcohol cravings naturally, keep your mouth, hands, body, and mind busy with healthy things! Eventually, you will form new habits to draw comfort from. Here are just a few ideas to help you stay busy and stop alcohol cravings naturally:
Recreation
- Games – Have fun with video games or board games.
- Movies – Watch them without blacking out. Won’t it be nice to remember the cinematic masterpieces? I had to rewatch a lot of movies and shows when I got sober!
- Beauty – Paint your nails. Curl your hair. I did this while watching movies in the first few months of being sober.
Productivity
- Go Back to School or Start a New Career – You’re sober, which means your brain is recovering and your cognitive function is improving. Why not put all of that extra brain power to use by going back to school or starting a new career?
- Arts and Crafts – I wrote about how art has played a huge role in my recovery. Read about it here.
Exercise
Exercise is one of the best ways to stop alcohol cravings naturally. Regular exercise isn’t just good for your body. It’s good for your mind too. Staying active releases dopamine and boosts your mood. In addition, the more you exercise, the more it becomes a part of your identity. The more your identity is attached to your fitness and health, the less interest you will have in trashing it.
Replace Alcohol With Something Better
Sweets (In Moderation!)
Many recovering alcoholics experience intense sugar cravings after getting sober. According to the Wellness Retreat Recovery Center, “Alcohol has a high sugar content, so alcoholics’ bodies and brains are adjusted to a high level of sugar from daily or frequent drinking. When alcoholics get sober, the brain loses out of the daily sugar rush it is accustomed to from drinking.” Alcohol and sugar produce dopamine – the “feel-good” hormone, so taking both away suddenly can leave you feeling pretty sad, even depressed!
Some recovering alcoholics go overboard with sweets, telling themselves, “Well, it’s not alcohol, so even if I eat this whole bag of candy, I’m still doing great!” Don’t do that. It’s never a good idea to eat too much sugar.
However, I found that eating sweets in moderation helped reduce my cravings to drink, especially within the first few months of sobriety. Even better, I found that baking sweets helped reduce my cravings because it kept me busy. It became a new hobby to obsess over. My favorite thing to bake was cupcakes. I’d allow myself to eat one or two a day. Other sweet treats I enjoyed were chocolate-covered almonds and vanilla yogurt. I also ate fruit and drank fruit juice with no added sugars.
Sparkling Water
Drinking a lot of sparkling water can also stop alcohol cravings naturally. I’ve seen countless sparkle water posts in Facebook addiction recovery groups. I liked drinking it for a few reasons:
- The carbonation of sparkling water was familiar. For some reason, I missed the carbonation from beer.
- It’s refreshing!
- Even flavored sparkling water usually has zero calories, so I could drink as many sparkling waters as I wanted and not feel gross or gain weight.
- It gives me something to hold and something to drink. The body has muscle memory and finds comfort in familiar things. Replacing alcohol with sparkling water feels natural, familiar, and comfortable.
If there was an action figure called, “Alcoholic Woman,” she might have a cape, a bottle of whiskey, and a scowl on her face. And, one of her little plastic hands would be molded in a way that allows for the constant gripping of a cocktail glass. She would be the villain.
In contrast, if there was an action figure called, “Recovering Alcoholic Woman,” she might have a cape, a bottle of sparkling water, and a smile on her face. She would be the hero.
Kombucha
Kombucha is a healthy, fermented, probiotic drink that can stop alcohol cravings naturally because it has a tiny amount of alcohol. Don’t worry though! It is nowhere near enough to get you drunk! You don’t have to be twenty-one to buy it. It’s not considered an alcoholic drink.
However, I feel that the tiny amount of alcohol helped reduce the shock my body went through when I was recovering from alcohol withdrawals. Plus, it’s carbonated, low-calorie, and comes in a variety of wonderful flavors!
Mocktails... Or Not
Mocktails are a controversial subject among recovering alcoholics. Some say they trigger cravings to drink. Others say they curb them. Ask yourself how they make you feel. If you think mocktails, zero-proof alcohol, and similar things will hurt your sobriety, then stay away from them! But, if you are interested in trying a few mocktails, I have created a few that you might enjoy. I don’t use alcohol imitations. I just like to make fancy drinks.
Play It In Fast Forward
Imagine what it would be like to give in to a craving. Sure, you might get that initial feel good reward, but play it in fast forward. Is that tiny moment of artificially induced bliss worth a hangover, headache, temper tantrum, family loss, job loss, DUI, or bodily injury?
If you are reading this, chances are you are incapable of moderation. You know you cannot just drink one drink. So, anytime you get a craving, play it in fast forward. Would you rather have a craving or would you rather have all of the consequences that come from giving in to a craving?
Remember that there are many levels of rock bottom. If I chose to keep drinking after I almost died in a porta-potty, I could have had many more rock bottom moments. And I could have sunk lower and lower until I was buried deep in the earth, incapable of bouncing back.
When I suffered from relentless cravings, I played it forward I realized something. Cravings suck, but they aren’t so bad compared to the alternative.
Focus on Progress, Not Perfection
I hope this article was helpful. Ideally, we want to stop alcohol cravings naturally. But, it’s important to understand that you may always have cravings to drink for the rest of your life. Focus on progress, not perfection. The cravings will reduce with time. The longer you are sober, the weaker the cravings will get. You may have challenging moments in your life where your cravings become strong again. Don’t beat yourself up over it, and don’t give it too much thought. Intrusive thoughts don’t control you and they don’t define you. You’re doing great.
Thanks for Reading!
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