Certain industries have a history of using wartime "generosity" to get soldiers hooked on their products, namely alcohol and tobacco.  Those of you who have watched an "OLD SOLDIER" trying to drink their nightmares away, or smoking through their 'trache' outside the side door of a VA hospital, know exactly what I mean. It seems that we need to add yet another product to this list.

A study from last month's issue of Military Medicine tells the story via its title; Energy Drink Use in U.S. Service Members After Deployment: Associations With Mental Health Problems, Aggression, and Fatigue.  A team of four researchers from Walter Reed's Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience concluded that, "energy drink use was reported by one in six soldiers and was significantly related to mental health problems, aggressive behaviors, and fatigue in a military population following a combat deployment."  As I will show with both tobacco and alcohol, it's not like targeting military personnel is anything new when it comes to marketing (or 'hooking') our sons and daughters on highly addictive products.

From WWI through Vietnam, the US military has made sure that our boys got their smokes.  And even though this practice was supposedly done away with after the Vietnam War, numerous sources show that it continued all the way into the 1990's and 2000's.  Information on this topic is abundant and comes in the form of message board threads, journal articles, studies, and an array of pieces from a wide range of magazines and books.  One of the more telling titles came from a 2014 issue of Mother Jones (Is the World’s Most Powerful Military Defenseless Against Big Tobacco?).

"War is indeed dangerous, but cigarettes kill far more soldiers and citizens than war does. It’s not even close. More than 480,000 Americans die from smoking and secondhand smoke exposure every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—more than died on the battlefields of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam combined.  Cigarettes kill more soldiers and sailors than wars do, and cost taxpayers billions. Yet Congress keeps shooting down the Pentagon’s efforts to snuff them out."

Thanks to millions of American servicemen coming home from Europe and the South Pacific addicted to tobacco, within three years after WWII (it ended in August of '45), lung cancer was shown to be growing at a rate five times greater than that of other CANCERS.  In WWI, part of the Doughboy's ration was loose tobacco and rolling papers.  However, because of ease of use, it didn't take long for factory-rolled cigarettes to become the smokes-of-choice for US servicemen, who, by WWII were being provided with 4-packs as part of their C-rations.

Earlier this year, the Truth Initiative published a piece titled Tobacco Use in the Military, which not only provided tons of information on Big Tobacco's specific efforts to hook the US GI on their products, but revealed how ridiculously high the smoking rates continue to be in, as opposed to outside the military.  For more information, read The Cigarette Manufacturers' Efforts to Promote Tobacco to the U.S. Military from the October 2005 issue of the same journal we are discussing today (Military Medicine), the NIH's online book, Combating Tobacco Use in Military and Veteran Populations, or 'Everywhere the Soldier Will Be': Wartime Tobacco Promotion in the US Military from a ten year old issue of the American Journal of Public Health.  Which brings us to industry promotion of alcohol in the military.

Honestly, we see virtually the same phenomenon with Big Alcohol's promotion of drinking (mostly beer) as we did for tobacco ---- and it's nothing new.  The magazine, All About Beer, published a 2002 article by Alan Moen titled Beer Goes to War, which revealed that advocating beer drinking within the military has been going on for a very long time, much to the delight of brewers.

"As part of a soldier’s regular daily ration as decreed by the Continental Congress, beer fueled the flames of freedom burning within its armies. The statute, enacted on November 4, 1775, stipulated that each soldier be provided with 'I QT of Spruce Beer, or Cider/man/day.'  George Washington himself, major general of the American rebel army, was a firm believer in the importance of beer as a staple for his troops. According to historian Gregg Smith, 'among Washington’s least recognized but most valuable skills was locating his encampments within reach of a supply of beer.'"

The trend continued through the Civil War, WWI, and into WWII, where the USDA actually mandated that a whopping 15% of all US beer production go to our boys overseas (as well as 30% of our national cigarette production).  By the time Vietnam rolled around, beer was ubiquitous to military facilities, with numerous articles and message boards speaking of fire-bases supplied with stacked pallets of their most important ammunition, beer.  Industry sentiment was captured by Jake Hall, writing for a 2015 issue of War on the Rocks (A Farewell to Sobriety, Part Two: Drinking During World War II).

"Consider the lobbying hours that American distilleries must have put in with politicians, insisting that war or no, they were all still capitalists together, and that making torpedo fuel was good, but making money was essential."

Since I am not against having a few beers now and then, what's the point?  Only that American industry has proven time and time again that it will do whatever it takes to both create and keep market share, seeing our soldiers as highly valuable commodities; damn the long-term health-related consequences.  Enough, however, about tobacco and alcohol; let's take a moment and step into the world of the American military's latest addiction ---- "Energy Drinks". 

The most popular energy drinks today (Red Bull, Rockstar, Amp, and Monster) also happened to be the ones specifically mentioned in this study.  Numerous other studies, however, have likewise shown energy drinks and their ingredients (copious amounts of sugar, caffeine, etc) can lead to MIGRAINES, INSOMNIA (due to creating an artificially induced state of SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE), ADDICTION, INSULIN RESISTANCE & T2D, HBP, and any number of others including cardiac arrest / heart failure.  The study we are looking at today specifically listed ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, and alcohol abuse (a whopping 30%), along with various forms of violent behavior and PTSD, as commonly associated with regular consumption of energy drinks. Is anyone shocked?

Earlier this year (July), the National Institute of Health issued a rather freaky warning for energy drink consumption, which provided a glimpse into just how popular these products are with the younger generation. "Energy drinks are widely promoted as products that increase energy and enhance mental alertness and physical performance. Next to multivitamins, energy drinks are the most popular dietary supplement consumed by American teens and young adults. Men between the ages of 18 and 34 years consume the most energy drinks, and almost one-third of teens between 12 and 17 years drink them regularly."  Among other facts mentioned, was the propensity to use them as alcohol mixers.

Takeaways from today's study were that seven months post-combat, over three quarters of the nearly 700 soldiers quizzed, still reported regularly consuming energy drinks, with 1 in 6 quaffing more than two a day.  What's probably not surprising is that a 2012 study (Energy Drink Consumption and its Association with Sleep Problems Among U.S. Service Members on a Combat Deployment - Afghanistan, 2010) showed that consumption was even higher for soldiers in the field, with an almost unbelievable 45% drinking these creatures daily (BTW, that study came to similar conclusions as this one).  Listen to the findings from the authors of today's study.

