Sugar

Can people be addicted to food?

Ask any bulimic or compulsive eater that question, and the answer is certainly 'yes, absolutely'. The sad thing about food addiction is that it is so visible - the extreme being morbid obesity. The fact that the over-eating is visible reinforces the low self-esteem of the eating disorder sufferer... which can lead to social exclusion (social phobia) and more time to spend eating for comfort.

I'm in a rush at the moment, and hopefully I'll remember to come back and find them for you, but there are references to high sugar/fat foods having the same effect on the brain as opiates... hence the insatiable cravings that food-addicted people have for them.

Hopefully we'll speak further about this very interesting topic.

Ava x

Definitely sugar is addictive - you try giving it up completely!!! I mean avoiding everything that contains sugar - most processed food, even some crisps contain it, and tomato ketchup, etc, etc, not forgetting all the biscuits, cakes, pastries, bread, babyfoods and so on. In fact try and find a processed food that doesn't have sugar in.

Have a look at Dr Mercola's sites here, here, here and here for some serious allegations on the damage sugar does to the body and there are several more connections referred to at the bottom of the articles. The average American consumes some 152 lbs of sugars annually - that is nearly half a pound a day! - and even worse, it seems the top 20 percent of sugar-addicted children are getting 40 percent of their calories from sugar every single day - and the UK is following not far behind.

Sugar has been described as 'empty calories' because it has been stripped of all the nutritional co-factors (ie 'pure' sugar)that allow us to digest and process it. These ncessaary nutrients must be robbed from elsewhere in the body to process the sugars and the body ends up nutrient-deficient and prone to disease.

It has been said that if sugar was presented as a new food source now, it would be banned outright!

Avoiding it in the first place is the best plan - starting from childhood.

What do you think about the research that says that humans can't be addicted to food? Why do you think there's been no published research proving that sugar is addictive?

I agree - of course, that it can be, I'm kinda playing devil's advocate here. I am in the process of cutting out sugar, which is how I came across the book I mentioned - Beat Sugar Addiction Now. I ordered a copy, I like how Dr. Teitelbaum splits sugar addicts into four different types and has a plan to deal with each - however sadly I think I'm suffering from ALL FOUR types of sugar addiction. 😛

What do you think about the research that says that humans can't be addicted to food? Why do you think there's been no published research proving that sugar is addictive?

Hi again

I think you have to look at who funded the study - was it a sugar corporation? How long did it last? How many people were tested? What was the health status of those tested? How much sugar were they consuming before the test? How much sugar were they offered to take daily? and so on ...

If testing for pharmaceuticals has been shown to be a [url]big sham [/url]- how much might this sort of test be just the same? I learned at college that the sugar corporations had spent millions to try and find a health benefit for their product and failed to do so, and I guess this may have been one of the few 'benefits' they came across.

I shall have to get Teitelbaum's book as it sounds interesting. Thanks for telling us about it. And it isn't just Dr T who says it's addictive - see Dr Mercola's website on sugar addiction - several references.

P.S. Have a look at the references at the end of [DLMURL="http://www.dietcure.com/sugara.html"]this article[/DLMURL]

Let me give you my personal experience in trying to give up sugar.

Years ago I was a normal guy on a normal kind of diet in the West (not health food, but before junk food came in so much). At the age of 20 or 21 I came across a book called "Sugar Blues". It listed the simply huge amount of physical illnesses sugar leads to in the short term, and in the long term.

I remember one experiment related: two groups of lab rats, and one group were given nothing at all to eat, while the other group could get refined sugar. You'd think the sugar would keep them going as it's energy, right? No, the sugar-eating group died first: refined sugar is poison, pure and simple.

At the same time, roughly, I got a book on health food - all this being so many years ago that vegetarianism, healthy eating, and avoiding junk food was basically never in the news (1970s). I wasn't the kind of young man to hang around, so determined there and then to change my diet completely.

I'd not been eating more nor less sugar than any average person. I didn't even add it to hot drinks. But when I came to an abrupt halt overnight, huge craving kicked in. I craved and craved sugar. Or sugary things. I denied myself, so took to buying honey instead. You'd think honey would be healthy, surely? But it depends on moderation! The sugar-craving was still there, and I found myself getting through a pot of honey per day as a substitute! So I stopped that as well. I used carob powder on the cereal I used to eat for breakfast (oats). And in the end I cut out the carob too.

All in all I'd say it took me four months to "come off" sugar.

I live a fairly practical life now and am not zealous. I've not touched white, refined sugar such as using spoonfuls of it for decades, but I do recognise that many tinned and other foods I buy will have it in. It's hard to totally avoid it in all foods today, but I'm no longer addicted as most Westerners are, and probably have only a fraction as much as the average joe or jane. Food always tastes much nicer to me if without sugar (tinned sweet corn for example).

