American Fitness Professionals & Associates

This article is an excerpt from Eat to be Fit — The Truth About Fat Loss, By Michael J. Foley, M.S. with Pat Walsh; published November, 2002, Living Well Publishing Company, Portland, ME.

Pat’s Perspective:

It may almost seem too good to be true, too simple a solution to be believed but as a fifty-seven year old alcoholic smoker, who finally found a cure through nutrition and fitness beginning at the age of fifty-five, I can tell you from my own personal experience that good nutrition and effective exercise are two of the most powerful weapons we have in the fight against the drug, alcohol and nicotine addictions that are rampant in this country.

This revelation came to me this way:

Physical

During my recovery from drinking and smoking I noticed that whenever I would become hungry, tired, cold, or in any way physically uncomfortable, I would get a strong physical craving for alcohol and/or nicotine. My body wanted the immediate relief those drugs would give me from discomfort. I didn’t know that if I simply ate something nourishing, rested, got warm with a hot drink, warm clothes and a warm place, my craving for addictive and unhealthy substances would not occur in the first place; and in fact when it had occurred, the appropriate solution to my physical discomfort would alleviate the cravings completely!

Emotional

A whole different set of disturbances I will call emotional caused me to have obsessive cravings of the mind that were different than the physical cravings I described above. These negative disturbances were anger, loneliness, frustration, nervousness, etc. All my adult life I’d been dealing with these feelings by covering them up with the effects of alcohol and/or nicotine. I had to learn to deal with these feelings themselves, bare-bones, cold-turkey, without the chemical cover up. This actually became a challenge I enjoyed after a while. A sense of strength would arise within me when I realized I had to deal with an emotion on my own, without the help of a drug.

Over time I’ve come to realize that the solutions to these everyday challenges are far superior than anything I could have come up with while drinking and smoking. Indeed the entire conduct of my daily life is so much more productive and satisfying now, that I don’t even consider going back to my old habits.

I look forward to a good night’s sleep and to waking up feeling good every morning. I treasure my health and my life in a way I never did before, and won’t even consider compromising it again, now that I know the secret blessings of taking care of my body’s need for exercise and good nutrition.

People who are chemically addicted may have begun their addiction by wanting to make themselves feel good. They lost, or forgot, or never had the ability to cope with life’s daily emotional and physical ups and downs in a healthy way.

As I recovered from my addictions it was as if I was learning for the first time that coping with negative emotions and physical discomfort was not only possible without alcohol and nicotine but a much more preferable way to cope.

I recently had a very strong emotional disappointment, for example. Something I thought was going to happen, that I’d looked forward to with great happy anticipation for twenty-four hours, was not going to happen. I felt angry and hurt, but mostly very disappointed.

Rather than turning to a chemical to help me cope, I allowed myself to explore those feelings and sit with them to get a better understanding of what was going on with me. I also got moving, did some physical activities because I found sitting around was making me feel morose as well as angry, sad and disappointed! Whew! What a carload of emotions to sort through and from which to learn more about myself.

To my surprise and delight, after a few hours these negative feelings began to abate and a more positive outlook came through. I started to count my many blessings and realized that although I was disappointed, what I had expected to happen was not meant to happen for some reason, unknown to me.

I decided not to take it personally, but to realize there are a lot of factors contributing to everyone’s life and actions, and the disappointment I’d felt slowly gave way to acceptance and a feeling of moving on to other enjoyable pursuits. Also, thinking about others in my life, being grateful for their presence in my life, helped me to forget about my own smaller trouble.

From Mike Foley: Some people appear to have what is often called an addictive personality.

Giving up alcohol and/or drugs, for example, often sees them addicted to other substances like sugar, carbohydrates, etc. Remember that your body cannot crave what it doesn’t have. As good health habits begin to replace addictive behaviors it will become easier over time to avoid unhealthy substances.

• Be sure to eat a well-balanced diet every day, including healthy carbohydrates, proteins and limited fats.
• Eat every two or three hours, without fail, all day long.
• Drink at least sixty-four ounces of water, get a good night’s sleep and sufficient, appropriate exercise.
• Do this and you will be completely able to control what goes into your body, how you look and feel, and how well you are able to accomplish your daily challenges.

If we can integrate this awareness and practice early enough, we can no doubt prevent many addiction problems from ever starting. If we can get this message of hope and help to those already addicted, we may be able to rescue many lives from despair, illness and early death.

Michael J. Foley, mfoley2000@hotmail.com, 207-797-5700
Pat Walsh, kwalsh1@maine.rr.com 207-878-8386