Profile of a sugar addict

I have a good friend.  This guy is very smart, open, wise, contemplative.  We have had numerous deep and revealing conversations over the years.  When I hear from Dave, it is always a positive conversation.  Dave is warm, caring, generous, and real.  Dave reveals who he truly is to me and this trait allows me to be who I really am around him--what a breath of fresh air!  I really value that man.

Now Dave has a different side.  Through his words, I learn about this side, although I don't see it much.  On Dave's day-to-day life, he has tremendous inner struggles.  Dave struggles with depression, anger, hopelessness, unworthiness, with bouts of suicidal thoughts.  Dave feels out of control in many parts of his life and seems to sabotage success on more than one occasion.  Physically, Dave has a few medical problems.  He has drunk alcohol regularly for quite a few years.  He finally quit smoking for a while, but that didn't last long.  His marriage is borderline, not due to fits of anger or problems, but to apathy.


In trying to understand why he is how he is, I hit upon a strong possibility.  The symptoms above all lead to one thing that I wasn't aware of until recently.  I had previously chocked it up to "alcoholism".  However, that just didn't fit with Dave.  Who he was really didn't scream alcoholism like I have known in others.  But nothing else fit the bill as an explanation…until recently.

Looking at his symptoms, depression, anger, hopelessness, unworthiness, suicide, out of control, self sabotage, drinks, smokes.  Plus taking into account things I didn't mention. I suspect Dave's root cause of all these problems are related to way too high of sugar consumption.  Really.  Check any list of sugar symptoms and you will find each of his, and more, in the list--(check my last blog post).  Plus, look at all the sugar that is in alcohol.  And, tobacco leaves have sugar on them (some people don't know that).  How Dave is now makes perfect sense to me.  I don't think Dave has an alcohol/tobacco/emotional problem as much as a sugar addiction problem.  Isn't it amazing that this poison permeates in most everything we consume, decreases our quality of life so much, yet it is legal, and very much sociably acceptable. 

There's nothing much I can do about helping Dave.  Sugar addiction is one thing people have to come to on their own--like all serious addictions--and be really ready to put it down for good. Since the severity of sugar addiction is virtually unknown in society, I can only hope to inform him so he can begin to do his own research on sugar addiction.  Maybe I'm wrong, but this makes the most sense in the 15 years I've wondered about Dave and his challenges.  He deserves so much better than that.  Maybe he will read this blog.