IT’S BITTER SWEET: THE TRUTH BEHIND SUGAR ADDICTION

July 28, 2014

It’s Bitter Sweet: The Truth Behind Sugar Addiction

sugar addiction Almost every day in our diets we include sugary foods. Sugar is a source of sweetness that everyone will always want to get. Under normal circumstances, we take sugar in the form of food additive though some people will sometimes take it directly due to its natural sweetness. It is almost a common knowledge that sugar has been attributed to obesity and diabetes when taken in excess. This has neither made people all over the globe to reduce the intake of sugar.

Why bitter sweet?

Obviously sugar is very sweet. Its sweetness remains unquestionable, but the facts about the effects that the sugar has in our bodies makes it bitter. How? One of the negative facts about sugar is that it has been in the frontline contributor of obesity and diabetes. Due to its natural sweetness makes it a very rewarding food substance and hence leading many people to overeating and consequently obese.

Apart from these bitter facts about sugar, research has now shown that sugar is a “new tobacco”, worse than many addictive drugs we know and a secrete killer! You will not believe it, According to the research done by Dr. Mark Hyman et al, shows that sugar is over eight times more addictive than cocaine.

What makes sugar a very common source of addiction?

Unlike many other addictive drugs, which are illegal in many countries, sugar is a legal food substance all over the world. This makes sugar readily available and it is also cheap to acquire. The nature of its sweetness cannot also be underestimated as this is what actually makes a sugar a highly rewarding substance in the human brain.

How does sugar addiction occur?

Among the known foodstuffs which have capability to stimulate the pleasure centers in the brain, sugar is one of them. This center of pleasure which sugar stimulates is known as dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter that controls the brain’s pleasure and reward centers. Research has shown that sugar acts on human brain in the same way as cocaine.

When sugar is taken, just like any other dopamine producing substance it enters the brain system and activates the neurotransmitters responsible for pleasure. High amounts of dopamine are released to the system and hence the rewarding effects occur. This rewarding occurs in a form of pleasure that the person taking the sugar feels. With time, the number of dopamines which are released when the sugar is taken reduces and this results to the condition known as resistance. This eventually means in order to produce the pleasurable feeling, you have to consume more that you used to consume before. This launches a viscous cycle of increased consumption of sugar leading to further desensitization and end up with an insatiable appetite for sugar.

Another qualifier factor of sugar as a silent killer substance is that apart from the increase in consumption of sugar, the dopamine receptor decrease and there is a marked decrease also in their activity. This makes the part of human brain which is responsible for execution of functions such as planning, organizing and rational decision making paralyzed.

sugar addiction

What danger does this pose? This is a double cutting sword for the sugar addict. Apart from the fact that the addict will be required to consume more and more sugar to achieve the required pleasure effect, the addiction also makes it more difficult for the addict’s brain to plan ahead and makes wise decisions on foods to take. This makes the addict to keep on dangerously eating sugary foods. This poses more danger to the addict.

What does sugar have to do with obesity?

The understanding of the relationship between sugar and obesity may look hidden unlike its direct relationship with diabetes. The main reason behind obesity is overeating. So, does it mean sugar addicts eat more than normal people? Let’s find out by asking another related question, “How do we know that we have eaten enough food and hence stop eating?”

The reason why we will always know when we have had enough of food is that our brains have a hormone known as Leptin. This hormone sends a signal when one has had enough of a food and hence the person stops eating. This hormone is naturally produces in the fat cells and it functions well under normal healthy dieting. However, this hormone is easily interrupted by things such as ingesting too much artificial sweeteners, high levels of insulin and not forgetting excess sugar. When a sugar addict consumes excess sugar, this disrupts the hormone and hence it fails to function.

When Leptin hormones fail, the hunger homes begin to run rampantly and unopposed. This makes the addict feel hungry and hence want to eat every now and then. Every time such a person eats, there will be obviously overeating since there are no regulatory signals in the brain and this is why sugar addiction is highly associated with obesity.

Can sugar addiction be treated?

Sugar addiction is curable. The main problem is that sugar has high craving levels and when you will be recovering from sugar addiction you will need to be very much determined lest you will have relapse. If you have a sugar addiction, all you need to do is to visit a specialist, a doctor of psychologist and a recovery method that best suits you will be devised based on mediation or therapy.

