BREAKING ADDICTION
Lindsey Beveridge (54) is a nutritional therapist who lives in Manchester. Seven years ago, she decided she had to give up alcohol as she knew she had reached dangerous levels of drinking.
“I’ve always been a high achiever but I’ve also had a tendency towards addiction, with alcohol, nicotine and binge eating leading to some damaging behaviours. In 2003, I star ted my own conference and training business which was ver y successful but also hugely stressful. We all look for things to make us feel better and unfor tunately that can lead to addiction. I was at the stage where drink was no longer just something to relax me, and I needed more and more as it wasn’t working for me anymore. I’d put my daughter – then nearly 8 – to bed at 7pm, and then drink up to four bottles of wine. There was no one to monitor me and I wasn’t eating, so I was incredibly lucky nothing happened to me and put my daughter in danger.
“By 2014, I knew I was physically and psychologically addicted and also knew I would die soon if I didn’t do something to stop this. I felt I couldn’t ask for help because I was so ashamed to tell family and friends, and when I’d gone to my GP they didn’t help, so it was up to me. I had to taper my drinking back because of my physical addiction, so I cut down over a few weeks and forced myself to eat. I did lots of walks with my dog and star ted focusing on nutrition, which really interested me.
“I got flashes of feeling great, of seeing the possibilities of life without alcohol, and then other times I’d feel exhausted with the ef for t. It took years to feel proud of myself and therapy helped, and I realised that nutrition was my new career passion, so studied fur ther and set up my own business to help other people in a positive way to find the right balance for them. Some want to give up something like alcohol or sugar, while others want to still use them moderately. I work one to one, and with groups, which work par ticularly well in corporate situations, as so many companies now invest in their employees’ wellbeing.”