So Duncan is in quite a mood this afternoon. He’s easily set off, keeps rubbing his eyes and alternates between fits of laughter and just plain fits. No mystery here. The boy is suffering from way too much sugar in the form of Halloween candy.
He’s also wiped out from going to bed too late and getting up too early.
It’s no big deal. As parents we expect this from kids who have had too much candy. We’ll put him to bed early, and his eating will return to the healthy sort we’re always vigilant about. 
But seeing him like this reminds me of how I used to be before I found the 12 Steps of Recovery for a binge-eating addiction. I looked at him and had a “this reminds me of a little joke” moment.
People ask me all the time why I had to give up flour and sugar to control both by addictive behavior and my OCD impulses.
I now have an answer for you that’s a hundred times better than any way I’ve explained it in the past.
If you want to know what it’s like to be under the spell of an addiction like binge eating, picture a kid having a post-Halloween sugar meltdown.
Now multiply that times four and include frequent rages and migraines, constant exhaustion and deep depression.
Instead of being like that once a week or every few months, picture being like that every day, for weeks or months at a time.
Yeah. That about describes it.