“Be attentive to nutrition. Your body is fashioned from earth, and from the earth’s harvest it draws well-being.”

You are no longer filling your body with empty calories. Remember, the sugar in alcohol was going right to the fatty tissues. It also was depleting your body of vitamin B12, thiamine, folic acid, and zinc. You could sit down and figure out how much time and exercise it would take to balance out the drinking. Actually, there is a calorie calculator to do this:

http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/CollegeStudents/calculator/default.aspx

Now is the time to be aware of the extra calories you are no longer putting in your body. Too often, people who stop drinking focus on the feeling of being deprived. However, the deprivation of calories from alcohol is going to be rewarding. If you are finding more time to work out now that you are not drinking, you will double the benefit of the deprivation of drinks. While you can use food to deal with the urges to drink, you can replace the empty calories with good calories. Good choices include:

• All the water you want. Flavor it with a twist of lemon or lime, if you like.
• Diet soda
• Fresh frui.
• Fresh vegetables. Carrot sticks, radishes, green beans, green peppers, broccoli, celery, and cucumbers are great. Prepare a large plateful to last a few days and keep it handy in your refrigerator. Raw vegetables are a great low-calorie snack when you’re watching television.
• Unsweetened fruit or vegetable juices
• Any kind of bouillon. Add slices of fresh vegetables for variety.
• Skim milk, cottage cheese, and plain yogurt
• Low-calorie crackers
• Unshelled sunflower seeds are great when you want to keep your hands and mouth busy. You can’t eat too many — it takes too long to shell them!