If you can’t stop eating sugar or other simple carbs (like potato chips or bread) once you start, or if one bite of sugar makes you crave more, you may be sugar sensitive. According to Kathleen des Maisons, author of Potatoes not Prozac, and one of the leading researchers on sugar sensitivity, when your body is biochemically sensitive to sugar, eating sugar in moderation is next to impossible.
I was a life long sugar binger. From childhood on, I ate massive amounts of cookies, candy, sodas, cakes, pizza, bread, crackers, pretzels, potato chips, ice cream, Cheetos, french fries, and tortilla chips. My sugar addiction caused me tremendous pain and suffering – eating disorders, yo yoing weight, shame and self loathing. It worsened over time, becoming out of control in my 20s. I finally reached a point of surrender in my 30s, when I faced and healed my sugar addiction.
Here’s how they work together. You need four things to heal from sugar addiction:
1. Physical distance from sugar.
First, you may need to support a base level of physiological healing from sugar. This may entail minimizing your sugar intake. According to Kathleen des Maison, this step, combined with eating regular meals of whole, healthy foods (many of us who have sugar cravings also have low or volatile blood sugar), heals your brain chemistry. On a brain level, you’re not wanting the sugar so much.
The arena of physiological healing is not my area of expertise, but folks like Kathleen des Maisons and Dr. Mark Hyman have helpful tools about this step, and I invite you to explore their work. You can also explore the work of Dr. Julia Ross, who offers suggestions on how to use nutritional supplements to support this phase of healing (try her books The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure.)
2. Emotional distance from sugar.
And yet, in my experience, abstinence isn’t enough by itself. In order to heal a sugar addiction at the root, we have to heal and soothe the emotional brain. We need to soothe ourselves emotionally without food – any food.
This is important because life is dynamic and unpredictable. Without this level of emotional healing, when life gets stressful, we go back to sugar or turn to another coping mechanism – like overeating non sugar foods – to soothe ourselves.
3. Belonging – safety, support and love.
I know that the thought of giving up sugar feels terrifying and impossible – overwhelming, too, as our culture is surrounded by sugar. That’s why you need support. You need the voice of someone who’s been there, as well as the voice of someone who’s traveling the same path, so you can feel reassured when you’re feeling discouraged or afraid.
You also need care, belonging, and deep listening. In my experience, many of us who are struggling with overeating are attached to food. Food represents unconditional love and nourishment – our “mother” – as well as belonging – safety. In order to let go of the food – the sugar – we need to attach to something else. We need to feel belonging, unconditional love, and nourishment with people. First with ourselves, and also with others.
Do you have people in your life who offer belonging? Do you offer yourself belonging – unconditional love and acceptance?
4. Recognizing that this is a process, not an event.
I wish I could give you a tool that would make all your cravings permanently disappear. But I care, and because I care, I need to be honest.
Mindful, conscious eating is a process, a practice. To have conscious relationship with sugar, we need to be mindful about what we’re eating. This doesn’t mean being obsessive or neurotic about food. It does mean finding awareness and paying attention.
One of the biggest roadblocks for me is continual, ongoing acceptance. Healing from sugar means that I have to keep doing the things that keep me sugar free – those things that honor my sugar sensitive brain chemistry and keep it healthy and whole. If I don’t eat regularly, if I start eating lots of processed food, if I skip meals, I’m going to crave sugar – which can lead me right back into it.
I think of healing more akin to putting gas in your car – something you do over and over again – rather than fixing a broken muffler – something you do once and then it’s done. It’s the only way I know how to do this long term.
I don’t always love being sugar sensitive. I accept times when I resist eating this way; I know it’s not personal. We all feel this way!
At the same time, I try to open my heart to even this – a different way of eating than the way many people eat. I try to embrace my limits as love in action, as a way to honor and love and care for myself, the tender human being that is me.
Wanting more resources?
- You may enjoy these pages here on healing your relationship with sugar, healing your fear of cravings, and understanding what drives overeating and binge eating. You may also enjoy exploring this free video course on fostering healing with sugar.
I think it's sad that all this healing is for sale. I mean, it says here that you have to BUY your way into the support forums. Thank goodness for Overeaters Anonymous, because they help people for FREE!
