That sugar thing....

[slightlysuze]

This was mentioned in passing in another thread....the danger of overdosing on sugar as an alcohol substitute when you're AF. I had a quick flip through the MWO book but didn't see anything about it......what should I know??

I AM eating more sweet stuff, not loads and loads, but I do sort of crave it at times.....and it's probably why I'm not losing the weight I expected/hoped to lose at 33 days AF (bragging again lol :H ) How do I stop? Just will power or what? I might be using up all my will power to not drink lol.......

Any advice/experience gratefully received by Suze with a mouth full of choc.....:upset: :H

[bloggy]

That sugar thing....

Hi Suze

Well done on your 33 days! You deserve to brag:-))

I stopped drinking for 2 years around 11 years ago- it was a big white knuckle ride, I had no internet or information available and nobody to ask, but for a long long time even after I stopped craving alcohol I would get a seriously bad craving for those jelly type sweets around 6 pm!

I had no idea it was related to the drink thing, it was only a few years later when a friend's husband came off the drink and she mentioned she was having to buy him huge amounts of chocolate and sweets that the penny dropped.

My sweetie craving did eventually subside, although at the time it did not occur to me, I wonder if substituting chocolate for grapes or another sweet fruit would help?

Oh well, at least the sweets don't make you fall over, pull strange men, send really weird emails or convince you you are a better dancer than Beyonce.

M

[lushy]

That sugar thing....

I would say if you are not subsisting on sugar all day long you are fine. It is a substitute for alcohol because alcohol is pure sugar. L-glutamine is really good at helping with the sugar/alcohol cravings if you are interested.

[slightlysuze]

That sugar thing....

LOL!

Those gourmet jelly beans make me WANT to send weird emails though.......:H

Lushy...I'm on the L-glut. Darn it.

The only bad things are the jelly beans, the chocolate and the turkish delight (blush)....but I guess the dried fruit, bananas and ice-cream don't help???? (is this sarcasm or irony? it's late, I'm tired lol)

[bird]

That sugar thing....

Hi Suze,
Its something about blood sugar. I have read about it in a couple books, one by Susan Powter and also in 7 weeks to Sobriety. Something about booze raises your blood sugar and when you go AF you crave sugar (or booze) . They suggest eating foods without sugar etc. to keep your cravings down. bird

[Determinator]

That sugar thing....

yep, all very good. Balancing our blood sugar with a diet containing (ideally) zero refinded sugar or simple carbs is the best. next best is avoid them most of the time using G-Glutamine which helps and also take chromium picolinate which will help the body to establish better blood insulin regulation. also helps to burn fat
as a personal observation when I start eating too much sugar I KNOW I'm screwing up...jitters, mood swings, alcohol cravings, sleep cycle goes to hell....bad.

[MyHeartIsDrenchedInWine]

That sugar thing....

How about a teaspoon of honey followed by a glass of water?

[Determinator]

That sugar thing....

give it a go! better than refined sugar for sure. fruit is natures 'perfect' desert also. I like to snack on raisens and nuts. ton of calories but very satisfying.

[slightlysuze]

That sugar thing....

Thanks all....

Det...I'm already taking the chromium. Maybe it's stopping me going too far with the sweet stuff? I also snack on nuts etc...one of my fave 'bites' is a mouthful of banana with 2 or 3 cashew nuts. Quite healthy, but high in calories I think!

OK... I've got to stop this before it gets out of hand!.....I'm not going to keep any more choc or turkish delight in the house (can't get rid of the ice-cream as it's husband's fave dessert) and I'm going to find myself a strategy to deal with the cravings. Hmmmmm. I'll try MyHeart's idea of the honey (or maybe agave syrup?). Should I get rid of the dried fruit? I snack on dried apricots and dates, some goji berries and (confession time) Buderim's naked ginger...mmmm:h

I need a Sugar Tracker thread LOL

Suze

[Paddy]

That sugar thing....

Hi Suze,

I screwed utterly up in August. I don't know what overcame me, but i was about to hit 30 AF days and then started adding desserts to my diet - daily. My alcohol cravings came back so badly, this combined with high stress levels threw me right back into alcohol.

