Question for self professed "sugar addicts"

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  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
    Interestingly enough, caffeine withdrawal syndrome will be in the DSM V, sugar/food addiction? Not so much

    Behavioral addictions were not in DSM-IV, but will are in DSM-V, including binge eating, which is now recognized as an eating disorder similar to anorexia or bulimia.

    http://www.recoverytoday.net/articles/143-dsm-v-major-changes-to-addictive-disease-classifications/

    "Gambling Addiction Makes the Cut

    The proposed DSM-V also would add a new category of “behavioral addictions” which contains a single disorder: gambling addiction. “Internet addiction was considered for this category, but work group members decided there was insufficient research data to do so, so they recommended it be included in the manual’s appendix instead, with a goal of encouraging additional study,” according to an APA press release.

    The net effect is that the term “addiction” would now be officially applied to more than alcohol and other drug related disorders. “There is substantive research that supports the position that pathological gambling and substance-use disorders are very similar in the way they affect the brain and neurological reward system,” said O’Brien. “Both are related to poor impulse control and the brain’s system of reward and aggression.”

    Peele argues that the APA’s addictions category could be expanded even further to include “life-harming, compulsive” involvement with things like sex and food, which are classified in the DSM-V draft as separate “hypersexuality” and “binge eating” disorders."

    Then there is this from Dr. Vera Tarman:

    http://addictionsunplugged.com/2013/01/30/binge-eating-disorder-in-the-dsm-5-good-news-or-no-news-for-the-food-addict/

    "Those working in the eating disorders field have achieved landmark success in getting “Binge Eating Disorder” recognized as a clinical entity that exists apart from Anorexia or Bulimia. This diagnosis may now include persons who suffer from the uncontrollable urge to eat large amounts of food (usually in intermittent sessions) without having to include many of the weight restricting behaviours that bulimics or anorexics engage in, i.e. vomiting, over exercise, use of laxatives. Thus many of those who are obese can now get treatment, outside of bariatric surgery, that can be funded.


    Does this help the food addict? The big question is this: Are all food addicts also suffering from binge eating disorders? While there is likely a high degree of overlap in these two groups, indeed many food addicts binge eat when in active addiction, it is important to note that they are NOT necessarily suffering from the same condition of Binge Eating Disorder. They are not the same thing. They may appear to look the same on the outside: a person overeating a large amount of food without control – but the reasons behind this behaviour are fundamentally different. The food addict is dancing to a different drummer, though the tune may look the same.


    The person who is suffering from a Binge Eating Disorder is responding to social and emotional psychological cues that have disinhibited the eating behaviour. Something has prompted the person, such as previous emotional trauma stemming from childhood, sexual abuse, or current environmental stresses, to over eat in an attempt to self medicate their emotional distress.

    The food addict, alternatively, is responding to the cravings created by the physical quality of food itself. If the food addict does not pick up the first taste of sugar (or any other their trigger foods), they may not need to over eat, regardless of emotional state – calm or distressed, emotional internal or external havoc.These states of mind do not create the overpowering drive to overeat. Certainly emotions can trigger a person to want to eat, but the control is lost truly when the food has ignited the reward pathway in the limbic brain. It is not what is eating you (Binge Eating Disorder), but what you are eating (Food addiction) that is the problem.
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
    Here's some more:

    http://childhoodobesitynews.com/2011/02/04/comfort-eating-food-addiction-and-the-dsm-v-manual/

    "When the brain realizes that pain, stress, and boredom are eased by the pleasure of the food, dopamine receptor changes start to take place in that all-important organ. Once significant dopamine changes have taken place in the brain, the person is no longer able to resist the food — he or she is addicted. How does Dr. Pretlow know this? From 10 years of messages, 134,000 of them, written by children and teens who respond to the Weigh2Rock website. He summarizes:

    One third explicitly say they turn to food to ease sadness, stress, anger, fatigue, loneliness, and boredom, as well as the pain of being obese itself. For most, this ‘comfort eating’ appears to be unconscious or mindless. The disaster is that they become hooked on this behavior and unable to stop, even when distressingly overweight or obese because of it.

    It appears that children initially overeat because “the food is there” — it simply tastes good, and it is comforting. But once their brains realize that pain, stress, and boredom are eased by the pleasure of the food, it becomes a habit. Meanwhile, dopamine receptor changes insidiously take place in their brains. Once significant dopamine receptor changes have taken place in their brains, the children are unable to cease the comfort eating — in other words, it’s no longer a habit but an addiction."
  • LAW_714
    LAW_714 Posts: 258
    Here's some more:

    http://childhoodobesitynews.com/2011/02/04/comfort-eating-food-addiction-and-the-dsm-v-manual/

    "When the brain realizes that pain, stress, and boredom are eased by the pleasure of the food, dopamine receptor changes start to take place in that all-important organ. Once significant dopamine changes have taken place in the brain, the person is no longer able to resist the food — he or she is addicted. How does Dr. Pretlow know this? From 10 years of messages, 134,000 of them, written by children and teens who respond to the Weigh2Rock website. He summarizes:

    One third explicitly say they turn to food to ease sadness, stress, anger, fatigue, loneliness, and boredom, as well as the pain of being obese itself. For most, this ‘comfort eating’ appears to be unconscious or mindless. The disaster is that they become hooked on this behavior and unable to stop, even when distressingly overweight or obese because of it.