There's an interesting secondary outcome to getting totally off sugar. Once off it, I found that I came to hate the taste. I hate sweet unnatural foods - cakes, biscuits, sweets, etc. They taste appalling to me. At an event some time back, ladies had baked a special cake, and tried to force a piece on me a la that "Come on" line from Father Ted regarding cuppas. 🙂 I said 'no thank you' literally four times, and they were still at me to have this piece of cake, so I gave in to be polite; and to eat that sweet piece of junk was a totally disgusting experience. That's how it gets when you have weaned yourself off sugar, refined and unnatural sugar, in my experience.

You know you are "off" sugar, in other words, once you come to hate the taste.

I also have a friend who's young toddler has been raised purely on healthy foods, no junk whatsoever. Do you think children naturally like sweets or coke etc? Er - no! It's really amusing if relative strangers insist upon giving him a sweet. He puts it in his mouth, gets a puzzled expression, and then spits the sweet out. 😀

Is sugar addictive? Er - yes! It took me four months to come off it with much difficulty, and thank God I've avoided it apart from the odd tinned stuff all my adult life. Unnatural sugar, refined sugar (and am I right that brown sugar is just white sugar with some brown stuff added back in?) is POISON.

V

Fascinating story Venetian - thank you for sharing. I still remain a sugar junkie - I was off it for some time and one taste and I was back! Not good! and I'm trying to come off it again now.

And yes, most brown sugar is white with either colouring (caramel - burned sugar) or a smidge of black treacle added. Blackstrap molasses is what's left after the white, pure sucrose is extracted and contains the goodness and nutrients. So if sweetness is wanted that is a better option.

Yes, I am also a sugar addict.

I managed to cut it out completely several years ago, I had loads more energy, but by three months I mentally broke down, sobbing over my dinner one day in front of guests, it was awful!!!

I've no doubt that cutting out sugar can only be a good thing, but I would never attempt it again without help - counselling or hypnotherapy, EFT never worked for me at all.

I wish I could kick the sugar habit, I wish I'd never had it in my diet at all!

Fascinating story Venetian - thank you for sharing. I still remain a sugar junkie - I was off it for some time and one taste and I was back! Not good! and I'm trying to come off it again now.

And yes, most brown sugar is white with either colouring (caramel - burned sugar) or a smidge of black treacle added.

I thought I had read that somewhere, so thanks. "Brown" sugar is no better than white. To sum up: we don't need "sugar" and it is addictive, yes.

My story, though it only took four months to eradicate sugar, honey etc, long ago, was not an easy one. Almost it felt like coming off a more recognised addictive legal or illegal substance. But if I may mention it, I know that females find it all the harder, as many tend to crave sugar during PMT. Obviously I have no experience of that, but the ultimate solution (if you have young children) is never to get them "on" to sugar in the first place. No need at all to even have it in the house. Nor chocolate, etc.

IMHO, if you know the truth, that sugar, chocolate, etc, are not "foods" but mild poisons, you are doing your children a large disservice by even having them in the house. If they are not in the house (and why should they be?) then it's unlikely that your children will become addicted, and thence as adults they won't have much problem either.

I've never bought "a bag of sugar" in my life, and never will!

V

Yes sugar is addictive and it’s dangerous for health. Because of its addictive qualities.Sugar is a highly refined substance that does not appear alone in nature. It looks a lot like cocaine, and sugar acts a lot like heroin when it hits the brain.sugar affects the brain chemistry and thus might be expected to cause addictive behavior. In the study, written by Nicole Avena and others, it was shown that sugar bingeing can cause withdrawal symptoms and cravings.

See, I can understand where most people are coming from but I wouldn't consider myself a sugar addict at all. I was raised in having everything in moderation, and even now, I can go as long as I like without having any direct sugar. I try to avoid processed foods, instead trying to buy the ingredients and cook it myself

Hi

I have been weaning myself off sugar for a couple of months now. It all started when I read a book called Slim For Life by Jason Vale. In it he explains about sugar and other foods that are not good for us.

I have always known sugar is not good for you. But up until now I have just haven`t done anything about it. Anyway I read this book and I had a lightbulb moment.:)

Since then I have cut out sugar from my tea. I used to have lots of sugar on my porridge. I now have porridge with sultanas or apples or some other fruit.Which I know fruit has sugar. But at least it is natural.

To be honest it was hard to start with. But I have got through it. I still drink tea but only two a day NO SUGAR. Sometimes I do think it would be nice to have sugar in my tea. But I am not going back. If I crave sugar. Which I sometimes do, but not so much now. I will eat a piece of fruit and I am ok.

I was eating a biscuit earlier and I found it sweet. I am just not looking at food in the same way. I am drawing away from biscuits, cakes, chocolate bars etc. I am just finding them too sweet.

The bonus is I have lost a little bit of weight,without even trying.Even my husband has lost a little weight. We both feel as though we have more energy.He was the reason I read this book in the first place. So for us cutting out as much sugar as we can has, had a postive effect.

We are both not craving sugar like we used to.:) Its so strange, but good at the same time.My husband is not even eating snickers bars. Which he loved.

So heres to a healthy new life.Sugar free, as much as possible anyway.

Sunrise

yes people can become sugar addict which can be dangerous for health.

yes people can become sugar addict which can be dangerous for health.

I suppose as a précis of everything that’s gone before, it works.;)