'When I started hiding to eat chocolate, I realised there was a problem': Susannah Constantine says quitting sugar was harder than giving up alcohol
Susannah’s ‘greatest passions in life had become a dirty secret’ - and she knew she had to act
For many of us, it’s a relatable habit to reach for something from the chocolate drawer after a long day or when sitting down to press play on Netflix.
But the odd treat here and then can soon turn into something of a trap - making people reliant on the instant boost and sugar rush. Susannah Constantine knows this all too well, writing about how her love of chocolate quickly became a "dirty secret", inspiring a big change.
Writing for The Times, Susannah shared the struggles she faced quitting sugar and chocolate, finding alarming similarities in her journey to sobriety and relationship with alcohol - going as far as saying quitting drinking was the easier of the two.
Susannah wrote of her lifelong love affair with a sweet treat - from hordes of sweets as a child to making sure she always had something tucked away for a drive.
However, as she explained, "Had I paid attention to NHS guidelines, I would have realised my sugar intake was roughly four times the recommended amount (we are advised to consume no more than seven sugar cubes a day)."
For her, the rush and feeling of a treat "was exactly how I used to drink alcohol before getting sober 14 years ago. The secrecy. The obsession. The sense that the entire day revolved around the next hit."
A fortuitous trip to a friend’s house in Portugal changed everything. There, she was put on a supervised diet and detox by a nutritionist, swapping her go-to pick-me-ups for a highly prescriptive anti-inflammatory diet".
Susannah knew that she had to make a change when chocolates and snacking became the priority over seeing friends and leaving the house.
"The addiction was as much about ritual as substance. It got to the point where the choice between going out for dinner or staying home in bed with a box set and a stash of chocolate was no contest.
"Chocolate was affecting not only my weight and energy but also my social life. With alcohol, I sought out people who drank heavily because it made my own drinking feel normal - safety in numbers. Chocolate had become my quieter equivalent."
What she perhaps didn’t expect was that cutting out sugar was harder than going sober.
"Oddly, giving up alcohol has been easier than giving up sugar. A bar of Galaxy never changed my personality in the way alcohol did, but my behaviour around sugar had become alarmingly familiar: what began as a harmless reward for giving up booze had quietly taken on a darker edge.
"And scientifically, it made sense. Sugar activates the same reward pathways in the brain, releasing dopamine and opioids."
Sharing a post to social media in April, Susannah confirmed that she had been sugar free for six weeks and credited it for making her feel "happier... I don't feel sluggish, I don't feel morose, I don't feel like a thug".
If this is sounding relatable, Susannah does offer some practical tips on swapping out more processed and sugary snacks as a place to start.
For example, she still gets to enjoy nice food, replacing a processed bar of chocolate with the likes of "sourdough crackers with organic crunchy peanut butter or a cup of tea with organic honey".
Other foods to include in your diet include "veg, blueberries, apples and nuts. Butter continues to be a favourite on an oatcake."
"As long as I can actually tell what the hell it is I’m eating, that’s OK", she wrote.
And the last bit of advice? If you’re going to try and quit, don’t tell anyone. "It takes the pressure off, knowing you are the only person monitoring your progress."
Food for thought, as it were.
