Fight the Sugar Addiction

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  • atjays
    atjays Posts: 798 Member
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    astrampe wrote: »
    Cocaine is addictive, sugar is not - your body would not go into life threatening withdrawal if you don't get sugar, you will just crave it....

    I agree that you're correct. But my god my body hated me years ago when I went full Keto. Those were a miserable two weeks even if it wasn't life threatening. The body still has a very strong reaction to sudden absence of sugar.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited January 2017
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    On the other hand, I do think the behavioral issue exists to greater and lesser degrees (I am sure BED is related to addictive behaviors, at least, and believe that super morbidly obese people usually have some kind of eating addiction going on). I don't find it especially helpful to think of it as addiction (to me it has some similarities and responds to some of the same strategies, but is vastly different in kind -- I really don't see food, for the vast majority of fat people, becoming the center of the life and crowding out all else that should be important like job, loved one's, enjoyment of other things, that I see with drug and alcohol addictions or probably gambling or the like. However, if someone does find that model useful I think that's fine and maybe it can be helpful. (I think claiming that loving chocolate or having trouble with emotional eating or not continuing to eat when you indulge in the chips at a Mexican restaurant -- all of which I 100% relate to -- is EXACTLY LIKE drug addiction or even WORSE as some here do sometimes is just silly, though, and loses credibility with me, as well as seeming callous -- to those who have to deal with drug addicts in their lives, at the least.)

    Oh, final thought for now: those sites on the internet often infuriate me, because they are trying to make money by defining people as not normal, as having a problem that needs their (paid for) help, and often combined with tests for addiction that are created so the vast majority of people would supposedly have a problem based on the results.
  • LilacLion
    LilacLion Posts: 579 Member
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    I am addicted to sugar (and alcohol actually) and it's a very real thing. Abstinence from both is my choice.
  • LINIA
    LINIA Posts: 1,046 Member
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    Sugar feeds cancer as well as being addictive......cut out the sugar, there is nothing to recommend it. Our bodies don't need sugar.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Sugar isn't an addictive substance, but the behavior of eating it can be addictive, as is the case with other behavioral addictions -- gambling, sex, collecting, work, shopping, eating ...

    The only behavioral addiction specifically called out in DSM-5 as far as I can see is gambling addiction -- under "Non-Substance-Related Disorders". From p. 481:
    ... Other excessive behavioral patterns, such as Internet gaming, have also been described, but the research on these and other behavioral syndromes is less clear [than that for gambling]. Thus, groups of repetitive behaviors, which some term behavioral addictions, with such subcategories as "sex addiction", "exercise addiction", or "shopping addiction", are not included because at this time there is insufficient peer reviewed evidence to establish the diagnostic criteria ...

    And from p. 329, the chapter on Feeding and Eating Disorders:
    .... Some individuals with disorders described in this chapter report eating related symptoms resembling those typically endorsed by individuals with substance-use disorders, such as craving and patterns of compulsive use ...

    But again, DSM-5 is not prepared to go so far as to call out an eating addiction -- at least at this point in time. I won't be surprised if the next release of DSM does call out additional behavioral disorders. The important thing to keep in mind in this context is -- there's nothing special about sugar, or salt, or fat, or any other food substance. It's the desire for eating them and the satisfaction derived that comprise the addiction, not some special property of the sugar, or salt, or fat.

  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
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    LINIA wrote: »
    Sugar feeds cancer as well as being addictive......cut out the sugar, there is nothing to recommend it. Our bodies don't need sugar.

    Nope
  • albertabeefy
    albertabeefy Posts: 1,169 Member
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    vingogly wrote: »
    ...But again, DSM-5 is not prepared to go so far as to call out an eating addiction -- at least at this point in time. I won't be surprised if the next release of DSM does call out additional behavioral disorders. The important thing to keep in mind in this context is -- there's nothing special about sugar, or salt, or fat, or any other food substance. It's the desire for eating them and the satisfaction derived that comprise the addiction, not some special property of the sugar, or salt, or fat.
    Most clinicians treating food addictions have found that many (if not a majority) of food-addiction cases they treat meet all the criteria/characteristics for BED according to the DSM-V.

    When specifically discussing why 'food addiction' wasn't listed in the DSM as it's own disorder, Dr. Charles O'Brien (Chair of the substance-abuse working group for the DSM-V) stated:
    The problem is that, at present, the precise nature of these disturbances and how the neurobiology of eating disorders resembles and differs from the neurobiology of substance-use disorders is unknown. We, and the members of our Work group, wholeheartedly endorse research to understand this important overlap.”
    Basically, there needs to be more research for it to have it's own distinct inclusion - and with the working groups' findings on how it relates to substance abuse, I'd suspect that research is already underway.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
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    albertabeefy wrote: »
    Most clinicians treating food addictions have found that many (if not a majority) of food-addiction cases they treat meet all the criteria/characteristics for BED according to the DSM-V.