"In the deployed context, the appeal of energy drinks is understandable given that there is substantial restriction in sleep as well as regular circadian disruption due to night-time operations; indeed, caffeine is a recommended option to sustain alertness in this environment. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, energy drinks were often made readily available to deployed service members at no cost.  Interestingly, energy drink use was associated with fatigue. This relationship suggests that energy drink use may potentially exacerbate, rather than alleviate, fatigue. This finding stands in contrast to the marketing of energy drinks as a way to increase energy and reduce fatigue."

I well remember the marketing campaign for the first energy drink; something called Jolt (1985) that I am not sure whether or not is still around ---- "All the sugar and twice the caffeine".  Bottom line, if you or your children are regular or even semi-regular consumers of energy drinks, SODA, or worse yet, DIET SODA, stop it already.  Numerous studies have not only shown their association to a myriad of health problems, but just as bad, for a significant number of people this stuff is as addictive as crack (HERE).

If you are looking to turn your life around, break out of the fatigue and mental fog, diminish your systemic inflammatory load, and basically start the process of taking your life back, now is the time to start preparing and planning.  I say preparing and planning because the NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION you are contemplating in less than a week, will be broken in less than two ---- unless you do two things.  Create a written plan (HERE) and get an accountability partner who will encourage you, chide you, or drop kick you into next week, whichever is most appropriate for your situation (HERE).  If you want to see my generic protocol for getting healthier, it's HERE and it's completely free.  And if you liked today's post, be sure to see that it makes the rounds on FACEBOOK --- especially if you have teenagers!

"Can you name another substance of abuse for which the effect of the substance is more dangerous than the calories it harbors? Alcohol. Its calories are dangerous not because they're calories; they're dangerous because they're part of alcohol. Sugar is the same. Sugar is the alcohol of a child. You would never let a child drink a can of Budweiser, but you would never think twice about a can of Coke. Yet what it does to the liver, what it does to the arteries, what it does to the heart is all the same. And that's why we have adolescents with type 2 diabetes."  Dr. Robert Lustig from the article being discussed today

I recently read a statistic showing that in 1900 the average American consumed less than five pounds of sugar annually.  Today we are approaching 160 lbs ---- a 3,200% increase.  A couple days ago the publication Vox (no, I'm not a regular reader) published an an interview with the venerable Dr. Robert Lustig called The Case for Treating Sugar Like a Dangerous Drug (the interviewer was one German Lopez).  Dr. Lustig is a pediatric endocrinologist and Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California in San Francisco.  Besides publishing over 100 peer-reviewed papers, he holds a law degree.  He's probably most known for his viral video on sugar that came from a lecture at UCSF back in 2009 (HERE).

He started the ball rolling by comparing sugar to alcohol.   It's not that alcohol is bad in small amounts, but as humans we have a limited ability to metabolize it.  In other words, when people consume too much alcohol (which is different for everyone) they become drunk.   Once drunk, the more alcohol they consume, the drunker they get.  He says the same thing about sugar.  While alcohol can be addictive, there are certain drugs (namely METH, cocaine, heroin, etc) that are far more addictive than alcohol.  It's important to remember that current research (HERE & HERE) has shown that sugar and high-glycemic extremely processed carbs are at least as addictive than these hard drugs, with some studies actually saying they are more addictive.  And just like hard drugs, their consumption has some severe consequences.  I'll talk about a few he mentions by name.  

But before I do, I want you to understand that the major mechanism of destruction-by-sugar is not its CALORIES --- something Dr. Lustig has made a point to bring out in the past.  It's INFLAMMATION. You'll notice that every disease he mentions is on the list in this link, along with many others.  Unfortunately, when it comes to battling inflammation, I would contend that 99 out of 100 doctors think only in terms of drugs despite the fact that we've known for years that while drugs might temporarily modify symptoms; as far as actually CHANGING PHYSIOLOGY.... It's not happening.  But then again, this scenario ---- really sick people that live for a very long time --- is BIG PHARMA'S fantasy-come-true, with you being their number one commodity (HERE). 

• HIGH CHOLESTEROL:  Study after study (HERE, HERE, and HERE are a few) have proven that neither dietary cholesterol nor dietary fat (providing it's not TRANS FAT) have much affect on one's CHOLESTEROL LEVELS.  What does?  Easy.  Sugar and junk carbs.  This was known in the 1960's but suppressed by BIG SUGAR.
  

• TYPE II DIABETES:  At its root, diabetes isn't so much a sugar problem as it is an inflammation problem.  It's important to remember that inflammation (the group of important immune system chemicals that get driven to excessively high levels due to any number of factors, with sugar consumption probably being the most common --- HERE) is what causes Diabetes.   One of the dirty little secrets of "EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE" is that the medical community is frequently ignoring their own evidence when it comes to any number of health problems.  Nowhere can this be seen in clearer fashion than with diabetes (HERE).
  

• OBESITY:  Fortunately, Lustig, along with TAUBES and numerous others, doesn't over-simplify the problem like 99% of the scientific community does by touting OBESITY as merely a problem of calories --- too many calories consumed -vs- not enough calories expended ("ENERGY BALANCE"). Never forget that there are certain foods which, due to their inflammatory nature, engage your ENDOCRINE SYSTEM in abnormal / pathological ways (HERE).  Chief among these?  Yep.  Sugar and simple carbs --- especially HFCS, which is far worse than others.  The most visible example is BELLY FAT.  You never used to see women with large bellies.  Now even many "skinny" women (and men) have pot bellies (HERE).
  

• LIVER DISEASE:  The number one cause of Fatty Liver and third leading cause of Cirrhosis are not related to alcohol consumption, but to over-consuming sugar and junk carbs.  It's the liver that metabolizes not only most drugs (MEDICATIONS as well as illicit drugs), but sugar as well.  Overload it and you have real problems on your hands --- problems that drugs are not going to solve for you.  In fact, drugs cause the problem because it's your liver that must detox them via a process known medically as "BIOTRANSFORMATION".
  

• DEMENTIA:  Did you know that along with FLU SHOTS, the leading cause of Alzheimer's Disease happens to be sugar consumption (HERE).  The Tau Plaques that foul the brain in this debilitating disease are widely believed to be caused by over-consuming sugar and the simple carbs that metabolized in the body just like.  BTW; HERE'S the best way to stimulate your brain before you get dementia.
  

