15 Common Addictions and Healthier Alternatives

We all have felt these common cravings to some or the other extent in our lives, and these can easily turn into addictions if not conquered through consciousness. Here are 15 ways of transforming them to healthier alternatives:

Cakes and Sweets: While a bit of sweet treats every now and then would not ordinarily harm anyone, cakes and sweets can be highly addictive and unhealthy in the long run due to excessive fat and sugar content proven harmful for our heart and overall wellbeing. What our body is actually looking for is energy and a positive feeling of comfort. Juicy fruits make for a delicious alternative by supplying us 100% natural sugar and desirable nutrients to keep us radiantly healthy.
Breads and Chips: Cravings for pastas, biscuits, crispy fried snacks and carbohydrate rich foods is an indication that we need a feeling of a full tummy. However the excess gluten and heavy calories can easily show up on the waistline, in digestive discomfort and on the health of our skin. A healthy substitue are raw or sautee organic vegetables and crispy salads that provide natural fibre minus the excess calories to keep us feeling full as well as aid healthy digestion with a glowing effect on the skin.
Hot Curries and Spices: Our taste buds certainly seem to feel excited, but it is often the result of burning sensations and not really the flavours that your body actually desires, not to mention the acidity and upset moods that follow. A great way to add the flavour to our diet are vegetable soups laced with natural herbs such as sage, basil, parsley, cumin, rosemary and tarragon and that are soothing yet yummy and good for our tummy.
Icecreams and Fizzy Drinks: Excellent advertising and marketing through the decades has most of us thirsting and craving for sodas and ice, especially in dry and hot weather. Not only do they have poor nutritional value, they can harm our throat and stomach too. A much more satisfying substitution is found in water as well as homemade drinks and coolers such as watermelon, minty lime or lemon water and fresh berries to quench, cleanse and purify our system.
Tea and Coffee: Some of the most addictive substances are our daily cups of tea and coffee which are hard to let go of at times inspite of the nicotine and caffeine that can be harmful despite the engineered marketing claims of health benefits and research often promoted by industrial cartels. Herbal teas or Tisanes including home made concoctions such as ginger, lemon, nettle, lemongrass, hibiscus, peppermint, chamomile, dandelion and more are delightful alternatives to our daily requirement of hot beverages for healing and detoxification.
Juices and Concentrates: Contrary to what we might have believed juices brought over the counter are not usually healthy as they are often filtered and diluted to remove fibre and containing concentrated sugars or even artificially sweetened at times. Keep all the fibre and pulp in, minus the sweeteners with homemade smoothies prepared with a combination of vegetables and fruits such as spinach, cucumber, kale, grapes, beet and avocado that can be prepared in less than five minutes.
Smokes and Alcohol: Whether tobacco or other herbs or drinks that claim to provide a high, what we are really seeking is mental peace and destressing. Avoid cancerous and addictive substances by simple breathing techniques to take in fresh, clean air with yoga and meditation for stress relief. Aromatherapy with essential oils can be an excellent alternative too with therapeutic effects on the mind, body and soul.
Music, Movies and Telly: Constantly being plugged into gadgets for entertainment can be stressful for our third-eye as it blocks our inner creative vision and inner music from higher dimensions. Clear away thought pollution and noise in the head with simple habits of good restful sleep, noting down your dreams, receptivity and intuition training and meditative states to sharpen our inner senses. This way we can also develop extended sensory perceptions and lucid dreaming skills for awakening our consciousness.
Social Media and Gossip: Chatting with friends, sharing updates and exchanging sweet pleasentries is one thing, while being unable to spend a single moment alone or with loved ones who we are responsible for due to addiction to socialising and social media is another. What we are actually seeking is a loving connection with the universe and this can be found through heart-centered meditation and compassion practice, family activities or through social work and volunteering for good causes.
Looks and Popularity: We all like looking beautiful and receiving compliments, but an obsession with outer beauty, selfies, cosmetics, clothing or style can sometimes be at the expense of not allowing the real substance of the soul to shine through our natural face and natural body. Detach from false admirers and envious eyes by focusing on your inner talents, true or real friends, supportive and positive relations who bring our our true inner worth and through self-development at an integral level.
Money and Status: Whether through the next big car, house, designer labels or vacation we sometimes entangle ourselves with the illusion of materialism promoted steadily by some moviestars, celebrities and business tycoons. We can stop wasting our precious resources on meaningless things and start working on our inner and true resources by discovering our soul purpose, inner power and spiritual wealth that is the mark of true abundance that grows when shared.
Daydreaming and Fantasy: It is indeed healthy for our inner child to have a good imagination and to create fantasies in our mind, yet an excess of this can have us ungrounded and be a sign of inner depression or being stuck in unfulfilled dreams that float in our subconscious for a long time. Past regression for discovering our suppressed memories from earlier years or even past lives can help heal these issues or traumas that are at the core of our subconscious.
Religious Fixation: Cultures, religion and mythology are great subjects to delve into so that we can expand our mind, but a fixation on any limited belief system can make us judgemental or even fundamentalistic if we are unable to accept various points of view and stay open to learning. We can fulfil our search for truth and justice minus the indoctrination by learning about nature and karmic laws and make peace with the universe through understanding and love.
Occult Power: We all love to have power over our reality, but it may be unhealthy if we are obsessed with the occult and seek to control others or their minds through our ego-centrism. The illusion of me versus others is broken through an expansion of consciousness through self-realization so that we realize our inheret unity and see our own reflection in all people and things in the world to bring about compassionate awareness.
Sex and Sensuality: We all need a healthy sensual experience of life for accepting joy and for balanced romantic relationships, yet an excessive focus on sexuality can be a sign of past repression, lack of inner joy and even depression. Let go of dependency with inner love and joyful creative activities such as music, yoga and arts to express the sacral chakra energy more beneficially instead of draining out all your power so that the kundalini or inner energy ascends to higher levels of consciousness without being repressed or blocked.