Sugar in recovery from addiction.

It's pretty natural to start a love affair with sugar when we break up with booze. It’s a bittersweet relationship, unhealthy yet supportive. Our draw to sugar usually happens for a number of reasons:

~ we’re missing our usual dopamine hit, and sugar does a stellar job of taking alcohol's place
~ we no longer have sugar from alcohol in our bloodstream
~ we’re used to reaching for something to manage our cravings
~ it gives us something to do physically
~ it ‘fills the void’ mentally

Even though we need to be mindful of addiction transference (replacing one addiction with another) the good news is the sugary cravings don’t last forever. In the very early days, allow yourself whatever you need to feel better. My sweet lover was fridge-cold peanut M&Ms, and they were a godsend at the time. Having a short love affair with sugar is still healthier for you than drinking. When recovery is underway, you can deal with nutrition and eating healthily.