Carb Addict!!!!

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I wish it were that simple.

For some people food is directly connected to emotions that can cause severe habit forming practices.

This is the point everyone is trying to get you to understand. The desire to eat food is caused by emotions, not the food itself. You are not addicted to carbs, sugar, or any other food. You are eating in response to an underlying cause not related to food. The problem is the behavioral response, not the food or any chemical within the food. It really is that simple.

Okay, well it's not just emotions.. it's more complex then that.

Where does the desire to do drugs, drink alcohol, or smoke come from (the first time you try them)? And when you over indulge in those things.. what happens? Addiction. Many people over eat because they like the way it tastes (which is a chemical reaction with your taste buds and taste receptors), Those tastes are enhanced by insulin spikes which attribute to mood and energy (aka. sugar high.. though not a medical term is very real) when that over indulgence becomes unsustainable for your body it turns to fat (both good and bad) which then can cause real health complications.

I wish this were not the case.. I wish it was just as simple as "control yourself". But it's not. When you lose that ability to stop yourself it's no different then needing another line of coke and it's just as hard to battle, if it wasn't? There wouldn't be an obesity problem in the US. Take one swipe of the internet, there are clinics and retreats for food addictions. It's easier for a person already healthy to dismiss it as self control, I mean I could say the same about a drug addict, "just stop doing it". But unfortunately, that's not reality.

In order to understand addiction, you have to understand what learned behavior is.

In order to understand learned behavior, you have to have a firm grounding in physiology.

It is good that people are focusing in on the psychological aspects of obesity more so than diet calories or extreme exercise. Both the latter are short-term solutions, which has been proven over and over again.

The human nervous system has over 100 billions neurons. Each of these neurons has thousands of connections to other neurons. It is these neural networks that determine who we are, what we do, our thoughts, etc, etc, etc.

Now this is the important point- ALL THESE NEURAL CONNECTIONS AND NETWORKS ARE IN A CONSTANT STATE OF CHANGE.

The change is dependent on the input that these neurons are exposed to. Through repetition, any particular neural pathway is is strengthened, or facilitated. That;s how we learn. The corollary is that if a neural network loses the stimulus that created it, it will change as well.

Muscles function somewhat like neural tissue. Exercise muscles, and they will grow. Do little or no exercise, and they will not grow. As the muscle maintains a basic tonus from neural input, cut the nerve supplying it and the muscle will atrophy away.

So the best way to beat an addiction? Very simple. Stop the behavior. Immediately. it makes no sense to gradually withdraw physiologically for the vast majority of "addictions." In alcoholics, they can get the DT's, so that is a special case- but just barely. They usually have a host of other problems.

Sugar addiction?

Well, I would argue that someone with that 'addiction" is facing more of general food addiction. You have to re-train your brain not to get so excited at the prospect of eating sugar.

Now, you can't stop eating entirely, but you can discipline yourself to live being a little bit hungry for part of the day.

I like to suggest skipping breakfast. Most people who think they have sugar "addictions" are also overweight. In the morning, your body is burning fats. So skipping breakfast serves a double purpose. Fats are burned through the morning at the same time you are getting used to an empty stomach.

The change in neural circuitry that develops over days and weeks of sticking to that program produces amazing results. I bet your sugar addiction disappears- as it has for others on this program.

I'll go a bit further on sugar.

All carbohydrates are basically sugar- and we are talking about fruits, vegetables, and starches.

In the stomach and small intestine, these are broken down into 80% glucose (which is a six-carbon molecule) with some fructose and galctose.

These products go straight to the liver to be processed further. What is released into the blood is 95% glucose, with a little fructose.

Most of the glucose is taken up into the cell, aided by Insulin. There, it is either used, or stored as glycogen.

Brain cells use glucose exclusively for fuel. The brain cells do NOT need insulin in order to absorb glucose.

Sugar and carbohydrates are GOOD things to eat.

Overweight people just eat too much of them.

Needs to be re-read.

Weight loss is a mental game, not a calorie game.

Well, there is no free lunch.

You have to discipline yourself to get used to an empty stomach for a part of the day. That can be distressful.

But over time on this protocol, your brain will re-wire and your hunger urges will change. YOU will change. And lose weight.

But you have to skip breakfast.

Water "fast" until noon.

I am not sure your mother would like that at all. And I can see all the nutritionists starting to roll their eyes. Piglet is laughing.

But after the fast period you can eat what you want.

Got he guts to try it?

Do ya'?