Category Archives: sugar

Food addiction

February 26, 2014

Food addiction-Fighting food addiction

food addiction

food especially sugar is becoming the biggest luring substance to food addiction

There is one common addiction for all mankind, we are all in one way or the other addicted to food. Visualize how it feels like when you aren’t able to eat. You will probably start to crave for food, and become more physically and emotionally uncomfortable. The longer the cravings go on for, until eating becomes the most important thing for you to do. This is the constant experience of people struggling with food addiction, even if they have plenty to eat.

However food is essential to survival, and unlike other addictive behaviors, it is normal to eat repeatedly every day, and to look forward to eating for pleasure. But several characteristics separate normal or occasional binge eating from a food addiction.

The first point, food addiction is maladaptive, so although people overeat to feel better, it often ends up making them feel worse, and gives those more to feel back about. Food addiction can threaten health, causing obesity, malnutrition, and other problems.

The second point, the overeating that people with food addiction do is persistent, so a person addicted to food eats too much food and most of the time it’s the wrong kinds of food taken repeatedly. Everybody overeat from time to time, but people with food addiction often overeat daily, and they eat not because they are hungry, but as their main way of coping with stress.

The Controversy of Food Addiction

As behavioral addictions, the concept of food addiction is a controversial one. Opinions differs between those who think that overeating can be a type of addiction, and those who think that true addictions are limited to psychoactive substances which produces symptoms such as physical and withdrawal. Although this has been demonstrated in research with sugar and fat (the two most common obesity-causing constituents of food), and other studies show that food produces opiates in the body, many think that this does not necessarily constitute an addiction.

However, the growing epidemic of obesity over the past years has raised public health concern. In almost all US states, one in five adults are obese. Childhood obesity was ranked as the top health concern for children in 2008, higher than either drug abuse, rated second, or smoking rated third, both of which were ahead of obesity in 2007.

This concern, along with effective treatments for addictions, which are being successfully applied to more and more problematic behaviors, is contributing to a movement towards understanding over-eating, and the consequences of obesity and related health problems, in terms of addiction.

Food addiction is now included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), named as Binge Eating Disorder, and categorized with the Eating Disorders. Excessive eating is also a characteristic of another eating disorders outlined in the DSM, known as Bulimia Nervosa. Some controversy remains over whether eating disorders are actually addictions, but many experts believe that they are.

Food Addiction like Other Addictions

There are several similarities between food addiction and drug addiction, including effects on mood, external cues to eat or use drugs, expectancies, restraint, ambivalence, and attribution.

Neurotransmitters and the brain’s reward system have been implicated in food and other addictions. In animal studies, for example, dopamine has been found to play an important role in overall reward systems, and binging on sugar has been shown to influence dopamine activity.

Food, drugs and other addictive substances and behaviors are all associated with pleasure, hedonism, and social, cultural or sub-cultural desirability. When advertising or the people around us tell us that a food, drug or activity will feel good, it sets up a self-fulfilling prophecy. We are more likely to seek it out, and we are more likely to experience pleasure when we indulge.

Food addiction and Mental Health

Similarities between food addiction and other addictions suggest a universal process underlying food and other addictions. Some experts go further, theorizing that overlaps, similarities, and co-occurrences of mental health problems, including addictions, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders, and the phenomenon of a new addiction or mental health problem developing when an old addiction is treated, indicate that they are expressions of related underlying pathologies. It has been argued that viewing these conditions separately hinders the development of a comprehensive view of addictions.

In the study involving 39 healthy women with different weights from lean to overweight or obese, the participants were asked to complete the Yale Food Addiction Scale, which tests for signs of food addiction. Women with full-fledged eating disorders of any type were not included in the study.

Then, using fMRI, researchers led by Yale’s Ashley Gearhardt and Kelly Brownell looked at the women’s brain activity in response to food. In one task, the women were asked to look at pictures of either a luscious chocolate shake or a bland, no-calorie solution. For another brain-scan task, women actually drank the shake made with four scoops of vanilla Häagen-Dazs ice cream, 2% milk and 2 tablespoons of Hershey’s chocolate syrup or the no-calorie control solution, which was designed to be as flavorless as possible (water couldn’t be used because it actually activates taste receptors).

The scientists found that when viewing images of ice cream, the women who had three or more symptoms of food addiction things like frequently worrying about overeating, eating to the point of feeling sick and difficulty functioning due to attempts to control overeating or overeating itself showed more brain activity in regions involved with pleasure and craving than women who had one or no such symptoms.

