Artslim
 
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“Is addiction in your genes”?

“Why is one persons pleasure another’s addiction”?

“Why can some people do some of the following but rarely anyone can do all of the following”?

Balance work, leisure and rest.

Spend money on what we need and enjoy but never overspend more than we can afford to, or buy things we do not need.

Have a gambling flutter of only what we can afford and are willing to lose.

Manage in a way that does not harm their health, any of the legal addictive substances that are pleasures when used in moderation for many people, from caffeine and alcohol, to gambling and  Dutch Master cigars .

 Eat for pleasure, nutrition and body hunger and not for food addiction.

How can we ensure that habits we enjoy do not become addictions?

How can we manage addictions so that we are in control of our health, our life, our weight?

There are a few things on my list above, which I am not prepared to  even try, least I did like them and became addicted, what’s on your ‘dare not go near’, just in case, list?

Are addictive behaviours linked?

Looking at my own life, I see that the behaviours of workaholism and overeating are two addictive behaviours I need to manage, that for me are linked. When I stopped overworking, I was better able to manage my overeating.

Aversion therapy to overcome addiction.

 I was once quite addicted to my big serve of tasty cheese bread and red wine supper in the evening before I went to bed,  and it took a bit of shock therapy to break me of that. I did this by looking at a sideways picture of my belly, whenever I wanted to eat supper when not hungry.  That sure did the trick for me and helped me lose my first 20 kilo.

Substituting good habits for harmful habits of addictions.

I have found two substitutions that work well for me.  The first tackles my obsessive workaholism at creative and mostly sedentary work.  I take an active afternoon a break from sedentary work. My active afternoon, involves walking, going to gym, gardening or housework.  This commitment to an ‘active afternoon', helps manage my obsessive tendency to working extremely long hours at creative work and this in turn has helped me control my linked addiction of overeating for the pleasure of eating, not for hunger.

I also tackle my addiction to the pleasure of eating supper by substituting one habit that did not help me for another that does. I now have low calorie but still pleasurable, savoury tasting food, steamed vegetables and a 30 gram slice of low fat cheese and a cup of tea with skim milk, if I feel peckish late at night, instead of my former habit of high calorie savoury suppers a large glass of red wine.  if I am only desiring to eat and not hungry I will have a cup of tea with skim milk and about eight to ten nuts. This gives me the pleasure of eating without the weight gain caused by my previous addiction to the pleasure of eating in the evening. 

In searching for some answers I could share here,  I found this interesting and helpful web site,

Dr Phil’s advice,  click to read,->Seven Steps to Breaking Your Addiction.

I do not think many of us totally overcome past addictions. I suspect we simply become more skilful at managing them as we learn to love ourselves and understand our needs.  What do you think?

I would love to receive comments on this subject, from my blog readers.