Sugar Cravings After Quitting Alcohol: What You Need to Know

Abstaining from alcohol is a clear step in the right direction for your health and wellbeing. But quitting alcohol can also elicit some unexpected side effects, such as a strong craving for sugar. As a former drinker who has been in recovery for years, I can confirm that when you give up alcohol, you can expect your appetite for sugar to rise dramatically. If you stopped drinking and started eating a lot of sweets, you might be wondering why that happened. Understanding why can help you navigate your recovery path with greater ease.

When you drink alcohol regularly, your body gets used to certain processes, including how it regulates blood sugar. Alcohol affects your metabolism, often leading to blood sugar spikes and crashes. So, when you stop drinking, your body can struggle to find a new balance. This disruption can make you crave sugar as a quick fix, since sugar also triggers the release of dopamine—the feel-good hormone that alcohol once provided.

But you’re not alone in this experience. Many individuals face similar cravings after quitting alcohol, and understanding the reasons behind them can help you manage the transition more effectively. In this article, we’ll break down the biological and psychological factors that contribute to sugar cravings, making it easier for you to recognize what’s happening in your body and mind.

We’ll also provide you with tangible tips for coping with those cravings, which will help you satisfy your sweet tooth in healthier ways that can in turn support your recovery process.

And you’ll be introduced to a natural dietary supplement called GlucoTrust, which can help balance your blood sugar levels. Adding GlucoTrust to your recovery plan will help you get a handle on those bothersome sugar cravings, and keep you on the path to being your healthiest self. Let’s dive in.

Why Sugar Cravings Happen After Quitting Alcohol

The Biological Basis of Sugar Cravings

When a person stops drinking, these changes come into play as the body acclimates to the absence of alcohol. Alcohol itself has a profound impact on blood sugar, as it inhibits normal glucose metabolism. While drinking, blood sugar can fluctuate wildly, to the point where it almost becomes addictive due to the energy that it provides. When alcohol is removed, this creates a state of imbalance which is often met with a craving for sugar.

The brain’s reward system is central here. Alcohol causes the release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that gives us that ‘high’ sense of pleasure or reward, and over time creates a kind of dopamine deficit. Once alcohol is gone, the brain might seek another dopamine stimulus. Sugar, which serves the same purpose, jumps up eagerly to fill the breach. That’s when things can get nasty, as cravings surge.

Psychological Factors

Psychological and neurochemical factors also play a crucial role in sugar cravings, especially during alcohol recovery. We all know that when you quit drinking, you get a raging case of the cravings. I know I certainly did. It turns out that, according to brain-research scientists, the cravings are there because the brain is looking for a replacement for the alcohol. Alcohol is a powerful neurotransmit hit. When you stop, the brain starts looking for a substitute hit, and the closest it can get is sugar, since this mimics, in the short term, the sensations of alcohol. What researchers found was that cravings for sugar would spike for those in recovery.

A 2010 study in the National Library of Medicine showed that alcohol-dependent individuals often have a strong preference for sweet foods, possibly because thiamine, a vitamin integral to sugar metabolism, is depleted. When the body has a shortage of this substance, it can spur the need for sugar-based foods to replace the lost energy, and cause floods of dopamine to flow through the reward centres of the brain. Looking for a fix, the nucleus accumbens lights up, fuelled by the sugar. It is, as Ostlund explains, ‘exactly the same reward system that would have been active when they drank alcohol’. 

Besides these biochemical triggers, emotional and psychological factors such as stress and anxiety worsen these cravings. During alcohol withdrawal, many people turn to sugar because it’s a mood booster, an easy solution to help alleviate these negative feelings. Research has shown that alcohol withdrawal is often related to increased cravings for sugar because the brain tries to adapt to the alcohol-free state, and because alcohol and sugar both influence mood through blood-sugar changes.

Understanding these neurochemical and psychological mechanisms is essential for managing cravings during recovery.

Ways to Manage Sugar Cravings

Sugar cravings suck. Sugar cravings right after quitting drinking? Even worse. Here’s how to deal with them in a healthy way.

1. Balanced Diet

First sentence: Ensure balanced meals to help cope with cravings and get your body the nutrients it needs for recovery. Second sentence: Blood sugar levels will remain stable.

A diet of complex carbs, healthy fats and proteins helps to keep blood sugar levels on an even keel and also makes cravings feel less necessary.

Foods to Include

• Complex Carbs: Whole-grains (brown rice, quinoa), legumes and starchy veggies (sweet potatoes) provide long-lasting energy.

•Healthy Fats: Avocados, nuts, and seeds support satiety and overall health.

• Protein: lean meats, fish, eggs, vegetable protein, all will balance out your blood sugar and keep you full.

Foods to Avoid

• Refined Sugars: Sugary treats, sweets, candy and carb-heavy processed foods can quickly increase your blood sugar resulting in a big ‘crash’, which can lead to an increased craving for more sugar.

• Highly processed foods: Fast foods and most snacks are full of unhealthy fats and sugars that can cause greater cravings over time.

2. Healthy Substitutes

Preamble: Using healthier alternatives to sugar can remedy cravings and avoid blood sugar spikes that can lead to fatigue and mood swings.

Opting for nutritious substitutes can be beneficial in managing cravings effectively.

