SomethingBetter....:hug:

Many of us returned to drinking after we decided to quit.
:) I did for 4 years before I finally stopped.

Please don't give up on yourself.
You too can win over alcohol...:yup:

Blackbirdsinging...Hi again ..:wave:

I've never heard of Emergen-C ...interesting info
Thanks

Welcome to our SR Alcoholism Forum
:yup:

Blackbirdsing and Carol are right. Sugar just brings on more cravings. We start replacing King Alcohol with Queen Sugar. Obesity and heart attacks kill just like alcohol.

But there is a way out!

There are sweetners that have a lower glycemic level. I use agava syrup. I eat dark chocolate (with at least 70 cocoa) which has a lower sugar. I avoid things that have added sugar and I read labels carefully.

I haven't given up sugar entirely. I kind of went on a pie bender this weekend myself. But, like Carol said, I'm following a hypoglycemic diet. I'm eating more frequent meals, with fresh veggies, lean protein, and complex carbohydrates. I'm eating more "whole" foods, cracked wheat bread, brown rice. Foods that regulate blood sugar so I stay on an even keel instead of up and down crashes.

Did you all know the Big Book even mentions sugar? I don't have a first edition so I can't quote it, but anybody with a fourth edition, read the bottom of page 133, to the top of 134.
In the late 60s, Bill W asked doctors to study the link between hypoglycemia and alcoholism. Bill suffered from years of irritability, anxiety, and depression.
Hmmmm.

Thanks Carol :)

Ive told myself this time that this is just a few loose peices of gravel on a hard climb, not slipping back to the bottom this time, last night was a mistake, and maybe I should follow your diet more closley...

Ive noticed if I eat regularly and dont skip any meals I do a lot better with cravings, I have been missing breakfast regularly the last few days.

Thanks for that WakeUp, will read that!

wrote a detailed reply but it got garbled up when server tanked... so I'll try again

craving sugar is part of withdrawal from alcohol. When there's no alcohol or sugar foods, then body craves grains and starches like pasta, potato, rice

5th year into my sobriety, during a doctor's visit, my blood was tested and came back with high triglyceride count. My doctor told me I was an alcoholic and needed to stop drinking but I told her I hadn't had a drink in 5 years and she said "this cannot be true, wine is a drink, how much wine are you drinking?" So I said, "I've not had any wine or beer or alcohol in five years."

"Then your body is converting food into sugar alcohol."

Turns out that the fine pasta, bread and chocolate in Switzerland where I resided was being processed into sugar alcohol. I had to go on a diet to eliminate those foods and this was when the Low Carbohydrate Diet was a new trend, so I went on a Low Carb diet (tough for a vegetarian) and my health improved. It took six months for the high triglyceride count to settle into the normal zone.

The Big Book, page 69, is all about taking care of alcohol cravings by supplementing with chocolate and sweets to stave off withdrawal, so, if you find that in being new you're craving sugar like crazy, chances are your body, like mine, aims to 'distill' these foods into sugar alcohol.

Perhaps pay a visit with your doctor and run a triglyceride test through a CBC blood panel screening.

It's not uncommon for sober alcoholics to turn into diabetics down the road. But with diet changes, diabetes can be prevented if not reversed... it takes a lot of trial and error though to turn back diabetes...

Today, 18 years into recovery, and doing the Jenny Craig diet, I've gotten a manageable cap on bread, starch and grain intake so my triglyceride count is back within normal means, but when I reach for pizza or spaghetti and overdo a serving, my body immediately feels sick. It's called a "carb crash" and resembles diabetic 'food coma' where my energy is zapped... So obviously my body can't process these foods anymore.

Quiet interestingly, Celiac Disease is a bad reaction to grains and starches, sugar, and refined foods. If by chance you experience fatigue after meals, write down what you're eating and the effects it has on your body (especially energy).

CarolD-

Emergen-C has saved me time and again!
It's a staple at my house, and even in my car.

I really like the new one the little berries...

I totally understand. I am on day 3 only. But I noticed for the past month while drinking heavily...i would wake up in the middle of the night craving carbs/and sugar. Not sure why the middle of the night is hardest. Im fighting hard...Trying to make it through the week. I could eat half a dozen donuts every day right now..lol. Hang in there. Drink tons of water and eat fresh fruit instead of juice...much healthier

Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs ***drool***

I never had a sweet tooth even in recovery. I don't understand it. I have a pizza tooth. maybe it's a chick thing?

Definitely not just a chick thing. I NEVER had a sweet tooth when I was drinking. Just didn't eat sweets- period.... "Snacks" for me were always of the salty variety...

Nowadays however (sober), I crush the icecream with "Magic Shell" chocolate coating nightly...:biggrin:

All the crust on pizza is CARBS. The body turns carbs into sugar. I have also seen many
men that get the sugar cravings in early recovery. It does pass as one starts to eat better
and yes a hypoglycemic diet is great to ease those sugar cravings and not gain a lot of
weight.

Love and hugs,

I would like to thank the guy who just invented ice cream after i stopped.
amazing. never liked it before, but now, not enough of it for the kids

I craved sugar for the first month and figured who cares because I wasn't drinking and abstaining from that was difficult enough. Give yourself some times and you'll level out. And yeh, some people in AA smoke, eat too much sugar and drink coffee. And I am guilty of all of those at times. But the next morning I always wake up remembering what happened and not regretting a thing ;)

thanks all......opened a dusty bottle after 4mo + sober. I have been OK and cant describe my longing for that glass of wine. Left it on the counter and googled up this site. Think Ill be OK. Why such a strong urge now?.

I used Allen Carr's book adn not attending aa.

The worst part of my withdrawal was actually the ketoacidosis. I woke up in the middle of the night, sweating, chills, reeking of ketosis (very unique smell). I would chug a lot of a natural sugar (no HFCS) carbonated drink and feel better nearly immediately. This continued several days after being in the safe zone for vitals/detox.