These areas included the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex and medial orbitofrontal cortex — the same regions that light up in drug addicts who are shown images of drug paraphernalia or drugs.

Similar to people suffering from substance abuse, the food-addicted participants also showed reduced activity in brain regions involved with self-control (the lateral orbitofrontal cortex), when they actually ate the ice cream.

In other words, women with symptoms of food addiction had higher expectations that a chocolate shake would be yummy and pleasurable when they anticipated eating it, and they were less able to stop eating it once they started.

Interestingly, however, unlike drug addicts, the participants with more signs of food addiction did not show a decrease in activity in pleasure-related regions of the brain when they actually ate the ice cream. People with drug addictions tend to derive less and less pleasure from drug use over time — they want drugs more but enjoy them less, creating compulsive behavior. But it’s possible that this tolerance may be seen only in serious addictions, not in people with just a few symptoms.

Notably, the study also found that food addiction symptoms and brain responses to food were not associated with weight: there were some overweight women who showed no food addiction symptoms, and some normal-weight women who did.

That’s why addictions aren’t simple: they involve variations not only in levels of desire, but also in levels of ability to control that desire. And these factors may change in relation to social situations and stress.

Neither heroin nor Häagen-Dazs leads to addiction in the majority of users, and yet there are certain situations that may prompt binges in people who otherwise have high levels of self-control. So the answers to addiction may lie not in the substances themselves, but in the relationship people have with them and the settings in which they are consumed.

Food addiction-Fighting food addiction

 

 

 

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Relapse prevention and healthy nutrition

February 24, 2014
Relapse Prevention

relapse occurs when the addict resumes his or her addictive behavior after a period of abstinence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Relapse prevention and healthy nutrition

Relapse prevention and healthy nutrition-what is relapse

Relapse is the deterioration in someone’s state of health after a temporary improvement. However, in the context of addictive behaviors, a relapse occurs when the addict resumes his or her addictive behavior after a period of abstinence. For people trying to control their behavior rather than trying to quit entirely, a relapse is a period of uncontrolled behavior. For example, for someone trying to control their drinking, a relapse could result in a session of binge drinking. For a shopaholic who is trying to follow a spending plan, a relapse could be going on a shopping spree.

Relapse prevention and healthy nutrition-Relapse Prevention

The way to prevent a relapse is to recognize and deal with some of the things that could get in the way of recovery. If you learn how to overcome these challenges, you will be more likely to keep up the changes you’ve made during treatment. There are several things that a person can do to prevent relapse. Below are some strategies that you may find helpful: Develop a support system – and use it! It is very important to surround yourself with people who love, support and encourage you. These people can be members of your family, your friends, or your care providers. They will be there to help you when you are struggling with a difficult situation or experience. It’s not always easy to reach out, but you should feel comfortable asking for help when you need it. Some people find it useful to make a list of names and phone numbers to call if they start to slip back into old thought patterns or unhealthy eating behaviors. Reduce negative influences Try to get rid of any negative influences in your life. That includes people who make you feel bad about yourself or who constantly obsess about their own weight and appearance. Your own thoughts can also be a bad influence. Learn to question any destructive thoughts you have about yourself. Make a list of all of your good qualities and use it when you feel critical or pessimistic. Identify your “triggers” A “trigger” is anything that can cause you to return to disordered eating or thoughts about disordered eating. Each person has their own triggers. They can include feeling stressed, anxious, depressed or lonely. Sometimes a traumatic experience, such as the death of a loved one can be a trigger. Some people are more likely to relapse at certain times of the year, such as during holidays or exams. To identify your triggers, think of times when you were tempted to relapse. Try to figure out what made you feel that way. Make a personal coping plan Make a list of different triggers that could cause you to relapse. Then, come up with a plan for dealing with each of these triggers in a healthier, more constructive way. Your coping plan might include calling a friend, taking a walk, or writing in a journal. Eat meals regularly A meal and snack schedule can prevent you from going back to disordered eating. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time, and don’t skip any!  Eat three meals a day, plus snacks, at regular times (about every 3 hours). A consistent schedule will be good for both your emotional and physical health. Your family may be able to help by making sure that you eat meals together as often as possible. Keep busy and stay involved Get involved in a hobby or activity that you enjoy and that makes you happy. It can be anything from arts & crafts, to volunteering, to nature walks, to joining a club. If you make time to do the things you enjoy, or to do nice things for others, your focus will shift away from your eating disorder. It can also help to keep you motivated to recover and to stay connected to your surroundings and the people in your community. Make time for yourself It is important to take time to do something good for yourself every day. Some people find it helpful to use this time to relax or reflect. Some do yoga or meditation, some draw, paint, write, or listen to music. No matter what you choose, remind yourself that you are important. You deserve to take this time to do something that is just for you!