• CANCER:  Cancer is not only the holy grail of this list, but I have asked myself repeatedly why the medical community isn't doing more about this issue --- particularly with the recent studies on KETOGENIC DIETS and the known relationship to sugar?  Chew on this for a moment.  The German medical doctor / Ph.D, Dr. Otto Warburg, won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for discovering that sugar is the food of choice for Cancer (HERE).   This happened before any of you reading this were probably born --- back in 1931.  Another prime example of the medical profession ignoring their own research for gain.  Never let anyone try and convince you that CANCER is not fed by sugar or carbs that break down into sugar rapidly, or that by ignoring this information the medical community stands to make billions of dollars a year.  Make sure to check out Dr. Thomas Seyfried's astounding video at the end of this post on FASCIA & CANCER pertaining to using a ketogenic diet to successfully address cancer.
  

Dr. Lustig could have continued.  For instance, we know that DYSBIOSIS is fed by sugar.  We also know that most AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES are fed by sugar as well (need proof?  Not only do you find links throughout the peer-reviewed literature, but HERE is an incredible example that will resonate with everyone).  Infertility, Sexual Dysfunction, and Depression are frequently driven by sugar as well --- the topic of YESTERDAY'S POST.  Because of the inflammatory nature of sugar, coupled with the fact that most diseases (EVEN MANY OF THE "GENETIC" ONES) are fed by sugar, we are physically crippling ourselves as a nation, not to mention "OUTSTRIPPING" OUR ABILITY TO PAY FOR OUR HEALTHCARE.  The problem, as I touched on earlier, is that sugar is extremely difficult to get off of for many people due to its addictive nature (HERE).

After making a valid case that sugar fits the many criteria required to regulate it as a "controlled substance" in similar fashion to alcohol or drugs, Dr. Lustig reveals what he believe the solution to this conundrum is --- taxing the stuff.  The problem is, as he himself admits, "Now, I will tell you that America doesn't trust its politicians. And we have a good reason for that: they suck. If you don't quote me, I will be upset. The reason they suck is because, number one, they're interested in power, not doing the right thing, and, number two, they take money. So everyone assumes that any tax that you would place on any given substance is either a money grab for coffers for other things or going into politicians' pockets. Based on previous behavior of our elected officials, that's a damn good guesstimate. We've seen this movie before."  Not sure I could have said it better myself.

He believes, however, that taxation could work if done properly.  Although I'm highly doubtful, he does talk at length about the way that corn, soy, and sugar are all subsidized through our federal government.  His belief is that we should start subsidizing things like broccoli instead.  Not that I really like the thought of any government subsidies, but subsidizing broccoli would merely mean we end up with lots of excess "taxpayer funded" broccoli that would either have to be thrown away, plowed under, exported, or fed to livestock.  Unless parents actually start being parents again, paying farmers from government coffers to grow more broccoli would be no more effective than MICHELE OBAMA'S MOVE CAMPAIGN. 

The interview ends with Dr. Lustig being asked about the effects of sugar on the body.  "There are three.  One, fructose, the sweet molecule in sugar, is not metabolized like glucose. It's metabolized in the mitochondria, and it is metabolized in the liver to liver fat. That liver fat mucks up the workings of the liver and leads to a process called insulin resistance. That raises your insulin levels because your pancreas has to make more insulin. That drives all the chronic metabolic diseases we know about, plus it burns out the pancreas, leading to diabetes.  Two, cellular aging. When bananas ripen, they brown. The sugar in the bananas binds to proteins in the bananas nonenzymatically, even in dead tissue. That's called the cellular aging or Maillard reaction. That happens to everyone all the time, so we brown inside. You don't want to brown very fast, but we're all browning because that's how we age. But sugar makes us brown seven times faster; it basically kills our organs quicker.  Three, sugar is addictive. So a little makes you want more, because of the effect of the reward center of the brain."

If you are looking for a way to get off the MEDICAL MERRY-GO-ROUND and get your life back, but have found yourself trapped in a world of obeisty, addiction, and increasing numbers of serious health issues, the links on this page are here to help you.  For a (free) comprehensive protocol that will at least dramatically change, if not solve, most of the chronic health issues that Lustig mentioned by name, CLICK HERE.  And if you found this post to be helpful, get it in front of those you love and care about most via FACEBOOK.

"Fail".  The word has become synonymous with the sort of hijinx seen on America's Funniest Home Videos (take a look at YouTube if you're not sure what I'm talking about).   Today we are going to talk about another kind of fail --- the kind of fail that happens to your health if you don't take the appropriate steps to succeed in regaining it and maintaining it.   Health won't happen without a plan and some effort.   And when it comes to LOSING WEIGHT, getting healthy, and maintaining that health --- instead of the crazy yo-yoing that we Americans are notorious for --- I believe there is an overarching reason for our mass failure ---- Addiction.

There are any number of reasons people fail.  They take too many prescription drugs (HERE).  They are lazy.  They think they can't afford to eat healthy (HERE).  They see themselves as healthy even when they are far from it (HERE), they view their weight as the ultimate marker of their health (HERE), they listen to their doctors dietary advice (HERE and HERE), they hurt too much to exercise (HERE), they fail to address GUT HEALTH, they...........    I could go on ad nauseam, but I think you get the point.   The truth is, EXCUSES are easy.

I get it --- there are some of you out there who have tried seemingly everything, and still struggle.  This post is not necessarily addressed to you (HERE is where you need to go).  It's addressed to the addicts.  That's right; I believe that ADDICTION TO SUGAR AND HIGHLY PROCESSED FOODS is the number one reason that people fail in their bid to reclaim their health and their weight.    Addictions are a bummer.  But you can defeat them.  I mention this now --- as we near the "Holiday Season" (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years) because it is a time that people seem to 'blow it' in a big way as far as their health and weight are concerned (HERE).  If you are interested in breaking free of your food addictions, there are some tricks for doing so.  Just click the long link above and start reading.

I think that Erika is mostly correct in her quote above.  The lifestyle changes that have the potential to turn your health, your weight, and your life around 180 degrees are not easy --- especially at first.  But like I have repeatedly told you, the longer you do the right things, the easier and more habitual they get.  So, with props to Erika's quote from above; when I speak of "The Wagon", I am speaking metaphorically.

No matter how good our intentions and how hard we work, sooner or later we all fall off "The Wagon".  It's life.  Get over it --- literally.  If you don't get over it and climb back on, you get discouraged, start to feel sorry for yourself, and start to get down on yourself.  The next thing you know, you're telling yourself that you 'deserve' those things that you essentially gave up (or at least cut way back on) when you radically changed your lifestyle. 

Let me get into the meat of today's post by saying that if you are constantly / routinely falling off the wagon, you probably have a problem with addiction.  And when it comes to food, most of these could be classified as some sort of CARB / SUGAR ADDICTION.  Don't feel like you are the only one.  Carb addictions are so common that they could probably be considered 'epidemic' here in America.  If I am describing you, take a moment and click the link before reading any further.

