There are some studies showing that a majority of alcoholics have reactive hypoglycemia. I believe both issues exacerbate each other, as in, hypoglycemia can predispose one to alcohol addiction, and active addiction to these repetitive boluses of sugar will obviously make the blood-glucose issues worse. If you go to any AA meeting, there is a volunteer whose sole responsibility is "sweets," bringing candy/cookies for everyone to munch on throughout the meeting. And there's of course the ubiquitous coffee.

In my experience, this is why alcoholics are commonly energized by alcohol, and can't stop after just one drink. Combine a wonderfully efficient way to raise starved blood-glucose with a growing tolerance to the depressive effects of ethanol, and you have someone who drinks all night rather than get sleepy after a few beers like your average person.

I am recovering from an alcohol addiction at 26 years old. When sober, I would gorge on food. I tried to keep it to home-cooked whole foods, but could never make it very long without binging on some form of sugar, usually at night, which I saw as an obvious substitution for the alcohol. My pattern was this: tons of coffee during the day to remedy the tanking energy, bingeing on food at night, repeated every day until an eventual relapse on alcohol. My insistence that something was still very wrong with the way I ate was met with indifference by doctors, until I took an oral glucose tolerance test and my blood sugar plummeted. Paleo has helped tremendously with this, though low-carb paleo made me miserable. I think upping the fat and getting rid of wheat and sugar were the keys for me. I tolerate starch fine.

HOWEVER, you should remember that alcohol is indeed a drug that can really fuck with your brain, plugging directly into reward circuits (endorphin, dopamine etc) and hindering their ability to function normally on their own. Once that connection was established in my mind, that alcohol "works," it was very hard to shake it, and my brain will try every trick in the book (euphoric recollection, minimizing perceived consequences...) to lead me back to it. If your binging is surrounded by stress, depression, emotional issues...this is something to look into.

I think most addictions/cravings can be sourced back to your body's pleasure setpoint. My guess is that people who claim to have addictive personalities really just have a shortage of dopamine receptors.

Any time you indulge in something that gives you a burst of pleasure (drugs or sugar) your dopamine receptors downregulate, making it harder for you to feel that same pleasure again. I think of dopamine resistance as the farther reaching analogue to insulin/leptin resistance that we hear about in this community so often.

Stephan's posts on food reward are pretty cool too.

There is some very interesting thoughts about the relationship of alcohol, sugar, and possible brain infections in the post at the Perfect Health Diet http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=4127

I have a hypoglycemic reaction immediately upon ingesting alcohol. It makes me ravenous while simultaneously lowering my food standards. The sugar and carb cravings become absolutely unbearable. I don't react this way to caffeine unless there's sweetener involved (artificial sweeteners and stevia can trigger me). The smallest amount of sweetener, alcohol, or starch will trigger a blood sugar roller coaster that can result in binging and making bad food choices for days. The only solution I've found is to keep carbs below 50, avoid all sugars (including fruit), starches, and alcohol. For me, these things are "gateway" foods. I cannot eat them in moderation so I don't eat them at all.

This book explained it to me years ago when I was working with young men who were in a secondary treatment facility. I can't attest to the science, but it totally made sense at the time.

The young men were all addicted to candy, even though they weren't drinking anymore. You can skip to the end of the book for the nutritional stuff.

Sober...and Staying That Way: The Missing Link in the Cure for Alcoholism

Binge behavior seems to be carbohydrate motivated. The less carbs in the drink (and in your food), the easier it seems to be to keep one's intake reasonable. Reasonable, for me, is not waking up at 3am dehydrated. Highly unscientific research suggests that this amounts to 3 glasses (half-bottle) of wine, 4 to 6 ounces of something distilled- consumed somewhere between after-work and before bed. Sensitivity has increased since going paleo and losing all the weight.

You can imagine the range here- I gave up beer upon going paleo, but I remember those maltose filled brews generating a powerful thirst. Wine is easy to overdrink, and I think they've been upping the sugar content (as well as the alcohol content) for the concussed American palette. Various whiskeys, scotches, and rums vary in their sweetness. Vodka and gin seem safer. Yes I realize the average concerned mother would find my observations alarming- but they find saturated fat alarming as well...

Of course, one could be free to posit that it was, in fact, flavor rather than the carbohydrates, but you can mix sugary stuff with your vodka versus mixing non-sugary (yet tasty, like lemon or ginger) and see where that gets you.

Good plan. Beer has a lot of grain-based ickyness in it, which represents another vector of addiction. Get rid of any artificial sweeteners too- it wasn't until I got rid of Splenda in my coffee that I was finally able to see that pizza wasn't actually food but a deviously disguised flat round disc of poison. Come to think of it, I was drinking more coffee back then too. I still drink a lot of coffee, but it has come down by at least half.

read caffeine blues, by Stephen Cherniske. Caffeine creates an insulin spike, then a crash, and so your body seeks more sugar, so the carb cravings set in. Also, it's a morbid hunger, an irritation of the gut lining, a knawing feeling that cannot be satisfied by ANYTHING! Try going a few days without caffeine (like on the weekend when you're not doing anything.. don't plan anything social, as that will cause temptation) then notice that, yes you'll be tired (that's why staying at home and being able to nap is a good idea) but you won't be craving the food as much. You'll be dehydrated when you wake, drink 2 glasses of water upon waking, and then wait for 10mins before assessing whether you are actually hungry or not... most likely you'll be stuffed from a binge the night before.. so likely not! And you'll find you just won't have the same appetite... I have the same problem (minus the alcohol). When I don't drink caffeine, I don't binge, plain and simple. But it's getting through the initial withdrawals of caffeine (being drowsy, and your mind playing tricks on you, convincing you that you NEED it, and coming up with all the justifications under the sun!)

If all else fails, get some NLP and hypnosis sessions, after all, you've been brain washed (by society) that you need it and you actually like the crap, so it's psychological as well as physiological.

Good luck :)

Great question, and I really look forward to the answers. There could be a number of things going on, just off the top of my head:

• hypersensitivity to carbs
• hypersensitivity to sugar
• the cravings could actually be a symptom of an allergy to carbs or sugar
• some level of an addictive personality, perhaps

I think you're taking steps in the right direction by reining in your diet, and eliminating the potential sources of your cravings. Remember -- sugar is addictive, and all carbs break down into sugar (as does alcohol), so you're really talking about very similar substances here that are giving you problems.

Good luck -- please share what you learn!

this site has really knowledgeable people =D. I am happy to be here everyday. I usually follow LeanGains and there are some serious bro-science guys there. it's all about calories in, calories out. no respect to mother earth's nutrition

Have you ever been a smoker? Any other habits or vices?

I wonder if it might not have so much to do with carbs, but with a tendency toward addiction in general?