Sugar Cravings with Steph

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Steph: Welcome to another episode of the reframeable podcast, a podcast that brings you people's stories and ideas about how we can work to reframe our relationship. Not just with alcohol, but with stress, anxiety, relationships, enjoyment, and so much more because changing our relationship with alcohol is about so much more than just changing the contents of our glass.

This podcast is brought to you by the Reframe app. Reframe is the number one iOS and Android app to help you cut back or quit drinking alcohol. It uses neuroscience to reframe your relationship with alcohol and unlock the healthiest, happiest you. My name is Steph Prangley. I'm a nutritional therapy practitioner with a virtual private practice called The Sober Rebellion.

And I'm also a recovery coach here at ReFrame. My co host is Kevin Bellack. Kevin is a certified professional recovery coach [00:01:00] and the head of coaching at the reframe app. And it's just me on the mic today. I'm talking about sugar cravings and the link with alcohol use. I hope to start doing more of these bite sized episodes related to nutrition, health and wellness and alcohol recovery.

So if you have any questions about that or anything else you want us to cover on the podcast. Go ahead and email us at podcast at reframe app. com, or if you're a reframe user, when you're in the app, you can shake your phone and a little prompt will, will come up where it says, give us some feedback and you can, uh, type in your suggestion there.

So today, we're going to talk about those pesky sugar cravings. I'm going to go over what's happening physiologically in the body when we reduce or eliminate alcohol and how that translates to sugar cravings. And I'll also provide some realistic tips for you to be able to enjoy some treats without [00:02:00] feeling out of control or eating past the point of comfort.

So what causes sugar cravings or alcohol cravings. These can overlap sometimes on the physiological level. So we know that alcohol damages the entire digestive tract, including the liver and the pancreas. And both of those are involved in regulating blood sugar. And it's the ethanol itself that causes these issues.

It's not just sugary or carby drinks. It's the alcohol that's in all alcohol. And we know the liver to be the master detoxifier. It filters and eliminates toxins. Of course, and it's the main organ that metabolizes alcohol and metabolizing alcohol will always be its top priority.

So other important things that the liver does will be put on the back burner. The liver will deprioritize things like hormone regulation, metabolism, removing cholesterol from the system, like [00:03:00] all the things that the liver is also responsible for. And the more we have alcohol, the less our bodies And our liver can focus on these other important things that it does, but especially the hormone piece.

And when I say hormones, I don't just mean, like, reproductive hormones. I'm talking about hormones that we have for hunger and fullness. Insulin is a hormone for blood sugar, and there's a ton more. So today with sugar cravings, I really want to highlight the impact of alcohol use on blood sugar regulation, which is that insulin hormone.

pRior drinkers tend to have issues with blood sugar regulation. I've seen statistics as high as 95 percent of people who have Alcohol use and their history have issues with, dysregulated blood sugar. And that is part of the reason why we experience these extreme sugar cravings. So this blood sugar dysregulation [00:04:00] creates cravings for sugar.

It creates Cravings for refined carbs and things like that. But also to the drinker or ex drinker, it can create cravings for alcohol. So understanding that regulating blood sugar is one of the primary and most important things that you can do to help with sugar cravings and alcohol cravings is the point I really want to drive home, at least on the physiological level.

So innately, prior drinkers.

You might start feeling like sluggish in between meals, the brain fog, hangry, um, and even things like unexplained weight gain and reproductive hormone issues, those can all go back to this insulin, blood sugar regulation thing. So it's really important, not just for sugar cravings, but for all aspects of health.

And so. The [00:05:00] best way to manage your blood sugar throughout the day is to eat breakfast within an hour or two of waking up and not just like some toast or something like that. You want breakfast and lunch to be your largest meals because that's when you need your energy the most. So a lot of us get in this habit of under eating throughout the day.

And that's actually a stressor on the body. So if you're one of those people that has those insatiable sugar cravings, especially after dinner or later at night or in the afternoon, even, it could be telling you that you're hungry and you haven't been properly fed. And the body smartly knows that.

Having some sugar will instantly give it that energy that it's looking for. So if you run across the situation where, Oh my God, I can't stop eating all of this, like sugary stuff at night, what's going on, think back to your, like your day and think [00:06:00] about, did I start my day with coffee and call that a meal?

Or did I have breakfast before coffee? That's another little hack that you can do. Make sure you have, protein rich. diet, too. Our body favors protein, and for most people, women in particular, we don't eat enough protein, especially if you're plant based or vegan. It's just hard to get a good, like, 30 to 40 grams of protein in your diet using plant proteins alone without pushing other important things off your plate, like fruits and vegetables and healthy fats and stuff like that.

So, Start with a big breakfast, and if you don't feel hungry in the morning, just start with something. And start eating something that's tolerable like, um, some yogurt and granola or something that's hyper palatable to you just so you can get used to that. We should wake up feeling hungry.