I have previously said that for most of us hardcore sugar / carb addicts, there is no such thing as having "just a taste".  That might work for some people, but for many of us it simply lights the fuse that is our cravings, which typically leads to epic binging.  What are you going to do when this happens, because no matter how strong you are at this very moment, something will prove to be your kryptonite and weaken you.  So; again I ask you --- what are you going to do?

• HAVE A PLAN:  Don't think that falling off the wagon is something you are incapable of.  If you have already created a (written) plan, you will already know what you are going to do in any given situation.  Always be thinking one step ahead and trying to head problems off while they are "potential" problems.  It's an old cliche, but failure to plan is planning to fail.

 

• HAVE AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER:   Without exception, every program that is successful at helping people break addictions (including food addictions) puts a huge emphasis on accountability. HERE is one that a buddy and I used a couple of years ago.
  

 

• GET BACK ON THE WAGON IMMEDIATELY:  The following scenario is not something you want to be associated with (but unfortunately, far too many Americans are).  You've been pretty good about what you've been eating for most of the year.  You've been focused on eating your WHOLE FOODS, and have not slipped up for quite some time.  Then you go to a couple of Halloween parties and mess up.  After a few days of being "off the wagon" you tell yourself that since Thanksgiving really isn't too far away, you may as well climb back on the first of December.  Yeah right; you already knew that wasn't happening.  So after spending the entire month of December on a binge of biblical proportions, you make your New Year's Resolutions.  But by this time, you are so DEPRESSED about the 25 lbs you've gained in the past two months that you just shank the whole thing.  Bypass this whole scene by getting right back on the wagon after you've fallen off.   When you fall off, treat the next day like Monday morning --- the first day of a New Year.
  

 

• FIGURE OUT AHEAD OF TIME HOW YOU PLAN TO DEAL WITH CHEAT DAYS:  Know your weaknesses.  A "Cheat Meal" or "Cheat Day" now and then, is not going to ruin everything you've already done.  However, you cannot simply do CHEAT DAYS flying by the seat of your pants.  You had better know ahead of time how you are going to deal with this issue or it could end up running your life.  In other words, you end up living for your Cheat Days.
  

 

• GO TO THE PARTY FULL:   This is particularly for this season.  You have a holiday get together with your friends.  You know there will be tables piled high with exactly the stuff you have been working on staying away from.  Fine.  Go to the party.   But eat immediately beforehand.  A chef's salad might not be as "sexy" as multi-flavored cheesecake, Christmas cookies, and rum punch right now, but trust me when I tell you that it will be later (HERE).
  

 

• MOTIVATE YOURSELF:  These are different for everyone, but are usually quite simple.   It may be nothing more than looking at some "Before and After" weight loss photos (yours or online).  Or it may just take you telling yourself that you've come too far to give up now.  Sometimes, just the fact that you feel like utter crap after falling off the wagon can be extremely motivational.  Or it may be just a matter of forcing yourself back into your daily routine.  I don't care what it takes, but don't wallow in the mud, thinking about climbing back on the wagon --- just do it!   The longer you are looking at the wagon while it rolls down the trail without you, the more effort it will take to run after it, catch it, and climb back on.

 

• UNDERSTAND YOUR ADDICTION (AND YOUR EXCUSES):  While this might not pertain to many of you, my guess is that it pertains to more of you than most would care to admit.  If you know you have a problem with certain foods or food groups (carbs, for instance), for Pete's sake, stay away from them.  It's really not much different than the "dry" alcoholic.  That person might not have had a drink for 20 years, but they stay away from it because they know that it they don't, they'll wind up in the same ditch they drug themselves out of previously.  You also have to realize that your excuses are identical to those of people hooked on drugs, alcohol, porn, or whatever else people get addicted to.

Again, falling off the wagon doesn't mean the dark horse of the apocalypse is knocking at your door.  It does mean you have to get up, dust yourself off, bandage your bruises, and get back on.

""Drugs Are No More Addictive Than Oreos".  The specific drugs included in the study were cocaine and morphine, which is what heroin becomes immediately after injection.  So the headline also could have been: "Research Shows That Heroin and Cocaine Are No More Addictive Than Oreos."  Putting it that way would have raised some interesting questions about the purportedly irresistible power of these drugs, which supposedly justifies using [government] force to stop people from consuming them."  Jacob Sullum from the October 16, 2013 issue of Forbes (Research Shows Cocaine And Heroin Are Less Addictive Than Oreos)

"Sugar Has a Powerful Influence Over Our Behavior For some people there will be anatomical changes in the brain when exposed to these sorts of foods. In many cases, this can end up in full-blown addiction.   I can support this idea with some personal experiences.  I am a recovering drug addict who has been to 6 rehabs. I was also a smoker for many years and it was a long battle for me to quit. You could say that I know addiction like the back of my hand.  I’m here to tell you that addiction to sugar and junk foods is exactly the same as addiction to abusive drugs like nicotine, amphetamine and cannabis. There is no difference, except the substance of abuse is different and the consequences of relapse aren’t as severe.  There is only one thing that consistently works for true addicts to overcome their addiction and that is complete abstinence.  This is what worked for me giving up drugs and this is the only way I have ever been able to cut back on my consumption of sugar and other junk foods.  Since learning about this, I’ve spoken to several other recovering addicts and all of them say that they experience cravings for junk foods in the exact same way as they used to crave drugs and alcohol.  I personally haven’t touched sugar or gluten in about 5 months now. I’ve lost almost 30 pounds and I never crave these foods anymore."   Kris Gunnars from How Sugar Hijacks Your Brain And Makes You Addicted.  Kris is now a personal trainer and medical student, who authors the website, Authority Nutrition.

"Research indicates that chronic drug use induces changes in the structure and function of the system's neurons that last for weeks, months or years after the last fix. These adaptations, perversely, dampen the pleasurable effects of a chronically abused substance yet also increase the cravings that trap the addict in a destructive spiral of escalating use and increased fallout at work and at home."   Drs. Eric J. Nestler and Robert C. Malenka from the March 2004 issue of Scientific American (The Addicted Brain).

"How many drinkers do I have? And how many drinks do they drink? If you lost one of those heavy users, if somebody just decided to stop drinking Coke, how many drinkers would you have to get, at low velocity, to make up for that heavy user? The answer is a lot. It's more efficient to get my existing users to drink more."   Jeffrey Dunn, former Coca Cola executive speaking to Tom McKay of NewsMic (What Happens to Your Brain on Sugar, Explained by Science).

