Day Four Sober Holidays - 'Tis the Season - to Eat Sweets!

One tip I learned in my first year of sobriety was to eat sweets and carbs to curb my cravings for a drink. That was pretty easy to do since for the first time in my life, once I got sober I developed a sweet tooth. A REALLY big sweet tooth.

With all the cookies being baked around the world this time of year I decided to make this Tip Number Four. T'is the season after all!

What is it about sweets that helps with cravings? Well, a lot of alcoholic drinks have sugar in them. Sweeter wines and mixed drinks have higher levels - mixed drinks because of the mixes of sodas and juices that are high in sugars. When you stop drinking, your body starts craving the sugar its deprived of. That's why sugary cookies and candies help with cravings.

Side note: There's a myth that alcohol becomes sugar in our bodies. What really happens is that alcohol spikes the blood levels so they go on a roller coaster of high and low levels.

The early founders of AA - Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob - knew about the sugar connection and promoted sweets in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous back in the 1930s:

“One of the many doctors who had the opportunity of reading this book in manuscript form told us that the use of sweets was often helpful, of course depending upon a doctor’s advice. He thought all alcoholics should constantly have chocolate available for its quick energy value at times of fatigue. He added that occasionally in the night a vague craving arose which would be satisfied by candy. Many of us have noticed a tendency to eat sweets and have found this practice beneficial.”

So, if you're at a holiday party and see a tray of drinks heading your way across the room, just turn in any direction and look for a cookie - any gingerbread man or fruitcake will do. Or, carry a candy cane or other candy in your pocket as a backup.

Replacing alcohol - and even drug addiction - with candy is a useful tool in your recovery toolbox. However, try not to let candy or sweets become a new addiction. I'm three and a half years sober and my sweet tooth is still really active, so 2024 is my year to wean off my sugar crutch. I want to be physically as healthy as possible.

BUT for any newly sober person reading this - don't worry about the sugar right now. Have your cake - eat it - enjoy it! You're sober and that's the most important thing! I'm going to enjoy my sweets for another couple of weeks too! We're in this together.

Tomorrow is Tip Five and I MAY also do a live video!