Sugar Addiction 101
As consumers of roughly 160 pounds of sugar per person annually, according to recent reports, we need to be asking what the cost of our consumption is on our bodies and our health. Whether it's the sugar in what we eat or drink, and this includes the lattes, juices, sodas, and some alcoholic beverages-we owe it to ourselves to understand that sugar is making us fat and disrupting our body organs. Another more subtle but equally detrimental effect is sugar's action on the brain.[
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What is 'addiction' anyway? Addiction is a condition in which an individual has a dysfunctional relationship with a substance. For example, in the case of sugar addiction, sugar may be used to reward and/or relax a person. That is a dysfunctional relationship because reward and relaxation are not the intended purposes of a food item. With an addiction of any kind, the individual is unable to stop the behavior, regardless of consequences, and in fact seeks the target substance out on an ever-increasing basis.
So how do you know if you're addicted to sugar? Do you crave sweets? Would you like to avoid sweets but find that you can't? Have you made a decision to avoid foods with sugar in the past but found yourself unable to follow through? Do you ever over-indulge in a sweet item to the point of embarrassment or nausea? Do you hide evidence of your "crime"? Does your mood or energy level change if you consume sugar? Does your mood or energy level change when sugar wears off? Do you find yourself obsessing about a food item? If you answered 'yes' to even a few of these questions, you probably are indeed addicted to sugar.
Now, why exactly does eating sugar trigger a strong desire for more sweets or calories? Eating sugar triggers the release of opiates in the brain. Opiates are chemicals which make you feel good. For anyone who isn't sure what opiates are, understand that they are the in the same class of drugs as heroin or morphine. Eating sugar will also begin a cycle of craving or compulsion for more of the same feeling that was caused by the release of the opiates. You may not "get high" the way you would with a powerful narcotic, but that doesn't mean it doesn't impact your mood or your brain.
Sugar consumption has been linked to challenges such as depression, CFS, ADD and ADHD, PMS, as well as overall poorer cognitive functioning. Most of us know about sugar's link to diabetes, but have you considered its possible connection to cancer as well? What if excessive sugar consumption was indirectly causing something as frightening as cancer? If it were possible, would you take the risk?It's not surprising that we have such a terrible rise in obesity over the past twenty years when we have manufactured sugars like high fructose corn syrup being put into so much of our food. HFCS is literally manufactured in a laboratory to be much sweeter than natural sugar.
Firstly you aren't alone; sugar addiction is probably more common than alcoholism, drug addiction and gambling. Why? Simple, sugar is everywhere, not just in your cup of tea, cake, biscuit or can of coke. Sugar has sneaked its way into the most unlikely of foods such as soups, bread and even ketchup.Secondly sugar acts in the same way as certain illegal drugs. At least if we are as closely related to our cousin the rat as scientists seem to believe. Researchers showed that a whopping 94% of rats preferred the taste of sugar and sweeteners to cocaine. Food addiction is plausible because brain pathways respond to sugar in the same way as addictive drugs act.
Here's something amazing: even thinking about a sweet food we love can trigger a chemical response in our brains to eat it. Essentially, the chemical response and memory trace which eating sugar creates inside our brains urges us to go back for more. Meanwhile, that false sense of comfort we achieved from eating our sweets keeps us returning to the source over and over again and we form the insidious habit of associating comfort with food.
The truth is that most of us avoid thinking about the harm sugar or similarly damaging high-carbohydrate diets are causing to our bodies. We do this because of the pleasure it gives us. It's even more pronounced when we use it as a reward or as a release from our busy, stressed-out lives. Sugar does make us feel better for a brief while, perhaps. But nearly all of us have at one time or another experienced the downside that comes with the crash, even if we didn't know what was going on exactly inside of us to make us crash. The ultimate tragedy is that while we might acknowledge that we have a sugar challenge-some of us might even be self-proclaimed addicts-we also tend to feel powerless to do anything about it.
The Cold-Turkey Approach: This approach is recommended for anyone who is tired of feeling tired and sluggish, and who feels that they have sufficient willpower and drive to eliminate as much sugar as possible from their daily diet, all at once.When you take the cold turkey approach, you clear your home, your car, and your office of any foods that contain excessive amounts of sugar. You restrict your sugar intake without restricting your caloric intake - this way, you feed your body well as you go through the withdrawal process. Most people who try this approach feel intense cravings at first, which gradually decrease as hours and days pass.