"If You Eat Sugar, There's a Good Chance You're Addicted to It"  The header from a March 10, 2012 article (The Most Unhappy of Pleasures: This Is Your Brain on Sugar) by Dr. Joseph Mercola

"We're all looking for something to ease the pain."  Bryan Adams from 1984's Somebody (Reckless)

I have written several previous articles on SUGAR / CARB ADDICTION.  If you have read them, you realize that sugar and the addiction thereof is at the root of scores of health problems.  In fact, I have repeatedly suggested that while INFLAMMATION is at the core of virtually all diseases, BLOOD SUGAR DYSREGULATION ISSUES are frequently the root of Inflammation (HERE).   I have focused quite a bit on the physical aspect of this addiction (DIABETES, OBESITY, ENDOCRINE PROBLEMS, CANCER, DYSBIOSIS, etc, etc), but the truth is, Sugar Addiction is probably harder on the brain than any other organ in the body.  Thanks to newer forms of brain scans, one of the things that we have learned over the past decade or so is that brains that are addicted to sugar look identical (or at least very similar) to the brains of people that are addicted to hard drugs --- particularly COCAINE & HEROIN. 

You have to take a moment to understand what is going on in these images.  You are looking not just at functional brain changes, but structural brain changes as well.  These changes are why it takes that drug (coke, meth, heroin, gambling, sugar) to "feel that feeling".  It can quickly become a vicious cycle.  The more drugs / sugar you consume, the better you feel (increased levels of dopamine, opiods, and other feel-good molecules made by your brain).  By the way, there are actually studies showing that pornography does the same thing to the part(s) of your brain that control sexual pleasure.  However, the body can only tolerate so much of these feel-good substances, so it decreases the numbers of receptors.  Not only do the lows get lower, but the highs get lower as well.  And as you might imagine, so does day-to-day life.  What does this do?  Of course, it triggers cravings for the drug --- in this case, sugar.  Not only that, but it takes increasing amounts of the drug to achieve the same high.  Listen to some cherry-picked lines from the abstract and conclusion of a study published in the May 18, 2007 issue of Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (Evidence for Sugar Addiction: Behavioral and Neurochemical Effects of Intermittent, Excessive Sugar Intake).

There's not only a lot of meat here, but this study deals extensively with the Nucleus Accumbens -- a specific part of the brain that has to do with motivation, desire, pleasure, reward, and addiction (it is also involved in fear, aggression, and impulsivity).  The two neurotransmitters that help make this system go are SEROTONIN & DOPAMINE.   ΔFosB (aka Delta FOSB) is the name of one of four variations of the FOS gene, and has been blamed as the chief biochemical component of all known addictions, whether behavioral or drug.  All known drugs or addictions increase the production of ΔFosB by the Nucleus Accumbens, which is known to both increase Dopamine, while at the same time decreasing Serotonin (key word in this sentence is "all").  Listen to what the authors of The Addicted Brain (the quote from the top of the page) say about this phenomenon as it relates to sugar.  "Interestingly, delta FosB is also produced in the nucleus accumbens in mice in response to repetitious non-drug rewards, such as excessive wheel running and sugar consumption."  There it is in black and white from two men who would know (at the time the article was written, Dr. Nestler was professor and chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.  Dr.  Malenka was professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, after serving as director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction at the University of California, San Francisco. Together they wrote 2001's textbook, Molecular Basis of Neuro-pharmacology).

Unfortunately, not only does ΔFosB increase the response of the reward cascade, it heightens (at least at first) the sensitivity of Dopamine itself.  This means that not only do you have more of this "feel-good" neurotransmitter in your system, but it actually works more effectively.  But it does not stop there.  According to New York's Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine this, "can induce long-lasting changes in gene expression".  In case you are not aware of what this quote is implying; take a few moments to read up on EPIGENETICS (and HERE).  Epigenetics trumps genetics and simply means that you are not as controlled by your genetic makeup as you have always been taught.  Certain behaviors, diet, exercise, STRESS, etc, etc, etc, have the ability to turn genes off or on, depending on the situation.  Oh, and because ΔFosB is the most stable of the Fos family, it tends to stay in the Nucleus Accumbens for a long time --- a very long time. 

The problem is that sugar not only changes the brain's function (see the PET Scans above), it changes the brain's structure.   Probably the most striking example of sugar-related brain changes is seen in scans of people with ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE.  Just the other day I had a patient from Texas telling me that as caretaker of their father who had Alzheimer's, he constantly wanted sugar, and when he got it, became so unruly they could barely control him.  Do you remember near the top of this post I stated that, "Sugar Addiction is probably harder on the brain than any other organ in the body"?    As crazy as it sounds, ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE is so heavily linked to sugar consumption that it is frequently referred to as Type III Diabetes or Psychodiabetes.  Take a look at the PET Scans below as they connect the dots between brain function and the Amyloid Plaques which are so characteristic of Alzheimer's, and thought to be intimately related to sugar consumption. 

"In fact, another recent study, from the International Food Information Council Foundation, showed that about 55% of people are trying to drop some weight.  The NPD research shows that 'the desire to lose weight is much greater than the percentage of people who are on a diet,' Balzer says, adding that almost 60% of adults want to lose at least 20 pounds.  People may be more accepting of their weight because that's easier than trying to exercise and eat less, says Harry Balzer, NPD's chief industry analyst."   Nanci Hellmich from the January 2013 issue of USA TODAY

"108 Million; the number of people on diets in the United States. Dieters typically make four to five attempts per year."  From the May 8, 2012 issue of the ABC News (100 Million Dieters, $20 Billion: The Weight-Loss Industry by the Numbers)

"Dieting doesn’t work. No really, it doesn’t. Much as people like to talk about how the things they are sticking to are “lifestyle changes”, etc, a lot of them (but not all) are still diets, still ways of restricting your eating, and over 80% of them will fail. By fail, scientists mean that you will gain back all the weight you lost, and then some, within five years. This is not only bad because of the weight people end up gaining, but some people believe that the “yo-yo” dieting style itself can contribute to the beginning of metabolic disorders later in life."  From the intro of a February 2011 article called Dieting, Stress, and the Changing Brain found on the website Neurotic Physiology

"Dieting or restrained eating generally increase the likelihood of food craving while fasting makes craving, like hunger, diminish. Attempted restriction or deprivation of a particular food is associated with an increase in craving for the unavailable food."  From the abstract of a paper (The Psychology of Food Cravings) done by the Academic Unit of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Leeds Medical College, London

"Americans tend to give themselves high marks for healthy eating, but when we asked how many sugary drinks, fatty foods, and fruits and veggies they consumed, we found that their definition of healthy eating was questionable."   Nancy Metcalf of Consumer Reports Health, speaking about a recently completed poll.  The quote itself was taken from the January 4, 2011 issue of Discovery Health (Americans Falsely Believe Their Diet Is Healthy).

