Magnificent7

Is anyone regulating sugars, caffeine or both to help them get sober or stay sober? I see their are some studies that show that greatly reducing intake of sugars and caffeine can directly lower alcohol cravings. That, both simple sugars and caffeine can have an impact on your blood sugar regulation, and there has been some evidence in the research that stabilizing blood sugar can help reduce alcohol (sugar) cravings. Joan Mathews Larson's book on sobriety mentions the same.

I dunno I might try kicking the Diet Coke and sweets just to see it will help get me to the 3 month milestone with my sobriety then reassess. It would be a tough sacrifice but any extra help to kick booze would be worth it. Just curious to see if this has been successful with y'all.

IndaMiricale

I come from the old school way, which is just the opposite. Sugar relieves cravings.

I used jolly ranchers like they were going out of business for months..


What ever you do , Keep doing what you are doing and congrats on the time you have.

sothisisit

As a long range goal quitting refined sugar is a good thing. The caveat to this is that immediately after quitting alcohol you can experience a hypoglycemic reaction which means you blood sugar levels are quite low. This can exacerbate withdrawal symptoms like tremors, sweating, anxiety, etc.

Diet drinks are not a good idea because they actually will trigger an insulin release and that causes a reduced blood glucose level which then causes a greater craving for anything that will raise those levels; carbs, sweets, alcohol.

Check with a nutritionist on this to adapt a plan to your own specific metabolism as we are all unique and react to things differently.

Delilah1

I have been eating healthy, exercising and avoiding alcohol. I can't give up my diet soda, I don't drink coffee so soda in the morning is my caffeine. Not drinking as much caffeine as I used to, but no caffeine in the morning= a cranky Delilah!!!!

onlythetruth

I definitely watch my sugar intake now but right after I quit drinking, sugar helped a lot to curb the cravings. My first night sober, I sat up all night with a gigantic bag of hershey kisses in my lap. Ate most of 'em.

instant

Chocolate helped me diminish cravings. For me the cravings were worse in the evenings- taking sugar helped

Bruno1979

I love hot drinking chocolate at night at the moment, quitting alcohol is bad enough so I'm certainly not going to deprive myself of sugar. Not yet anyway.

vinyl

Sugar has always been hard for me. I have been told by my doctors emphatically that YES, sugar and caffeine in high amounts can make my sobriety more difficult than it has to be. You're essentially fooling your body again by suggesting it needs one thing to feel a certain way.

I have since been working toward replacing my tea in the morning with an apple which wakes you up just as quickly as coffee or tea (try it sometime). I have children, so fighting off sugar in this house has been quite a challenge. I broke down at Halloween but I'm back on the sugar wagon and doing well. NO sugar!

I have noticed a dramatic difference in my body after flushing these substances from my system. Just be sure to ask yourself why you are consuming things you don't need and be sure to reflect on the similarities of those thoughts and the thoughts you have when you crave alcohol. Personally I find those parallels unnerving enough to know sugar and caffeine are not good for me, even in small amounts.

I've learned there's no benefit in adding other addictive items to my menu. But that's just me. Many find it relieving to have sugar and caffeine available and always on the ready, but that concept alone should give you at least pause to consider why we have those attachments and thoughts, and where they can ultimately lead.

Again, this is just me. Obviously there are countless people in recovery who stay sober while consuming copious amounts of sugar and caffeine.

Magnificent7

Thanks for the superb advice, what a wealth of information here. I'm going to give a try and see what happens. I think one cup of Hot Chocolate a day is nice treat and way to ween into the process of cutting way back. For an energy boost, the fruit options are plentiful. Refined sugar and alcohol are so similar in form, calories with out any nutritional value. If I struggle I'll remain flexible and loosen the reins, my number one goal here is to quit alcohol....not make my life miserable.

phoebe64

Well, my first round of sobriety was kicked off with a diabetes diagnosis. So, yeah, I limit sugar. And some weird heart rhythm thing has me essentially decaffeinated. So I limit both of those. I do find, if I drink(I relapsed) or eat unhealthily, either feeds off the other. Mostly, i tend to binge eat carbs(essentially turn to sugar) or sweets more so if I am drinking.

Lionhearted1

I agree when I have too much sugar or caffeine it puts me on edge and makes my sobriety harder...

PhilT

80 percent plus of Alcoholics suffer Hypoglycemia that is a fact , Not many people are aware that Bill W spent 25 years of his life in recovery depressed and only when he addressed the physical (bio -chemical) aspect of his life through the use of a low sugar diet
and use of vitamins namely niacin(vitamin B-3) did he find any relief from depression and the dry drunk symptoms which are identical to hypoglycemia.

AllieB

Also, diet soda has been correlated with depression. That may be a function of the insulin release (maybe you know more about that sothis?), but cutting back on diet soda is always a good idea.

Chrysalis7

I didn't even realize it until just now but when I first got sober I was on the Atkins diet. I never had any physiological cravings for alcohol and maybe that is why. The Atkins diet really does focus a lot on cutting sugar to stop craving sugar and I can tell you from experience that it works. I think it is worth a try.

83mama0f2

Eventually id like to reduce my sugar intake but I'm only on day 6. Right now its relieving the cravings some. I still consume dramatically less sugar then most becssue I'm just overall a healthy eater but my sugar consumption has increased some since going off alcohol.

FeenixxRising

I eat complex carbohydrates instead of simple sugars: brown rice, legumes, potatoes, carrots, yams, oatmeal, whole grain cereals. These along with two servings of fruit per day satisfy my sugar cravings.

Threshold

I found that if I indulged in refined carbs...it relieved the immediate craving, but kept the cravings going long term. Cold turkey with booze and sugar was a lot up front, but the cravings for both went away a lot faster because I wasn't "teasing" my body. I have hypoglycemia and refined carbs are NOT my friend.

and when I overindulge I get a hangover. YES, a HANGOVER

AllieB

Lol. I'm not off sugar yet, but I know what you're talking about. There's definitely such a thing as a sugar hangover. Complete with headache and dehydration.

PhilT

Totally agree with you guys on these last comments i cut out the the diet soda a couple of years ago as id heard it wasnt too good for anyone after that i noticed it wasnt getting as shakey when hungry. Ive now cut my carbs right down and cut out sugar , and my head is much better and ive lost a few pounds into the bargain.

stark6935

Yeah, I do the same thing. I just try to level off my blood sugar.