Need serious help with SUGAR!!!!

This is from PubMed, not my personal opinion, but it agrees with what I have been trying to say (and jumped on over and over for it) in this topic:

Contemporary research has shown that a high number of alcohol-dependent and other drug-dependent individuals have a sweet preference, specifically for foods with a high sucrose concentration. Moreover, both human and animal studies have demonstrated that in some brains the consumption of sugar-rich foods or drinks primes the release of euphoric endorphins and dopamine within the nucleus accumbens, in a manner similar to some drugs of abuse. The neurobiological pathways of drug and "sugar addiction" involve similar neural receptors, neurotransmitters, and hedonic regions in the brain. Craving, tolerance, withdrawal and sensitization have been documented in both human and animal studies. In addition, there appears to be cross sensitization between sugar addiction and narcotic dependence in some individuals. It has also been observed that the biological children of alcoholic parents, particularly alcoholic fathers, are at greater risk to have a strong sweet preference, and this may manifest in some with an eating disorder. In the last two decades research has noted that specific genes may underlie the sweet preference in alcohol- and drug-dependent individuals, as well as in biological children of paternal alcoholics. There also appears to be some common genetic markers between alcohol dependence, bulimia, and obesity, such as the A1 allele gene and the dopamine 2 receptor gene.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20648910

So how much of the thread did you actually read? Try reading it.

And you know what I think? Every time somebody posts something that doesn't agree with what you and your cohorts think, you attack them, how about you keep your opinion of what I posted to yourself, I don't remember asking.

I have read this entire thread. I haven't seen Jon attack anyone. I have seen him attack weak arguments. So far, it looks like he is the only one who has been attacked personally.

I appreciate that.

After catching up on this thread, I'm more convinced than ever that you guys are simply arguing semantics and getting lost in the weeds. There's no medical study that conclusively proves sugar is not addicting to some people, nor are there studies suggesting that it is addicting. At a minimum, there's at least some evidence out there that sugar can cause some addiction-like behavior. The real question in my mind is when someone feels they are addicted to sugary foods, what's the solution? Although, I suspect if there was a good answer to that question, a lot fewer people would be overweight.

I have a problem with sugar too! Sounds a lot like your problem. Glad I found this thread. Hopefully, after reading all the posts, I will find a way to give it up!

It's not an addiction, but habitual. Takes about 21 days of consistent behavior to form a habit. You just need to form a new habit. Set aside what ever treats you like in a measured portion for that day and STICK TO IT. Do it for 21 days and see if you can stick to that habit. But you HAVE to want to do this. Don't go in with the case of the "well-uhs":

"Well uh this happened"
"Well uh I wanted more"
"Well uh I don't think I can do it"

Unless you change the habit, it will continue.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Love this advice! I'm working on reducing sugar, also, and I'm feeling much better after almost a month of closely watching my sugar intake. I'm wondering, from all those years of ingesting all that sugar, and feeling so bad, what the documented negative effects of refined sugar are on the body.

Any point I have made has been totally ignored, like what I posted from PubMed, I never said alcohol had sugar or that they were the same thing, I said I thought they affected the same sensors (read what I posted from PubMed, research says that is true).

I can see it is a waste of time trying to discuss any opinion other than the one that agrees with the bullies in this forum.

Great. Now I feel bad that I haven't been personally attacked. Jon gets the naughty chair, the wooden spoon, and all the attacks? No fair.


opps edited for I get the wine...

"A cocaine addiction is a physical dependence."

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Cocaine is not physically addictive. It is psychologically addictive.


Also, for people who do not believe in "food addiction", I'd like to know if you also do not believe in things like gambling addiction? Gambling is not physically addictive, yet it has destroyed many lives. To be fair though, I wouldn't really call either ones true addictions, but definitely compulsions, and they still have the power to cause highs, crashes, feelings of comfort or control. Making blanket statements like belittling the idea of food being addictive is very insensitive.

There were a couple of book suggestions in this thread and I'd like to suggest one as well. It's called "The End of Overeating" by Dr David Kessler. The main message of this book is how the food industry manipulates food, and how thoroughly they have researched ways to get us high - and addicted to their food - by perfecting the proportions of fat/sugar/salt in foods to get our blood sugars to spike, neurotransmitters to go haywire, and pleasure centers of our brain to be stimulated by their food. There was a section on milk production and how it is manipulated in order to increase stimulation of opioid receptors in our brains, when we drink it, and this makes perfect sense for me. Growing up we always had processed milk in the house and I drank it like crazy (for anyone who may not know, lactose is a sugar). A few years ago I started drinking only organic milk and noticed I did not have the powerful cravings I used to have for milk. I now only drink it rarely, and anytime it's processed I have to have several glasses at once.

Anyways, my point hereis if anyone is snickering at the possibility of food addiction, then why has the food industry spent so much time on R&D to get us hooked if food addiction supposedly isn't possible?

I had a look at the Wikipedia entry for Sugar Addiction. Prior to July 2013 it appears that the wiki community leaned toward the idea of sugar addiction being valid. Now most of the earlier entry is still there, but laced with disclaimers like "factual accuracy is disputed", "dubious", and my favourite, "weasel words". At one time the term Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) caught on, but now the term Problematic Internet Usage (PIU) is in vogue. Perhaps we can settle on PSU, obviously for Problematic Sugar Usage. (DSM authors, I hope you are reading this).