Americans lead the world as far as CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASES (including OBESITY) are concerned, with about 2/3 of our adult population being categorized as 'overweight'.  It stands to reason (as seen in quotes from above) that at any given moment, a huge segment of our population is on some sort of diet.    On top of all this, only about 10% of our population admits that their diets are in desperate need of attention.  Needless to say, it's not difficult to see that there is a serious disconnect taking place here.  Much of this has to do with the fact that measuring calories is an extremely poor method of dieting (HERE).  But much of it has to do with the way we think about food and dieting.

How often in the course of our lives have we been treated or rewarded with food that could only be described as "Extremely Unhealthy"?  And if we are trying to lose weight, how many of us sabotage our own efforts by working towards and endpoint --- a "goal" weight that once we get there, we don't know what to do or where to go (other than maybe reward ourselves with the very food we have been avoiding).   We end up with a love / hate relationship with food that typically leads to some sort of ADDICTION or eating disorder.  And to top it all off, the study where the final quote at the top of the page comes from, tells us that 90% of us are fooling ourselves --- fooling ourselves into thinking we are eating healthy, when the reality is something quite different --- often, radically different. 

A 'diet' requires that you spend your day thinking about all the ways you'll have to swap dietary "this" for dietary "that".  Your every thought is on depriving yourself, and the various ways you'll accomplish this today.  Talk about wearing yourself out!   It's a lifestyle of withholding and withdrawal.  Oh; don't get me wrong; unlike traveling in Arkansas, you can actually get there from here.   The problem is, you will wear yourself out, mentally, physically, and emotionally, doing so.   I would suggest to you that there is a better choice ---- a choice made with your best interests in mind.   Why not try investing in yourself, instead of depriving yourself?  

Although it is not the reality for many people, you should be enjoying a healthy journey as opposed to always looking forward to that fleeting and ever-changing destination.  The best lifestyles and ways of eating are not concerned with merely counting down the pounds.  Instead, it's about learning a new lifestyle (HERE is an example of what I am talking about).  It's time to REINVENT YOURSELF!  But managing CRAVINGS / ADDICTIONS is paramount to change --- particularly in the beginning.  So what is a person to do with this problem of cravings, and what does it all mean?

• CAN CRAVINGS BE STOPPED ONCE FIRED UP?  To some degree, but it depends what fired it up.  For instance, the herb Gymnema has been shown to be extremely good at helping with SUGAR CRAVINGS.  However, if you have been dabbling with sugar / starch, and fired up the cravings that way; it will probably be much more difficult.

• CAN CRAVINGS BE PREVENTED?  Sure they can.  But not for the first week or two of your lifestyle change.   The DRUG ADDICT will go through some extremely rough days as he / she gets themself clean.  But like I keep telling you, stay the course and it gets easier.

• DOES IT MEAN I AM DOING SOMETHING WRONG IF I HAVE CRAVINGS?  No.  You are going to have cravings no matter what you do.  There are about a million internet articles on the best methods of controlling said cravings.  You'll have to figure out what works best for you.  And no; using a candy bar as an appetite suppressant just before meal time does not count (this is mentioned jokingly, but I had a patient who used to do exactly this).

• DO I NEED TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT; LIKE SAY, VEGAN?    You will have to make that decision for yourself, but if you read some of our posts, you will soon find out why I am so high on the PALEO way of eating.  It's clean.  IT CONTROLS BLOOD SUGAR like nothing else I've ever seen.  And on top of that, it provides you with the protein your body requires for healing, regeneration, and repair --- things that are of critical importance for those of you dealing with Chronic Conditions.



I have told you over and over again that radically changing your diet can be tough.  I won't lie; the first week of cravings can be brutal.  However, I have also told you that if you can get through the first week, the cravings diminish significantly.  And the longer you go, the easier it gets.  The problem is, we allow ourselves to fall off the wagon just a little bit.  While it's true that many people can handle just a "taste" of chocolate cake and be fine with it, many of you (maybe the majority of you) either already know or will quickly realize that your one bite of cake will ignite a craving that can easily be fanned into a raging wildfire.  And when you feed that wildfire, you will throw a major wrench in your physiology and metabolism (not to mention your head space).   Yes, lifestyle changes are tough.  The problem is, in the long run, diets are much tougher.

The fact that Yo-Yo dieting can leave one heavier than ever has been widely documented in the scientific literature for decades.  We are only recently beginning to understand some of the specific pathways of how a cycle of dieting and binging can lead to changes in the BRAIN, BLOOD SUGAR REGULATION SYSTEM, and even your GENE'S.  We will take just a few moments to look at some studies that show what I am talking about here.  But please bear in mind; I could have literally written a multi-volume series of books on this topic as there are literally thousands of such studies out there.

• The name of this study says it all; Caloric Restriction Experience Reprograms Stress and Orexigenic Pathways and Promotes Binge Eating.   After telling us that, "long-term weight management by dieting has a high failure rate," the December 2010 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience goes on to conclude that diets, "reduce treatment success by promoting behaviors resulting in weight regain."  There it is again.  Dieting causes weight gain.  For many of us, this sort of information counter-intuitive ---- sort of like the brutal revelation that DIET SODA actually causes people to gain more weight than regular soda.
  

• Several studies (including the one above) deal with the way that diets adversely affect gene expression (this is the field of EPIGENETICS).  Two such recent studies were published in the journal Cell by Dr. A.J. Marian Walhout of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  These studies showed how dieting can affect things like number of offspring, development, and lifespan ---- three aspects of life that just about cover the gamut.
  

• An Oregon Research Institute study (Caloric Deprivation Increases Responsivity of Attention and Reward Brain Regions to Intake, Anticipated Intake, and Images of Palatable Foods) studied the relationship between caloric restriction and the way it amps up messages from the brain's reward and attention centers.  The study concluded that, "self-imposed caloric deprivation increases responsivity of attention, reward, and motivation regions to food, which may explain why caloric deprivation weight loss diets typically do not produce lasting weight loss".   We now know why TV commercials are so effective, as the group in this study who were calorically restricted had the biggest neurological reactions to pictures of "highly palatable food" (i.e. JUNK FOOD).
  

