Stop Drinking Alcohol and Lose Weight We often hear from people who have a number of reasons for thinking about stopping their drinking. One common contributing factor is weight loss. Alcohol use, alcohol abuse, and alcoholism can all contribute to weight gain as well as difficulty in losing weight. The reasons are simple: beer, wine, [...]

Confidentiality Google tells us, occasionally, what phrases people use to find our website and “Confidentiality in AA” appeared on the list this week. The bad news is that there isn’t any. Not even 30 years ago when the joke around Minnesota was that AA had gone from being Alcoholics Anonymous to being AU, Alcoholics Unanimous. [...]

A good friend dropped by last week to bring us up to date on the status of her battle with cancer. Her first comment was one we wanted to share: “Now that I’m involved with a real disease, and receiving real treatment, the contrast to what I was forced into under the guise of alcoholism [...]

Self-Image One of the things so-called treatment programs don’t want to mention is self-image and how it plays a part in overcoming alcohol abuse. Their reason for the omission is pretty obvious – the image they’re selling is “powerless alcoholic.” Exactly how is incorporating powerless alcoholic into your self-image supposed to help you quit abusing [...]

This is a favorite poem of ours. It is about the importance of the journey rather than the destination. We hope that your journey has been and continues to be an interesting one, not one of sitting in your recliner with a bottle, as is so often the case with people who have problems with [...]

Dissolved In Alcohol We feel very blessed to work with those of you who seek us out. We are frequently struck by what an interesting and diverse group you are and we find working with you most enjoyable. But some of the darker similarities you share also strike us. The most obvious, of course, is [...]

Isolation There was an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day about how our always online, always connected, fast-paced 24/7 communications were making us ill. The author made a good case for why we need to slow down and reconnect in person with actual human beings. Reading it reminded us of many of [...]

Context? We spend a lot of time talking about “context” as in “alcohol abuse occurs within a context.” What we mean by that is that it’s not an isolated condition, like an actual disease, and that eliminating alcohol abuse is accomplished by changing the context of your day-to-day life. Mostly you change what you do [...]

After the questions, what are the common complaints? Complaints come from both clients and family members but these frequently have the same basis. It comes down to clients wanting the “problem” to be fixed without actually having to do much of anything, and spouses who don’t want the solution to have any impact on them. [...]

We like getting questions that we actually know the answers to. Here’s one of our favorites, “What’s the biggest factor in determining success?” Nope, it isn’t us. The most important factor is your motivation. Why? It goes without saying that changing your life is challenging – no magic pills, wands, or bullets – and as [...]