What you’re essentially doing in having sugar is manually taking control of these two mechanisms for a while, until your system is more balanced. Another interesting fact found in another study by Colditz et al. (1991) is that consumption of sweets may possibly suppress alcohol intake. This study showed a negative correlation between sugar intake and alcohol consumption. It is known that high carbohydrate consumption may actually create an effect of enhanced serotonin synthesis, which in turn can suppress alcohol intake.

• One reason cravings happen is because of an imbalance in your body chemistry.
• From brain chemistry to low blood sugar, we’ll explore the reasons you might get sugar cravings when you quit drinking, and what keeping a healthy balance looks like.
• Perhaps part of our craving is a need for comfort as well as chemical stimulation and knowing that we can give our body, as well as our minds, the healthy rewards we need to get through some of our most challenging moments in early recovery.
• You expected discomfort and intense cravings when you quit alcohol, but not this.

The mindset some have in early recovery is “as long as I’m not drinking…”. In other words, if it takes a pack of cigarettes and a pint of ice cream a day in order to not drink, do whatever it takes. “I’ll deal with the food issue later once I’m more stable in my sobriety.”  It’s easy to why do alcoholics crave sugar overlook the dangers of sugar or overeating when you were a blackout drinker. Research has found that lack of sleep contributes to sugar cravings along with dozens of other side effects. Getting a good night’s sleep is critical for almost every aspect of your life, and your recovery.

The Sugar Fix: Why We Crave It In Early Recovery

“And it looks for what it has in its environment, which is so often sugar.” The Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (PACS; (Flannery, Volpicelli, & Pettinati, 1999) is a 5-item measure of past week alcohol craving assessed on a scale of 0 (low craving) to 6 (high craving), with omega coefficients of 0.94 at baseline and 0.96 at follow-up. The Timeline Follow Back (TLFB; Sobell & Sobel, 1992) was administered to assess frequency of alcohol use over the previous 90 days at T1 and last month at T2. The TLFB uses anchor dates to prompt participant recall, and was used in the present study to assess relapse incidence.

But my appreciation of things that taste good and are probably quite bad for me is balanced with a healthy lifestyle and plenty of physical activity. The way it works for me is that I put energy into fueling and exercising my body in a healthy way during the week and allow myself a bit of freedom at weekends. I don’t restrict myself if I’m eating out, on holiday or meeting up with other people. But different things work for different people and it’s important you find the way that works for you and only when the time is right and you’ve learnt to live your life confidently and happily sober.

Are these sugar cravings not good?

These spikes and crashes make sugar cravings incredibly common in early recovery from alcohol use disorder. People who abruptly stop drinking may lose a significant source of their calorie intake and have disrupted their body’s blood sugar regulation. People with substance use disorders often experience intense sugar cravings. Even the original printing of The Big Book in Alcoholics Anonymous mentions a physician who encouraged newly sober alcoholics to keep chocolate or candy on hand to help manage alcohol cravings.

When an individual eats sugar, the brain produces huge surges of dopamine. This is similar to the way the brain reacts to the ingestion of substances like heroin and cocaine. Researchers think that this might be because our bodies have adapted over time to seek out foods that are high in calories. For most of human history, it was important to eat a lot of calories in order to survive. With modern food technology and the widespread availability of high-calorie foods, at least in Western nations, this is no longer necessary for survival. We all know that there is a huge sugar content in the alcohol but this is not the end of the story.

dietitians confirmed what Teigen said: It’s common to gravitate towards sugar more when you’re going sober

There is a tendency in early sobriety to feel the need to instantly become healthy in every aspect of life, including eating habits. Eating too much sugar is a habit that can gradually change as time goes on. Remember that you can work on this habit when you’re more comfortable with a lifestyle of sobriety. Last, among women with AUD, stress and drinking to cope are stronger predictors of drinking and relapse than among men (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004; Peltier et al., 2019). Eating disorders are also a common AUD comorbidity among women (Gadalla & Piran, 2007), and use of sweets and alcohol to cope – as well sweet liking – may prove shared risk mechanisms underlying these sequelae.

• Therefore, eating sugary foods can help to boost energy levels and improve mood.
• It is known that high carbohydrate consumption may actually create an effect of enhanced serotonin synthesis, which in turn can suppress alcohol intake.
• Eating protein-rich snacks and meals throughout the day can also keep you full and satisfied, Pinyard said, helping to avoid the sort of sugar crash that leads you to reach for more.