I hear your sadness and disappointment. I'd encourage you to apply for our scholarship program if finances are preventing you from getting the help you need:
http://www.firstourselves.com/scholarships/
XO, Karly
Before you judge the merits of First Ourselves, please respect that this is one of the most emotionally comprehensive, insightful, progressive, and spiritually fulfilling experiences most of us have every journeyed. Not to mention, personally, I’ve never felt so physically vital and whole. If this type of work does not appeal to you and you seek a more ‘straight forward’ approach, then I understand.
At 9 months sugar/binge free (through the connection, growth, acceptance, honesty, healing and daily support of my First Ourselves friends), I can assure you First Ourselves is the perfect community to share knowledge, meaningful conversations and seek/offer support.
I encourage you to peruse each site [First Ourselves and OA], specifically the articles, audio blogs, etc: http://www.firstourselves.com/category/sugar-addiction/
http://www.firstourselves.com/category/overeating/
Last year we made our support forums free to serve as many people as possible. It's my hope that every person who struggles with food may find the support and safety they need to heal. If the forums can be of help, I feel gladdened.
In love, Karly
I have been trying to give up sugar for more than 10 years and i am 33.
Every time i eat it i get cramps and not nice toilet action.
i am moody and cranky and i am a different person.
When i dont have it i am a changed man. i am happy etc. but i just caint not have it. My brain is like i need this now and i can not stop it. even though it does me so much harm. 2.5 weeks is the longest i have lasted.
i do need help
Im 5'9" and weigh 205, i eat ice cream everyday and i love it. i also love candy bars, how can i lose the weight and quit this s***y life?????
In response to "Shaking My Head" I have to say that the OA community is a self-help organization, founded and run by individuals. While I am very new to this site, clearly there has been a lot of research here specifically address the science and mental / emotional underpinnings of sugar addiction. What seems to be offered here is an expertise based on study and research. I would not go to a therapist or physician and expect their services for free. I WOULD, however, expect to attend AA or OA for free. These are two completely different venues for help. The fact that scholarships are offered is a blessing, but as a consumer seeking help, the website seems to offer quite a lot.
I, for one, am grateful for what is offered here for free, and will choose carefully from what is offered as professional services or literature.
Thank you.
i am so frustrated with myself. i want so much to lose 50 pounds but i can stay away from sugar and carbs. i start each day well, but by the time dinner comes i cant stop eating. than I feel so guilt for screwing up, i want so much to lose this weight before I get any older (49). karen
I have the same issue. Overall, I have fairly healthy diet but I keep sabotaging my efforts. The guilt and shame and constant stress over trying to get it under control have taken deep roots in me.
Karen! I hope this reaches you. I read your post about the sugar and carbs addiction. I am currently 47 and I also need to lost 50 lbs. I’m addicted to sugar and carbs so severely that I hate myself.
Could you please contact me and maybe we could team up to help each other then maybe we could team up to help others!!! My email is ryonslions2@yahoo
Thanks!
Hi Leah and Karen,
I love that you’re reaching out for support and joining others. I wanted to let you know that Canadian health coach Donna Smith runs a sugar free support group on Facebook. I bet you could find some like minded people for support and encouragement there –
https://www.facebook.com/groups/322848757794648/
Sincerely, Karly
hello, karen. I’m karen as well with the EXACT same problem. I eat EXTREMELY healthy meals and my days ALWAYS start off great with lots of hope, just to crash in the evenings when we’ve shut the deli down for the night and we have all the tempting leftovers. You are by no means alone.
One of Scandinavia’s most renowned sugar addict specialists – Bitten Jonsson – has just released her new online-video workshop called: Sugar addiction – a brain disease?…how to beat sugar addiction once and for all.
This workshop penetrates why some people become addicts, how to diagnose sugar addiction, withdrawal symptoms, what to eat in order to maintain in recovery, how to prevent relapse and living in recovery.
If you are in doubt whether or not you are a sugar addict, you need to take this class. Bitten Jonsson will answer many of your questions regarding sugar addiction. If you are addicted you need to get the adequate help.
Addiction to sugar is stronger for some people than others, but the truth is sugar is a powerfully addictive substance. Now you can get help! Right here online:
http://zentv.tv/moment/19/show
I'm very fusterated. Ever since I can remeber, I've been eating suger. I'm know i'm addicted. I'm a student and at lunch they serve candy and sugary stuff that I crave and I just eat it. It's just terrible. Do you have any ideas to stop?