That's part of our circadian rhythms. Um, our body needs energy [00:07:00] in the morning and the afternoon when we're like during our wake hours. Um, but your hunger fullness cues may be off because... They get damaged with alcohol use. So when I think about managing blood sugar from a nutritional standpoint, I want you to remember the rule of threes.

So, three meals a day with all three macronutrients, so protein, fat, and carbs, Eat every three to four hours, but it's a three. And so you're going to have probably three snacks a day too, and those can be mini meals or whatever you want. Start there and start seeing how your sugar cravings will naturally decrease.

A lot of this comes back to proper fueling. And proper fueling in terms of macronutrient ratios too. So again, the body favors protein, make sure you're getting a high quality protein source. And I just want to mention I'm not anti sugar. There's a [00:08:00] difference between wanting something sweet, having it, enjoying it and moving on with your life.

And like contrasted with feeling like you need sugar, you crave the sugar. And then when you have it, there's no off switch. So following this rule of threes and adjusting the makeup of your meals and the meal timing of your day, you'll naturally start to decrease that overwhelming desire to have sugar, especially in the evening.

So what we're trying to do through nutrition and meal timing is to reduce this physical stressor on the body. The, the stress response in the body comes from. this tendency to under eat during the day. When we eat the majority of our calories at night, we don't have the energy when we need it, which is during the day.

and our body will try to catch up from what it was missing from the rest of the day. So it's going to work really hard. It's going to give [00:09:00] you these cravings so that it gets enough fuel. It's just not when we really need it. So then we have this cycle where we overeat at night and we feel kind of crummy in the morning.

We don't have an appetite, blah, blah, blah. So try this rule of threes and give it a solid shot. I mean, I would say 30 days of planning that and committing to that and just see naturally how your sugar cravings will naturally decrease. And we have some, uh, questions from the community on this.

So someone asked, actually a couple of people asked about what are some healthy substitutes for sugar when you're having these cravings. I would say start with the rule of threes and don't adjust the sugar thing at all at first. So when we, when we tell ourselves that we can't have sugar, all we're gonna think about is having sugar.

I've only seen this backfire [00:10:00] in the long run. You know, people do these 30 day give up sugar challenges and then inevitably when sugar is presented to them again, they want to have ice cream with their kids over the summer or they're at Thanksgiving or Christmas and want some like cookies or pie, they just cannot control themselves around it because it's been the thing that's missing in their lives.

So I don't tend to recommend these challenges. I would approach it from this. like nutrient density diet first and like proper feeding, meal timing, like I went over with the rule of threes, but If you want to substitute something, if you're just looking to have the sweet treat, but want kind of a healthier alternative to picking up store bought candy or something like that, I'm a big fan of paleo treats.

And this doesn't mean that you have to be paleo or anything like that. I'm just a big fan of them because, A [00:11:00] lot of times they're sweetened with maple syrup or honey and the like, what goes into them is more food like, you know, you'll have some fiber in there. You'll have some protein. Um, you'll have some healthy fats like they're made with coconut oil or ghee, which is clarified butter.

Uh, so even though it's something that's sweet, it's also food. You know, you might use like for something that's chocolate, like a paleo brownie, you might use, um, you know, like a cow powder, which is high in magnesium, which we all need as well. And then that's just, it's a really bitter chocolate, but when it's sweetened with maple syrup, it's just like chef's kiss, like very delicious.

So my favorite, uh, recipe, like the place I go to for paleo recipes is coconutsandkettlebells. com. Um, I've been following her for a while. She's also a nutritional therapy practitioner. She [00:12:00] has an expansive blog with tons of amazing recipes, and she's my go to for these sweet treats. So hopefully that helps.

And then you also asked, does this Like do these sugar cravings last forever? No, uh, not if you properly fuel yourself through the day, when your body feels safe, when it feels properly nourished, it's not going to have that urgency. to fill up on sugar because it's, it needs that energy, right? We're working on having a slow, steady blood sugar energy level throughout the day.

And the way we accomplish that is with eating every three to four hours, honestly, and making sure that we have plenty of protein in our meals. Um, so hopefully that helps. And I'm just going to touch on one more thing real quick. I promised I would keep this short and I mean it., so the blood sugar piece is just part of [00:13:00] it.

So honestly addressing the physiological cravings for sugar is You know, simple, but maybe not easy, right? You're going to have to make some adjustments and plan ahead for your meals. Make sure you build in the time to eat mindfully. Um, you might have to change your diet quite a bit, you know? Uh, but the other piece of that is the dopamine effect.

So, you know how I was talking about. If you have this insatiable need for cravings, your body is often trying to catch up for the energy that it needed at some earlier point in the day. Eating is, produces a dopamine response. And we know a lot about dopamine. If you're on the Reframe app, we know that it's the neurotransmitter that gives us a reward to keep repeating a certain behavior.

