Video summary
Nick Kroll opens his discussion by comparing his relationship with food to his past struggle with smoking, describing himself as a former slave to cigarettes who felt completely beholden to nicotine. He explains that unlike other substances such as alcohol or marijuana, he never felt able to simply decide not to consume them for a day or a week; instead, sugar and processed foods create an immediate, uncontrollable craving similar to the urge to smoke another cigarette. This addiction manifests in his home life where items like chocolate chip cookies seem to have little legs and scurry around the kitchen, leading him to constantly try to keep sugary treats out of the house only to find them hiding in deep recesses of his pantry or freezer.
His specific struggle centers on sugar, which he views as a substance that must be entirely eliminated from his body rather than consumed in moderation. Kroll recounts an attempt to quit completely by going "off" for weeks at a time, often traveling to Mexico to avoid temptation, but notes that this approach is difficult because sugar is ubiquitous in everything from bread to breakfast pastries. He admits that while he can occasionally have ice cream stored in his freezer for months, the moment he reintroduces even a small amount of sugar into his system, the craving returns instantly, triggering a countdown to his next consumption just as hearing someone cough made him crave a cigarette.
To manage this overwhelming habit, Kroll has experimented with various strategies, including hypnosis sessions that helped him quit snacks for about a month and losing some weight, but he ultimately found that a strict "sugar day" on Sundays was necessary because he could not sustain total abstinence. He acknowledges that life changes as one ages, shifting from the high-energy social life of his twenties in New York to a more contented existence where simple treats like a chocolate chip cookie with sea salt become a significant source of joy. Despite his wife lacking a sweet tooth and having no empathy for his cravings, Kroll recognizes that while he is not as bad as he could be, the nature of sugar addiction makes it fundamentally different from quitting alcohol, requiring a constant battle against an ever-present temptation in daily life.
Read the full video transcript
Can't control your eating. No.
>> [laughter]
>> I used to just stare at my watch and be
like, [snorts] "What time is it? When's
my next feeding?"
>> But you're not overweight or you don't
appear overweight.
>> No, I'm not overweight, but I have It's
like I used to smoke uh for many, many
years and I felt truly
like a slave to cigarettes.
>> Mhm.
>> No other substance like marijuana,
alcohol, drugs
never was like, "I don't need to do that
today" or "I don't need to do that this
week." Like that never felt like that.
But cigarettes, I was like, "I'm
completely beholden to this." And
similarly with food and I guess really
sugar, I am like, "I can't not eat."
Like if there's a chocolate chip cookie
in the kitchen
>> Well, that's what I was watching your
special and when I said when I saw that
this was one of your blocks, I was like
you just got to get it out of your
house.
>> And I do until
>> You know how chocolate chip cookies have
little feet?
>> Uh-huh.
>> They scurry up in your kitchen.
>> coffee Is that the coffee and TV video
for the Blur video where Actually, it's
a milk carton. I think maybe there's a
cookie, but yeah.
>> there it's like let's go out to the
movies, you know, or like
"Hankering for a hunk of cheese."
>> Uh-huh.
>> [laughter]
>> You know what I mean? That's got little
legs. I try my best to keep it out of
the house, but there's always a little
something and then you're like, "Oh,
remember like I'll be like, remember
when I bought like, you know, the
supplies for s'mores
6 months ago?" [laughter]
And so that means there's like a box of
Hershey
candy bars in the deep recesses of my
pantry and some very hard marshmallows.
>> Uh-huh.
Rock hard.
>> Watch out, bro.
>> Yep.
>> Watch out, dude. I'mma get them, bruh.
>> [laughter]
>> Whoa. You got really cool really
quickly.
>> doing it. That's a Theo Von wants to eat
uh, a s'more.
Bruh, I'm telling [laughter] you.
>> It's uh, the devil's the devil's
dandruff.
>> I tell you, man.
>> Satan's little morsels.