You feel gladdened? Really? What does that feel like exactly? I'm not sure because its not a word…. please internet world, learn proper English before you post on the internet!
I just went off o sugar cold turkey after being addicted to itfor 52 years! I got panic attacks, but now they’ve subsided. I’ve been a member of the 12-step groups for 25 years, andhave gone to over 5,000 meetings during that time! The meetings really help! Especially Adult Children Anonymoyus/alcohlics, Al-Anon and Overeaters’ Anonymous. I’m 59 years old and am now of of all addictive substances. I used to bite my fingernails(and toenails when I wasn’t too fat to get my foot in my mouth!), scab-pick, nose-pick, have a ‘need to be right’ and a ‘need to be in control’–ACoA really helped cure me of that! I took some Psych Nursing and had to go to an AA meeting to observe how the 12 steps work: everything I was learning in psych nursing theory was being applied in the 12 steps, so when a counsellor suggested that I attend Al-Anon(I had a father who was an alcoholic and a mother who was mentally ill) I ran to my first Al-Anon meeting and haven’t looked back. I’ve gotten more recovery from the 12 step programs than any psychiatrist has ever helped me. All of the psychiatrists in Winnipeg are too busy being ‘right’ and telling their patients what to do –instead of listening. They’re all unrecovered children of Alcoholics or dysfunctional families and need to get their own heads screwed on properly before telling others what to do! They actually get paid for their babysitting! I can’t believe it!
http://tinyurl.com/bnptwfp
Angie, perhaps you should learn how to use the internet before you criticize someone's "improper" english. ("Gladden" is in the bible, for pete's sake.)
I am 49 years old and weigh 165 5ft5inches and dieing to lose weight but most of all really stopping from binging sugar even when I say I will not eat it and then eat it along with more on top of it. So this is my last hope to read and learn on this website.
Angie,
When I say gladdened, I mean happy! Sorry for the confusion. (I do like to make up words, almost like making up a recipe.) Though it looks like gladden is a word after all (thank you, warrior two.)
Hopefully we can all laugh about this.
Warmly, Karly
Karen,
Sugar is tricky, isn't it? I know once I start on the sugar roller coaster (or too many high glycemic carbs) i find it super difficult to stop.
You may find this post helpful on where to begin – http://www.firstourselves.org/2011/after-a-sugar-…
You may also find this explanation helpful on end of the day/night eating –
http://www.firstourselves.org/2011/cause-night-bi…
I often find that a reason why we can "be good" all day long and then "blow it" at dinner/the end of the day is due to overarousal. We are trying so hard not to eat sugar/carbs, and this pressure builds and builds and builds until it explodes, like a tea kettle that boils. We explode – and feel better, because the tension goes down – by eating the very food we were trying *not* to eat.
I talk more about this here:
http://www.firstourselves.org/2011/wavy-boundarie…
And here:
http://www.firstourselves.org/2011/highly-sensiti…
I hope these articles give you a place to start. I talk more about tools to soothe overarousal in Becoming Binge Free:
http://www.sugar-addiction-book.com/workbook/
XOXO, Karly
Dear Tatiana,
There are tons of articles and resources here as well as a free women's forum. I sincerely hope that they give you the tools, support and encouragement you need to heal, grow and shift out of sugar. Dive in and take what you need, set aside what you don't.
There have been times in my life where I have been in deep, dark despair, thinking that I will never grow or change. I was so caught in sugar addiction I felt hopeless. And yet my fears were not true.
Take one baby step at a time….
Healing takes support. Effort. Patience. Kindness. And it is possible. You can heal, dear one. I believe in you.
In love and support, Karly
Dear Karly
I found your website only today and I am in a desperate situation… I’ve known for a while I’m addicted to sugar – I’ve been on the Potatoes not Prozac program for about 4 moths – and I’m feeling much better, I almost never have mood swings any more – the only problem is I’m gaining a lot of weight (I admit that I still binge eat sugar about once a week – which is less than before I binged every day).
I’m wondering if the amounts of protein on the program can be too much? I drink a lot of protein shakes because I struggle to eat as much meat, eggs etc.
