More on diet, alcohol, etc.
Interesting issues were raised by mooncry and roadrunner.
Acetaldehyde: if it has any chemical or biophysical connection with the addiction end of alcoholism, I’m ignorant of that angle. What I have read is this: when we who have that gene, the one that prevents the metabolism of acetaldehyde (or the lack of one that allows it to be metabolized), when we drink, we don’t enjoy it as much as others do.
There is pain. The first thing I notice, after maybe half a beer or a little sip of hard alcohol, is a tingling in my fingers and burning in my cheeks. Acetaldehyde irritates mucous membranes, stomach lining, guts, etc. My eyes burn when I drink, my nose runs.
Like others of my genotype, I get drunk quicker, on less booze, the “cheap date” syndrome. My paternal grandfather died in a ditch, I’m told, on his way home from a drinking binge, bled out internally from an ulcer. I would guess that acetaldehyde had something to do with that.
We tend to be nasty, mean drunks. Imagine being addicted to something that hurts that bad. Gotta have it or suffer withdrawal. When you get it you suffer a whole different way and you tend to make others around you suffer, too. This is why for a long time it was illegal in this country to supply firewater to redskins. We’re slightly more likely than your average drinker to go berserk on booze.
A deficiency of GABA: gamma-aminobutyric acid, is involved in alcohol addiction. Supplementing it can make the cravings go away. Most addicts are poly-addicted: cigarettes and alcohol go together for many people, caffeine addiction often comes as a result of attempts to sober up without drying out. Coffee and doughnuts are pushed at AA meetings, and many drunks successfully trade their alcohol addictions for addictions to caffeine and sugar. Thus other neurotransmitter imbalances and amino-acid deficiencies become involved.
Out of all my studies, I’ve come to the conclusion that orthomolecular medicine has the best handle on addiction issues, much better than other branches of medicine or quasi-religious twelve-step programs, etc. I took a book designed to treat substance abuse orthomolecularly, End Your Addiction Now, by Charles Gant, MD (www.charlesgantmd.com) and adapted its principles to my food addictions, which Dr. Gant does not address directly. It worked for me.
I’m familiar with the names roadrunner mentioned: Drs. Atkins and Wallach. Neither is my diet doc. I’ve heard that the Atkins diet is similar to the Air Force Diet I tried in the 1960s. It made me crave sweets so badly that I binged on a whole carton of 24 Cherry Mountain Bars.
Dr. Wallach’s minions are inhabiting an MLM pyramid, and I avoid them for that reason. I know from nothing about what the man preaches, because I don’t really need what he pushes. I found all my diet doctors in libraries and bookstores. They are:
Peter J. D’Adamo,MD: Eat Right 4 Your Type and several sequels. (www.dadamo.com) Each of the four blood types: A, B, AB, and O, has different dietary needs and sensitivities.
Drs. Rachael F. and Richard F. Heller: The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet and sequels. (www.carbohydrateaddicts.com) Their diet is not strict enough for my needs, but they clued me that it IS an addiction so that when I learned of Dr. Gant’s addiction cure I was prepared to try it. I also got some great info on food addiction here: http://www.nutramed.com/eatingdisorders/addictivefoods.htm
R. Paul St.Amand, MD: What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Fibromyalgia. (www.guaidoc.com) Those of us who are currently recovering from a disease some doctors consider degenerative and incurable, call this man “The Saint”. He identified in about one third of his fibro patients an unusual form of reactive hypoglycemia he calls “fibroglycemia”. He made me aware of my need to strictly limit carbs. His diet, all on its own, isn’t strict enough for me either, but combined with my blood type diet, the carb addict’s diet and THE ZONE, plus a lifetime of learning my own body’s needs, it gave me some missing pieces I needed.
What I know about diet and nutrition: The idiosyncratic, individualistic nature of individual biochemistry means there is no one diet that can work for everyone. Those who do best on the Atkins diet have Type O blood. I could not survive for long on such a diet. In this household, there are three of us and three different blood types.
Doug is O: carnivorous. I’m A: sensitive to dairy and red meat, need lots of vegies. Learning to love salad is saving my life and my sanity. My new comfort food: romaine, radicchio and celery–YUM! Greyfox is B: allergic to crustaceans, can eat turkey but not chicken, beef but not pork, thrives on sandwiches, the rotten cur. (Nobody knows how I miss sandwiches… or even just a little slice of TOAST. It’s really not FAIR, y’know? Anyone out there want to trade their Type B for my A? Just the thought of a LEGAL, harmless, cheeseburger makes me warm all over. If I have my way, I’ll come back with Type B blood in my next life–and just my luck I’d come back with a hankering for lobster and shrimp, too 
)
P.S. I should mention that after I’d started on my self-adapted amino acid supplements, I found another book that does address food addictions that way: The Diet Cure by Julia Ross. www.dietcure.com
Been there and done that, friends, and I’m not going back again. I feel a great deal of confidence, now after about half a year since I started this diet, with the help of the amino acids to ease the addictive cravings. Orthomolecular medicine, I am convinced, has given me the tools I needed to get fit, finally. Even without the neurotransmitter precursor supplements now, I had no significant cravings for a couple of months, until that infection hit me–and I made it through the infection with my diet and my fitness intact.
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