IT’S BITTER SWEET: THE TRUTH BEHIND SUGAR ADDICTION

Addictiveness of Sugar

July 28, 2014

Addictiveness of Sugar – The White Addictive Poison

Addictiveness of Sugar. It is not funny sugar is a legally accepted poison to your health. You can get help from the experts

A part from those committing suicide no one would want to poison themselves for fear of the consequences and love of life. But did you know that on a daily basis you are willingly adding poison in your body system? This sounds strange to your ears but it is the truth. I am talking about the sweet things and food staff you love and a day cannot go without having a bit. It may sound unbelievable to you that the normal sugar you add to your coffee, tea or milk is more addictive than cocaine, in fact it is not just addictive but it is eight time more addictive. How would you feel 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. This substance 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?

It is not my intention to scare you this drug is consumable and in fact, it’s not only legal to push, pedal, distribute and sell, it is also commercially promoted and advertised openly as one of the world’s most traded commodities. It is one of America’s top exported products of mass destruction alongside with weapons of war, alcohol, tobacco and entertainment. It is omnipresent in almost every food type and major American food brand. This addictive drug is one of the world’s most valuable agricultural commodities and is traded in the world market in the tune of billions of dollars 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, omnipresent, legal drug of choice? You have probably guessed it by now its C12H22O11 and I am almost sure that you are a user on some level of sugar.

Addictiveness of Sugar – Sugar

Research has established 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 sly labels – barley malt, beet sugar, brown sugar, buttered syrup, caramel, corn syrup, confectioners’ sugar, carob syrup, caster name them, whatever their new nouns may be the all have a common denominator and that is sugar.

Addictiveness of Sugar – Yes we need Sugar

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. It is important to note that 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 that 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.

Addictiveness of Sugar – Behavior Change

So it will be important that you make a decision to limit your consumption of sugar and realize the benefits. For instance listen to this confession my mother became a diabetic (no surprise) she then stopped eating sugar and lost about 20kg in 6 months with no much physical activities and no change at all in her diet. After several hardest days (40) 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.

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 participate in a commercial audition for an organization and believe it I was literally struggling to tie my shoelaces in the morning without a respirator. I was on thyroid medication and Nexium for gastro oesophageal reflux, I fought hard 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 because a decision to change my behaviors 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.

Relapse

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 hardest most satisfying ride you will ever take. I challenge you to be and obtain your superpower of self-control and you will have the best of your like I did.

What is your feeling of that confession? As you reflect about it, you will not find it to be smooth all the way and so you will need to seek for help from the experts like talking to 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. Doctor Akoury is also an addiction professional of over two decades and you will be able to get all inclusive professional attention on both addiction and Obesity.

Addictiveness of Sugar – The White Addictive Poison

The Neurobiology Of Abuse, Addiction And Chemical Dependency

July 27, 2014

What is neurobiology?

Neurobiology is the study of nervous system cells and their organization into the functional circuits that process information and mediate behavior. Neurobiology is different from neuroscience, since neuroscience is much broader and looks at the study of the nervous system generally. Neurobiology focuses on the study of neurons, which are cells that are specialized to receive, propagate and transmit electrochemical impulses. Scientist have identified that in the human brain alone, there are over hundred billion neurons.

Is there any relationship between Abuse, Addiction and Dependency?

There can actually be argued that all these are related in one way or the other. In this case, the main condition which can be triggered by all the others is addiction. For instance, when a person develops a chemical dependency, it becomes impossible for the person to survive without taking the drug. This makes the person to make the drug part of his/her life. The prolonged usage of this drug will eventually result into addiction of the person by the drug.

On the other hand, looking at what abuse is, it is the usage of drug for a purpose other than the intended use of the substance. It can also be defined as the improper usage of a drug, whereby if it was a prescription drug, the patient uses it the wrong way and not the way the doctor recommended. This may result to drug resistance and thus the person will be required to use higher amount of the same drug if in future it is to produce the equivalent effects as before. This with time results to addiction to the drug and consequently the person will not be able to live without the drug.

How do drugs work in the human brain?

Most addictive drugs work by altering the way the brain works. The effect of the drugs that addicts look for (especially stimulants) occurs by alterations in the brain to trigger pleasure. One drugs get into the brain, they tap into the brain’s communication system. Once they are inside the brain’s communication system, they disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive and process information. The following are the ways through which the drugs work in the brain;

Imitation of the natural transmitters – natural transmitters are the chemical messengers in the brain. Due to the similarity in the chemical structure between drugs and these neurotransmitters, the drugs are able to false fully activate the nerve systems and hence make them send abnormal messages through their network.
Overstimulation of the reward system – this occurs by flooding the circuit with dopamine., which is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that regulate movement, emotion, motivation and general feelings of pleasure in the body. Almost all the drugs abused are able to activate this system, especially the stimulants. This is why the users of such drugs frequently want to use them due to the pleasure they get from the drugs’ use.