    It appears that children initially overeat because “the food is there” — it simply tastes good, and it is comforting. But once their brains realize that pain, stress, and boredom are eased by the pleasure of the food, it becomes a habit. Meanwhile, dopamine receptor changes insidiously take place in their brains. Once significant dopamine receptor changes have taken place in their brains, the children are unable to cease the comfort eating — in other words, it’s no longer a habit but an addiction."

    Saw something about insulin, leptin, and dopamine receptors somewhere as well (don't remember the details of it though.) I know that there's overlap in leptin receptors and insulin such that high insulin levels coincide with leptin resistance and leptin resistance means that you aren't getting accurate 'satiety' feedback any longer.

    http://www.ihealthdirectory.com/leptin-resistance-treatment/
    Leptin is a hormone in the human body that is produced by adipocytes in the body also known as fat cells. It is a key hormone for maintaining a lean body. People need leptin to keep a lean body mass. The problem is that some people are leptin resistant. Studies being done are proving that being overweight is directly associated with being leptin resistant. When a person is leptin resistant their body is unable to respond to the feeling of being full that leptin is supposed to signal to the hypo-thalamus, which is then supposed to turn off the appetite. Leptin resistance is associated with the inability to lose weight and is characterized by excess abdominal fat. This has been discovered to be a chronic inflammatory condition that increases the risk for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, strokes and dementia, obesity, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases and reproductive disorders.

    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/10/29/leptin-resistance.aspx
    Insulin and leptin work together to control the quality of your metabolism, and, to a significant extent, your rate of metabolism. {...}According to recent research published in the journal Molecular Cell the leptin receptor has two hinged legs that swivel until they come in contact with leptin.

    Once leptin attaches to the receptor, these legs stop swiveling and become rigid, thereby sending a signal to an enzyme called Janus kinase, which has the ability to bind inflammatory cytokines. It is believed that inhibiting the Janus kinases might help improve inflammatory and metabolic disorders.

    {...}Leptin is a very powerful and influential hormone produced by your fat cells. Your fat, by way of leptin, tells your brain whether you should be hungry, eat and make more fat, whether you should reproduce, or (partly by controlling insulin) whether to engage in maintenance and repair. In short, leptin is the way that your fat stores speak to your brain to let your brain know how much energy is available and, very importantly, what to do with it.

    If your leptin signaling is working properly, when your fat stores are "full," this extra fat will cause a surge in your leptin level, which signals your brain to stop feeling hungry, to stop eating, to stop storing fat and to start burning some extra fat off. {..} You become leptin-resistant by the same general mechanism that you become insulin-resistant – by continuous overexposure to high levels of the hormone. {...} Over time, if your body is exposed to too much leptin, it will become resistant, just as your body can become resistant to insulin.

    The only known way to reestablish proper leptin (and insulin) signaling is to prevent those surges, and the only known way to do that is via diet...

    (Though I've seen/read stuff saying that exercise is equally as important.)
  • bananahb33
    bananahb33 Posts: 28 Member
    Once upon a time I drank between 3 and 6 Mt Dew per day. In an effort to lose weight, I cut those out for awhile. I did not get the shakes or sweats...I did not have headaches or even mild hallucinations...I did not have any symptoms that I would, from experience, attribute to detoxing.

    I find many of these claims of addiction to foods to be a bit disturbing...and more of an excuse than anything else.

    Ok. Food is not nearly as addictive as the substances that would cause the level of withdrawal that you are describing. But food addiction (also referred to as compulsive eating) is a cataloged psychological disorder that can be traced to the chemical reactions certain foods cause in people's brains. I agree that the word addiction is thrown around a lot, and frequently by peopled who are looking for an excuse for their lack of self control. But I also think that your argument of my addiction is worse than yours is not a very valid basis by which to judge someone's struggles.

    Sorry. I realize this isn't entirely on original topic.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    When You are truly addicted to something, it supersedes Your basic human needs... FOOD, shelter, clothing and physical well being.

    I'm addicted to oxygen.

    Every time I stop breathing I get dizzy and pass out.

    I'm sure though that if I keep at it I can kick the habit.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    Soooooo... I eat fruit inbetween meals to help with my massive appetite. Two apples, a banana, and an orange a day..

    OMGGG I'M A SUGAR ADDICT.

    :sad:


    You could also as another poster suggested just eat 10 000 calories to satisfy your hunger and be just fine.....jejejeje.

    Btw: I also eat fruit between meals, but otherwise eat nothing sweet, no sugar, HFCS, honey etc added to anything, no rice or pasta and absolute no white bread. I gained 80 pounds on that stuff, while otherwise eating a whole food diet and will not go back to that kind of one-track eating, were I felt I had not eaten if the meal was not accompanied by copious amounts of starch.
    I would not call myself a carb-addict, but at the same time do not know what else I would call my former dependency.
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    Dude, I am eating ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. I'm so high right now

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