Connection between alcohol and sugar addiction

#1

Hey everyone!

I have been eating a ketogenic diet for a month now and I love it. I havent lost more than waterweight but thats ok cause loosing fat is not my main goal it will happen in time. However I am experiencing a number of benefits one being getting rid of sugar cravings.

I have had an unhealthy relationship to sugar my entire life and this way of life seems to be the only way I have come across that allows me to be free from my insane sugar cravings. Besides a sugar addiction I have had a destructive relationship to alcohol since my first drink at 17. Basicly the only time I have felt really good is when I have been eating sugar or drinking. Is there a connection between my behaviours? Does anyone have a similar experience?

I love this forum and the Keto way of life! Have a nice day everyone!:+1:t2:

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #2

There has been anecdotal evidence that cutting carbs does help control other addictions. Perhaps someone else out there knows of something concrete?

Either way, there are plenty of people here on the forum that have similar experiences. So welcome! It sounds like you’re off to a great start!

#3

I also do everything passionately :grin: and overdue everything comforting. Thank god I found a 12 step program before I lost everything. Good luck!!!

(Doug) #4

Sugar and alcohol both hit the pleasure centers of the brain. Alcohol stimulates some people’s appetites. It also steps on our inhibitions and better judgment. So I do think there is often a connection - there certainly can be for me.

For ketogenic eating, a little booze without carbs in it is fine for some people. If I get to the third drink, I may be getting into the “Screw it - I’m getting a whole pizza” zone. You say you’ve had a destructive relationship with booze - probably best not to have any, then.

When we’re eating ketogenically, alcohol will stop our progress for a while. It’s a poison to us, and the body goes right after it - that means the body will quit doing other stuff like making ketones and glucose out of our stored fat. A substantial amount of alcohol makes a difference - 7 calories per gram, versus roughly 4 for protein and carbohydrates (9 for fats) - it can make your body store fat from some of the food you eat, versus not doing it, perhaps, if the alcohol wasn’t there.

For me, drinking booze or eating carbs makes me want more carbs… :neutral_face:

(Allie) #5

I’ve heard on multiple podcasts that both substances target the same receptors in the brain or something like that. Science isn’t my thing at all so my head doesn’t retain exact info, but living with an alcoholic who is also addicted to sugary crap “foods” makes me believe this to be very plausible.

(Pam ) #6

There is a definite connection between alcohol and sugar. I am surrounded by recovering alcoholics and without a doubt every one of them got an intense sweet tooth when they quit drinking. My Mom and Father-in-Law went from being an alcoholic to a T2 diabetics. My husband is well on his way to doing the same thing I fear.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #7

I don’t know how much overlap there is between sugar addicts and alcoholics, but the metabolic pathway (in the liver) that metabolizes ethanol is the same one that metabolizes fructose. Ethanol and fructose also have the same effect on the brain’s reward center, the nucleus accumbens. The one difference between the two substances is that ethanol has immediate toxic effects, whereas fructose does not. The long-term toxic effects are the same.

Since a molecule of sugar (sucrose) is composed of a glucose molecule bonded to a fructose molecule, this explains the addictive nature of sugar. My understanding is that not everyone becomes addicted to sugar, just as not everyone becomes an alcoholic, but that about the same percentage—20%—of the population is vulnerable in each case. As I mentioned, I don’t know how much overlap there is between those two 20%'s, but I imagine there is quite a bit. It is standard advice to newly recovering alcoholics to use sugar to stave off cravings for alcohol, so it would be interesting to know how many alcoholics become sugar addicts because of this advice, and how many would have been sugar addicts in any case.

But addiction is a tricky subject. I worked years ago for a company where we all assumed the chairman of the board was an alcoholic, but when his doctor told him he needed to stop drinking, he did. Turned out he was just a hard drinker who loved to get drunk, but he could stop when necessary, so he wasn’t an alcoholic. Weird! A lot of the other executives were actual alcoholics, and only two that I know of ever managed to get sober.

@PSteinke1122 Ethanol can cause insulin resistance in the liver, so alcoholics can develop diabetes, whether they get sober or not. So whether the sugar use by the alcoholics you know is what caused their diabetes, or whether they were alread well on their way and the sugar only made it worse is an open question—but either way, the sugar certainly did not help! Knowing what I know now, I would certainly advise any newly-sober alcoholic to go keto.

(Allie) #8

That’ll be why the BF has an addiction to fruit juices as well as alcohol.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #9

Big old addict right here. I’m sober and my drug of choice was opiates, not alcohol, but I will say I also had a healthy addiction to sugar. I even made a post when I first started here that I was missing the ups and downs of sugar highs and lows and that I felt so “still” not being on “something”. I still drink caffeine but it’s equal to three cups of coffee a day so I’ve got it under control.

I’ve had to treat eating no sugar with almost as much dedication as I did with the substance abuse (which is a zero tolerance situation) and it’s working well for me. The other day I was at a birthday party and my hand swiped some icing and stuck it in my mouth before I could even form a mental protest. It was unsettling.

I think it helps to get control of one addiction (sugar) in terms of having the confidence to tackle other addictions, even if it’s subconscious. I am currently quitting tobacco and thanks to eating this way I’m not worried about switching cigs for sweets. Both are in the “NO” zone now.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

Mine’s under control, too—I can quit any time I want to, I just don’t want to. LOLOLOLOLOL!!! :rofl:

(And yes, that is what I used to say about sugar, too! :grin:)

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #11

I can say it’s under control because I went through an energy drink phase and that was an ordeal to kick so I feel pretty proud of my three “normal” caffeine drinks a day now!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

I only drink three normal 24-ounce cups of coffee too!

(BT3100) #13

I lost a ton of weight on Atkins when I was younger (mid 20’s) that was about 20 years ago. The diet was great at shedding pounds quickly. About 5 years ago I tried Atkins again and I fought every day to move the scale. Didn’t work… I was very frustrated thinking that something was wrong with me. What I now realize is that I was drinking 2-3 sometimes 4 vodka’s on the rocks each night. That Alcohol prevented me from getting into Ketosis. I stopped drinking about 3 weeks ago when I started Keto. I feel much better and am in Ketosis. Tomorrow may be hard with the Super Bowl but we’ll see!

(Jenny) #14

I agree with this connection, unfortunately I’m in the same boat with my SO (mine Is active not recovered and does have t2d). I read alot on addiction, (food for me and alcohol for him) and there is a connection. Sugar can ease the initial quitting phase. I read an amazing article on it, wish I still had it. good luck to each of us with our personal struggles.
ps, there is something to the energy drink as well. when he was in rehab they weren’t allowed. when hes “cutting back” its the first thing he goes for. the brain is interesting.

(Jenny) #15

alcohol makes me gain weight so hard maybe its temporary but if I have one can of lite beer I will gain 2 pounds like clockwork overnight. it’s just not worth it.

on a low calorie/low food volume eating day I can have 1 or 2 short jack n diets and be ok. but after an unfortunate fasting-drank-too-much-too-quickly incident im just off alcohol.