Rehab for Sugar Addiction

Beating any addiction is tough stuff. When you're sticking needles in your arms, drinking til you pass out on the lawn or smoking glass other people see the problem. That's usually how addicts get help - through the intervention of others. Beating an addiction is tough even when the problem is obvious and there is every reason to get help. Alcoholics lose their families, their jobs and often their lives. Can the same be true of sugarholics?

If we have every reason to admit to the problem (loss of health, mobility, low energy etc.) and can clearly see the benefits of life without sugar then why would we not just stop? It's too hard. Sugar is everywhere. I don't want to be deprived my whole life. We do not just stop because we cannot, because we are not in control - we are addicted.

Detox + Rehab + Continous support & application of principles --> Recovery

Sugar Detox

5 days - 3 weeks of NO sugar. This is a restrictive period that eliminates not only refined sugar, but ALL sugars. We experience withdrawal (flu or cold symptoms, loss of focus, low energy, constant cravings, feelings of loss) and then move into the glory of recovery. The most effective form of sugar detox is called the Candida Diet. (Unless candida is actually a problem, the the rules re: no mushrooms, no cow dairy etc. can be ignored.)

Rehabilitation

3 months (90 days) is an intensive period during which the lifestyle changes and habits necessary to remain sugar free are learned. During this period sugar relapse is most likely to occur. For that reason most addicts seek help through an in-patient program. They are taught the ways of abstinence in a secure environment. Doing rehabilitation at home requires understanding and setting up a controls similar to what would be experienced at a professional facility.

Continuous support & application of principles

Online support groups and local meetups are some of the most common ways to get and give support. Joining a group during the detox and rehab stage and maintianing that connection is vital to success. Adapting a set of principles on top of good habits has worked for addicts in AA and NA. Why not SA?

Sugarholism hurts but we can heal

We who are in S.A. came because we finally gave up trying to control our eating. We still hated to admit that we could never eat just one cookie. Then we heard from other S.A. members that we were sick. (We thought so for years!) We found out that many people suffered from the same feelings of guilt and loneliness and hopelessness that we did. We found out that we had these feelings because we had the disease of sugarholism.

The above paragraph comes directly from Alcoholics Anonymous, with a few words substituted to make a point. Sugar addiction is no joke. It does not matter if the physical and psychological dependence we feel is recognized or taken seriously in the medical community. Do you really need a doctor to tell you that you have a problem, or is that just an excuse? In some cases, a doctor does intervene. If lyme disease or candida are present then sugar free diets are standard treatment. If obesity or diabetes II present, then there is a definable medical problem. The problem is not the symptom (obesity, diabetes etc.) but the underlying behavior.

Addiction is something we must recognize and admit to ourselves. If we have tried to stop eating sugar because of the consequences it has for our bodies and minds, but failed time and again, then we are in trouble and need help. Following some of the recommendations of AA literature and taking from other, non-AA sources, articles and discussion topics are presented to help understand and recover from sugar addiction.