Episode 632: Is Sugar the New Alcohol? With Mike Collins, The Sugar Free ManEpisode 632: Is Sugar the New Alcohol? With Mike Collins, The Sugar Free Man
Busy Living Sober with Host Elizabeth Chance
Host Elizabeth “Bizzy” Chance talks with Mike Collins, "The Sugar Free Man", about sugar as a psychoactive substance and its impact on people in recovery. They discuss fructose, emotional eating, hidden sources of sugar and a 90-day abstinence approach to reset health and cravings.
1:01:29•16 Apr 2026
Is Sugar the New Alcohol? Mike Collins on Sobriety, Fructose and Hidden Cravings
Episode Overview
- Refined sugar is described as a psychoactive drug and brain neurotoxin, with fructose highlighted as the key harmful component.
- Many people in long-term sobriety report that quitting sugar feels harder than quitting their original drug of choice.
- Early exposure to sugar, especially as comfort for distress, can create long-standing emotional patterns that carry into adulthood.
- Common ‘healthy’ foods such as dried fruit, granola, honey, agave and some herbal teas may still drive blood sugar spikes and cravings.
- A 90-day period without sugar (and eventually flour and caffeine), combined with strong group support, is presented as a practical way to reset both body and brain.
“"To a man, to a woman, everyone has said that sugar has been harder to get off than their drug of choice."”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? Busy Living Sober brings back Mike Collins, "The Sugar Free Man", to talk with host Elizabeth “Bizzy” Chance about a substance many people still underestimate: sugar. Mike shares his story of over 41 years in recovery from substance use disorder and more than 37 years without sugar.
He argues that refined sugar is "a psychoactive drug" and "a brain neurotoxin", and says many people in long-term sobriety tell him that "sugar has been harder to get off than their drug of choice." If you've ever swapped booze for ice cream in early sobriety, you’ll probably feel seen. The conversation looks at fructose, the part of table sugar Mike describes as the real troublemaker.
He talks about fatty liver, weight gain and "diabetes 3" (a term now linked with Alzheimer’s), but also how sugar functions as an emotional painkiller from childhood: "Our little brain registers this fear, worry, anxiety, pain, a little bit of sugar." That pattern can quietly run for decades. You’ll hear Mike’s strong views on kids, formula and sweets, why he raised his twin sons sugar-free, and why guilt around “ruining the kids” is so common among parents in recovery.
He also challenges common “healthy” choices like dried fruit, granola, honey and even certain herbal teas that can act like hidden fructose bombs. For anyone stuck in the loop of dieting, regaining weight and feeling ashamed, Mike suggests an addiction-recovery approach instead of counting calories, with abstinence from sugar (and eventually flour and caffeine) for at least 90 days and lots of group support.
As he puts it, his only job is "to get anyone to see 90 days of abstinence" and let the results speak for themselves. If alcohol was your first wake-up call, could sugar be the next one worth looking at?
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