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?
Has anyone tried the electroceuticals treatment.
My experience. Been drinking for 15 years. In 2011 I decided to stop drinking for a year (goal). It was hard at first. Drinking juice and going to bed early helped. After 2 months I got use to it and didn’t have the cravings anymore.
Thank you, I noticed this, I am not an alcoholic, but I gave up sugar and was eating low carb and started severely craving red wine to the point I was smelling it…it scared me…sadly I startrd eating sugar again….but I am not craving alcohol now I have to re detox off sugar and then I will follow your advice..
I am in early recovery. And I simply cannot get a decent amount of sobriety time in. I went to rehab, and thought I was going to be a winner. Well, seems I can’t get past a week…and I get urges, that I cave in to. Yes, I go to AA, yes I have a very supportive family…
This is an interesting topic to me though, as I drink instead of eating. I think it’s time to get myself on a better dietary plan…starting with breakfast. I am praying that it will help. To those of you who pray…please help. I have been asking God to please help me….
Hi all just wanted to say very cool site ! Have been a highly functioning dependent for at least 20 years now and am finally addressing it. Am trying the moderation approach , have challenged myself to stick to the recommended guidelines for alcohol consumption for one month. This consists of an average of two (pitifully small) standard drinks a day, 1 -2 alcohol free nights per week and never more than 4 standard drinks in one day. One standard drink is a piddly 100 ml of wine. Since iwas drinkIng a minimum of half a bottle on a light day and a full bottle or more on a bad day for 20 years . 2 standard drinks seemed dauntingly small, and taking a night off virtually unheard of! however am on week two now and going strong. I had 3 nights off in the first week and averaged 1.4 standard drinks a day over the week. I am basically running my own self management program . I did a quiz about how I was feeling physically and mentally before I started( just one I found on the net!)and inplkan to take that quiz again when I complete my first month of moderation and see if things have improved. But already I know this is really good for me. I am performing better in all areas of my life. I have more energy, my mind is eating , I ammore emotionally stable and a much better mum. Yay!
My cravings are worse around 5 pm , partly because this is usually wine o clock
for me and my body clock is set to crave at this time but I also think that the blood sugar theory has a lot of credibility. I find if I eat my main meal early at 5 pm my alcohol cravings subside almost entirely . I think that somewhere in my
diet crazy 20′s I swapped night time food for alcohol and that a lot of my drinking has been about satisfying hunger cravings. Anyway still going strong on moderation plan and will look into the supplements recommended hereand keep onto my early dinners to avoid that wine witching hour! Wish me luck.
Your story/method sounds much like mine. Blood sugar is wacky, I make myself eat, I was in a routine of no breakfast lunch at 11, and drinks at 5 till about 6 or 7, then eat anything available. Anyways this interesting to read- but I craved wine at 5! Lol.
Agree 100%, 5 pm is the time….I leave the office and by the time I am home , 1/2 hr later, I am craving alcohol…started eating something like piece of whole meal bread….it works, craving goes…and if you add a big glass of water, your stomach is full for an hour or two, just in time for dinner !!
Hi
First time here. What do they say about strength in numbers???I already feel better knowing that someone is there. I don’t know at what point I became an alcoholic. Obviously none of us woke up one day and said “jeez I think I want to be a drunk”. Reading your comments was as thou I had written them myself. I have been sober before for good periods of time. I have recently (as recent as 24 hours) come of a binge. I had my dearest friend video tape and photograph me while i was coming off my drunk. NOT PRETT TO SAY THE LEAST. I hope to use this “reminder” as a place I do not want to go. I will take a look at my diet and corresponding cravings to see the correlation . I think I might start today with some cranberry juice(sans vodka) Stay strong and sober..and THANKS!
Feels good to know I’m not alone. I’m at such a low point and I know it has to stop. I don’t want to go to AA meetings because then it will just be all too real… but it’s probably what I need to do. I’m going to look more into the supplements. I’ve been blacking out so much lately, making stupid decisions, and probably doing a number on my body. I feel so terrible, like a weak, pathetic shell of a person. I have these moments of clarity where I realize I need to get help, I do some research and know what I have to do.. but then somehow it’s all out the window and I’m drunk once again. Such a pitiful existence. I wish I could hold onto this state of mind; it’s morning, my body and mind are calm. But as the day wears on I know I’ll have to deal with the demons and somehow they’re always stronger.
Hello I feel the same in the mornings say to my self that’s it going to have a night off .buy lunch time demons set in might just have a few to night be good and cut back then get stressed out had a bad day at work get bang on it or sod it the suns out it a nice day I’ll cut back tomorrow always tomorrow .have to break this bastard
Hi gang,
I have replaced food with alcohol. I now have this really bad pain in my right side of my back. I wonder if it is too late. ??