    That's true -- however, where people here and elsewhere might get into trouble is believing there's something special about sugar that makes it addictive. And I've run into plenty of people with multiple behavioral addictions in my work with clients. Avoiding sugar isn't necessarily going to address the underlying reasons for the behavioral addiction and I have to wonder whether a consumption disorder based around sugar might be transferred to the consumption of something else, or some other behavior. I don't think we know at this time.
    Basically, there needs to be more research for it to have it's own distinct inclusion - and with the working groups' findings on how it relates to substance abuse, I'd suspect that research is already underway.

    That's why I said "I won't be surprised if the next release of DSM does call out additional behavioral disorders".
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    LilacLion wrote: »
    I am addicted to sugar (and alcohol actually) and it's a very real thing. Abstinence from both is my choice.

    According to your diary, you ate 91 grams of sugar today :smirk:
  • albertabeefy
    albertabeefy Posts: 1,169 Member
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    vingogly wrote: »
    albertabeefy wrote: »
    Most clinicians treating food addictions have found that many (if not a majority) of food-addiction cases they treat meet all the criteria/characteristics for BED according to the DSM-V.

    That's true -- however, where people here and elsewhere might get into trouble is believing there's something special about sugar that makes it addictive. And I've run into plenty of people with multiple behavioral addictions in my work with clients. Avoiding sugar isn't necessarily going to address the underlying reasons for the behavioral addiction and I have to wonder whether a consumption disorder based around sugar might be transferred to the consumption of something else, or some other behavior. I don't think we know at this time.
    Basically, there needs to be more research for it to have it's own distinct inclusion - and with the working groups' findings on how it relates to substance abuse, I'd suspect that research is already underway.

    That's why I said "I won't be surprised if the next release of DSM does call out additional behavioral disorders".
    It sounds like we're in 100% agreement in the idea it's a behavioural addiction.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,391 MFP Moderator
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    LINIA wrote: »
    Sugar feeds cancer as well as being addictive......cut out the sugar, there is nothing to recommend it. Our bodies don't need sugar.

    Glucose, the type of sugar that runs your whole body, is what feeds some cancers. There might be some benefit to a keto diet to some types of cancers but its far from definitive and it would be a supplemental to chemo.


    Add into it, that patients can struggle to eat certains types of foods while going through treatment, it may not be advisable to go on such a very strict diet.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited January 2017
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    LINIA wrote: »
    Sugar feeds cancer as well as being addictive......cut out the sugar, there is nothing to recommend it. Our bodies don't need sugar.

    Please post a reputable source for this. Scientific, of course.Thanks. I cannot find anything on google scholar that backs your post up.
    @LINIA
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    stephmph16 wrote: »
    Bear in mind I'm a newb when it comes to nutrition, but not a moron, can someone explain how sugar isn't addictive? Most the articles I'm seeing online say in big bold letters "sugar is addictive", but here people are scoffing at that idea. I just want to know where I'm getting information from.

    I've called my issues with sugar addiction-like. It can be a problem. I ate too much of it. Damaged my health with it and still wanted more of it. And yes, I did not keep table sugar in the house because I have gone to the sugar bowl for a pick-me-up... espeially those sharp little sugar cubes...

    IMO, those who scoff at the idea of sugar problems being like an addiction tend not to have problems with sugar. They moderate it readily. Sort of like how I can't understand how someone could be addicted to smoking or alcohol. Too much of that makes me feel ill and I have no desire to ever do it again.... Too much sugar would make me feel ill too but I still went back for more ju-jubes or soda.

    There is something to it if you ask me. Sugar has an odd effect on some people. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets classified as an addiction in the future.
  • Lefty1290
    Lefty1290 Posts: 551 Member
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    nvmomketo wrote: »
    stephmph16 wrote: »
    Bear in mind I'm a newb when it comes to nutrition, but not a moron, can someone explain how sugar isn't addictive? Most the articles I'm seeing online say in big bold letters "sugar is addictive", but here people are scoffing at that idea. I just want to know where I'm getting information from.

    I've called my issues with sugar addiction-like. It can be a problem. I ate too much of it. Damaged my health with it and still wanted more of it. And yes, I did not keep table sugar in the house because I have gone to the sugar bowl for a pick-me-up... espeially those sharp little sugar cubes...

    IMO, those who scoff at the idea of sugar problems being like an addiction tend not to have problems with sugar. They moderate it readily. Sort of like how I can't understand how someone could be addicted to smoking or alcohol. Too much of that makes me feel ill and I have no desire to ever do it again.... Too much sugar would make me feel ill too but I still went back for more ju-jubes or soda.

    There is something to it if you ask me. Sugar has an odd effect on some people. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets classified as an addiction in the future.

    This is me, too.

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