Relapse prevention and healthy nutrition-Quick tips for healthy living

Nutrition is the process of breaking down food and substances taken in by the mouth to use for energy in the body or it is the process of obtaining and consuming food. By practicing a healthy diet, many of the known health issues can be avoided. With good nutrition comes healthy living. Therefore, healthy living is all about moderation, balance and flexibility. Attaining this may be difficult because there will be some days when you don’t eat healthy foods and some days when you don’t do enough exercise. This is totally normal in your busy, sometimes stressful, life. You get a more accurate picture of how you’ve been doing if you look back over the past month or so. For the month ahead, aim to make small changes that will improve your health, both mental and physical. Here are some ideas:

  • Nourish your body throughout the day—avoid skipping meals
  • Eat a variety of foods and aim for a balance over the month
  • Rather than worry about ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ foods, remember that moderation is the key
  • Try to eat more fruits and vegetables
  • Drink lots of water. It helps reduce fatigue and replenishes the body
  • Use caffeine in moderation, particularly if you are prone to anxiety or sleep problems
  • Listen to your body’s signals—it will let you know when you are full or hungry. Become more conscious of why you eat when you are not really hungry. Try to find other ways to cope with feelings of boredom, unhappiness, loneliness or social pressure
  • Use exercise as a way to deal with stress
  • Slowly increase your physical activity level
  • Consider joining a gym or other formal exercise program
  • Check out your local community centre for a range of fun options and programs people of all ages
  • Try adding in extra activity throughout your normal day, such as parking a block from work and walking the rest of the way or using the stairs instead of the elevator. Even getting up to change TV channels can make a difference!
  • Remind yourself that weight and shape are not the only way to evaluate your self-worth—think of at least one other way that shows you are a worthwhile, loveable, talented person who has something to offer the world
Relapse prevention and healthy nutrition

 

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Outpatient addiction treatment naturally

February 23, 2014

Outpatient addiction treatment naturally

Outpatient Addiction Treatment

Outpatient addiction Treatment

addiction must be fought hard and addiction outpatient treatment in one way

There are many types of addiction treatments available in the market, outpatient addiction treatment being one of them. It must be noted that for one to realize positive recovery the problem of addiction must be fought as hard as is practically, some type of treatment are absolutely crucial. There are certain people of whom outpatient treatment can be the best choice, but there are others who run the risk of relapsing if they try this type of treatment.  I will therefore throughout this article, take a keen look not only just at the fundamentals of outpatient treatment, but also the kinds of people who will be the most successful with this particular method of treatment.

Outpatient Addiction Treatment-Natural treatments

Users who are thinking about an outpatient course of treatment absolutely should have a strong sense of absolute commitment. There are levels of freedom and independence attached to this type of treatment, and it requires a certain amount of self-discipline. However, any person thinking about outpatient care has to be able to remain abstinent for an absolute minimum of seventy two hours, or three days. Having a lot of support from friends, family members, and so on, is also necessary. If you have a lot of responsibilities in your day to day life, this type of treatment may also be the best choice for you.

Patients who are considering this type of treatment will have to be extensively evaluated. Their condition must be studied to make sure that this treatment will help them and that they will be able to be successful at it. No matter how much you might want to take advantage of outpatient care, it may not be right to you. An evaluation might determine that you will do better with inpatient care, which is often more intense and offers less independence. However, depending on your circumstances, that might be a good thing.

Naturally, when you are an outpatient, you get to stay at home. However, you have to realize that a lot of things will still be expected of you. Outpatients still have to go to rehabilitation programs, meetings, and so on, and they have to do some of their treatments within a facility. Not everything can be done at home, and even outpatients will be required to do some things at a facility. Also – it’s sometimes extra tough to fight your addiction at home. Can you imagine an alcohol addict looking for alcohol rehab treatment, staying at home, alone, with beer in the fridge? Outpatient treatment means surrounding the patient with people, and making sure he’s in a position where he can FIGHT his temptations.

