A client wrote, "Help me! I thought I was finally getting a handle on my weight issue but the sugar is killing me. I had an awful day. I won't even tell you what I ate today because it is just so unbelievable. All I will say is that 90% of my food today consisted of sugar! I really, really need some help getting past these cravings. I am no doubt a sugar addict. If I could get past this there is no doubt that I will reach my goal."[]
If you see a little of yourself in this message, you're not alone. Many describe themselves as sugar addicts. They believe if it were only for that one thing, then they could reach their weight loss goals. If you believe only one thing stands in your way of losing weight, consider this: What if that one thing (an addiction to sugar for instance) were gone? Do you really believe, "If I could get past this, there is no doubt that I will reach my goal," or is it an easy excuse to stay stuck?If I told you I could show you a way to stop craving sugar, would you want me to show you how? Think about that for a moment. Close your eyes and really think it through. You've said if only you didn't crave sugar, then you could lose weight, but is that really true for you? Ask yourself these questions:
Eventually though, I managed to stay away. Among the last challenges: I really craved cigarettes when I was very stressed. And I was stressed a lot. And so I finally made a deal with myself. IF I simply HAD to smoke, I could -- ONE cigarette. And after that, it was back to all the Nicorette it took to get it back out of my system. It helped. Because, frankly, I didn't enjoy Nicorette at all.And finally, I started chewing a Nicorette instead of smoking a cigarette. And after a while, I stopped that too.Now with sugar, it's much the same thing. There's the taste, and then there's the physiological reaction. If you can manage to separate the two, it may take you along way on your path tame your sugar addiction.To eliminate the addiction factor, it was important to eliminate sugar completely, at least for a while. But would I really need to quit all the sweet stuff too?
Sugar tends to increase both of these important neurotransmitters, thereby altering the brain's biochemistry and correcting the deficiencies that may have been there. In other words, there are many people who are self medicating for specific deficiencies with sugar, and they are likely addicted to sugary foods for this reason. Even sugar replacements such as Splenda tend to trigger cravings for sweet foods, thereby feeding the sugar addiction.An excellent 7 step program for changing the brain's biochemistry and effectively treating sugar addiction is the book, Potatoes, Not Prozac. In this book, the author outlines and describes these seven steps, which have been highly effective in helping people considered "treatment resistant" in other treatment centers. I would recommend referring to this book as an excellent resource if you believe any of this information applies to you. You may find that all along, your problem was actually sugar addiction, not alcohol abuse and depression.
In addition, the sugar-free candy didn't trigger my addiction. I got the flavor, but my body didn't get involved. it didn't clamor for more, more, more.This may vary a bit though, from person to person. I found that stevia works best in terms of not triggering addictive reactions. Many people have found aspartame more problematic. You'll just have to experiment -- and be observant and honest with what you find.
Here's the way I have weaned myself off sugar.First of all, for many of us, sugar is addictive. Period. Just accept it. You eat it, you want more. That's what it used to be like for me. Still is. Except I don't eat sugar anymore, and so I no longer have a problem.So, hard as it may seem, the easiest way to get off that roller coaster is to quit cold turkey. But you knew that and you didn't want to read THAT here, so I'm not going to stop there.
The reason why sugar needs to go is because it triggers a physiological addictive reaction. But there's no need to quit sweet stuff altogether.Here's what I did instead: I experimented with "sugar-free" goodies. In moderate doses. Now how would this help? First of all, the selection isn't quite as big as that of sugar-containing sweets, so temptation is reduced a bit. Few people offer sugar-free goodies in their office candy jar.
A study done by Sibylle Kranz, PhD,, a registered dietitian and assistant professor of nutrition sciences at Pennsylvania State University found that:On average, added sugar intake was 14 teaspoons per day for kids aged 2-3 and about 17 teaspoons per day for those aged 4-5. The highest level of added sugar for the younger kids was 23 teaspoons per day and more than 26 teaspoons per day for the older kids.
There are studies that claim children today, because of their eating habits, might not have the life span of their parents. Don't let that happen to the ones you love.Are you and your family addicted to sugar and other refined products that can alter your health. If you and they are, I urge you to learn all you can about making changes in your daily eating routine.This makes me sad and of course I worry about my grandchildren and their friends. That's why I have spent the last couple years researching studies done about health and eating. I have been writing articles, studying reports, publishing information and gaining attention on the issue of changing eating habits. It's all in hopes people will become aware of how their daily food intake can effect their health.
By the end of the first week I actually began to feel "up." The knot in my stomach had untied itself in non-social situations. My outlook seemed brighter and my life felt as if it held promise. I have been off sugar for many years now and have experienced no recurrence of my previous condition except when I tested this potential cause-and-effect relationship. There is no question in my mind that, at least for me, sugar seemed to be an "addictive" substance (perhaps both physiologically and psychologically) and that this substance significantly increased not only my anxiety symptoms. To what degree my anxiety was related, in whole or in part, to the amount of insulin secreted to metabolize all the sugar was something I could not determine. If you experiences anxiety, you might wish to consider the possible negative impact of your sugar intake on your condition. The best way to test it is to gradually withdraw all sugar-related substances to see how your mood, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors respond. This is not easy or comfortable to do. However, if sugar is negatively influencing your anxiety, you will tend to see a more positive mood and a lessening of your anxiety symptoms as you eliminate more sugars. If so, you have what appears to be a correlation - that these two events happen to increase or decrease together.But that does not tell you if sugar likely "causes" your negative moods or anxiety. After you have been off sugar for a while, you need to test to see if a causal relationship exists. To do this you re-introduce sugar a little at a time to monitor your anxiety: if it reappears or worsen. When you are working to alleviate your anxiety, you need to look for all possible concrete, specific contributors, including your diet, and especially sugar.