How does the process of addiction entail?

Drug addiction is not something that happens overnight. It is a process that relatively takes a long period before a person becomes an addict. This period will though vary from person to the other. The common changes that will occur in the human brain before addiction occurs are discussed below.

Brain adaptation – with time, the brain adjusts to the surges in dopamine by decreasing the number of dopamine receptors available. This will reduce the functioning of the reward system circuit. This results to the drug user having now to take higher amounts of the drug substance in order to attain the effect they could easily attain before after just taking a little of the drug substance. This effect is the one termed a tolerance, and the drug user at this stage is said to be tolerant to the drug.
Other than the dopamine, there will be other changes in the brain – the prolonged abuse of drug substances lead to damage in the brain chemical system, including glutamate and the neurotransmitter that influences the reward system circuits and also the ability to learn. Impairment in the brain can occur sometimes, especially when the optimal concentration of glutamate is altered by the drug abuse.
Trigger of conscious memory systems- the abuse of drugs can trigger the conscious memory systems. From psychology, conditioning is a way of learning. In this case, the environmental cues such as certain people and places may become associated with the drug and hence trigger uncontrollable cravings if the individual is exposed to these cues, even when the drug itself is not available.
Addiction – this is actually the step in which almost all the other alterations in the brain leads to. The brain imaging studies of drug addicted persons have indicated that changes in the areas of brain that are critical to judgment, decision making , learning and memory and also behavior control. This seeks to explain why addiction occurs, since these changes are likely what drive the drug abusers to seek out and take drugs compulsively, even when they have negative effects on their bodies.

Finally, I wish to remind you that addiction is curable and you just need to seek the qualified professional to help you out in the recovery process.

Is there any relationship between Abuse, Addiction and Dependency?

NAD and Addiction Pain Treatment

July 27, 2014

Is NAD The Best Treatment For Pain?

Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide In every treatment, the aim is always to provide healing to the patient within the shortest time possible and at the same time ensuring the medication remain friendly to the patient and doesn’t have harmful side effects. Contrary to this expectation, some of the medications used to solve the patient’s health problems seem to pose some danger to the patient. This danger could be in the form of side effects or addiction.

The problem of side effects has arguably been addressed in many cases and the cases are minimal and if any, they are those unavoidable and can be explained by the opportunity cost laws. To address these medication related problems, ways of proper choice of medication have been sought. One of the problems whose solutions have been sought over time is the medication free from addiction to the patient.

How can pain be cured without addiction?

Pain is normally a complex condition to treat and therefore there are many treatment options to choose from. The bad news though is that some of these (medication) methods have been proven addictive to the patient and at some point if addicted, the patient will not be able to stay without taking these medications.

The best way to safely manage pain is by choosing a method of treatment that will not result to be addictive in the long run. Is there such a method? Yes, there are methods which scientists have proven addiction free. One and of course the most effective in treatment of addiction is the NAD treatment.

What is NAD?

NAD is an abbreviation which stands for Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide. It is a metabolic co-enzyme which occurs in our bodies in two compounds; NAD and NADH. These enzymes are the ones responsible for all the activities in our bodies. NADH is used for improvement in mental clarity, being alert, concentration and memory as well as in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease from a person. This molecule is normally formed from vitamin B3 (niacin).

What is NAD energy deficiency?

Every human body requires energy for survival. This energy doesn’t exist naturally, and thus it must be made available in our bodies by the biochemical processes within our bodies. NAD is a co-enzyme which acts as the power plant in our body and if it is low in our bodies, there will be obviously a metabolic energy deficiency. This metabolic energy deficiency is normally referred to as NAD Energy Deficiency (NED). This deficiency in NAD can result to many diseases related tot it such as: – Chronic fatigue, Depression, stress anxiety and variety of other illnesses. This means that one of the best way of treating pain or chronic fatigue is by raising the number of NAD compounds in the body to ensure that there is no deficiency. This will consequently ensure that there is sufficient supply of metabolic energy required to cure the pain.

Why does NAD treatment not cause addiction?

