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dietary crackheads

DIETARY CRACKHEADS

PICK YOUR POISON

Sugar Addiction

John Hain – Carmel/United States – Pixabay

It was not too long ago that I reviewed one of Dr. David Seaman’s articles (HERE).  Fabulous!  He recently wrote another article called, Dietary “Crackheads” and the Never-Ending Battle Against the Bulging Waistline.  Although the title sounds harsh, it is similar to a post I wrote back in January called, “ARE PROCESSED CARBOHYDRATES ADDICTIVE?.  Of course the answer to my rhetorical question is a resounding “yes”.  But today I want to take a couple of minutes to share Dr. Seaman’s viewpoint with you.  Not only is he a FUNCTIONAL NEUROLOGIST, he is one of the Chiropractic Profession’s most well-known and respected authorities on INFLAMMATION and squelching it dietarily.

The thing to understand is that Dr. Seaman’s article is not written from a condescending point of view — a view that would say since you are addicted to sugar, he is better than you.  It is written from the viewpoint of someone who has learned what it takes to crush the cravings that plague those of us with sugar addictions (his junk of choice was candy corn, Snickers bars, marzipan, Twinkies, cinnamon toast, donuts, ice cream and Whoppers from Burger King).  I get what he is saying because in this regard, I am him.  That’s right; my name is Russ and I am a sugarholic.  I can relate to Dr. David because if I let myself, I could easily fall right back into the cycle of sugar addiction / craving / sugar addiction / craving / repeat ad infinitum (HERE).  And all of you who have ever spun around in circles on this crazy cycle know how hard it can be to get off of it —- and how easy it can be to climb right back on and start spinning again.  Seaman’s says that….

I would argue that careful moderation when it comes to these “crackhead” foods is reasonable. Otherwise, the use of the term moderation is really how out-of-control dessert and fast-food “crackheads” rationalize their behavior, which includes a very “moderate” intake of vegetables and fruit that often excludes green vegetables.
I could not have said it better.  In fact, in past posts I have spoken extensively how “Dietary Crackheads” cannot do “moderation”.  It is an unfathomable concept to us.  As long as I am carefully CONTROLLING MY BLOOD SUGAR, I am good — no cravings and life is peachy.  But give me one single donut, and I turn into a stark raving lunatic.   I could easily wolf down a dozen before I realize that I feel sick.  Dr. David goes on to say that there area several potential reasons that can cause us to indulge our inner “Crack Head”…..
Not surprisingly, the data is very clear that inadequate sleep and stress increase the release of the hunger hormone ghrelin that propels us toward food reward. When this happens, it is a good idea to exercise or get very engaged physically with cleaning or yardwork, which has an appetite-suppressing effect and a limbic system-reward effect. Reward refers to anything from which we get pleasure.
In other words, if you want to squash the craving, you will have to find something to substitute for the sugar (DON’T SUB THIS).  I agree with his assessment above.  Physical work is a good way to dampen cravings. Hitting the gym is also a great method of countering cravings.  High intensity WEIGHT LIFTING & CROSS-TRAINING does it for me.  And here is the really cool thing about these cravings —- if you can do what it takes to get off sugar and starch for a week or ten days, you’ll lose them.  And how would Dr. Seaman’s have you determine your level of addiction or “Crack Headedness”?
Researchers have identified that humans and animals have a withdrawal experience when not consuming sugar, which is not unlike opiate withdrawal. People actually suffer just thinking about never again eating a sugary, floury, fatty dessert. This is actually a very good way to test yourself to identify the aggressiveness of your own personal dietary “crackhead.”
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