- 10almonds
- Posts
- Addiction Myths That Are Hard To Quit
Addiction Myths That Are Hard To Quit
Plus: healthy homemade garlic potato chips (very crispy and yet not fried!)
The 10almonds Team
May 10, 2024
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Waist-to-hip ratio is a much better indicator of metabolic health than BMI, but how do we measure it and what does it mean?
Measure your waist (narrowest point you can find between navel and sternum)
Measure your hips (widest point you can find, looking sideways in the mirror)
Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement
Under 0.75 is ideal
Under 0.8 is low risk
Under 0.85 is moderate risk
Over 0.85 is high risk
⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Addictions are by definition tough to quit, but are quittable.
Today’s main feature examines the science of what works or at least helps, what doesn’t, and what’s dangerous.
Some spoilers: “cold turkey” is best if and only if it’s safe, and whether or not it is safe varies by substance. Having support is critical whether quitting abruptly or gradually, though.
As we age, our collagen levels tend to get depleted more easily. Collagen is important not just for youthful good looks, but also for the health of bones and joints
Today’s sponsor NativePath are offering high-quality collagen without additives or harmful impurities
Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive
🤫 A WORD TO THE WISE
 | Why People Are Overdosing On ChemoA simple genetic test could save hundreds of lives each year, that are currently being needlessly lost due to avoidable chemotherapy dosing errors: |
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
Super Crispy! Not Fried! Perfect Garlic Potato Chips! (5:19)
For a healthier option than the "corn chips or [commercially bought] potato chips" choices:
Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later 🔖
❓️ THIS OR THAT?
Vote on Which is Healthier
Yesterday we asked you to choose between corn chips and potato chips—a challenging choice, but as “least bad” we picked the corn chips (click here to read about why), as did 72% of you!
Now for today’s happier choice:
 |  |
Click on whichever you think is better for you!
YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…
🍷 MAIN FEATURE
Which Addiction-Quitting Methods Work Best?
In Tuesday's newsletter we asked you what, in your opinion, is the best way to cure an addiction. We got the above-depicted, below-described, interesting distribution of responses:
About 29% said: "Addiction cannot be cured; once an addict, always an addict"
About 26% said "Cold turkey (stop 100% and don't look back)"
About 17% said "Gradually reduce usage over an extended period of time"
About 11% said "A healthier, but somewhat like-for-like, substitution"
About 9% said "Therapy (whether mainstream, like CBT, or alternative, like hypnosis)"
About 6% said "Peer support programs and/or community efforts (e.g. church etc)"
About 3% said “Another method (mention it in the comment field)” and then did not mention it in the comment field
So what does the science say?
Addiction cannot be cured; once an addict, always an addict: True or False?
False, which some of the people who voted for it seemed to know, as some went on to add in the comment field what they thought was the best way to overcome the addiction.
The widespread belief that “once an addict, always an addict” is a “popular truism” in the same sense as “once a cheater, always a cheater”. It’s an observation of behavioral probability phrased as a strong generalization, but it’s not actually any kind of special unbreakable law of the universe.
And, certainly the notion that one cannot be cured keeps membership in many 12-step programs and similar going—because if you’re never cured, then you need to stick around.
However…
❝What is the definition of addiction?
Addiction is a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.
Prevention efforts and treatment approaches for addiction are generally as successful as those for other chronic diseases.❞
Or if we want peer-reviewed source science, rather than appeal to mere authority as above, then:
❝What is drug addiction?
Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite adverse consequences. It is considered a brain disorder, because it involves functional changes to brain circuits involved in reward, stress, and self-control. Those changes may last a long time after a person has stopped taking drugs.
Addiction is a lot like other diseases, such as heart disease. Both disrupt the normal, healthy functioning of an organ in the body, both have serious harmful effects, and both are, in many cases, preventable and treatable.❞
In short: part of the definition of addiction is the continued use; if the effects of the substance are no longer active in your physiology, and you are no longer using, then you are not addicted.
Just because you would probably become addicted again if you used again does not make you addicted when neither the substance nor its after-effects are remaining in your body. Otherwise, we could define all people as addicted to all things based on “well if they use in the future they will probably become addicted”.
