Teetotaler56

I'm not only craving sugary stuff, but crackers and just about anything . Can anyone relate? How long does this last, or does it vary per person?

biminiblue

Eat. It's good for you.

I ate a lot of carbs in early sobriety. I was drinking a lot of carbs before early sobriety.

You're okay, it will calm down. I know I needed the food.

SoberLeigh

Try not to worry.

Your body is healing and needs energy.

Remember to hydrate and rest, too.

Teetotaler56

Thank you for the answers and advice. I was trying to lose weight before quitting the rum. I hope I can get both the cravings for drink and food under control. One thing at a time, but I don't want to end up using food as an excuse to cope with not drinking. Whatever happens, I've gotta cut out the drinking for good. I'm tired of going round and round this same mountain and never getting anywhere.

Thanks especially for the advice on rest and hydration. Will do!

Forward12

I would pig out like crazy for a little while, mainly because I was living off of pretty much nothing but booze and nothing else.

thomas11

Food is your friend early on. And yes, I can relate. I ate like a horse once my stomach got straightened and craved real food instead of booze. I went through that cycle weekly for about two and half years.

SeaOfSerenity

alcohol has a huge amount of sugar in it so removing this source of energy is why youre eating more. be wary of eating a lot of refined sugar in its place as this will cause energy spikes and crashes when what you want is a steady release.
search a balanced diet, stick to that and you should find in time that your appetite evens out inline with your new diet.

JudicatorPanzer

It lasted about a month for me. But I liked it! Filling my stomach with real food and not just booze. I say enjoy it, it went away for me.

Madnellie

I was the same for the first couple of months, but as I posted in another thread after I while my eating went back to normal, I lost all my "beer weight" and I'm now the lightest I've been in almost 20 years. So try not to worry, things will settle down soon enough

Teetotaler56

Thank you all for the advice! I'm going to quit worrying about it and go with the flow for now. But, as advised, I'm going to pick up some fruit today and try to get off (the majority of) these sugary sweets.

SimplyFree

I would binge eat when I binge drank. I just couldn't remember eating all of it. My family would comment on it though. I agree that hydration is super important.

Teetotaler56

Oh yes, I've done that many times, too.

Jack465

This. Try not to go overboard on the refined/added sugar. You will eventually become dependent on it to feel normal... just like with alcohol.

Sadly I found this out the hard way.

Teetotaler56

Thank you, Jack. That's my fear. I don't want to trade one addiction for another. I'm being careful with the refined sugars today.

RapidMan

I wouldn't worry too much about the eating phase of withdrawal, it'll all figure itself out.

Remember your body has just lost a good percentage of it's daily calorific intake. For me a bottle of gin a day, was in itself 1500 calories, nearly half a man's daily requirement.

Those calories still have to come from somewhere, and as your body's chemistry adjusts, it's saying 'feed me'.

So eat when your body tells you, but just try to bulk up on relatively good stuff. Buy in a ton of fruit, grapes are great since you can snack, likewise get some wheat crackers.

Try to remember what a decent diet was before the drink, start eating a regular breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I was a morning drinker, so just replacing a couple of gins with a decent breakfast made a world of difference.

One last thought. You may also be experiencing the perception of eating a lot, but just try to think 'if' maybe the times you grab a snack, would have also been the times you would have been pouring a drink. May help you reconcile in your mind that the food, is more replacement than an addition.

SimplyFree

A bottle of Porte wine was 1200 calories, plus the binge eating......here's to hoping I knock off a few pounds.....lol!

Teetotaler56

RapidMan, Thank you for all the great advice. You're right, the food cravings do come during drinking hours. I would imagine I was drinking approx. 1000 calories a day in rum, give or take. Whoa!, to think of it! Yesterday was a bit better with the alcohol and food cravings, thankfully.