Outpatient Addiction Treatment

There are many advantages associated with outpatient addiction treatment centers. For one thing, no break from work or schooling will be required. As well, outpatient care tends to be significantly less expensive than inpatient care. As well, patients will be surrounded by their support network of supportive friends and family members, which can make all the difference during treatment.

As mentioned, however, not every patient will be able to benefit from this type of care. If you need more than counseling, then this might not be the right kind of care. It really all depends on personal needs, addictions, will power, and so on. That is why an examination and evaluation is so important, to make sure that the right patients go to the right places. This increases every patient’s chances of success.

Outpatient Addiction Treatment-Drug Addiction

Drug addiction is a scourge which has taken hold of the entire world and certainly something that a lot of people are dealing with right here and now. It affects millions upon millions of people and it might come as a surprise that teenagers are typically the ones that fall into drug addiction. There are many questions about treatment options when someone is dealing with someone they know who is addicted to drugs or even if they are addicted to drugs themselves. That is what we are to explore and discuss in this article.

Firstly, understanding exactly what triggered the drug addiction is a very important step in the treatment process and it is something that a lot of treatment centers actually focus on.

What causes someone to get hooked on drugs, why would they choose that path versus another? These are just a few questions that doctors ask in treatment centers.

Speaking of treatment centers, there are many different options to choose from in the way of a treatment center.

There are inpatient treatment centers as well as outpatient and it all depends on how severely the addiction runs and what types of drugs the patient might have been addicted to.

The outpatient addiction treatment centers

In outpatient treatment centers, both adult drug treatment and teen drugs rehabilitation is administered. This is where addicts can go to gain support, however they do not live there. Typically, these types of treatment centers are designed to give the addict support in the form of meetings and a support buddy.

Recovering from an addiction is a very long process especially for someone who has never been through it, this can be very difficult to understand, however there are many ways through which you can support someone suffering from addiction. Being there for the addict and certainly allowing them to talk about their experience is just a milestone and will make a great difference in their treatment process. These patients’ needs to be full accommodated and feel the sense of belonging to the society during and after the treatment period.
Curing an addict is something that is never going to happen, as the old saying goes, ‘Once an addict, always an addict’, however with the many different treatment options out there to assist you in managing your addiction. It takes more than just support; it takes a complete overhaul of your mind and body. Going through addiction treatment is going to be difficult in the beginning, as there are many different withdraws which their  bodies will goes through when they are in treatment for drugs. However, once the withdraws are finished, the therapy starts and the support system is in place, the addiction will slowly but surely decrease and life will take its place.

Outpatient addiction treatment naturally

 

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No Withdrawal Addiction Recovery, Without Withdrawal Seriously

February 23, 2014

 Withdrawal

you can seek specialist opinion on addiction and from that you may start the recovery journey

 

 

Addiction recovery without withdrawal

 

Addiction recovery without withdrawal-The Chance to Change Your Life

Your addiction has given you the opportunity to change your life. Changing your life is what makes recovery both difficult and rewarding. Recovery is difficult because you have to change your life, and all change is difficult, even good change. Recovery without Withdrawal is rewarding because you get the chance to change your life. Most people sleepwalk through life. They don’t think about who they are or what they want to be, and then one day they wake up and wonder why they aren’t happy.

If you use this opportunity for change, you’ll look back and think of your addiction as one of the best things that ever happened to you. People in recovery often describe themselves as grateful addicts. Why would someone be grateful to have an addiction? Because their addiction helped them find an inner peace and tranquility that most people crave. Recovery can help you change your life. You may need to adopt the following:

Addiction recovery without withdrawal-The first rule of recovery

One does not recover from an addiction by stopping using the substance or drug. You recover without withdrawal by creating a new life where it is easier to not use. If you don’t create a new life, then all the factors that brought you to your addiction will eventually catch up with you again.

You don’t have to change everything in your life. But there are a few things and behaviors that have been getting you into trouble, and they will continue to get you into trouble until you let them go. The more you try to hold onto your old life in recovery, the less well you will do.

Here are the three most common things that people need to change in order to achieve recovery.