• Several studies have shown that people do not perform as well on cognitive tests when they are on a diet, and that their ability to reason becomes impaired.  One such study from the February 2010 issue of the medical journal Appetite.  This study showed how diets that were more complex (a diet program I have never been a fan of --- Weight Watchers --- was used as their example) have high rates of drop out.  Another, from the Journal of Consumer Research (can anyone say TV commercial?) showed that individuals on diets whose, "processing resources are limited" (i.e. their brains are already fried or approaching overload) will, when given the choice between chocolate cake or fruit salad, chose chocolate cake almost every time, due to its perceived scarcity.
  

• The rubber meets the road in the September 2011 issue of the American Journal of Physiology (Biology's Response to Dieting: the Impetus for Weight Regain).   Researchers from the University of Colorado's Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes, Center for Human Nutrition, came to some conclusions that we should all be aware of.  "Restricting intake leads to weight loss in the short term, but, by itself, dieting has a relatively poor success rate for long-term weight reduction. Most obese people eventually regain the weight they have worked so hard to lose. Weight regain has emerged as one of the most significant obstacles for obesity therapeutics, undoubtedly perpetuating the epidemic of excess weight that now affects more than 60% of U.S. adults. The preponderance of evidence would suggest that the biological response to weight loss involves comprehensive, persistent, and redundant adaptations in energy homeostasis and that these adaptations underlie the high recidivism rate in obesity therapeutics. To be successful in the long term, our strategies for preventing weight regain may need to be just as comprehensive, persistent, and redundant, as the biological adaptations they are attempting to counter." 
  

It all seems to come back to this misguided idea of a diet as restriction / starvation / deprivation, and the fact that our very nature_s rebel against this.  The cool thing it, this last study above reveals the secret to making permanent changes.  When it comes to WEIGHT LOSS, we must be, "comprehensive, persistent, and redundant".  The only way to accomplish this is to change your thinking so that you can truly alter your "lifestyle" as opposed to merely meeting a goal weight, and wondering what to do next now that you have gotten to that 'magic' number on the scale. 

Although there are all sorts of ways that people find it within themselves to stay the course and change their eating habits for good, I truly believe that most of it comes down to education.  I told you my story recently (HERE).   I had always believed that because I was well-built, athletic, and worked out, I was healthy.  I was a "HEALTH PHARISEE".  Once I made the connection that my health was far more than my weight, and that subsequent INFLAMMATORY DISEASES would do me in before my time (or at the very least, hamper my ability to help those struggling with Chronic Pain and Chronic Illness (HERE), I became extremely motivated to do better in this area.  I am no different than you, in that I sometimes get cravings.  At times I even fall off the wagon.  However, I have learned that if I choose not to feed these cravings, they do not tend to last very long or rear their ugly heads very often.  Which helps keep me on the wagon.

However, if I get stupid and decide to feed a craving, I can become a true nut-case.  This is because, as you have seen, not only do diets not "solve" your problems, they actually feed them and make them worse.  If you truly want to defeat the "fat" monster and get healthy in the process, you are going to have to educate yourself and come up with some good reasons (these need to be personalized) as to why this is something you must do.  You are going to have to learn why changing your lifestyle is going to save your life (and why not changing it might kill you), and you are going to have to figure out what triggers your overeating / binges and cravings.  For instance, if you are still bringing things into your house that you know darn good and well neither you nor your family should not be putting in your mouths; stop it already! 

Listen to what Mark Sisson of MDA has to say about dealing with cravings.  "Psyche yourself out of deprivation thinking. We can say cutting out wheat or other unhealthy foods is depriving ourselves, but I think there’s an important distinction to be made between depriving ourselves of things we need/things that are good for us and eschewing those things that don’t serve our well-being. Giving up something doesn’t automatically impose deprivation. Giving up cigarettes isn’t deprivation. While we might miss a French baguette, a smoker likely misses cigarettes. Sure, for most of us a baguette isn’t as bad as a cigarette. Nonetheless, we’re still not doing ourselves any favors when we eat it. Sometimes taking certain things off the table entirely is necessary for health. Coca-Cola will tell you their soda can be part of a “balanced diet,” but that’s a b.s. brand of balanced. Intellectually reason with yourself here, but let it work on an emotional level. Picturing the round contours of the baguette and thinking of a bloated wheat belly can be one way to psyche yourself back to reality. Likewise, imagining the massive carb spike playing out in your body sending off inflammation alarms in every cell could do it for some people. It might take a more unsavory image or memory of last time’s fifteen trips to the toilet to make you turn away."

There's a lot of meat in his words.  He speaks of the "carb [Insulin] spike" leading to serious "inflammation".  I wrote on this subject just last week.  And not to toot my own horn, but if you do not understand the material in THIS POST, you will continue to struggle with your weight, and you will watch as your health continues to snowball its way downhill.  Educate yourself.  Don't give up.  You can do this thing.  You can change your life --- radically, and for the better.  No; it will not be easy.  But the longer you stick with it, the easier it gets.  Change your way of thinking and change your lifestyle.  Attack it like your life depends on it --- because in all reality; it does.

Addictions.  We all deal with them.  People get addicted to everything from sex / porn, to drugs, to power, to exercise, to Facebook, to texting, to who-knows-what.   Webster's New World Dictionary defines a chemical addiction as a "compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance." Plainly stated, addictions are the repetitive compulsive abuse of things we know full well are harming us, even though we may deeply desire to stop.  Although many would say my description of the problem is over-the-top, but SUGAR is arguably America's #1 drug (the average American is consuming somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 lbs / annum).

Google the term "SUGAR ADDICTION" and you'll get over six million hits (a couple of them might even be articles I wrote on the subject).  Even though it is, an addiction; it is one of America's more "acceptable" addictions --- one that people who roll up their nose at drunks or drug addicts can engage in without any significant social scorn from their peers --- it is and addiction nonetheless.  How do you know whether you are a sugar addict or not?   Although a Sugar Addiction is not usually as blatantly ugly as other addictions are, just give it a little time and it will produce not only the classic psychological signs of the addict, it will also manifest a host of physical symptoms as well --- symptoms that reveal just how serious a problem this really is.  Take the simple self-test below. 

• TRYING TO HIDE YOUR ADDICTION:  Although easy at first, this gets consistently more difficult because of the continual need for more of what you crave.  This is the very nature of an addiction.  No matter your drug-of-choice, it always takes "more" to experience any feelings of the 'high' (increased pleasure / reduced emotional negativity). Eventually, hiding the addiction becomes impossible.