If your liver was no longer functioning, it generally doesn’t hurt, but you might vomit, get water retention and you would certainly turn yellow in the whites of your eyes. Considering you feel it in the back of you, it could be a pulled muscle or your kidney if it’s just below your rib cage. Have you ever had a urinary tract infection before? The bacteria from an untreated UTI can go up to your kidneys causing kidney pain. Which makes them toxic and it can kill you if left untreated. No matter what it could be, you should definitely get it checked out by a doctor just to make sure. Do you get plenty of water each day?
Good for you quitting alcohol, sorry to hear you now have a food problem. There are many support groups for over eating.
I am not a doctor, but I’ve watched someone close to me get very sick and lose their liver, and have had a UTI that went into my kidneys.
You most likely have gastritis or the begining of an ulcer. The pain in the stomach irradiates through your back.
I WENT 5 MONTHES WITHOUT DRINKING AND HAD A SLIP LAST FRIDAY. TONIGHT THE CRAVINGS ARE INCREDIBLE AND I AM SO AFRAID TO GET BACK ON THE WRONG TRACK.I WONDER IF MY SLIP HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH TODAYS CRAVINGS …IM SO SAD!
I think I am finally really sober, meaning I have changed my life a lot. Got rid of a bad relationship, started eating breakfast-this was hard for me-and drinking lots of water.
I notice less craving the more protein I eat.
I still go to some AA meetings because I like the fellowship. Oh and exercise is good too. I have two lively dogs.
Good Luck to all, LizK
Hi all,i came across this site and in all honesty was lol at the Sugar craving part,I’m an Alcoholic and have been Alcohol free for nearly a year.
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Sugar cravings are my new addiction pffft!!! my addictive nature ;-D.
I gave up the Booze because i noticed i was using it as a substitute for everything in my life,i had a drink for every occasion and every emotion.
I am currently at that time of my cycle that i really want to eat as much sugar as i can get my sticky hands on “rolling eye’s”,but at least i don’t mistake it for a need to drink alcohol.
I joined A.A and have read Lot’s of books on any addiction out there and to all that have come to this site for an insight into your addictions i commend you on raisin your self awareness to this mind altering illness as some go on for years in denial,Lu good luck with the grapes
I was thinking the same thing and came across this web site again …. sugar levels down at the end of a working day and what better than a cold glass of wine then a bottle then two….tastes good but does no good to all around you and now to replace it with something I just read grapes eat lots of grapes all the time …. might give it a try being grape season.
[...] suffer from this problem because when they stop drinking they also stop the massive intake of sugar in booze. If you’re drinking most of the time you don’t eat and so you will grab a mars [...]
Hi, I went to the doctors the other day as i fear i will continue to ruin my life… she told me to go too aa but i dont think that wil help…I crave drink like im starving…Ill get home fom work and im starved off it..I am much better when i go to the gym but still if i dont go or have a night off drink i end up binge drinking and i just cant stop once i get started. I am normally such a grounded nice person but drinking somtimes can turn me into a monster and makes me feel so depressed. I have been drinking since i was 13 heavily..i have pushed people i love away..but this doesnt stop me and i wonder what it wil take for me to stop..i just cant. I want to be able to be normal be able to stop at a couple and not need to drink. Once I get paid i wll buy the blood sugar supplments. Has anyone got any other advice, If you met me you probabaly have no idea i have been battleing this for yrs. my father was an alcoholic. I have a very addictive personality. I am a vegetarian so maybe my protien is low? Im so happy my sister sent me this web link because i can get help. Thank you
I happened upon this website because a friend had posted something about the link between alcoholism and blood sugar. OK…I don’t know enough about nutrition to argue the point. What I do want to say, is, if true, that just touches upon the physical aspect of alcoholism. And it DOES make sense if you take the alcohol away, your body is going to crave SOMETHING to take its place. Alcoholism also affects one mentally and spiritually. Sure, keeping the body healthy is certainly important, but one’s outlook needs to be considered too. I reccomend attending AA meetings for support, and they are a great place to go to for answers, of all kinds.
Hi Sarah,
STAY STRONG SARAH, you and me, we CAN DO IT!!!!!
wow I read what you wrote and I thought I was the one who wrote it. I feel exactly the same way. Coming home or even on the way home, I would stop and get me a bottle. Just in order to relaxe, at first, then I would start cooking and leave the house again for the second bottle. And while I am doing it I start hating myself for being so damn weak. Every single day before I go to bed and first thing in the morning I swear that I will NOT drink again. If you would see me on the street or at my workplace you would never ever think that I am a drunk. I am so disgusted with myself. I told my relatives but for some reason they think I am dumm because I dont stop. They don’t know how I really feel about myself and how much I hate myself for being so weak. Enough said for today. Oh – I did not drink today
Hi Heidi,
I hope you go on here and see this, I see it’s been a while since this post. I just want to encourage you to keep on trying and keep on believing you can succeed. I am right where you are, and trying myself. Maybe we are people who feel or care too much, I don’t know it helps me unwind too, wish I had a better way though.