The weirdest thing thing though, was that I had no cravings for my usual champagne habit, or red wine, or even beer. It was white wine - Chardonnay that I was craving. So I was back on it for a month or so, until I got myself off it again. And this despite having been on Topa.

This is REALLY weird. Until the penny dropped, and I thought to myself, hey, you moron! You've been digging into cake and chocolate like mad!

By the way, the advice on sugar is also to be found in RJ's book on p. 40 paragraph 2 towards the end of the paragraph.

[slightlysuze]

That sugar thing....

Thanks Paddy....I see that para now!

I can understand that wine and beer are loaded with sugar....but is the same true of spirits? They don't taste at all sweet......anyone know the science of all this?

How do you control your sugar cravings, Paddy? (if you still have them)...do you eat any fruit? I love bananas.....

Sorry to go on about this, but I think it's important for me somehow - although I'm not sure why! :bananacomputer:

[Cinders]

That sugar thing....

SlightlySuze,

Alcohol converts to energy immediately when you drink it. It has the same effect as sugar on the body. When we stop drinking, we are not giving our body the same amount of energy as normal, which means our body is saying "hey, where's the sugar?"

That is why we crave it.

However, a link to being hypoglycemic and alcoholic is talked about in Seven Weeks to Sobriety and other pubs. Hypoglycemia is made much worse by eating sugar, the insulin rush that drops blood sugar, causing us to be hungry, we eat carbs, rise in blood sugar, rush in insulin, drop in blood sugar, viscious cycle.

So, it is better to restrict carbs if that is an issue. Dried fruit is very high in carbs. If you are going to eat fruit, eat fresh fruit. Same with fruit juices. They are very concentrated. Nature packages fruit very nicely for us and we try to cram as much in as possible.

I am not into the Atkins kind of low carb thing, especially as a woman, I think we need our "good" carbs. Complex carbs. I believe common sense should rule. Eat healthy proteins, vegetables, some fruits, some whole grains, some good fats, etc.

South Beach Diet comes very close to what I try to follow.

If you are vegetarian, (I know a lot of really healthy vegetarians!!) you can still follow a good sensible plan, just remember to avoid the processed foods and avoid the high carb/simple carb foods.

It does take about 3 days to get over carbohydrate cravings. Sorry.

BTW, if you crave chocolate, you can eat the 75% or higher dark. Those are naturally low in sugar. But are expensive and not that tasty in my opinion.

Cindi

[slightlysuze]

That sugar thing....

Cindi...thanks for that, very helpful. I'm going to check out the South Beach diet - I've heard of it but always thought it was just a variation on Atkins.

Yep...I do eat the high cocoa content dark stuff....the one I mostly have is 85% and I think it's delicious, but not many people do lol.

But 3 days to get over the cravings doesn't sound so bad...in fact, quite quick...so maybe I'll just go cold turkey!

************************************************** ********************************************

Just checked it on Wikipedia.....it's like Montignac and GI isn't it? Sounds good...and more or less how I eat now...except for me stupidly eating sugar too. d'oh! That's it....cold turkey for me. *sigh*

[The Londoner]

That sugar thing....

Interesting thread.

Since going on a vegan diet, I have no sugar cravings-it was very hard at the beginning (simply exhausting to detox) but it's 30 days on Tues and I now have no interest in the sweet delights I always went for previously.Slighlysuze, I have lost 8 pounds so far and that's eating serious amounts of nuts and a daily banana! And no exercise!

I reckon brown rice is good for stabilising blood sugars.And I take spirulina daily in powder form and that makes me feel so alive! It's all about wanting to feel good and instant hits with sugar isn't part of the package. Fruit subs are great too-what about a really sweet fresh fruit/veg juice? I just feel at the moment that my food, whatever I eat and drink, has to work really hard to sustain and nourish me-otherwise it's off the menu!

I also agree with all who say sugar intake goes hand in hand with alcohol cravings. I have not wanted my wine fix since cutting out the sugar. Sobering thought for the day!

good talking to you all!

Anna

[paula]

That sugar thing....

I recently read from an AA book that eating or drinkinkg something sweet, allays the
urge to drink.Many people carry a chocolate bar or sweet for this reason.
Chocolate may make us fat (as does booze) but not drunk.
Paula.