[SilentKiller]

This could save your sobriety.

Seriously. It’s that important.

If you’re an alcoholic, either active or in recovery, you’re almost certain to be hypoglycemic. And managing that condition could easily make all the difference between staying sober and yet another failed attempt. Even those of us who have been recovering for years can take a meaningful step in that journey by learning to manage the fuel we feed our bodies.

Study after study has demonstrated that the vast majority of alcoholics are hypoglycemic. In one conducted by J. Poulos, D. Stafford, and K. Carron, fifty outpatient alcoholics and fifty halfway-house alcoholics were compared with a control group of one hundred nurses and teenagers. Of the one hundred alcoholics, ninety-six proved to be hypoglycemic; only fourteen of the nonalcoholic controls were hypoglycemic. A three-year study by Robert Meiers, M.D., in Santa Cruz, California, found that more than 95 percent of alcoholics studied suffered from low blood sugar.

More evidence comes from Kenneth Williams, M.D., an internist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a member of the national board of trustees of AA. Williams has found that a vast majority of his sober alcoholic patients are hypoglycemic; many have told him that their hypoglycemia had been diagnosed even before they started drinking.

Researcher and author Emanuel Cheraskin, M.D., found on the basis of six-hour glucose tolerance tests that between 75 and 90 percent of alcoholics studied were hypoglycemic. "Too much therapeutic emphasis has been placed on psychological factors," says Cheraskin" while more basic biochemical deficiencies and defects in body chemistry have received relatively little attention."

These studies confirm the findings and views of endocrinologist John Tintera, M.D. After years of research, Tintera concluded that even recovered alcoholics who have been sober for many years continue to suffer the effects of hypoglycemia. He strongly believes that the treatment of alcoholism "centers essentially about control of hypoglycemia... by far the most important part of the physiological treatment of alcoholics is the complete restriction of easily absorbed carbohydrates."

Until their severe fluctuations in blood sugar are stabilized, Tintera warns that alcoholics will be predisposed to depression and what only appear to be "deep-rooted emotional or psychiatric disorders."

But what, I hear you ask, does all that scientific doublespeak mean to me?

Simple – If you’re a recovering alcoholic, whether you’re just getting sober or you’ve been dry for years, your recovery depends upon avoiding the hypoglycemic rollercoaster. If not, you can expect to experience symptoms such as:

Anxiety

Irritability

Depression

Aggressiveness

Insomnia

Fatigue

Restlessness

Confusion

Desire to drink




Sound familiar? Sound just like how you felt when you first stopped drinking? That’s no accident, as it turns out. The link between alcoholism and hypoglycemia is profound. And pretty widespread, judging from the profusion of donuts, cookies, candy, and other sweets at every AA meeting.

If you just keep on eating all those refined carbohydrates like white flour and sugar, you can expect to feel like you’re on an emotion rollercoaster. Your cravings for alcohol will be as strong as ever. That’s not the recipe for a serene, peaceful, strong recovery. That’s the recipe for relapse.

So what can you do? It’s pretty simple really. You cannot recover from hypoglycemia overnight, but in a few short weeks you can feel much better. You can banish symptoms and correct the underlying processes by following a healthy new diet and taking some more nutrition supplements. You'll have to give up both caffeine and cigarettes, but the sacrifice will pay enormous dividends in renewed energy and vibrant good health.

Get ready for a big change in the way you eat. You're going to have to give up foods containing refined sugar. That means virtually all sweets. Candy bars, Colas, Cookies, Ice cream. I know you love these foods. You may not want them when you're drinking, but most alcoholics begin to crave sweets as soon as they go on the wagon. Small wonder! Did you ever think about the similarities between sugar and alcohol? Both are carbohydrates with no nutritional value-all you get from them is calories. Both are absorbed directly into the bloodstream, and both can cause memory blackouts and intense cravings. I can't promise you that giving up sugar will be easy. But it won't be as bad as you think.

In addition to sugars, also temporarily eliminate dairy products and wheat. Both are highly allergenic, and one or both frequently contribute to problems of alcohol allergy/addiction. You'll know within two weeks whether or not you are affected. If not, you can resume eating dairy products and foods containing wheat.

I have published a suggested diet in another article. There are lists of foods you can eat and those you must avoid. Also provided are suggested menus and meal preparation and shopping tips. Don't let the word "diet" scare you. You are not about to embark on a regime of grapefruit and lettuce leaves. You will be pleasantly surprised by the enormous variety of foods you can choose from. You will be eating three hearty meals each day, plus healthy and filling midmorning, mid afternoon, and after diner snacks. In fact, you probably will be eating more and better than you have in years.

It is important to eat all the snacks. They will provide you with a steady supply of protein, fats, and slowly available (complex) carbohydrates to prevent the drop in blood sugar that normally occurs about two hours after a meal. If your meals are delayed for any reason, you may need an extra snack.

So that’s not too bad – good food, lots of it, and snacks. And as an added bonus, if you’re faithful to this new way of eating you can expect to drop to a healthy weight and stay there. Here’s a preview:

•One meal each day should consist largely of vegetables. Big salads will do the trick.
•When buying food, read labels carefully. Most canned soup and juice, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, salad dressing, and canned vegetables contain sugar and/or starch. You can get sugar- free products at food co-ops or health-food stores.
•Do not use any food that lists sugar among the first four ingredients on the label.
•Throw out junk food containing refined sugar. You will be snacking on healthy foods frequently so you won't feel hungry.
•Substitute soy milk or fresh goat's milk or Rice Dream (Imagine Foods, Palo Alto, California) for cow's milk.
•Avoid aspirin/caffeine compounds including Anacin; Empirin, cold tablets; Midol, Trigesic, and medications containing alcohol (read the labels). Bayer aspirin is caffeine-free and may be used.
Shopping Tips

•Choose foods that are as close to their natural state as possible: fresh vegetables and fruits; fresh meats, fish, chicken, and eggs; raw nuts and seeds; and fresh salad greens.
•Avoid canned, processed, dyed, chemically flavored, frozen, additive-laden foods.
•Don't buy roasted nuts. The process of high-heat roasting cause undesirable changes in the natural oils the nuts contain. In the body, this altered oil can promote formation of free radicals, dangerously unstable molecules capable of damaging healthy tissue and promoting the development of cancer. Choose only raw nuts and seeds.
•Pass up luncheon meats (Spam, bacon, ham, bologna). They are loaded with refined sugars and cancer-causing nitrates.
•You can find fruit-sweetened jams at a food co-op or health food store.
•Drink flavored sparkling water (read the label to confirm that it is sugar free).
•Cut your salt intake by using lite salt, which is half potassium (needed for cellular energy) and half sodium.
Meal Preparation Tips

•Peel fruits and vegetables or remove outer layers to avoid pesticide residues.
•Steam your vegetables (if you cook them in water, you will lose much of their vitamin and mineral content). You can get a steamer that fits inside any pot in most houseware departments. Cook vegetables until they are almost tender, not soggy.
•Raw vegetables are your best choice; they also make excellent snacks.
•Keep a lot of assorted nuts, sunflower seeds, apples, oranges, carrot sticks, celery, and other raw vegetables on hand for snacking