Low blood sugar levels cause alcohol cravings
One of the things that can easily induce a craving for alcohol is low blood sugar. This can occur after a ‘rush’ of simple carbohydrates (sugar, processed wheat etc.), blood sugar levels quickly increase, then decrease again just as sharply.
It can also occur if you haven’t eaten anything for a long time - so don’t let yourself get too hungry!
The craving comes about because your body associates drinking alcohol with lots of quickly available carbohydrates, and that’s what it asks you for. So the one thing you need to do when you’re cutting down your alcohol intake, is keep your blood sugar levels fairly balanced.
You can prevent the low blood sugar, and hence the craving, by not eating so much sweet or processed food. Eat more fibre-rich whole foods, like wholemeal or granary bread, muesli or granola, fruit instead of chocolate (sorry!). And don’t forget those sugar-packed fizzy drinks, they’ve got to go too.
So next time you get a craving for alcohol, eat something instead - you’ll be amazed at how quickly that craving disappears. Just make it something healthy though, OK?
July 10th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
good to get the facts, the best way to logically overcome it
July 20th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
What a brilliant website - I too am trying to cut back on drinking, two bottles of wine a day is my problem - does anyone know of any herbal remedies to take away the craving…
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:13 am
Gina »
Kudzu is the most effective, side-effect free, herbal extract for reducing your alcohol intake.
September 25th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
MY PROBLEM IS THAT WHEN I DRINK HEAVY(USUALLY AT HOME)I CANNOT CONTROL MY FOOD INTAKE. IT’S ALMOST LIKE BINGE EATING.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I have an alcoholic partner, and the only way to help him is to 1st get the bread and the grain out of the house…. Bread brings on his cravings, maybe because it increases Candida. maybe yeast & sugar in bread ferments into alcohol. 2nd increase his protien in diet which lowers cravings and increases blood sugars while supporting liver. Fish (tinned if it has to be) meat and vegetables, little fried foods, no sugar or processed foods, kick starts the liver!!!! There are different types of alcoholics, some are high histamine types, some have low blood sugar and the other types, inclusing one that is an allergy type, i.e. allergic to alcohol, wheat, sugar, etc.
I am a binge eater myself, and I do not drink alcohol, but did attend AA for binge eating once. I find the only way I can control the binge eating is to stay off meat, and everything else but chick peas, fish, potato, some figs, all vegetables but no friut as yet. Tests have shown I am high in progesterone, leading too depression and comfort eating. Meat encourages problem, by giving more off the wrong sort of hormones and zinc which stimulates appetite and fat that stresses liver in some. Although meat normally helps liver… liver needs protein to rebuild. Milk thistle, dandelion, artichoke, and some others helps detox and rebuild liver, BUT diet is most important.
Love sent to you.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
l-glutamine an amino acid has proven effective with alcohol cravings. also a chromium supplement can help as well with blood sugar issues. eating lots of small meals throughout the day, and lots of protein, also seem to help with blood sugar/ alcohol cravings.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
i’ve started an informal non-profit org. at my home. its called the sweet smell of sobriety. its an alternative to aa 12 step. at our gatherings twice a week we only work on the positive. no labels, just the originals we were given .mom ,dad, sister, brother.,im sure you get it. we serve no coffee, no sugar. just fresh fruit juices,bananas and peanuts. thank you for this website it has helped to make us all stronger………………carla
February 26th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
So glad I found this website. My drinking a 40 oz beer nightly, and two each weekend day has stopped as of Sunday. That was the first day I’ve not had alcohol since a few days in Nov., but been going on most of my life. This is the first time I’ve been able to tell anyone this, in an anonymous setting.
Still, I don’t believe I’m alcoholic, like my father and past boyfriends. I believe it’s my poor diet and stress that makes me try to find solace in beer. And, it acts as a stimulant to me when I have no energy, yet had to remodel house myself to sell it. Tons of painting, ripping up old floors; beer gave me the energy to do it. I am stopping now because I am creating a new life, a slimmer, healthier me. It helps that I have a major goal of moving to a better city.
I wonder, when I stopped, how it is affecting my body; I was so anxious Monday and last night I laid awake for hours, had migraine, shaky, nauseous, weepy. Blood sugar? Am I detoxing even from this small amount of alcohol?
Thank you so much for being here.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I have a partner who is going through dificulties with alcohol and has endangered our small business and our relationship. He is a lovely person. kind, generous and gentle, he just can’t control the drinking.
I would just like to say to any relatives of dependent people. You may have to be brave and take hard steps to help your relative or friend. I am still supporting my husband but I have asked him go to live somewhere else and enrol for rehab as a condition of my continued support. Only when he has proved that he can remain sober will I allow him to come home. I have to be firm because if he thinks that I am not resolute it definately won’t work. He wants his home and his relationship and doesn’t want to end up in the gutter so I’m hoping that he has the courage now to do it.
Good luck to all those relatives and friends who are trying to help loved ones.
July 4th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Hello,
I work as a Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist. Also wrote a book on Amazon called Feed Your Need. Controlling blood sugar is INCREDIBLY helpful as a method for cutting both food cravings and alcohol cravings. There are powerful appetite centers in the brain that are triggered when STEEP angle changes occur to blood sugar levels. There’s no question that there’s a genetic component to these STEEP and sudden changes. Not everyone experiences them. In any case, if you’d like to know more, please read the CC7 tab at CraveCut.com. This work is my calling, not just my “business.” My father died as an untreated alcoholic and the amount of suffering that this disorder causes is nothing short of horrific. All that suffering, due to lack of the CORRECT information. Such a waste. Even if you choose NOT to use this CC7 supplement (and I list it here because someone specifically ASKED, on this thread … and if you enter code 777 … you can have it for half price) … I strongly recommend learning how to control blood sugar levels. Read Feed Your Need, or Mastering the Zone, or Protien Power, or any other good low carb book. Remember that essential fats are also critical in managing alcohol cravings. Best to all, Corinne