Sweets sweets and more sweets
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Join Date: Jan 2018
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I grew up with an alcoholic father. He was sober for some years, then would fall off the wagon. He had a particular sweet tooth when he wasn't drinking but would lose it when he started back to drinking. We always knew when he drank because he left the goodies alone. Your body is craving its fix. Alcohol and sweets are carbs. I hear over and over again how beneficial working out is for people but especially on this forum. Finding this website and reading about other people's troubles, issues, and successes has really helped me. I keep coming back as I get inspired to do better, be better. Thank you all for your sharing.
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Join Date: Jan 2018
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That information was so amazing thank you. I can read that daily. I’m new to the thread and with yours and some earlier advice I feel really charged. We are in this together! Glad to know I am not alone. Thanks everyone.
Originally Posted by Incontrol15 
I went through that as well when I quit in 2015. Big time. The body got used to all those empty calories. I can tell you with all confidence that it subsides on it's own.
I strongly urge you to eat all the sweets you want to satisfy that desire. You've done an amazing thing for yourself by quitting the booze and you're very early in recovery. It's critical that you pamper yourself in this stage. Don't deny yourself this early. Yes....sugar CAN become a new addiction. BUt that one is WAY easier to manage later IF you need to. FOr now....just try not to go overboard and pay close attention to associating eating sugar from an emotional trigger. Just be aware of that's happening and start thinking about other alternatives.
Are you aware of HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired)? You might be surprised to see how much of your sugar cravings are related to any one of those. Keep them in check by just making sure you don't allow yourself to become Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. And if you are craving, take a second to do a personal inventory to see if one of those issues are at play. Paying attention to HALT overall is going to be very helpful early in recovery. Once you see the source of the craving (alcohol or sugar for that matter), than you can deal with the REAL issue at play.
The BEST thing you can do is consider it a test to see if you can love yourself and give yourself a break no matter the situation. I can't possibly put in words the importance of showing self empathy, patience, and self love right now.
It's all about holding up the quit trophy high and proud. Celebrate every day and try your hardest not to let ANY negativity take away even the smallest sliver of self pride and love you DESERVE to show yourself. Us addicts are nutorious for being our worst critics. This is just one of many things that needs to change to live a happy, fulfilled, and sober life. LOVE THYSELF.
NOW...all that being said, here's a couple things that will help you and recovery as a whole:
- Eat smaller meals more regularly to level out your glucose level. 4-5 meals a day with fruits included. The BEST option would be 20-30g of protien along with some healthy fats. I found the easiest way to manage that was through protien shakes where I added peanut butter and milk for the fat. Those made up a couple of my "meals".
- Have a supply of dark chocolate (70% cocoa or better). This is probably the best sweet you can eat. Dark chocolate and alcoholism recovery go hand-in-hand. Google it. It's even mentioned in AA's "Big Book". I found it had a profound effect on my mood early in recovery and made it a point to have some for desert after any meal I wanted (super yummy with peanut butter). The more cocoa in the chocolate, the more profound the mood lift, but the more it tastes like bark. I liked 70% for desert and always had 80 or 85% for emergencies when my mood was poor.
Congrats on your sobriety!!!
I strongly urge you to eat all the sweets you want to satisfy that desire. You've done an amazing thing for yourself by quitting the booze and you're very early in recovery. It's critical that you pamper yourself in this stage. Don't deny yourself this early. Yes....sugar CAN become a new addiction. BUt that one is WAY easier to manage later IF you need to. FOr now....just try not to go overboard and pay close attention to associating eating sugar from an emotional trigger. Just be aware of that's happening and start thinking about other alternatives.
Are you aware of HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired)? You might be surprised to see how much of your sugar cravings are related to any one of those. Keep them in check by just making sure you don't allow yourself to become Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. And if you are craving, take a second to do a personal inventory to see if one of those issues are at play. Paying attention to HALT overall is going to be very helpful early in recovery. Once you see the source of the craving (alcohol or sugar for that matter), than you can deal with the REAL issue at play.
The BEST thing you can do is consider it a test to see if you can love yourself and give yourself a break no matter the situation. I can't possibly put in words the importance of showing self empathy, patience, and self love right now.
It's all about holding up the quit trophy high and proud. Celebrate every day and try your hardest not to let ANY negativity take away even the smallest sliver of self pride and love you DESERVE to show yourself. Us addicts are nutorious for being our worst critics. This is just one of many things that needs to change to live a happy, fulfilled, and sober life. LOVE THYSELF.
NOW...all that being said, here's a couple things that will help you and recovery as a whole:
- Eat smaller meals more regularly to level out your glucose level. 4-5 meals a day with fruits included. The BEST option would be 20-30g of protien along with some healthy fats. I found the easiest way to manage that was through protien shakes where I added peanut butter and milk for the fat. Those made up a couple of my "meals".
- Have a supply of dark chocolate (70% cocoa or better). This is probably the best sweet you can eat. Dark chocolate and alcoholism recovery go hand-in-hand. Google it. It's even mentioned in AA's "Big Book". I found it had a profound effect on my mood early in recovery and made it a point to have some for desert after any meal I wanted (super yummy with peanut butter). The more cocoa in the chocolate, the more profound the mood lift, but the more it tastes like bark. I liked 70% for desert and always had 80 or 85% for emergencies when my mood was poor.
Congrats on your sobriety!!!
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Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 4
The caffeine was creeping back into my daily routine too. Especially Starbucks. But after an expresso caffeine hangover I slowed down. I still treat myself to a soda when out w/ friends. Working on telling the waitress i’ll have the sparkling water... lol.
Originally Posted by wayforward
Somehow, I haven't really had many cravings for sugar...yet. But I'm definitely consuming way more caffeine than I used to. Trying to keep an eye on it and spread consumption out a bit more evenly throughout the day.
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Join Date: Jan 2018
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We Can Do It!!!
Originally Posted by Numblady
I am so in the same boat. After drinking my sugar for years sometimes I swear I just want to put my whole face in a cake and start eating. But I love incontrol’s message of self acceptance (and dark chocolate).
To original poster glad I saw you. We are on same quit day. Which by my math is 34 days. Woo hoo!
To original poster glad I saw you. We are on same quit day. Which by my math is 34 days. Woo hoo!
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 2,412
Originally Posted by Janvier0109
That information was so amazing thank you. I can read that daily. I’m new to the thread and with yours and some earlier advice I feel really charged. We are in this together! Glad to know I am not alone. Thanks everyone.
Oh man... You are sooo not alone. I was surprised to see how many others had the same exact issues I had. The more you become aware of that fact, the more strength you get. Give some meetings a chance if you can. Strongly recommend any one of them, better yet a mix of them; AA, NA, SMART, Rational Recovery, meetings at local church.
It's huge when you meet people face to face just like you, or who was like you in the past and fully recovered
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