Best methods for breaking free of the addiction?

Many things are touted here as being beneficial. The polls here are limited to 10, so this is my list. Did some of these bring you success? Pick your top three and vote!

 

I actually have another list of 10 things coming that deal more with the mental side--this list covered physical aspects, and, like it or not, they allow only ten items in a poll here. But I thought I'd give this poll a bit of a chance before introducing the next one.

God bless.

 

During my period of total abstinence from orgasm, when I would eat spicy food, the next day my libido would rise considerably and I would feel some epididymal hypertension. The reason for this is that the spice irritates the bowel, and may increase blood flow to the nether regions. This irritation elevates the lower passions. A friend of mine used to claim peanut butter had a similar effect for him.

Buddhists believe that there are five "pungent herbs" to avoid in order to prevent increased passions. Their list includes garlics, leeks, and onions--which is why I put them separately on the list for our Buddhist friends.

It's interesting that the "cold shower" therapy that gets so much attention on this forum has not so many votes (at least, so far) for being effective.

 

I think it is important to note that I never noticed this effect until I was separate from my wife and my every urge seemed to be heightened considerably. It is also highly likely that if you have other things affecting you, such as alcohol, the spice may be sufficiently in the background as to be seemingly unnoticeable. But I can certainly vouch for it having an effect. Because tolerating the urges with no legitimate outlet for them seemed like torture to me, I chose rather to avoid the spicy foods. When I say "spicy," by the way, I refer more specifically to things like black pepper, white pepper, and cinnamon. I'm not referring to fresh hot peppers of the jalapeño family. For me, the jalapeños, onions, garlic, etc. had no effect.

 

In that case, you would have no way of knowing what it's doing to you. In order to know, you'd have to try abstaining from it for awhile in order to be able to compare the difference. If you always eat it, it's just part of the "background noise" for you.