Question re: Sugar
 

Quick question.... I've been reading about alcoholism etc and I found very interesting how nutrition plays an important role.... but what is the deal on people craving and eating lots of sugar?

Alcohol is a huge source of calories, not much different than raw sugar in that aspect. The human body, and the brain, adapt to that over-abundance of calories. When an alkie quits, it takes the body a long time to "reset itself" to the normal amount of calorie intake. In the meantime, the body will crave sugar while it adjusts.

Mike :)

I don't know that it's the calories so much as the quick energy that sugar provides, just as alcohol does. Most newly recovering alcoholics don't crave fat, for example.

Good nutrition is important, but MOST important in the very beginning, especially, is dealing with urges to drink. If sugar (or caffeine, another common substitute) helps with those, it's no time to nag the alcoholic about eating better.

My son ate cookies constantly in early recovery. He'd lost so much weight when drinking that I didn't care because I wanted some pounds on him. He's now 9 months sober and I've noticed that that's stopped. He eats a more healthy diet now and looks great. I rarely see him eat sweets now.

Thanks!

I was curious.

:)

There is the alternate approach to this: avoiding sugar and caffeine while getting sober to kill the cravings sooner, especially with using supplements such as glutamine, l-carnitine and others. Stabilizing the blood sugars can help with recovery. Besides blood sugars and energy, alcoholics often have a candida (yeast) imbalance that feeds on the alcohol/sugars.
Alcoholism & Other Addictions
Candidiasis, Alcohol, Sugar Cravings

I have blood sugar issues myself, and food intolerances, yet I needed this reminder. To quit drinking is the most important step, no matter what it takes to get there. If a sugar boost is the thing you need the most, even when physically it's what you really don't need, so be it! It's a much better substitute than a bottle of whiskey. :D

This is as good a time as any, I suppose, to jump in with my first post- but this totally resonated with me. The first time my AH quit drinking, he started in with an unprecedented, voracious need for ice cream (Magnum bars to be exact...truthfully, they are rather wonderful...lol). He never had a 'sweet tooth' prior to this fixation with ice cream. As I look back now, I can pinpoint a time at which that need abruptly, and kind of mysteriously stopped. What I didn't fully recognize then, was it was a clue to his backslide. He had started drinking again. His body was no longer craving the sugars from the ice cream as a substitute. He is currently, and newly attempting sobriety for the second time. Maybe I will go get him some icecream.....:-).