Lowcarbezine!

A Yahoo search directed me to your piece on Lowcarbezine of May 17 2000 regarding low carb diets and alcoholism. You asked to be contacted by readers so 4 years later here I am - ha.

I am 55 and have been an alcoholic for probably 40 years. I have been the "sneaky" kind - primarily drinking beer to excess by always finding an excuse to explain why I needed to go to the office or wherever I could be to drink for a few hours. Often times I would spend much of the day thinking about or planning on downing a six pack.

I was raised in the 1950's on the typical diet of lots of potatoes, corn, pies and cakes. My memory of my school years is dominated by remembering coming home at 3:00 or 4:00 lethargic and dazed unable to do much of anything. I had no idea about sugar levels. I just remember every afternoon meant I was going to be tired and in a fog.

A few months ago I read Dr. Atkins book and it explained a lot of mysteries in my life. I used to love drinking a cold beer with a fist full of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Whenever I asked friends if they ever tried it, they all uniformly said "yuck!". That was a clue for me that something about me was different. Now I understand the correlation of sugar and alcohol for me.

When I do Atkins approach my energy level soars to levels I haven't experienced before. And they remain constant - no more afternoon dives.

Much like the letter you quoted in your piece, I found that my interest in alcohol virtually disappeared if I abstained from it for a few days while doing a low carb diet. Doing Atkins and still drinking 3 or 4 light beers didn't work for me (heaven knows I tried for months). Once when I abstained from alcohol while doing Atkins I was dry for a month, never thought about alcohol and didn't even find it appealing.

Then of course came the slip. A night out and some drinks with dinner and I was hooked again.

I just started back on the program Monday 9/21/04 and and am committed to treating it not only as a weight loss program but a de-tox program for me as well. On my second day I already have lost the intense craving for alcohol but it remains lurking in the back of my mind. This time around I'm going to accept the fact that I'm addicted to alcohol and like any addiction I just can't have one.

In addition to following the eating program for induction I drink 10 to 12 glasses of water and take L-Glutamin which seems to also reduce cravings. This all makes up my low carb "de-tox" program.

I hope this is all helpful. I'm looking forward to reading Lowcarbezine! I subscribed to it just before writing this.