How Nutritional Therapy for Alcoholism Works The cornerstone of the Nutritional approach is to reduce the body’s dependence on the simple carbohydrates that, like alcohol, convert quickly to sugar in the bloodstream: white bread, pasta, rice, and many baked goods. Relying on such refined carbs, nutritional advocates say, promotes the same blood sugar highs and lows that alcohol does, which can stoke the desire to drink. What’s more, alcoholics often respond to the steady infusion of sugar into their bodies by overproducing insulin, which then removes dangerously high amounts of sugar from the blood. Plummeting blood sugar, known as hypoglycemia, can lead to anxiety, irritability, and cravings—anything to get sugar, or, in this case, alcohol, back in the bloodstream. The anti-alcohol diet emphasizes high-protein foods rich in amino acids. Substituting protein for simple carbohydrates helps break the vicious cycle of blood sugar cravings, and the amino acids are key to brain function....