I’m very normal student I go to school fulltime work part time but when i drink i turn into a horrible person , everyone says im like dr jeckle and mr hyde , then when i do drink i start with a 6 pack and some smokes then after im done i go back to the store for like 9 more beers, till i pretty much pass out , usually if im drinking in public i have most likely done somthing stupid or embaressing and i want a drink first thing in the morning, my binge drinking has gotten worse now and lasts up to 5 days, I have lost like 10 or more jobs, its the new year and i have decided to quit smoking and drinking i will do this by controlling my blood sugar level with l glutamine since i have read up so much on it. I just have a quick question for anyone who can help since im qutting drinking now what do i do if i get invited to an event where there is drinking , or if i make a new friend and he goes hey lets go grab a beer ??? my plan was gona be to say sorry i dont drink im taking some medication and doctor says i cant drink on it .. but any other ideas???
Hi Sarah,
Hope this note finds you well as you reminded me of me. AA works, give it a shot and learn a little about alcoholism. You can drink if you choose to but give yourself a break and learn. Immediate pay raise and physical well being. Good luck, help is all around.
Carl
I used to drink a couple of bottles of wine a day. Well every other day but when I did drink it was 1/2 of a box. I never really ate. I have been without wine for a week and I don’t even crave it. I would be foolish to say I wasn’t addicted to it, but I always knew I could stop drinking it when i wanted to (I didn’t want to until now). Anyways. I am having serious food cravings now. I also have insomnia (my reason to drink was to go to sleep) and I will take 30 min to an hour naps during the night. Everytime I wake up I need to have some thing to eat. I haven’t stopped eating for a whole week now. How do I offset the food cravings that I didn’t have when I was drinking. I am eating myself out of house and home.
Hi..wondering how you are doing with the constant eating after giving up wine…I just gave it up too (drank as much as you do) and can’t stop eating ..grrrrrrr
I stumpled onto this site by doing further research on blood sugar and diet. I have read “Little sugar addicts” by a dr. in NM at a drug/alcohol rehab, was looking for a way to change eating habits for children and behavior issues. Found the information very helpful and after cross-refrencing found it also works for even alcoholics. My other half will not admit he has a problem and probably won’t even after hitting bottom but I won’t give up.
I will try this new lifestyle and he is ok with it because I mentioned how it is/will benefit the kids and will help him without having to tell him. Just have to keep journal so I can see what works and doesn’t.
Like the others I too am thankful to have found this site. I’ve recently given up drinking. It was getting out of hand. Ever since though I have found myself eating sweets several times a day, actually craving them. I recently wondered if perhaps I was craving sugar because of not drinking any more. I wondered if my body was trying to replace the carbs and sugars in the alcohol and the beer I drank with the sugar in sweets. I was drinking quite a bit and almost every night. This site has given me the answer.
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.
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
Corinne is so right. I finally started taking Metformin (for PCOS), and the medication effectively controls blood sugar in a way I haven’t been able to. Immediately, I was able to cut out most of my alcohol intake — I had been drinking two beers or glasses a night, at minimum, and much more socially, so that it had become a problem — and I drastically cut back on smoking. Only then did I draw the concrete connection between the “way” I drink, which had been worsening, and the hypoglycemia/insulin resistance I hadn’t realized I had. Obviously a pill won’t “cure” out-of-control drinking, but if the root cause has anything to do with blood sugar, oh, boy, it can sure help. If a prescription pill isn’t an option, I have read that incessantly drinking cranberry juice really helps maintain a steady blood sugar, which helps if you’re trying to detox from cigarettes.
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.
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.
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
Wow, that sounds like a great idea. I am suffering from severe alcohol cravings and consumption after Gastric bypass. I was not given any info about the increase in alcohol desire before hand. They just said the sugar might cause problems. Well I am battling severe alcoholic cravings and have just begun to learn about diet management and supplements.
I really need to find a support group such as yours here in MI. I have tried AA but feel the religious overtones and the continuous berating of one self to be counter productive. Is there any alternative?
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.
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.
MY PROBLEM IS THAT WHEN I DRINK HEAVY(USUALLY AT HOME)I CANNOT CONTROL MY FOOD INTAKE. IT’S ALMOST LIKE BINGE EATING.
Gina »
Kudzu is the most effective, side-effect free, herbal extract for reducing your alcohol intake.
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…
L glutamine (amino acid) works wonderfully to reduce cravings for alcohol. Limited time tonight but wanted to reply. Google it and you will find good info and research that supports what I am saying.
good to get the facts, the best way to logically overcome it