Date Night With My Liver

[Archie1962]

Hi all, only 5 days in with no alcohol but thought would share my revised approach in case it helps anyone else.

So, whilst I’m working on the self love and awaiting the doctors appt, which unfortunately has been moved to 1st Dec, I wondered what I could do to try and retrain my brain differently from before. We all know alcohol is poisonous to liver, whether in excess or not. It’s toxic. Why is this is not taught in schools?!

Like a lot of you with liver damage, whether self inflicted or not, we probably all have googled best foods for your liver.

So I decided to have a rethink. Would I want to poison anyone? Absolutely not! Would I nurture and support? Absolutely. So I decided to call my liver Max (stop laughing at the back there!).

Now what am I going to choose to feed Max? Poison? Or nurturing foods?

I decided on latter and had a date night with Max. So armed with the average amount I would spend on a bottle of wine (circa £5-yes, cheap date!) I went shopping after liver friendly foods.

Amazingly I got a large container of grapes, some Granny Smith apples (other brands are available) and tub of baby beetroot. On way home in the car I got stuck in traffic and opened the grapes. OMG, not had grapes in years (well at least in that form! 😉) and they were delicious. Almost ate the lot before I got home.

The thing that struck me was that I don’t actually like the taste of alcohol, but I loved the taste of grapes that they are made of! So why poison myself and Max with wine, when I can eat grapes and other healthy foods and still have money left over?

I also felt more in control of the decision making. It was not someone telling me that you must not drink, but me retaking control and look at my relationship with alcohol.

And to restate what others have said, I am finding my face less puffy, I’ve already lost a couple of pounds, I’m sleeping better and I’m hoping I’m not too late in reversing the damage. The fact doctor has moved appt suggests not that worried 😟

Appreciate might not work for everyone, but working for me, so thought would share.

Best wishes to all Archie

[Hidden]

Thanks Archie, I really liked that, Max, that made me smile... but it is quite brilliant. Hostage negotiators are trained to always refer to the hostage by name. That way they are reminding everyone they are dealing with a living entity, not an object.

So you really have given us all a great way become friends with our livers and start looking after our mate rather than hurting them.

I may have suggested LiverArchie (if you can remember the American pianist and entertainer Liberace)

I am naming mine Gull, short for Gulliver and I hope I can help him on his Gullivers travels

Also, I am taking a similar path towards health and yesterday ate food I have never eaten before. Grains, these things look like barley and rice and were flavoured with tomato and herbs... not the nicest food I have ever eaten but Gull really liked them so if I can make him happy, I am happy.

Thanks for such a great idea Archie.

Take care

Dave

[Archie1962 in reply to Hidden]

Oooo. Glad I made you smile 👍 It’s a serious subject, but one we need to find a way forward on to release us from its deadly hold.

I have a built in wine rack in the kitchen that I’m trying to fill with other things. I’ve got some mineral water bottles in there and one empty bottle at eye level that I use to take my daily fix from.

I want to find a token “Max” to put in there as reminder that is to remain infilled with a full bottle.

Maybe a Pepsi Max as Richard referred to.

And liverarchie made me LOL. Unfortunately old enough to remember Liberace and the chandelier on the piano. Quite a character😀

Have a good day all 👍

[Hidden in reply to Archie1962]

That's another good idea. Putting in alternatives in the rack will make you associate it with healthy options. Whenever you get subconsciously drawn to the rack you can have some nice water for Max.

[Richard-Allen]

Well done Archie you've got it spot on. It's a case of finding that something that works for you. For me, it was a skull and crossbones and the words poison written on the label of every bottle.

I am presently involved with a number of alcohol-related liver studies, one of these is with the University of Plymouth and uses “Functional Imagery Training”: plymouth.ac.uk/news/study-t...

This study was first conducted with those people who needed to lose weight and were using various images to reduce and control their cravings.

I have mentioned this a few times before, but I use this to illustrate a point.

If a person was to walk along the length of the local high street in their town, it is reckoned that on average, their brain will see and register over 2000 different advertisements. Ordinarily, we don’t realise this as there isn’t anything of interest to us. Unless there’s something that catches our eye.

Now, if a person with an alcohol problem was to walk down the same high street, certain names would stand out. “Carlsberg”, “Smirnoff”, “Carling”. All these signs would be screaming out. These visual signs are called triggers. Learning how to deal with and recognize these triggers is (I believe) a personal thing and finding something that you're comfortable with and that works for you.

So for you, just changing the visual image to that of a "Pepsi Max" bottle (This will cause you to think of Max) will help your brain to refocus and after a while, all those alcohol images will have little or no effect and just like all the other advertisements along the high street they will have little impact.

Keep it up, and good luck,

Richard

[Hidden in reply to Richard-Allen]

Thanks Richard, that is a very very good way to deal with the onslaught of temptation, create an aversion in our minds.

[Hidden]

Archie- What a positive post! Thank you for sharing. Keep on 'loving your liver' and keep us posted

[Positive001]

Brilliant !!!

[Ajayq]

Your post made me smile Archie1962, well done for not letting Max hold you hostage anymore! interestingly I discovered with alchcol I actually like the taste not the buzz, perhaps would have been different if I was younger. Grapes are yummy !

[teletonetapper]

What an excellent post Archie. Not only very humerous but also completely positive. Say hello to Max for me. He will be your best and lifelong friend. Take good care both of you. x