My husband wont support me on the program anymore – because I ve gained about 10kg’s – I also wanted to put our toddler boys on the program – but I need my husbands support for it.
Do you think I can make the protein less? I’ll browse through your site more.
Thank you in advance.
I’ve been on and off the sugar wagon for about five years. Although I’ve been struggling with sugar and carbs for a while took the start of health issues and unhelpful doctors for me to realize what the problem was. My sugar and carb sensitivity would often result in a kitchen full of homemaker sweets at 12am on a worknight, unnecessary trips to the store to buy a sugar fix, and difficulty focusing from a “fuzzy head”. Of course no one took me seriously when I self analyzed the problem, but after my first attempt to cut the sugars out of my life, I felt so good. I started focusing on healthy foods and eating well. There was a physical and emotional change in me. Unfortunately I’m not sure how I loose control, usually it’s around a birthday, or after I’ve been doing well for a while, I just know that 3 months ago I was sugar free for 6 months and now I’m eating sweets 3-5 times a day. I keep telling myself it’s just a little at a time, but it’s made me very self conscious, so much that I’m often sneaking bits when I know people won’t see me. I wish others would take this more seriously. It is a painful and embarrassing problem.
Im very gladdened to have found this site 🙂 Its what I've been looking for – its a gentle reminder to me., I appreciate your kind way out – I've tried the others – the gym, dieting, aerobics which are fine, but the way i implemented them, they were all a form of self punishment – very disciplinarian. About 5 years ago I went through a process of total self acceptance and lost so much weight because I was off sugar; it wasn't about losing weight, it was a byproduct. Then i forgot … and back came the critic. Reading your site has brought me back to this and the realisation. I appreciate that you don't go to war with your heart or bloggers either 😉 Looking forward to a new journey that sees listening to myself as honest and to hell with being labelled flaky or fussy – I choose me.
My body has reached a point where it becomes physically obvious to me when I have ingested so much sugar that I make myself sick. I binge on refined carbs and sugar and it is just a vicious cycle. I may slow down or cut back long enough to get a little better but then I am right back at it. I have been struggling with sugar addiction and being taken seriously. Alcoholism runs strong in my family . My stress level is very high, I have learned to cope with binge eating . I have gained so much weight I am now clinically obese. dispite trying to do this on my own with best intentions, I simply need more support. I am ready for this addiction to be taken much more seriously.
Jojo,
I am in total agreement with you. It is not taken seriously enough. It is not clearly understood and people are not sure how to approach or are just old fashioned thinking. This is NOT an exaggeration or our imagination! It is real and only those of us who have experienced it truly understand how serious it is. I have always prided myself for surviving a life bombarded with drug and alcohol and even nicotine addictions all around me. I was able to resist all of these things and never expected FOOD to be just as serious of an addiction! The mental aspect of this is devastating to me and the fact that I know i will be fighting this for the rest of my life just tears me up.
I wish you all the best of luck in your journey . Support from others who understand is definitely
a much needed tool to be successful!
Dear Lori,
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your story. I am sorry that you have been struggling, and that you haven't had the support you need. I wish I could wrap my arms around you and give you a big, big hug.
I care about your hurt and hope that you find support here, perhaps by starting with the knowledge that you're not alone.
If alcoholism runs in your family, you may want to read Kathleen des Maisons' work, as she explores the sugar-alcohol connection. I admire her work, and you can learn more about her at: http://www.radiantrecovery.com/
In love and support, Karly
You are so welcome, Lynne. I needed a gentle approach, too, so everything you read here is written first for me and my aching heart! I feel happy that the words I write to myself are helpful to you, too.
I love that you choose to love you!! I hear so much strength and wisdom in your words – I'm cheering you on every step of the way. I know you can do this.
In support and care,
Karly
Jojo,
It's difficult to care for ourselves when we don't have support from others. I know that can be so frustrating, and isolating. I hope this site helps by reassuring you that you're not alone and that sugar addiction isn't all in your head.
I've had to gently detach from the expectation that others should always understand me. To this day, there are people in my life who don't understand or approve of the fact that I don't eat sugar – and that's okay, because I approve; I understand. As a wise friend told me, "Can my own understanding be enough?" Can it be enough to act on my intuition, my internal guidance?