This means: the effects of addiction can and often will last for long after cessation of use, but ultimately, addiction can be treated and cured.
(yes, you should still abstain from the thing to which you were formerly addicted though, or you indeed most probably will become addicted again)
Cold turkey is best: True or False?
True if and only if certain conditions are met, and then only for certain addictions. For all other situations… False.
To decide whether cold turkey is a safe approach (before even considering “effective”), the first thing to check is how dangerous the withdrawal symptoms are. In some cases (e.g. alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and others), the withdrawal symptoms can kill.
That doesn’t mean they will kill, so knowing (or being!) someone who quit this way does not refute this science by counterexample. The mortality rates that we saw while researching varied from 8% to 37%, so most people did not die, but do you really want (yourself or a loved one) to play those odds unnecessarily?
Even in those cases where it is considered completely safe for most people to quit cold turkey, such as smoking, it is only effective when the quitter has appropriate reliable medical support, e.g.
Without support: 3–5% success rate
With support: 22% success rate
And yes, that 22% was for the “abrupt cessation” group; the “gradual cessation” group had a success rate of 15.5%. On which note…
Gradual reduction is the best approach: True or False?
False based on the above data, in the case of addictions where abrupt cessation is safe. True in other cases where abrupt cessation is not safe.
Because if you quit abruptly and then die from the withdrawal symptoms, then well, technically you did stay off the substance for the rest of your life, but we can’t really claim that as a success!
A healthier, but somewhat like-for-like substitution is best: True or False?
True where such is possible!
This is why, for example, medical institutions recommend the use of buprenorphine (e.g. Naloxone) in the case of opioid addiction. It’s a partial opioid receptor agonist, meaning it does some of the job of opioids, while being less dangerous:
It’s also why vaping—despite itself being a health hazard—is recommended as a method of quitting smoking:
Similarly, “zero alcohol drinks that seem like alcohol” are a popular way to stop drinking alcohol, alongside other methods:
This is also why it’s recommended that if you have multiple addictions, to quit one thing at a time, unless for example multiple doctors are telling you otherwise for some specific-to-your-situation reason.
Take care!
YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…
How To Get Your Brain On A More Positive Track (Without Toxic Positivity)
Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better (book)
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
NativePath Collagen
Pop quiz: What’s the body’s most abundant protein?
The answer: Collagen.
NativePath's Certified Grass-Fed Collagen Powder is made from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows and contains 18 grams of protein per suggested serving.
Start incorporating it daily to support skin elasticity, joint health, bone strength, and muscle growth and maintenance.
Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
Browse By Category
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Managing Major Chronic Diseases: Advice from a Patient – by Alexis Dupree
Our author, Alexis Dupree, is herself in her 70s, and writing with more than three decades of experience of surviving multiple chronic diseases (in her case, Multiple Sclerosis, and then a dozen comorbidities that came with such).
She is not a doctor or a scientist, but for more than 30 years she's been actively working to accumulate knowledge not just on her own conditions, but on the whole medical system, and what it means to be a "forever patient" without giving up hope.
She talks lived-experience "life management" strategies for living with chronic disease, and she talks—again from lived experience—about navigating the complexities of medical care; not on a legalistic "State regulations say..." level, because that kind of thing changes by the minute, but on a human level.
Perhaps most practically: how to advocate strongly for yourself while still treating medical professionals with the respect and frankly compassion that they deserve while doing their best in turn.
But also: how to change your attitude to that of a survivor, and yet also redefine your dreams. How to make a new game plan of life—while working to make life easier for yourself. How to deal, psychologically, with the likelihood that not only will you probably not get better, but also, you will probably get worse, while still never, ever, giving up.
After all, many things are easily treatable today that mere decades ago were death sentences, and science is progressing all the time. We just have to stay alive, and in as good a condition as we reasonably can, to benefit from those advances!
Bottom line: if you have a chronic disease, or if a loved one does, then this is an immensely valuable book to read.
What did you think of today's newsletter?We always love to hear from you, whether you leave us a comment or even just a click in the poll if you're speeding by! |
May today see you well-prepared for the coming weekend,
The 10almonds Team