• SUGAR STASHES:  Remember the old TV shows where the town drunk would have partially-drunk whiskey bottles stashed in almost every conceivable place?  Many sugar addicts do the same thing.

• EXCUSES / DENIAL:   What's amazing is how similar these excuses and denials sound to the excuses and denials made by alcoholics or drug addicts.  I personally know a person who became seriously addicted to prescription painkillers after a serious injury.  Although the injury had healed and this person could have gotten off the meds, it took an inordinate amount of time and intervention.  You should have heard the excuses.

 

• ANYTHING FOR A FIX:  Do you start your day with sugar (HERE)?  If you find yourself in bizarre situations trying to get your hands on sugar or carbs, you definitely have a problem.  Just like those addicted to hard drugs, the sugar addict will do anything to get their fix.  It is the focal point of their lives.

 

• CONTINUING DESPITE THE PERSISTENT DAMAGE IT IS DOING:  As you have seen, this damage can be physical, psychological, or more likely, a combination of the two.  Even though a person might realize it is destroying their health and relationships, they choose sugar anyway.  It is frequently the single most powerful motivating factor in their life.

 

• PATHOLOGICAL CRAVINGS / FEAR OF GIVING UP SUGAR:   Do you have health or social problems that affect school, work, or relationships because of the need to consume sugar and carbs, yet keep on doing so despite the negative consequences?   Do you chase after sugar even though it is causing you physical or emotional pain?  Is it the driving force in your life?   Near the end of his month-long journey as captured in the documentary Super Size Me, a recently overweight Morgan Spurlock tells his video camera that the only time he feels good about himself now is when he is, "eating this crap". If you are using sugar /carbs to boost your mood (serotonin levels), or can't bear the thought of giving up the stuff (HERE), you probably have a sugar addiction.  One more thing; if you feel DEPRESSED at the mere thought of going without sugar, it's a dead give away that you have an addiction.

 

• PLAYING THE SUBSTITUTION GAME:  This could mean that you are substituting sugar substitutes for sugar (HERE).  However, it could mean something far more insidious (HERE).

 

• ISSUES WITH WEIGHT:  Although sugar addiction almost always leads to OBESITY, sometimes people think they are getting away with it because they are still skinny.  This is simply because some people's over-taxed pancreases take longer to burn out than others.  Be aware that even though you might be of a "normal" weight, too much sugar or starch has a tendency to create the SKINNY FAT EFFECT.   Once people begin gaining the extra weight, the "FAT BUT FIT" excuse is an old standby.

 

• OTHER ADDICTIONS:  This is particularly true of things like coffee, SMOKES, or alcohol (which itself is metabolized just like sugar).  When the pancreas burns out due to Uncontrolled Blood Sugar (see next point) the ADRENAL GLANDS kick in to help the failing pancreas.  Most sugar addicts will frequently want things that boost their Adrenal Response (caffeine, nicotine, sugar).  Unfortunately, this is not helpful, and is a doorway to a whole host of other problems.

 

• UNCONTROLLED BLOOD SUGAR:  Numerous people will tell me that they do not have a problem with blood sugar because they recently had their blood checked and it was normal (HERE).  If they are consuming mass quantities of sugar on a regular basis, they are fooling themselves (HERE).  Uncontrolled Blood Sugar is the number one health issue facing the American population today --- and it's not even close.  The last point in this section will go into more detail.

 

• YOU ARE TIRED AND SLUGGISH AFTER YOU EAT:  If you feel tired or sluggish after meals, you undoubtedly have REACTIVE HYPOGLYCEMIA.  This is the BLOOD SUGAR low that comes "reactively" after the high.  Low blood sugar and high blood sugar are two sides of the same coin that we call Diabetes.

 

• YOU HAVE TROUBLE CONCENTRATING:  There are numerous studies touting the ill effects of sugar on cognitive function as well as dementia.  In fact, ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE is now being called Type III Diabetes because its characteristic brain plaques result from Uncontrolled Blood Sugar.

 

• A COMPROMISED IMMUNE SYSTEM:  You are constantly sick (HERE).  The problem is, sugar and ANTIBIOTICS are a devastating combination (HERE), that leads to a wide variety of DYSBIOTIC HEALTH ISSUES, including Systemic (blood-borne) Yeast.  The yeast itself requires sugar to survive and creates horrendous cravings in its attempt to take over your body.  Besides Antibiotics, CORTICOSTEROIDS (a form of Innumo-suppressive drug) create sugar cravings as well.

 

• DIMINISHED LIBIDO:   Whether male or female, if you don't have the desire to have sex, you are likely dealing with a blood sugar issues (HERE and HERE).  If you would trade sex for a handful of bon bons, you have a sugar addiction.

 

• HORMONAL ISSUES --- PARTICULARLY PCOS:  Listen to what Dr Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, author of "Beat Sugar Addiction Now" said on the June 10, 2010 episode of ABC's 6:00 news, "hormonal fluctuations in women entering menopause can cause anxiety, depression, and insulin resistance that can also lead to sugar addictions".  Although he is correct, this is a chicken 'egg thing, meaning the opposite is true as well.  For more on PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome --- the #1 female problem in America today --- go HERE).

 

• INCREASED ACIDITY:  If you are fighting diseases of acidity (although there are many, the two that most immediately come to mind are CANCER and OSTEOPOROSIS), it would not be a stretch to wonder if you have a sugar addiction.  Get some litmus paper at the corner drug store and test your pH.

 

• ALL SICKNESS AND DISEASE:  AUTOIMMUNITY, INFLAMMATORY ILLNESS, and almost every single health issue you care to mention (see the bullet point above on Uncontrolled Blood Sugar) have similar starting points.  If you would rather ignore this than click on the links, you are likely addicted to sugar / carbs.
  

Beating a sugar addiction is not easy.  Like the study at the top of the page said, it can be more addictive than hard drugs!  But if you do it in a step-wise fashion, you can break free of this demon. 

• STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR HEALTH AND YOUR LIFE ---- ADMIT YOU ARE AN ADDICT AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT:  As is the case with all sorts of problems, the first thing you have to do is identify it as such.  As long as you stay in denial, nothing will get accomplished.

• LEARN THE MANY WAYS THAT SUGAR HIDES:  Simply learn to read food labels.  Oh, and be aware that you might even have a GLUTOMORPHIN ADDICTION as well.  Even though you have never heard of this, it is far more common (and scary) than imagined.