That is the task before so many of us.
I'm cheering you on Jojo!
In love and care, Karly
I smoked for 45 years and quit cold turkey and it was very, very hard. Sugar affects me the same way cigarettes used to and I need help understanding what is wrong with me?
Originally, I came to this site just to find sugar-free snack ideas. But then I started to read your other articles, and I realized that I am sugar sensitive. I had no idea! I can’t eat just one sugary thing without eating a lot and then way too much. It’s eye-opening, as well as sad, because I love sweets. It’s sounds nearly impossible to give up things like cookies and chocolate. I know that it would be better for me and a way to care for and love myself though (thank you for that). It just sounds impossible. It’s also tough to me to forgive and accept myself for overindulging so often on sweets. I have always blamed myself for not being able to stop and still do. It’s hard for me to accept the idea that it’s not my fault. Thank you for helping me to become better acquainted with myself and giving me the support I need to begin loving myself, for everything I am. This is going to be such a tough journey for me, and I thank you for the support you so readily offer. I also realized that I might be sensitive to wheat, because I crave it once I start eating it. I cannot even imagine giving up wheat. Any advice would be appreciated.
This is interesting. I feel like I struggle a lot with sugar and am sugar sensitive but, have refused full restriction. I have read Intuitive Eating and agree with their points and the way of living. If there is full restriction doesn't it make the human mind want it even more? I am interested in hearing your thoughts on how fully taking away sweets will not make you completely obsessed with them? Have you read Intuitive Eating? Would like to hear the rational of your thoughts in comparison to theirs.
Wow! I’m really feeling this site! I Came here because I finally realise I have a massive problem! All my diets fail and even if I lose a tiny bit of weight… its with eating a nice choc bar! I have loads of sugar in my tea (4 times a day). I do better for a week but then start again! In fact right now while I’m typing this … I feel like some sherbet sweets but they are at home and I’m at work so I can’t have them! I haven’t watched yr video yet – I will look later!
I’ve read on the site some folks wanted to get this sugar thing ‘beat’ by a certain age! well I’m 53 and I couldn’t even cure myself for age 45, or 50 and its just going on and on…. My sister got married 4 weeks ago. Some people came up to me to say I need to lose weight and to stop eating chocolate!! I was flabbergasted I mean I don’t even know them much! But deep in my heart I know it’s true! 4 weeks of dieting – and I still haven’t moved that dial! I now am jogging some evenings – still nothing! It has to be the sugar! Short of asking God for a miracle I can’t see me beating this terrible addiction!
Very interesting. I don’t like being the healthy proper person, I like the subversive. I’ve tried to quit sugar a few times; it’s never worked. I am especially good at baking and making sweet desserts, it’s one of my most favorite things to do. I love baking for others and sharing. It feels like I’m giving them and me a forbidden and yummy fruit.
I’ve tried substituting a healthy snack of grapes or fruit or even a walk or jog. Nothing works or gives me the happiness of doing something I am not “supposed” to do – that’s what is fun for me.
How can I have this in my life if I give up sugar? Is there any alternative for people like me?
Hi Ali,
Your feelings make a lot of sense and are quite common – especially with sugar and “healthy eating.” Many people feel subversive towards or want to rebel against what everyone else is doing. Or they may resist what experts tell them they should be eating.
These feelings arise from something called “counterwill,” which was coined by Otto Rank and taught to me by my mentor in developmental psychology, Dr. Gordon Neufeld. The essence of counterwill is this: we resist the feeling of being coerced or forced into something. As children we experience counterwill towards our parents and other caretaking or authority figures.
As we grow into adults, we can experience counterwill with authority figures, anyone we’re in relationship with, as well as internally, with ourselves. This can cause us to resist our own good intentions or desires – like eating a healthy diet – because of this feeling of “I should” or “I have to.”
It helps to have some humor about counterwill – especially as we all experience it.
