sugar cravings and autism

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For most of my life, I've always had a craving for sweets. I could never get enough. My mom kept tabs on it so I wouldn't get obese or develop diabetes. She always had to hide any candy or cookies or lock the freezer so I couldn't get to it. If I had unlimited access, I would eat them in one sitting until there was none left. Sweets were kinda rare in my house because I would "just eat it all up before anyone else had a chance to get some". Whenever I did have sweets, I acted like a starving, wild animal. I would get cravings so bad you'd think I was craving cocaine or something. I would get a "high" from it. One time I was so desperate, I snuck out of bed and tried to take some flavored chew-able Tylenol even though I knew I wasn't supposed to take medicine without my mom or dad's knowledge. My cravings often came in the middle of the night and sometimes I could not "wake up" in the morning unless I had something sweet. I would obsess about it until my mom broke down and brought the cookies out of hiding or drove me to the store to get a candy bar. Natural sweets like fruit carrots didn't help. I had a stupid psychiatrist (I think I've mentioned her before about her "solution" for bullying) who suggested my parents use sweets for a reward and only if I had "behaved" that day. I was only allowed a certain number and if I complained, I would get what I had taken away. As an adult on my own, I can go to the store and buy as much sweets as I want and eat as much as I want...but I rarely buy sweets because I don't crave them as much as I did when I lived with my parents. Anyway, is this kind of craving a common thing for autistic people?

Can't say whether it's common or not, but I do have regular cravings for something sweet. And by "regular", I mean "near-daily".

I should seriously start cutting down on that.

I certainly have them.

Ditto. I have an insanely sweet tooth.

To me this sounds like a case of wanting the "forbidden fruit". When you're told that you can't have something, it's all you can think about and when you're allowed as much as you want you no longer care for it. It's quite likely that your parents denied you sweets well before any of these behaviors started to happen and that's what caused it all.
I had the opposite happen to me as a child. My parents always kept a lot of sweets in the house and didn't restrict the amount that I could eat so I grew up not caring for them at all. Fruits and vegetables were more expensive, though, so my parents tried to limit the amount that I ate. As a result, it became my favorite food and whenever they'd go grocery shopping, I'd basically eat all of the fruit on the same day. I think it's normal to want what you're told that you can't have.

Literally the majority of my calorie intake is from chocolate, I know chocolate addiction is not a real thing but sugar addiction is.

Hi there. I can't get through 10 days without binging on anything with refined sugar. As far as I know, sugar cravings and autism do go hand in hand. I learned this from some seminars I attended which were presented by a well known expert who also has an ASD. I found that everything she said was accurate. The sugar cravings stem from gut issues apparently. However typical people can have the cravings/addiction as well.

I didn't even realise there was a correlation between having autism and being a sweet tooth.
I don't love sweet food and generally speaking I prefer savoury snacks (like cheese, meat or vegetables), but I do like a nice cream cake or bit of chocolate from time to time.

Could be just a side effect of poor impulse control.

I have them too.

However, I am making sure my sugar intake is kept at a low level.

Generally, I don't get sugar cravings, but if I eat one cookie, I'm probably going to have like 10+.

I have a ridiculous sweet tooth and it's been that way since I was very young. I used to eat sugar right out of the bowl and shovel chocolates and anything sugary whenever I could. I still do 40 years later.

Perhaps there is a correlation between Autism and sweet-toothness? All of that stimming does require a great deal of energy...

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*** High Functioning Autism - Asperger's Syndrome ***

ADHD, OCD, and PTSD.

Keep calm and stim away.

I think its just people who are different struggle and they seek out vices Sugar being one of them I wonder many autistic people have other addiction problems?

...and, as always, I have to be the exception that proves the rule. I dislike sweet things in general; no fruit, sweet desserts, etc. for me! They're simply disgusting. The only sweet thing I like is molasses/honey on bread from time to time, and occasional chocolate.

By nature I'm not a person who craves sweet things. Medication has made me more susceptible.

I don't believe there is any correlation. I know plenty of NT who love sweets. It's a very popular thing.