Addiction recovery without withdrawal-Avoid High-Risk Situations

Some common high-risk situations are described by the acronym, HALT:

  • Hungry
  • Angry
  • Lonely
    Withdrawal
  • Tired

How do you feel at the end of the day? You’re probably hungry because you haven’t eaten well. You’re probably angry because you’ve had a tough day at work or a tough commute home. You may feel lonely because you’re isolated. You don’t have to be physically alone to feel lonely. And you’re tired. That’s why your strongest cravings usually occur at the end of the day. Here’s another way of looking at high-risk situations:

  • People. (People who you use with or who are related to your use. People who you have conflicts with, and who make you want to use. People who you celebrate with by using. People who encourage you to use either directly or indirectly.)
  • Places. (Places where you use or where you get your drugs or alcohol.)
  • Things. (Things that remind you of your using.)

How can you avoid high-risk situations? Of course, you can’t always avoid these situations. But if you’re aware of them, they won’t catch you off guard, and you can prevent little craving from turning into major urges.

Take better care of yourself. Eat a healthier lunch so you’re not as hungry at the end of the day. Join a 12 step group so that you don’t feel isolated. Learn how to relax so that you can let go of your anger and resentments. Develop better sleep habits so that you’re less tired.

Avoid your drinking friends, your favorite bar, and having alcohol in the house. Avoid people who you used cocaine with, driving by your dealer’s neighborhood, and cocaine paraphernalia.

Recovery without Withdrawal isn’t about one big change. It’s about lots of little changes. Avoiding those high-risk situations helps you create a new life where it’s easier to not use.

Make a list of your high-risk situations. Addiction is sneaky. Sometimes you won’t see your high-risk situations until you’re right in the middle of one. That’s why it’s important that you learn to look for them. Make a list of your high-risk situations and to keep it with you. Go over the list with someone in recovery so that can spot any situations that you might have missed. Make the list and keep it with you. Some day that list may save your life.

Addiction recovery without withdrawal–Learn to Relax

There are only a few reasons why people use drugs and alcohol. They use to escape, relax, and reward themselves. In other words, people use drugs and alcohol to relieve tension.

The first rule of recovery without withdrawal is that you must change your life. What do you need to change? If you understood the previous paragraph, then you need to change the way you relieve tension. Everyone needs to escape, relax, and reward themselves. Those are essential coping skills for a happy life. But addicts don’t know how to do those things without using.

If you manage to stop using for a while, but don’t learn how to relax, your tension will build until you’ll have to relapse just to escape again. Tension and the inability to relax are the most common causes of relapse.

I know relaxation will help. I have treated thousands of patients. Many of them have told me that relaxation has changed their life. There is only one reason why people don’t relax – because they think they’re too busy to relax. It goes something like this, “I know it makes sense, but I’ve got so many other things I have to do.”

Ask yourself how much time you spend on your addiction. If you add up all the time it takes to get your drug, use it, deal with its consequences, and plan your next relapse, you’ll realize that relaxing for twenty to forty minutes a day is a bargain.

Relaxation is not an optional part of recovery. It’s essential to recovery. There are many ways to relax. They range from simple techniques like going for a walk, to more structured techniques like meditation. Meditation is an important part of that mix because the simple techniques don’t always work. If you’re under a lot of stress, you may need something more reliable like meditation. Use any of these techniques, or any combination. But do something every day to relax, escape, reward yourself, and turn off the chatter in your mind.

Numerous studies have proven that relaxation reduces the use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana and help the recovery without Withdrawal.

Addiction recovery without withdrawal-Be Honest

An addiction requires lying. You have to lie about getting your drug, using it, hiding its consequences, and planning your next relapse. An addiction is full of lying. By the time you’ve developed an addiction, lying comes easily to you. After a while you get so good at lying that you end up lying to yourself. That’s why addicts don’t know who they are or what they believe in.

The other problem with lying is that you can’t like yourself when you lie. You can’t look yourself in the mirror. Lying traps you in your addiction. The more you lie, the less you like yourself, which makes you want to escape, which leads to more using and more lying. Recovery without Withdrawal is a reality, you can do it!

Nothing changes, if nothing changes. Ask yourself this: will more lying, more isolating, and more of the same make you feel better? The expression in AA is – nothing changes if nothing changes. If you don’t change your life, then why would this time be any different? You need to create a new life where it’s easier to not use.

Recovery without Withdrawal requires complete honesty. You must be one-hundred percent completely honest with the people who are your supports: your family, your doctor, your therapist, the people in your 12 step group, and your sponsor. If you can’t be completely honest with them, you won’t do well in recovery.