And since eating is fundamental to life, we are grateful that eating, uh, produces this dopamine response [00:14:00]because we want to sustain life. So, you know, we know that alcohol gives us this fake chemical hit of dopamine, which tells us to repeat that behavior. So it's just part of it is. being patient and waiting for these neurotransmitters to reset.

So it makes sense that we may crave sugar because that gives us a dopamine response too. And our body is kind of searching for that dopamine after we give up alcohol. So the way to tackle that neurotransmitter side is honestly to keep doing the reframe stuff and Build in these other activities that bring you joy.

All of the stuff that happens outside of food, right? Like getting in nature, hugging people, spending time with friends, even reframe meetings, like the power of community gives us a dopamine response. Even sharing on meetings can give us this hit of dopamine. [00:15:00] So finding ways. It's other ways outside of food, outside of alcohol that bring us joy and, you know, make us feel grounded and make us feel our best.

That's going to tackle that dopamine side. And a lot of that is just patience. So while there's a ton that we can do on the physical side for, for sugar cravings and for alcohol cravings, we just have to kind of wait out and do our best with the dopamine side. So. In another episode, I'll talk about why you may be hungrier than usual, especially right after giving up alcohol, and that's going to tie some of this together as well.

But I promised a short episode, and here we are. I've been recording for almost 17 minutes, and it's a world record for me. So I will give you a tip of the week. I think the rule of threes is great. Remember, the rule of threes is eating every three to four hours, eating three full meals a day with all [00:16:00] three macronutrients.

So when I say macronutrients, I mean protein, a healthy fat, and Carbohydrates, but that includes like carbohydrates are vegetables and things that hold fiber. So even fiber might, you might want to think of it as fiber instead as the third macronutrient. But start with the meals where you're going to get the biggest bang for your buck, which is probably going to be breakfast for most of us.

Commit to having breakfast before you have coffee., that's going to change the way your body metabolizes food. and how your blood sugar responses to future meals that day, even if you don't change the makeup of the food you eat. So if you eat the exact same thing every day, but you delay breakfast by 3, 2, 3, 4 hours, and like that's your first meal and everything else you eat is the same, that's gonna create a more drastic insulin response than if you would have eaten all of like the same exact foods.

[00:17:00] But shifted forward, so breakfast was within an hour or so of waking. So just commit to breakfast for now and see how that can change things. And there's always room to add in, more intentional meals after you get used to it, but the meal timing and eating enough is going to make the biggest difference when it comes to sugar cravings.

And lastly, just want to drive this point home. I'm not anti sugar. I don't think that we have to avoid sugar in order to have a healthy relationship with it. Everything I talked about was, yeah, about sugar cravings, but the way to manage it really doesn't have to do with the sugar. It's about properly feeding yourself.

And there are some non nutritional things that you can do. that helps support healthy blood sugar, which is like frequently getting up and taking walks throughout the day, especially before or after meals. Uh, sleep hygiene, sleep's really important for your insulin response. Uh, [00:18:00] lifting weights, weightlifting, building muscle.

Muscle is excellent at regulating our insulin and making sure that like our insulin receptors are are doing what they need to do and things like that. So there's a lot that you can do here. Um, and I just, my hope is that you can enjoy treats like sweet treats and. actually enjoy them and not feel the need to take it too far or eat past the point of discomfort because it's really not necessary.

Um, you know, like I said earlier, there is a way to enjoy something sweet and move on with your life and not take it too far. But that, that takes a lot of proper feeding and making sure that your body feels safe and sound. So, okay, that's it. I promise. Um, that's it for the reframeable podcast this week.

Thank you all for listening to this week's episode of the reframeable podcast brought to you by the Reframe app. [00:19:00] Reframe is the number one iOS and Android app to help you cut back or quit drinking alcohol. It uses neuroscience to reframe your relationship with alcohol and unlock the healthiest, happiest you.

If you're enjoying this podcast, please like subscribe and share with those that you feel may benefit from it. And as always, if you have a topic you'd like us to cover in the podcast, send an email to podcast at reframe app. com. Or if you're on the reframe app, give it a shake and let us know. Uh, I, like I said, I'm going to try to do these little bite sized episodes.

I know Kevin wants to do some bite size episodes. So, you know, for me, health, wellness, movement, uh, nutrition, those kinds of questions are great for me. Kevin is more of the habit change guy, the mindset guy, and then there's. As always our long, long, long ass episodes that we'd like to do together and podcast interviews.

So lots of [00:20:00] opportunities to share what you might have some interest in learning more about. This is for you. And I want to thank you again for listening and be sure to come back next week for another episode. Take care, everyone. Talk to you soon.

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