I’ll be talking about counterwill in my new sugar program that’s coming out soon, The Yoga of Sugar. For now, I’ll share that the best way to care for counterwill is acceptance, openness, and kind relating: to give yourself lots of room for your feelings of resistance. And, at the same time, you don’t necessarily have to do what your resistance or counterwill tells you. You can have a relationship with it, where you choose to feel it, to make room for it, and to accept it, and yet not necessarily obey its pull. I know – that’s often easier said than done! 🙂
Here’s a few more links to help:
How to soften resistance
https://growinghumankindness.com/feeling-resistant/
How to eat less sugar without white knuckling it:
https://growinghumankindness.com/eat-less-sugar/
You say that in your 30’s, you gave up sugar and that worked as a “switch” for you.
Could you define/elaborate the extension of “giving up sugar”, and what that means to you?
Hi Maria,
Sure I can share what that looks like. For many years I tried to abstain from all forms of added sugar – things like sodas, candy, muffins, baked goods. I did eat some fruit or foods with natural sugars in them, like vegetables. That was what I needed at the time, as my relationship with sugar was compulsive, obsessive, and driven by need, anxiety, and an unrelenting desire for it.
Now I’m in my 40s, and during this 10 year span, my relationship with sugar has shifted, as I’ve grown, grieved, and been healed. I no longer feel such a compulsive drive to binge on sugar and my relationship to sugar (and to my addiction itself) has changed. A compulsion and obsession with sugar tends to go towards one of two poles – towards a desire to control the cravings/desire for sugar with abstinence or towards a desire to give in to the desire and to binge or eat as much sugar as one wants. In my experience, healing is integrating those two poles. What arises out of that integration is that the drive, the compulsion to binge on sugar (and the subsequent drive to control it) softens, mellows, and heals. Over time, sugar becomes, most of the time, a non-issue – it’s just not something you think about.
You start to “walk the maze of your life,” as one of my mentors describes it, where you learn through trial and error about what to eat without the fear of “I have to do this perfectly.” You allow the rigidity to soften and you start to understand what combinations of foods make your body feel good, and which don’t. You learn what too much sugar feels like and what too much rigidity feels like.
When you do think about it – when you feel fearful or anxious about sugar, you see it for what it is: a symptom of human vulnerability, a sign that something else is going on. This may be fear or anxiety or restlessness, it may be a time of transition or growth in your life. It is easy to project these greater feelings onto sugar, because that’s what brains do! But they are about so much more. So worry or fear or obsession about sugar becomes an opportunity to turn inwards, to bow to your vulnerability, and to care for it, rather than viewing it as something to eliminate, conquer or control. In other words, it becomes an opportunity to deepen your experience of life rather than focusing on the narrowness of “sugar.”
That is my path today. So today, I eat sugar. I had a small cup of chocolate ice cream on Saturday night after a night out with my husband. I enjoyed it, and savored it. Today is Tuesday; I haven’t had ice cream since because ice cream isn’t something I need to eat every day. Since that time I’ve had all sorts of a variety of foods – frittata, creamy millet, brussel sprouts with red onion, raw salads with cashews and a homemade creamy dressing, chicken tacoes, gaucamole, sauteed zucchini, grilled chicken thighs, baked yam fries, plantains, green beans, a bunless burger. That is how I eat today – a wide variety of foods, a wide variety of flavors….and in reality, not much ice cream! And yet at some point I will have another cup of ice cream when my body says yes. I don’t really know. I haven’t thought much about it.
With that being said, for many people, when they’re initially trying to heal their relationship with sugar, there is so much alarm, anxiety and out of control eating that they need the structure of abstinence or a riverbank (ie – a meal plan) to start the healing process. So that is where they start, and that is where I started. But in my experience, you don’t have to stay there.
Love, Karly
So, I’ve been having these sugar binges. I’ve been having them to a point where my skin literally hurts when its touched. I guess its called sugar aches. But when I do crave the “bad types of sugar” can I eat real natural sugars from fruit instead? Or should I just limit all sugars together? Should I follow a low carb or just eat more whole foods?
Hi Karly,
Thank you so much for the things you’ve written on your site. I appreciate the serious nature with which you address this issue. So many people laugh it off like “yeah I sure have a sweet tooth” or “im a sugarholic!” and they don’t realize the life or death nature of this issue. I’ve come to realize that I have to stop my sugar addiction now or I am in trouble.
I’m 34 years old and I believe I’ve been addicted since childhood. Images of sneaking into the kitchen for cookies and Little Debbie’s. Stuffing wrappers in places to hide them. Even recent memories of devouring four candy bars in secret on the way home from the grocery store.
