Re: Alcoholism seen as a Nutritional Disease

J -- I see what you are saying. What I was trying to explain (which the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" does much better than I can!) is that we use "craving" to describe the reaction that sets in after the first drink, specifically. i.e. it takes a drink to enact that craving, followed by a loss of control over the amount that will be consumed after the craving sets in. I would love to hear your analysis of the first few chapters of the book that deal with the physical craving/mental obsession explanations -- I've always felt that there is a real physiological component and therefore explanation to the physical craving and to the idea that alcoholism is a "progressive" illness (i.e. it gets worse, never better). The book suggests that women can suffer differently than men, which also makes me curious about how physiological gender differences may affect alcoholics. The problem in the mind is the "obsession" with taking that first drink, and I think your explanations could be right some of the time, perhaps. That it is a physiological response to a mental desire for the sugar and the physiological response that follows. However, I have seen so many people recover who don't experience that obsession/craving ever again that I don't think it is that simple. And I have seen people relapse after 15 or 20 years of sobriety, which does not to me suggest a physiological craving has suddenly set in after years of abstinence, but in fact what they report if they return to recovery -- life got too uncofortable for them in the absence of spiritual fitness, and they decided to drink again. What is absent in any discussion of a nutritional/physiological approach to alcoholism alone is its power over the mind and spirit. You may find the following letter from Carl Jung to AA founder Bill Wilson edifying in this regard: http://www.thejaywalker.com/pages/jung_ltr.html The point being that alcohol not only does for the drinker perhaps all that you suggest, but something even more powerful on a spiritual level. Which means that if you can acquire an effective spiritual replacement, an abatement of any mental and physical desire will occur. This took place for me. I had complete abatement of desire for alcohol. Whereas I had no hope of controlling my drinking for the last several years the compulsion to drink was removed in a short period of time for me. I have seen this happen over and over again -- someone who could not exist without drinking on a daily basis, who follows a few simple suggestions and reports that same immunity around alcohol. Someone asked me once if everyone in AA was fat, because they must have to start eating sugar when they stop drinking! The answer, of course, is no. Anyway, I hope the above letter makes you better understand where I come from -- all discussions of physical, mental, or physical/mental solutions become moot when we first address the spiritual. Best, 503 Tweet