{"id":391,"date":"2023-08-13T05:51:56","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T04:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodstuffdrinks.com\/?p=391"},"modified":"2024-01-26T05:59:32","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T04:59:32","slug":"go-sober-for-october-7-tips-to-giving-up-alcohol-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodstuffdrinks.com\/go-sober-for-october-7-tips-to-giving-up-alcohol-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Go Sober for October: 7 Tips to Giving Up Alcohol (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019re edging closer to the end of October.  You\u2019ve almost made it a month of going dry \u2013 awesome!  You should be very proud of yourself and what you\u2019ve achieved so far, but there\u2019s no avoiding the fact that there\u2019s still a few days left where your will may crack.  To help you get over the final hurdle, here\u2019s my last 4 tips for keeping dry in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you missed the first three tips, you can check them out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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4. Ask for Non-Alcoholic Drinks in Pubs & Restaurants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gone are the days when the only alternative to beer or wine was tap water or a sugar\/ sweeter filled soft drink.  A huge number of pubs and restaurants now carry at least one non-alcoholic alternative on their menus.  Often these can be the more main stream brands like Becks Blue or Heineken 0.0, but some of the smaller specialist brands like Big Drop Brewing Co.<\/a> and Nirvana Brewery<\/a> are also making it onto the menus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non alcoholic wines<\/a> and ciders<\/a> are starting to appear on menus, although they\u2019re still slightly behind the beers in their distribution into pubs and restaurants. Hopefully, as the number of these drinks increases and their popularity grows, we\u2019ll see more making it behind bars around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With these increasing choices available, next time you walk into a pub you won\u2019t have to groan at the thought of another sugary soft drink.  Ask the bar staff what non-alcoholic drinks they have, and you\u2019ll probably be surprised with the variety of drinks on offer.<\/p>\n\n\n

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5.    Avoid Temptation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve already discussed how habits can lead you down a familiar, but unwanted path and how changing the reward can help you avoid alcohol.  But what if you avoided that path altogether?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In James Clear\u2019s excellent book Atomic Habits<\/em> he talks about how habit triggers<\/a> start the craving for a habit\u2019s reward leading to the familiar response.  If you\u2019re trying to avoid an alcoholic drink \u201creward\u201d, you can either change the reward (as already mentioned) or change the cue to avoid the habit loop altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cues can be linked to a number of different situations, including time, location, emotions people, etc.  Try to identify when you\u2019re tempted to drink alcohol most often and from there identify the cue.  Here\u2019s a few examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n