Craving Sugar Badly. Why?
 

So I am now on Day 4. Still not completely out of withdrawal. Feeling a little jittery. But for the most part feeling pretty well. Weirdest thing though. I am craving sweets badly. Last night I downed 4 cupcakes with, get this.....skim milk! I love skim milk.

I know a lot of people go through the same ring in early recovery. But does anybody know why some folks get sugar cravings? Thanks, and i’ll Hang up and listen. 😉

Because alcohol has a lot of sugar and since you aren't drinking your body wants it one way or another. My cravings past in about a week

Yep, mostly because alcohol has a lot of carbs and your body is used to it. It's very, very common to crave sugar early on.

Pretty much what has already been said.

Yup, what they all said.

My cravings just left on day 61, ufta. hahaha

Almost four years sober, I have another theory on this.... as it still happens to me.

The original "gateway drug" for me was sugar. Long before I ever smoked or ate a drug, or had my first taste of alcohol, I was behaving in addictive ways toward sugar.

I binged on it.
I hid it.
I hoarded it.
I lied about it.

Sugar - it has been shown - lights up the same 'pleasure centers' of addiction just like other drugs do.

I no longer do drugs or drink - but that part of my brain which seeks pleasure and the addictive high is still in there, long-conditioned to the rewards of sugar.

I've never really given it much concern but in the past year I've watched more consciously as I've slipped into sugar binges, cravings, and behaviors toward sugar that I can only admit are addictive in nature. I'm concerned about sugar's effect on my long term health and overall wellness and am *trying* to manage it more carefully. But, as with other attempts at moderation, I wonder if I'll have to eliminate it entirely.

Anyway - that's been my experience. I think that the body's need for sugar is one side of it, but in our over-sugared society I believe the addicted brain begins forming around the sugar-high reward from an early age and those of us with addiction issues are likely to be more susceptible to legitimate sugar addiction than others might be.

Makes sense, FreeOwl. I have always been a huge sugar fiend.

In chemistry alcohol is considered a sugar... ETOH

My diet was very good before I got sober. I'd been maintaining an almost 4 stone weight loss for 2 years....then I got sober & the sugar cravings were immense!! I've put on a bit of weight but the cravings have pretty much gone on the whole (but I do still use chocolate as a treat). I am 9 weeks sober.

Free Owl, et. al, you appear to be correct. I googled the issue and it appears that sugar cravings come from low serotonin levels. Further that sugar “lights up” the same pleasure pathways as alcohol.

Here’s an interesting blog post on the issue:

http://www.hipsobriety.com/home/2016/1/2/sugar-addiction-and-booze-why-it-happens-how-to-fix-it

I had forgotten about the sweet tooth after I quit. Huge sweets for a while. Not doubt pretty common.

Wow...I'm connecting the dots now to a lot of my own issues.

It is pretty well established that long term alcohol use damages neurotransmitters ( chemicals affecting mood) and their receptors in the brain. Hence, mood swings, depression, anxiety, etc., in recovery.

It activates similar reward chemicals to alcohol in the brain .