Well needless to say I substituted lots of chocolate, gelato, cookies and cakes etc…. When I quit drinking. And like drinking I cannot just have one. I can’t have it in the house or I’ll eat it all. Especially the gelato @Runningfree turned me on to. That was the last straw plus I was getting headaches and I know the sugar causes inflammation. Could be why my back aches were so bad too. I figured after a year and a half sober it was time to quit the “no added extra sugar.”
I have definitely had less headaches. I feel better spiritually and I guess physically. Who feels good after eating a whole tub of gelato? Or a while back of cookies? So I guess it helps my overall health.
If there is sugar in something I don’t worry about it. I stay away from the after dinner sweets. Cookies ice creams and gelatos, pastries donuts. etc…I never drank sodas anyway. Except a casual ginger ale. Which I’d love to have. But I don’t.
I have found a lot of sugar free natural chocolate thingies from Whole Foods I will eat. Feels like I’m cheating. Or those sugar free ice cream sandwiches I use to eat. But they had cholesterol so I stopped that too.
So much for my health and diet story.
I hope that helped. It’s definitely gotten easier. If I didn’t do that Europe trip I would have busted the year mark. But it was so worth it! Belgium chocolate of the night. C’MON!! In France. I’m not an idiot. I definitely broke for that.
Eric, thanks for the info. Fortunately, I’m not a big chocolate fan and rarely get headaches. I’m glad sugar reduction helped you with those. Agreed nobody probably feels great after a tub of ice cream. I definitely notice a difference in how I feel based on what I eat. And too much sugar makes me feel unhealthy. I’m going to continue with this. A few treats here and there. But will not buy cookies, candy, ice cream, etc. Thanks again for taking the time to share.
Any suggestions for a newbie? I got my bloodwork back yesterday and I’m pre diabetic. I never drink sugary drinks (now that I’ve stopped the alcohol), rarely eat dessert or sweets. I do rely too much on processed foods because my depression makes it hard to motivate to cook. But I’m realizing I need to get serious about healthy eating and exercise. Bloodwork was a wake up call.
I listened to this yesterday and found it interesting.
I’ve struggled with depression in the past with my last major episode being about 2 years ago. I took fluoxetine, did yoga daily, cold water baths and breathing exercises, introduced fermented foods of many types to my diet and worked with a psychiatric nurse. I’m also perimenopausal (49) and was overweight this time last year but followed the Reverse diet program with intermittent fasting. I’m now in the healthy weight bracket, off all medications and my mood is very good.
You’re doing really well Karen, and getting your blood work back must feel pretty rubbish but I really think you can get your health back on track.
Hi everyone. Oh my God I hope you guys don’t mind me joining your group. I just read about 10 entries and I couldn’t believe how much we have in common. I quit drinking 10 months ago and everyone said that I would have a craving for sugar because of the sugar added in the alcohol and everyone said things like go ahead and treat yourself to ice cream and Reesie’s peanut butter cups because Whatever it takes to quit drinking just do it. Well, I did it, but I overdid it. Every night ended with a bag of chocolate or a big bowl of ice cream. My blood work came back pre-diabetic and I basically have felt so lousy it almost felt like I was hung over, anxiety, depression, irritable, but the biggest thing was lack of motivation and energy. And from what I’ve read, many people are going to a similar thing. Does quitting sweets help? I especially related to what one person wrote above that some people can just have one Reese‘s peanut butter cup, not me, I just like drinking one wasn’t enough. I mean, honestly, I kind of live in a rural area, but I always spot suites for Halloween, but very few kids came by and I ended up with a stomach ache for weeks is there hope? Does it really make your blood work come back better? Will it help with my mental mood and energy levels? Thank you all so much.
Hey all! I’ve got to check in and have my honesty check in. I went off my sugar free/keto diet I’d been on for almost 6 months around around my birthday. I also started drinking coffee again right before I went off the rails. Of course because I had my birthday and my soberversary, I had more sugary “celebreatory” items than normal. Let me just say, there’s definitely NO doubt in my mind I’m an addict with the feel-good chemicals…it isn’t just alcohol I need to be diligent on. I did notice that I got a headache, I felt bloated, swollen & inflamed after consuming regular sugar.