Suitable Substitutes

• Fruit: If you have a craving for something sweet, fresh or dried fruit such as berries or bananas will deliver natural sugar plus vitamins and fibre.

• Sugar-Free Snacks: Yoghurt, nut butter or dark chocolate (75 per cent cocoa or higher) are good options for satisfying your sweet tooth while also getting a dose of healthy fats.

* Natural Sweeteners: Stevia or monk fruit extract can add sweetness to drinks and recipes without sugar added calories.

3. Hydration

Preamble: The key to controlling cravings can be as easy as staying hydrated, because sometimes thirst is mistaken for hunger.

Possible reason for snacking: you’re actually thirsty.

Staying hydrated helps to avoid confusing thirst with hunger or indeed a desire for sugar.

Tips for Increasing Water Intake

• Bring a Water Bottle: It’s easier to sip water if you have it nearby.

• Set Reminders: Use phone apps or alarms to remind yourself to drink water regularly.

• Flavour water: Add slices of lemon or cucumber to your water to give it a little flavour. That way you’ll drink more of it.

4. Exercise

Preamble: Exercise every day, even those of you who consider yourselves unathletic. It will help you control your cravings and will strengthen your body. It is a natural way to keep your hormones in balance and become more sensitive to insulin.

Physical activity reduces sugar cravings and mood swings, and helps to keep energy levels constant throughout the day.

Recommended Types of Exercise

• Cardiovascular Activities: Walking, running, cycling or swimming strengthen your cardiovascular system and can aid in blood sugar control.

• Strength Training: Lifting weights or using resistance bands builds muscle mass, which increases glucose utilisation.

•Yoga and Stretching: These practices promote relaxation and can help reduce stress-induced cravings.

5. Mindfulness and Stress Management

Binge-eating might be a response to stress. Learning ways to cope with this stress can help manage not just the need to binge-eat, but also stress itself. Mindful practices can help you manage stress and curb compulsive eating.

Implementing mindfulness techniques can be beneficial for managing emotional cravings associated with quitting alcohol.

Mindfulness Practices

• Meditation: Five minutes a day is enough to lower stress and improve your ability to watch, rather than react to, cravings.

•Straightforward Breathing Exercises: Breathe in through your nose for the count of four and out through your mouth for the same count of four. Practice this daily, especially when you are stressed or can’t relax.

• A free-way jam or the popcorn stand at the movies is not where you want to engage in deep breathing. Practice eating sweets in a quiet place and replace them with breathing later on. • You can achieve control over emotional eating with practice.

•Journaling: This can be a great way to delve into your triggers and feelings. You can identify your cravings to prevent them, learning healthier ways to deal with them.

How GlucoTrust Can Help

The use of natural supplements, particularly for blood sugar (glucose) levels and subsequent cravings, can be crucial for a healthy recovery – especially in the rebalancing of the body’s previously alcohol-stressed system. When one is in the process of quitting, blood sugar balance can be seriously unbalanced, causing a rapid and intense urge for sweets. GlucoTrust is specifically formulated to help the body cope with these cravings by balancing blood sugar and assisting in the transition to a healthy dietary pattern of recovery.

Key Ingredients and Their Benefits

• Gymnema Sylvestre: One of the most popular herbs for cravings, Gymnema Sylvestre helps to block the absorption of sugar in the gut, which can be very helpful when you are giving up alcohol, as cravings for sugar are often heightened at this time. By preventing the absorption of sugar, the herb helps to prevent blood sugar spikes and therefore also helps to keep cravings under control.

• Biotin: A B-vitamin that’s essential to metabolism because it helps your cells convert food into energy. It’s helpful for balancing blood sugar when you’re dealing with cravings after giving up alcohol.

• Chromium: This trace mineral makes cells more sensitive to insulin, thereby helping the body process glucose more efficiently. Stable blood sugar levels also help to curb cravings and moodiness, which can occur during detoxification. This is a good supplement for those whose blood sugar tends to fluctuate.

•Cinnamon: A common ingredient in blood sugar support formulas, cinnamon has been demonstrated to improve insulin sensitivity and blood glucose levels. It also has anti-inflammatory properties that may help to support cardiovascular health, a potential key in long-term recovery.

How GlucoTrust Supports Recovery

GlucoTrust is intended to be taken at night to complement a healthy diet and lifestyle change. Since the blood sugar tends to be the most ‘out of control’ at night anyway, if you have a diet that does not promote stable blood sugar, GlucoTrust will help to stabilise it overnight. This way, you will experience less severe ups and downs in blood sugar, and consequently, less severe sugar cravings. Sugar cravings can be especially severe for people who have recently stopped drinking because alcohol is metabolised by the body and stopped almost immediately. When someone stops drinking, the body tends to replace alcohol with another quick energy source such as sugar.

The benefits of GlucoTrust go beyond just supporting blood sugar levels, but also helps one maintain cholesterol and blood pressure to a healthy level; in essence, it appears to be a more comprehensive remedy. GlucoTrust works synergistically with dietary modifications, exercise and medications to support your blood sugar levels and your journey to wellness post acute care.

While adopting a natural diet and supplements can be key support in helping you get your sugar cravings under control and keep your energy levels stable, sometimes your body needs a little extra help to get it there. This is why a supplement like GlucoTrust can be really helpful in accelerating your journey back to natural blood sugar and helping you recover without the energy roller-coaster effect.