I gained 60 lbs with my pregnancy and a year later have yet to lose all of the weight. Before having a baby I was able to maintain a fairly decent body with a crummy diet. I worked out regularly and would go long periods without eating. But now I can’t seem to lose my last 20 lbs and I know a lot of this has to do with me devouring sugar and simple carbs.
I’m even nervous it could impact my chances of conceiving again.
I’ve been sober from alcohol for over 3 years now. I recently learned about the connection between alcoholism and sugar addiction. I had an epiphany while reading some information that my alcoholism may be connected to a childhood addiction to sugar. Do you think this is possible or have you heard of this connection?
Sugar is definitely a drug and I am hooked! I’m on day two of kicking sugar but I’m doing it on my own with the daily support of websites like yours. Thank you!!
Molly
Hi Karly…. I realize these posts are old….but nevertheless I am still going to post a comment praying that you will respond as I am desperate for help. I have dealt with emotional eating for years because of the hurt in my life from my first husband whom I was married to for 30 years…. Very personal things that did a lot of damage to me as a woman and in the process I turn to food especially sugar for comfort… Long story short we divorced in 2000…. An 2007 the Lord put someone in my life that I had known for five or six years. I was never interested in him as someone to date but the Lord out of nowhere put us together and by May of 2008 we were married. He was the most romantic man…considerate man…thoughtful man… Loved all of my family… But most importantly love the Lord (I thought)…. Well that getting into all the personal trauma… I found out he was cheating on me…. Months later he walked out on me with no reason I am still to this day trying to understand what I did to deserve this… Since he left me I have gained 50 pounds and I am into sugar addiction because of the hurt and the rejection in my life. I have always been able to bounce back and be strong but this time I’m having a hard time… Please if you’re still there would you reach out to me and let me know about the website that you had mentioned above because I could not find it I am desperate for help I want to do this I have cried out for the Lord to help me and I hope that you will be part of that step. Blessings to you Karly I pray that you were doing well and still helping others !!!!! Ang-
Dear Angie,
Thank you for writing and sharing your story. It sounds like you’ve been through some painful experiences – yes, the residue and pain of relationship betrayals and wounding can certainly underlie emotional eating, sugar clinging, and overeating.
As for the websites I’ve mentioned above, here are some links. First, here’s where you can find more information about Kathleen des Maison’s work and site, Radiant Recovery, on healing a sugar addiction: http://radiantrecovery.com/
The other links are to previous/older websites of mine – First Ourselves and Sugaraddictionbook.com.
If you’re wanting to find the Binge Rescue worksheet, it’s a part of the Overeating course that you can find here: https://growinghumankindness.com/overeating-support/
These articles may also be helpful to you – https://growinghumankindness.com/binge-cry-connection/
https://growinghumankindness.com/healing-sugar-binge/
Warmly, Karly
I am very happy to find this site. I am drawn to your kind and loving approach. I’m a very emotional person and let everything get to me, which isn’t the best I know.
I have been a sugar addict since I can remember. I would sneak sugary treats and eat them when nobody is watching. Actually, I still do that. In the past few years my sugar addiction has really taken over my life and I am at my highest weight of 300 lbs. I am only 5’3.
Since my daughter was born in 2012 we found out she is developmentally delayed and only began talking at the age of 5. She also is very hyperactive and is a very difficult child. I love her and want to help her, but I get so much anxiety daily from her bad behavior that it seems like I have taken comfort in sweets.
I feel so ashamed, embarrassed and fed up with this sugar addiction. It’s like it has taken over my life and controls me. I also can no longer do certain activities with my husband and family due to my size.
Sorry for the rant but I do not have anyone that understands that I can talk to. I look forward to exploring the forum and site.
Thank you for the advice! I really appreciate that you didn’t say: ‘Just stop eating sugar’. In fact, it’s a really complex process, I think deeply connected to our emotions. So big thanks for recognising that it’s a process not an event
Hi Aleksandra, thank you for writing! Yes, for many people, changing their relationship with sugar is a process, and can be a complex and patient one because of the ways sugar is meeting so many needs. This is such an important point!
You might like this post, as it speaks to this idea. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts!
https://growinghumankindness.com/binge-cry-connection/