When you’re completely honest you don’t give your addiction room to hide. When you lie you leave the door open to relapse.

One mistake people make in the early stages of recovery is they think that honesty means being honest about other people. They think they should share what’s “wrong” with other people. But recovery isn’t about fixing other people. It’s about fixing yourself. Stick with your own recovery. Focusing on what you don’t like about others is easy because it deflects attention from yourself.

Honesty won’t come naturally in the beginning. You’ve spent so much time learning how to lie that telling the truth, no matter how good it is for you, won’t feel natural. You’ll have to practice telling the truth a few hundred times before it comes a little easier. In the beginning, you’ll have to stop yourself as you’re telling a story, and say, “now that I think about it, it was more like this…”

Show common sense. Not everybody is your best friend. And not everybody will be glad to know that you have an addiction or that you’re doing something about it. There may be some people who you don’t want to tell about your recovery. But don’t be reluctant to tell the people close to you about your recovery. You should never feel ashamed that you’re doing something about your addiction specially when Recovery without withdrawal is an option.

Addiction recovery without withdrawal

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Why sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine, Cocaine

February 17, 2014

Why sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine, White Poison.

Sugar

Much as we need sugar in our bodies, its a very dangerous substance for the body sweet as it may be.

What if someone tells you that almost every day you ingest a drug that is one of the most addictive known to mankind? Or what if you are told that researchers and medical professionals the world over are now saying that if they knew the effects and destruction that this substance has on people they would have banned it and placed it on the same list as cocaine.

Sugar like cocaine is the cause of a pandemic of health issues, diabetes, obesity, disease and death. And what if you are told that you and your children are probably already addicts?

Contrary to Cocaine Sugar is a drug however that is consumable. In fact, it’s not only legal to push, pedal, distribute and sell sugar, it is also promoted and advertised openly and is one of the world’s most traded commodities. It is one of America’s top exported products of mass destruction. Together with weapons of war, alcohol, tobacco and entertainment. It is pervasive in almost every food type and major American food brand.

This addictive drug sugar not cocaine is one of the world’s most valuable agricultural commodities. In 2011 global export trade was worth $47 billion. $33 billion of it was exported from developing countries. Around 160,000,000 tons is produced every year, legally, by more than 123 countries.

The secret of its deadliness is out in most developed countries and its use however has increased in spite of this knowledge and has more than doubled in developing countries. So what is this addictive, pervasive, legal drug of choice? You have probably guessed it by now its C12H22O11 and I am almost sure you are a user on some level! Sugar!

Sugar is more addictive than cocaine

Research found that almost everything, delicious and very addictive stuff, called sugar or sucrose or fructose or many other names it now goes by to hide its presence. Ever since laws have been implemented to specifically state the amount of sugar in their products, manufacturers have been using various other names to hide the actual amount of sugar contained in them.

For instance look out for these sneaky labels – barley malt, beet sugar, brown sugar, buttered syrup, caramel, corn syrup, confectioners’ sugar, carob syrup, caster, date or demerara sugar, dextran, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, maltose, molasses, sorghum syrup, treacle, panocha and many more.

Researched papers, documented by medical professionals, scientist and healthcare professionals. Every one of them agreed that sugar is the number one cause of obesity, diabetes, weight gain, inability to lose weight, loss of mental sharpness and the fact that overconsumption of sugar is in some way associated with many diseases in the world today. Some doctors are now saying that sugar is the next tobacco and that all of the techniques and tactics used by big tobacco to hide the addictiveness and destructiveness of tobacco are now being used and has been used by sugar manufacturers and sugar product manufacturers. One medical professor calls Pepsi and Coca-Cola trucks delivering their products to a store, “weapons of mass destruction” as dangerous as cocaine.

Sugar is more addictive than cocaine – My Own experience

Yes we do need sugar (glucose) and our bodies cannot function without it. We can however get our required amount from healthy fruits and foods and we need not add the extra 4kg of refined sugar every month, over and above what we require. May I share my addiction experience? It started a few weeks after I was born when my well-meaning, loving mother, was taught to add a few spoons of sugar into my cow’s milk (no formula back then) at every feed. It shut me up and I was a happy baby. It is crazy that we wouldn’t give a newborn child a bottle of Coke to drink but we give them sweetened milk and milk formula’s full of sugar without blinking an eye. Before I was two months old, I looked like a baby sumo wrestler and my habit was about 48 grams of pure Brazilian White a day.

