Are you addicted to sugar?
There’s lots of interest and information around at the moment about food and sugar addiction. Many of us can easily say that we have a sweet tooth. Whether it’s chocolate, lollies, cakes, cookies, sugar in our tea of coffee, or soft drink, our world is filled with lots of sugary temptations, hot chips, bread, burgers… it all gets converted to sugar (glucose) by our body.
What I find particularly interesting as a nutritionist and self confessed chocoholic, that the studies are showing that it’s not totally my fault (big breath and “yay”!). Genetics, big business, body wiring, gut microbiome, and emotions all play a part.
What’s the big deal about sugar addiction?
Lots of studies are suggesting, and proving, that the rise in diabetes, dementia, obesity, cancer and many other conditions in the past 20+ years all stem back to the food that we have been eating since the 1970s with the low-fat way of life.
We all started eating cereals, grains, vegetable oils, margarine and other highly processed foods because we were told that was the right thing to do – big business and government policies told us so. Now of course, we’re being told that’s all wrong and to go back to the way our great-grandparents ate. Problem is many of us have been conditioned to like a certain type of food – flavour, texture, etc, and going back to “eating healthy” and maintaining that type of diet is difficult!
Why so difficult? Because many of us are addicted.
Addiction exerts a long and powerful influence on the brain that manifests in three distinct ways: craving for the object of addiction, loss of control over its use, and continuing involvement with it despite adverse consequences.
Studies have shown that food and sugar addiction is the same as any other addiction – drug, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, sex, gaming addictions – are all the same. It’s just your addiction of choice that is different.
The extra interesting part of sugar addiction has been found to be 8 times more addictive than these other conventional addictions.
And we all have to eat don’t we. So it’s actually harder to go cold turkey with food – especially when there’s a fast food outlet at every corner, advertising at bus stops, TV, and then there’s the emotional cues that we have to handle as well – our reward system, as well as our microbiome screaming at us for more carbs.
So are you addicted to sugar?
Take the Sugar addiction screening questionnaire to find out where you land on the scale.
I’m addicted! Now what?
Take a breath. It’s ok. Knowledge is power, education is key.
Book an appointment and we can help you out.