[Sugar Addiction Treatment]
If you see a little of yourself in this message, you're not alone. Many describe themselves as sugar addicts. They believe if it were only for that one thing, then they could reach their weight loss goals. If you believe only one thing stands in your way of losing weight, consider this: What if that one thing (an addiction to sugar for instance) were gone? Do you really believe, "If I could get past this, there is no doubt that I will reach my goal," or is it an easy excuse to stay stuck?If I told you I could show you a way to stop craving sugar, would you want me to show you how? Think about that for a moment. Close your eyes and really think it through. You've said if only you didn't crave sugar, then you could lose weight, but is that really true for you? Ask yourself these questions:
Eventually though, I managed to stay away. Among the last challenges: I really craved cigarettes when I was very stressed. And I was stressed a lot. And so I finally made a deal with myself. IF I simply HAD to smoke, I could -- ONE cigarette. And after that, it was back to all the Nicorette it took to get it back out of my system. It helped. Because, frankly, I didn't enjoy Nicorette at all.And finally, I started chewing a Nicorette instead of smoking a cigarette. And after a while, I stopped that too.Now with sugar, it's much the same thing. There's the taste, and then there's the physiological reaction. If you can manage to separate the two, it may take you along way on your path tame your sugar addiction.To eliminate the addiction factor, it was important to eliminate sugar completely, at least for a while. But would I really need to quit all the sweet stuff too?
Sugar tends to increase both of these important neurotransmitters, thereby altering the brain's biochemistry and correcting the deficiencies that may have been there. In other words, there are many people who are self medicating for specific deficiencies with sugar, and they are likely addicted to sugary foods for this reason. Even sugar replacements such as Splenda tend to trigger cravings for sweet foods, thereby feeding the sugar addiction.An excellent 7 step program for changing the brain's biochemistry and effectively treating sugar addiction is the book, Potatoes, Not Prozac. In this book, the author outlines and describes these seven steps, which have been highly effective in helping people considered "treatment resistant" in other treatment centers. I would recommend referring to this book as an excellent resource if you believe any of this information applies to you. You may find that all along, your problem was actually sugar addiction, not alcohol abuse and depression.
In addition, the sugar-free candy didn't trigger my addiction. I got the flavor, but my body didn't get involved. it didn't clamor for more, more, more.This may vary a bit though, from person to person. I found that stevia works best in terms of not triggering addictive reactions. Many people have found aspartame more problematic. You'll just have to experiment -- and be observant and honest with what you find.
Here's the way I have weaned myself off sugar.First of all, for many of us, sugar is addictive. Period. Just accept it. You eat it, you want more. That's what it used to be like for me. Still is. Except I don't eat sugar anymore, and so I no longer have a problem.So, hard as it may seem, the easiest way to get off that roller coaster is to quit cold turkey. But you knew that and you didn't want to read THAT here, so I'm not going to stop there.
The reason why sugar needs to go is because it triggers a physiological addictive reaction. But there's no need to quit sweet stuff altogether.Here's what I did instead: I experimented with "sugar-free" goodies. In moderate doses. Now how would this help? First of all, the selection isn't quite as big as that of sugar-containing sweets, so temptation is reduced a bit. Few people offer sugar-free goodies in their office candy jar.
A study done by Sibylle Kranz, PhD,, a registered dietitian and assistant professor of nutrition sciences at Pennsylvania State University found that:On average, added sugar intake was 14 teaspoons per day for kids aged 2-3 and about 17 teaspoons per day for those aged 4-5. The highest level of added sugar for the younger kids was 23 teaspoons per day and more than 26 teaspoons per day for the older kids.
There are studies that claim children today, because of their eating habits, might not have the life span of their parents. Don't let that happen to the ones you love.Are you and your family addicted to sugar and other refined products that can alter your health. If you and they are, I urge you to learn all you can about making changes in your daily eating routine.This makes me sad and of course I worry about my grandchildren and their friends. That's why I have spent the last couple years researching studies done about health and eating. I have been writing articles, studying reports, publishing information and gaining attention on the issue of changing eating habits. It's all in hopes people will become aware of how their daily food intake can effect their health.
By the end of the first week I actually began to feel "up." The knot in my stomach had untied itself in non-social situations. My outlook seemed brighter and my life felt as if it held promise. I have been off sugar for many years now and have experienced no recurrence of my previous condition except when I tested this potential cause-and-effect relationship. There is no question in my mind that, at least for me, sugar seemed to be an "addictive" substance (perhaps both physiologically and psychologically) and that this substance significantly increased not only my anxiety symptoms. To what degree my anxiety was related, in whole or in part, to the amount of insulin secreted to metabolize all the sugar was something I could not determine. If you experiences anxiety, you might wish to consider the possible negative impact of your sugar intake on your condition. The best way to test it is to gradually withdraw all sugar-related substances to see how your mood, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors respond. This is not easy or comfortable to do. However, if sugar is negatively influencing your anxiety, you will tend to see a more positive mood and a lessening of your anxiety symptoms as you eliminate more sugars. If so, you have what appears to be a correlation - that these two events happen to increase or decrease together.But that does not tell you if sugar likely "causes" your negative moods or anxiety. After you have been off sugar for a while, you need to test to see if a causal relationship exists. To do this you re-introduce sugar a little at a time to monitor your anxiety: if it reappears or worsen. When you are working to alleviate your anxiety, you need to look for all possible concrete, specific contributors, including your diet, and especially sugar.
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