I was on solids – porridge, within 3 weeks and the sugar doubled. I was tripping on Durban Snow at every feed. It didn’t stop there. In my teens, our family of four consumed up to 4 crates of Coca-Cola every week. That was almost a crate of Coca-Cola per person or 12 x 2L Cokes a week EACH. At 24 teaspoons of Angel White per bottle that was quite a habit. I want to remind you that Coca-Cola contained cocaine a century ago.

My sugar intake however wasn’t limited to Coca-Cola, I also got my fix from moms sugar filled cooking and La Rochelle bakery’s milk tarts, cakes, doughnuts, Koeksisters, Chelsea buns, desserts, custards and takeaways. My mom even put sugar in her carrot salad, which was also drenched in Oros. My favourite “salad” at a braai, was her sliced bananas covered in whipped cream with loads of sugar. Now that’s a flippen’ salad!

Funny thing was, if you offered her chocolates or cake she’d tell you she didn’t have a sweet tooth and didn’t eat chocolate or cakes. I gravitated to the brown form of the drug like Malema to a tender and chocolate became my drug of choice. Any fellow addict will tell you there is no better fix than a garage pie, a coke and a chocolate.  Sugar fix is for some a better fix than a cocaine fix.

It’s no wonder that most research papers and sites on sugar report that the average teen consumes between 34 and 38 teaspoons of sugar every day. In 2012 adults in the United States consumed over 45kg’s of sugar per year. That is more than 3.75kg a month. Looking at South Africa’s obesity and health issues and the fact that our diets have been influenced by all major US brands and “soda” companies we’re probably about the same if not worse.

Unlike Cocaine, sugar is found in most of our food but the adding of extra sugar and the creation of sugary products has grown exponentially. Researchers tell us the most efficient way to deliver a sugar fix is via the soft drink industry. Apart from the effects on your health, a sugar researcher tells us that drinking one sugary soft drink a day will increase your weight by 6kg per year. A bottle of Coke a day will increase your weight by 11kg per year. And don’t get me started on sugar substitutes and “diet” cold drinks. According to medical professionals they are nothing more than poisons. Medically most, if not all sugar substitutes are referred to as neurotoxins.

Sugar is more addictive than cocaine – Behavior Change

So I decided on 11 November 2013 to go 40 days cold turkey with my addiction. My father became a diabetic (no surprise) he stopped eating sugar and lost about 20kg in 6 months with no exercise and no change at all in his diet. After 40 of the hardest days of my life I lost 5kg and now on day 71, am down 8kg. I have to add that I have been weight training and not eating bread. So yes, I had a miserable Christmas!

I never started my sugar stoppage for weight loss. I really did it because I got to a stage when my health started to suffer and I was out of control.  I needed an intervention and the opportunity to kick my own ass. My waist had gotten so big I was asked to audition for a Michelin commercial, and I battled to tie my shoelaces in the morning without a respirator. I was on thyroid medication and Nexium for gastro oesophageal reflux, I battled to sleep, I had no energy and by 3 o’clock in the afternoon wanted to take a nap, I always got colds and flu, I got muscle cramps and injuries and I felt all round crappy.

Today I feel 100% healthier, I have stopped all of my medications, I sleep well, have more energy than ever before and I have lost 8 kg in fat. Not bad for just stopping and looking out for sugar. The most important and significant change is the fact that I have taken back control of my life from my drug of choice, beautiful, deadly, Florida icing – sugar.

Unfortunately I have found that one of the only ways to beat an addiction is to be placed in situations of temptation again and again and having to say no. Every time you are tempted and you say no, you take back the power. You take the power away from the addiction one temptation at a time. You will find, like I did, that the universe will, with love and kindness, put you into situations of mass temptation the exact day and week you decide to take back your power. It is perfectly designed because you cannot take back your power unless you are tempted. Taking yourself out of a situation does not allow you to exercise personal control. It’s the toughest most rewarding ride you will ever take. I dare you to be and acquire your superpower of self-control!

Well that is my drug, my admission and my personal challenge for the New Year. What is yours? Help is very close to you Dr. Akoury of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center will help you achieve optimal weight loss if sugar brings obesity to your life. At this facility we focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE.

Why sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine, White Poison.

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