Just be aware that if you take up the challenge, you'll have to step out of your comfort zone for awhile. For awhile, you'll miss it like an old friend who has moved away, but like anything else, you'll get used to it. And I promise you, once you experience the wonderful clarity of mind and feel the natural energy your body provides without sugar's artificial high, you will never want to go back.
[Beat Sugar Addiction Now]
What is 'addiction' anyway? Addiction is a condition in which an individual has a dysfunctional relationship with a substance. For example, in the case of sugar addiction, sugar may be used to reward and/or relax a person. That is a dysfunctional relationship because reward and relaxation are not the intended purposes of a food item. With an addiction of any kind, the individual is unable to stop the behavior, regardless of consequences, and in fact seeks the target substance out on an ever-increasing basis.
So how do you know if you're addicted to sugar? Do you crave sweets? Would you like to avoid sweets but find that you can't? Have you made a decision to avoid foods with sugar in the past but found yourself unable to follow through? Do you ever over-indulge in a sweet item to the point of embarrassment or nausea? Do you hide evidence of your "crime"? Does your mood or energy level change if you consume sugar? Does your mood or energy level change when sugar wears off? Do you find yourself obsessing about a food item? If you answered 'yes' to even a few of these questions, you probably are indeed addicted to sugar.
Now, why exactly does eating sugar trigger a strong desire for more sweets or calories? Eating sugar triggers the release of opiates in the brain. Opiates are chemicals which make you feel good. For anyone who isn't sure what opiates are, understand that they are the in the same class of drugs as heroin or morphine. Eating sugar will also begin a cycle of craving or compulsion for more of the same feeling that was caused by the release of the opiates. You may not "get high" the way you would with a powerful narcotic, but that doesn't mean it doesn't impact your mood or your brain.
Sugar consumption has been linked to challenges such as depression, CFS, ADD and ADHD, PMS, as well as overall poorer cognitive functioning. Most of us know about sugar's link to diabetes, but have you considered its possible connection to cancer as well? What if excessive sugar consumption was indirectly causing something as frightening as cancer? If it were possible, would you take the risk?It's not surprising that we have such a terrible rise in obesity over the past twenty years when we have manufactured sugars like high fructose corn syrup being put into so much of our food. HFCS is literally manufactured in a laboratory to be much sweeter than natural sugar.
Firstly you aren't alone; sugar addiction is probably more common than alcoholism, drug addiction and gambling. Why? Simple, sugar is everywhere, not just in your cup of tea, cake, biscuit or can of coke. Sugar has sneaked its way into the most unlikely of foods such as soups, bread and even ketchup.Secondly sugar acts in the same way as certain illegal drugs. At least if we are as closely related to our cousin the rat as scientists seem to believe. Researchers showed that a whopping 94% of rats preferred the taste of sugar and sweeteners to cocaine. Food addiction is plausible because brain pathways respond to sugar in the same way as addictive drugs act.
Here's something amazing: even thinking about a sweet food we love can trigger a chemical response in our brains to eat it. Essentially, the chemical response and memory trace which eating sugar creates inside our brains urges us to go back for more. Meanwhile, that false sense of comfort we achieved from eating our sweets keeps us returning to the source over and over again and we form the insidious habit of associating comfort with food.
The truth is that most of us avoid thinking about the harm sugar or similarly damaging high-carbohydrate diets are causing to our bodies. We do this because of the pleasure it gives us. It's even more pronounced when we use it as a reward or as a release from our busy, stressed-out lives. Sugar does make us feel better for a brief while, perhaps. But nearly all of us have at one time or another experienced the downside that comes with the crash, even if we didn't know what was going on exactly inside of us to make us crash. The ultimate tragedy is that while we might acknowledge that we have a sugar challenge-some of us might even be self-proclaimed addicts-we also tend to feel powerless to do anything about it.
The Cold-Turkey Approach: This approach is recommended for anyone who is tired of feeling tired and sluggish, and who feels that they have sufficient willpower and drive to eliminate as much sugar as possible from their daily diet, all at once.When you take the cold turkey approach, you clear your home, your car, and your office of any foods that contain excessive amounts of sugar. You restrict your sugar intake without restricting your caloric intake - this way, you feed your body well as you go through the withdrawal process. Most people who try this approach feel intense cravings at first, which gradually decrease as hours and days pass.
Just be aware that if you take up the challenge, you'll have to step out of your comfort zone for awhile. For awhile, you'll miss it like an old friend who has moved away, but like anything else, you'll get used to it. And I promise you, once you experience the wonderful clarity of mind and feel the natural energy your body provides without sugar's artificial high, you will never want to go back.
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