Food addiction-Sugar

Sugar is indeed addictive, and may be more addictive than cocaine. That's what new studies are beginning to show. It isn't your fault, it's tied directly into the reward centers in your brain. I'm not sure if others posted about that, because the comments were beginning to look trollish and I just wanted to reach out. I believe you. I have a problem with sugar too, to the extent that I really can't have it around at all. I recommend following something like the Whole 30 cleanse or something similar, with guidelines and grocery lists, so that you have a mission, something to stick to. It takes 2 weeks to really be free of the taste and urge to eat it. I promise you that if you do quit cold turkey and follow something like W30 that you can be free.

I've gone on and off the sugar wagon for years. I have dabbled with stevia (I avoid chemical fake sugars, they're perhaps linked with cancer and repro problems) and it worked well for me. I even made my own chocolate and ice cream with it. You can google lots of recipes with stevia. That certainly helped.

These days, I limit how much fruit is in the house, as that's too sweet for me; the only chocolate I buy is super dark, 85-88% because I just don't have the urge to eat a ton of it. I don't buy cookies or cakes, and I avoid eating a lot of grain because I find that it creates a downward spiral for me into sugar cravings. Stick with lots of protein, veggies, and LOTS of good fats like coconut oil which helps a TON. Good luck, it's a doozy of an addiction, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Here is a guy who completely agrees with the sugar in moderation mantra (as do I, although I'm careful about WHEN). This is from 2012, sorry if it's been posted already. I included the first paragraph although I know we have already argued it to death. It's the second paragraph that I liked.

Is sugar toxic? This was the question posed by CBS News program 60 Minutes last Sunday. The answer was a resounding “yes.” And not only is sugar toxic, it is also addictive according to the experts interviewed for the segment. I have been interested in food addiction for some time now and it seems that the popular media is finally taking notice of this concept. The program featured Eric Stice, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at the Oregon Research Institute who has used fMRI scans to conclude that sugar activates the same brain regions that are activated when a person consumes drugs like cocaine. In addition, he found that heavy users of sugar develop tolerance (needing more and more to feel the same effect), which is a symptom of substance dependence. Nora Volkow, M.D., a psychiatrist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has done similar research using brain imaging techniques to show similarities between the brains of people who are obese and people who abuse drugs and alcohol. Nicole Avena, Ph.D., a psychologist at Princeton University, was even able to induce sugar dependency in rats. In my opinion, the research is convincing that sugar and other foods have an addictive quality. The Lay’s potato chip advertising execs were really onto something when they developed their “betcha can’t eat just one” slogan in the 1950s. Talk about ahead of their time!

The question that has plagued me more recently is: what do we do with this information? As a clinician, how do I best help patients struggling with overeating? The most commonly used model to treat drug and alcohol addictions is abstinence (complete avoidance of the drug or alcohol). Should we advocate an abstinence model for the treatment of sugar addiction? This would involve recommending that people completely avoid food and beverages with sugar—a daunting task when you consider the breadth of food products containing sugar. To me, this type of recommendation rings too similar to restrictive dieting: a “weight loss” technique that most research has found only leads to binge eating and weight cycling. When food is off-limits, it tends to take on power and value. The things that you cannot have are only that much more enticing. Think about a 10-year-old boy who is not allowed to see an “R” rated movie. His imagination may run wild with thoughts about what intriguing content that movie may contain. He would be disappointed to find out that most “R” rated movies are actually quite boring, especially for a 10-year-old child. The same happens with food; a doughnut becomes alluring, its shining glaze beckoning you from across the room. You imagine how incredible it would taste, find yourself ruminating about the doughnut far after you have left its physical presence. It may become a symbol of rebellion: “I’m going to be a bad girl tonight and eat the doughnut, screw them all!” and then turn into a symbol for self-hatred, disgust, and shame when you succumb to eating the doughnut. In reality, it’s just a doughnut: simply flour, sugar, and yeast fried in oil. Demystified and eaten mindfully, the doughnut loses its power and is often just as disappointing as the “R” rated movie. However, to the person for whom the doughnut is off-limits, it becomes so much more. This is my concern with advocating an abstinence model to treat sugar addiction. I think that caution should be used when restricting foods from your diet (especially foods that you tend to enjoy) and you should be conscious of the effect that this restriction has on your mind and body. Therapy and mindful eating are tools that can help you in this process. The goal is to create a healthy and peaceful relationship with food that will leave you feeling satisfied. Going beyond the physical nature of your relationship with food into the psychological will enhance the relationship and help restore a sense of balance in your eating.

If someone said, "When I go to a restaurant, I just eat sugar right from the sugar bowl by the spoonful or packet full rather than eating an actual meal" I might start to suspect a real sugar addiction. THAT's how addicts behave.

They don't just over-indulge because it's convenient.

Snack cakes, cookies, whatever... they sit in your pantry. They're easy to grab. They come in a box with lots of portions.
Ice cream is similar... it sits in your freezer in a big container.

If you have issues with self-control, then yeah, implement strategies that will help you with your willpower... substitute fruit instead of the snack cake or cookies or whatever. But put the blame where it belongs.

I completely agree. When I imagine someone with a sugar addiction, I think of a person behaving like they have Willi-Prader syndrome and just tearing through the house or restaurant eating anything and everything with sugar in it, including fruit, milk, honey, syrup, or even sweet potatoes.

And the whole "studies with rats show that oreos are more addictive that drugs," well, the rats probably ate the oreos because they taste better than drugs. Just sayin'.

Right. Sugar is toxic. Which is why human beings have been eating it since human beings existed.

Why doesn't anybody know how to think critically anymore?

Of course sugar is toxic - why do you think we evolved to produce insulin.

Sugar is also essential to our brains and other organs, but it toxic in large doses.

Why can't it be both toxic in large doses and at the same time be essential for us?

Your thought process on this seem quite narrow!


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2246629/