Stopping sugar...

This week we have a Guest Post regarding getting off sugar. Thank you, Jill, for sharing your story. 

Getting off sugar as a part of my long-term sobriety

Two years ago, 25 years after I got sober, I admitted that I was powerless over sugar and flour and that my eating was unmanageable.

Sugar was my first addiction. I started self-medicating with sugar and white flour as a child, and when I got sober in 1989, I went right back to sugar. It helped me numb out from the uncomfortable feelings of early sobriety. It helped me relax. It wasn’t as good at that as alcohol had been, but it worked. Over the next decades, I didn’t drink but I gained 120 pounds that I didn’t need and my eating compulsions began to erode my health.

I finally gave up pretending I could eat sugar and flour products in moderation, just like I had to stop pretending I could drink like a normal person. I’d resisted taking that first step with sugar because I didn’t want another addiction. Alcoholism seemed like plenty to have to stay away from. But I couldn’t stay in denial.

So I took that first step, I found a food program that works for me, and I stepped into an even fuller recovery applying the 12 Steps to my powerlessness over sugar and flour. I learned that in order to give up this last and primary addiction, I needed to find support and make more life changes so I could stay sober with food. And for two years I’ve been doing that. I’ve lost 85 pounds and found a new freedom and a new happiness.

If you also struggle with sugar and other demon foods, I’m here to tell you that it is possible to stop self-medicating with food and create a sweeter, sober life.  

Jill K, is the author of a how-to book, Candy Girl: How I Gave up Sugar and Created a Sweeter Life between Meals, and a memoir, Sober Truths: The Making of an Honest Woman. Connect with her at www.lifebetweenmealscoaching.com