>> I'm sucking on Dude, bro, I'm telling
you I was straight-up sucking on Frosty
the Snowman's one testicle.
>> [laughter]
>> Um, and
>> Putting that chocolate chocolate doo-doo
in my mouth. [laughter]
>> And does your wife Does your wife have
orders not to bring that filth into your
house?
>> She doesn't have a sweet tooth. And so
she she has no empathy for me in that.
She's like, "Why don't you just not eat
the cookie?" Cuz I'm like, "Cuz it's all
I can think about."
>> My experience with sugar is
I went off. I just went off and I was in
Mexico, I went off.
I have a sugar day. Don't I don't know
that felt racist.
>> I It's not It's not judgement. I'm like,
"How Oh."
>> I mean
>> Scared.
>> Shh. Like, yeah, like all sugar.
>> Like bread.
>> Bread, churro-y breakfasts.
>> Were you doing a lot of churro-y
breakfasts?
>> Uh, like a lot of pastries.
>> Yeah, well, I feel like if you're vegan
>> Yeah.
>> for a long time.
>> I got spoiler alert. Remember those?
>> Yeah.
>> Wasn't that vegan. I don't eat meat, but
sometimes I'll transition over to
vegetarian. Uh, like on a big trip.
>> Yeah, don't say that in front of Dave.
>> Yeah, yeah, no, I he Trust me.
>> Don't talk about transition.
>> to put it on a list of things to talk to
him about. [laughter]
Um, so
uh, so
>> So [snorts]
>> You can decide not cutting it. Not
cutting it. [laughter]
Um, he watches this podcast religiously.
>> I'm sure.
>> Um, so you cut it all out and how do you
feel?
>> can't I have a sugar day once a week.
Sundays are sugar day, I just go off.
French toast, ice cream, garbage.
That's on Sunday. Once I get to
Wednesday, I'm not thinking about sugar.
>> Mhm.
>> So you got to you got to kind of kick
the habit every week.
>> Totally.
>> Have you tried that and it still didn't
>> tried like getting clean like eating
cleaner and clean.
>> You got hypnotized.
>> I got hypnotized to quit eating snacks,
truly. And it worked for like a month
and I lost weight and felt better.
But I ultimately fell back in and it's
very like
I understand what you're doing except I
could not have Sunday. Like what I
learned with cigarettes was like I
cannot have nicotine in my body at all.
>> When I quit smoking, I had the thought
if I smoke one, I'm going to smoke
10,000 and I cannot smoke one.
>> Yes. And so I think sugar probably
functions the same way for me. Like I
couldn't have Sunday.
You know what I mean? I'd be like I'm
done with sugar and that's that, you
know, like cuz if I even have any bit in
my blood, like I remember when I was
smoking and I would hear someone have
like like a phlegmy cough.
>> [clears throat]
>> I'd immediately be like, when's my next
cigarette? Like that trigger, you know
what I mean? So like that would I feel
like sugar I'm on like a countdown to my
next And look, I'm not terrible I'm not
as
bad as I could be, of course. I have I
don't have much in my house at all.
Um I can have ice cream live in my
freezer for like months.
But I
>> though.
>> Not s'mores, bro.
>> You got hypnotized.
>> I got hypnotized over the phone
by a woman. I listened to that hypnosis
over and over while I slept and it
helped for a while.
And then I sort of like fall back in
because where I struggle in general is
what is a life
without sugar?
>> Right. Well, then you can't it's not
like alcohol where you can just kind of
give it up and you'll be all right.
Sugar's kind of in everything and it's
also great.
>> Yeah, and like the older you get and the
less that you're like, you know, I'm
married very happily married and and
like living a very contented life, but
like those early halcyon days of New
York where you're out like five nights a
week and out and about and doing
everything and everywhere like like
life changes and so like all of a sudden
a chocolate chip cookie with a little
sea salt on top
that's a good day.
>> Mhm.
>> You know what I mean?
>> That's kind of sex for for people the
people that aren't in their 20s.