My higher power kicked in and again did for me what I could not do for myself. I had lunch with the family the day after my soberversary and came down with something. The message I got from my higher power is “detox is necessary”. I haven’t been able to eat much of anything for almost a week now. Sugar and coffee are both back off the table. But, so are sugar free alternatives now. I tried drinking the Atkins shakes that I had been drinking, thinking that I could have those since I couldn’t eat most anything without feeling sick. I couldn’t stomach those either at all. I’m only able to eat fresh food. Fruits. Veggies. Meats. Nothing processed.
In looking back, I can absolutely see where I was replacing my sugar with sugar free items and I am quite sure I overloaded my system. Some changes I expected to see such as weight loss, just didn’t happen. I also have a tendency to have Candida overgrowth, I have also learned that being on a keto diet can actually be harmful in that instance as the bacteria can feed off the ketones. I’m pretty sure my gut health is way off at this time so fresh fruits & veggies, probiotics and detoxing is my current plan. Back to the basics I go!!
You are so welcome here, I am glad you feel some sense of identity. This disease we have loves us to feel alone and loves to isolate us so the more you can find your story in others the better.
In my life I have had to completely stop sugar. Like you said I cant have one drink, I also cant have one chocolate, scoop of icecream, soda, hotchocolate, licorise twist, not even a fricken throat lozenge… i even binge those. I am coming up on 10.5 months no sugar and this time I have learned that in order to keep the cravings at bay staying away from sugary fruits is best for me too. Last time I did this i got to 6 months but I feel like I white knuckled it the whole time and I never lost my cravings, I was satisfying them daily with dates and bags ( 1.5kg) of raisins. I am sure you can imagine the state of my bowels and that is part of the insanity of this disease I couldnt stop myself even though I was getting so sick. So yeah, it doesnt matter… I am an addict and I can display addictive behaviors in many, many areas of my life. I really hope that you can find some peace around sugar. It causes the same insanity in my life as drugs does. It causes the same obsessive thoughts, impulsive actions and regret.
I really can tast the salt and sugar that’s already in food these days.
I have found If i eat something that is too sweet I get a head ache. And certain foods too. Could be sugar or salt already in the food I guess ? Or maybe I’m leaving too much time in between meals that my blood sugar levels just spike when I eat ?
When I think of sugar these days, and my son who uses sugar it makes me think of this :
When we see in museums or documentarys old skulls they usually have a full set of teeth still. I realise now it’s because of the salt and sugar already in food before we even get it that cause so many tooth and health problems.
Sugar I used to use so much of it. I’m glad I had made this life style change to not add sugar. Salt … well I’m still working on cutting that out.
I think that with both sugar and salt, if we add it ourselves to food we put a lot less in than with processed foods. I also encourage my kids to taste their food first before adding salt as sometimes we just habitually shake it on and end up with too much.
I also have a strong awareness (and dislike) of the taste of artificial sweeteners, which have poor effects on blood sugars despite being calorie free.
I forgot that it was this time last year that I gave up on sugar after binging cheesecake from my dads birthday. The cake my aunt brought over for his birthday this year taunted me all weekend and I came real close to telling myself it was okay to have a piece because I had made it a whole year. But I knew it wouldn’t just be one piece. I dont really even like cake! Would not have been worth it. Waking up and seeing these numbers was worth it though!
The restaurant owner said I “you can’t say no to an Italian woman.” It was our first time there and she wanted to “give” us a cannoli. So much for all my Al-Anon training
Thanks @Dazercat & @Its_me_Stella
I miss this place and all of you a lot. Trying to get back on here again more but I just haven’t been able to make it happen. Hopefully soon!
plus I was getting headaches and I know the sugar causes inflammation. Could be why my back aches were so bad too. I figured after a year and a half sober it was time to quit the “no added extra sugar.”
C’MON!! In France. I’m not an idiot. I definitely broke for that.