NAD Among the known medications which cause addiction to the patient in the long run, are the medications which use drugs. NAD treatment enjoys the fact that it doesn’t use drugs in its treatment. This is actually what makes the NAD treatment preferred by many people over many other treatments which makes use of prescription drugs or over the counter drugs to treat pain. Unlike these other treatment methods, NAD is a natural treatment method which uses the principle of body’s ability to heal itself if the necessary conditions are maintained. The condition in this case is by ensuring there is no deficiency in NAD and thus the ensuring all body’s activities are correctly taking place. This is due to enough generation of energy (Metabolic energy) by the NAD co-enzymes.

How safe is NAD treatment?

Many researches have been done on NAD therapy to determine its effectiveness and effect in the treatment. Scientists have found sufficient grounds through these researches to conclude that NAD therapy is very safe for treatment of any human being. An advantage of NAD treatment is that it is a natural energy supplement which also generates cellular energy. This energy may also help you in the following:-

It may act as a potent antioxidant and a free radical scavenger since phagocytes normally use NADPH as a source of their energy to destroy pathogens in the body. In this case, it will protect your body from free radicals and to prevent sicknesses and damage. Another important task that NAD plays in your body is that it protects your cells from DNA damage by genotoxic particles.
NAD plays a role in enhancing your moods and emotional balances since these co-enzymes are found in the brain. They perform this task through synthesis of the neurotransmitters which are important for maintaining a positive state of the mind.
Another benefit that you will get from NAD therapy is that it increases the mental clarity and alertness. Research has shown that brain uses 10times more NAD energy than any other body organ.

Looking at all these benefits and there is no addiction when one uses the NAD TREATMENT FOR PAIN, there is every reason to now conclude that this is the best treatment method for pain.

Is NAD The Best Treatment For Pain?

Amino Acids in Fighting Addiction

July 26, 2014

Amino Acids Aid in Treatment of Addiction

Addiction to drugs has been on a rise over the last century. It has therefore been a concern all over the world to develop medication which would address this problem. Through researches many prescription drugs were developed and many of them have proven to cure addiction. Another concern which has of late arisen is that some of the drugs that are given to us (patients) by doctors as prescription drugs have also turned to be addictive. A good example of these drugs is the opioids which are meant to cure pains. This has prompted need to device medication which can cure any kind of addiction, either resulting from legal and illegal drugs or over the counter drugs. One of the treatments which have proven effective is the amino acid treatment.

What is amino acid?

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. These acids are responsible for building the cells, repairing tissues, also responsible for the production of enzymes not forgetting their role in the mental health. Research has shown that about twenty percent of a human body is made up of proteins.

It is important to note that, although proteins are vital in the human body, the body cannot obtain them directly from the food. These dietary proteins must be broken into their constituent amino acids which the body then uses to build the specific proteins that it needs. In this respect, we can conclude that it is the amino acids rather than protein that are essential nutrients.

amino acids

Why are some amino acids referred to as essential?

There are basically two categories of amino acids. These are the Essential and non-essential amino acids. Yes, they are referred to as essential because the body needs them in plenty but it cannot synthesize in sufficient quantities to satisfy the nutritional requirements for good health and thus they must be included in our diets. On the other hand there are other amino acids which are regarded as non-essential because they do not have to be included in our diets since they are not required in plenty by our bodies and also the body can synthesize enough for itself.

How does amino acid cure addiction then?

Like we mentioned earlier, Neurotransmitters are made from amino acids which is the building block of proteins. The brain nervous system is almost entirely regulated by amino acids and their biochemical companions, vitamins and minerals. In this respect, before we look at how amino acids cures addictions is important to note that there are key neurotransmitters which are affected by addiction and needs to be restored to their normal state for the person to recover from drug addiction, and be free from craving and anxiety during the period of recovery. Amino acid treatment plays this role by restoring the affected neurotransmitters to their normal conditions. These neurotransmitters are responsible for good mental health and they include: – Serotonin, Catecholamine; GABA; and Endorphin. Amino acids in the treatment of addiction address the tyrosine pathway, the glutamine GABA pathway in the treatment of addiction, Tryptophan pathway, Serotonin and Melatonin Pathways, Taurine IV for
addiction

What is the Role of cofactors and coenzymes in Amino Acid treatment?

Let’s start by understanding what cofactors and coenzymes refer to. Cofactors refer to non-protein molecules which are required for effective activity of Amino Acids. These cofactors can be organic or inorganic substances. The organic cofactors are the ones referred to as Enzymes. In this case therefore, enzymes can be seen as protein catalysts that are responsible for lowering the energy barriers of many biological reactions. They do this by lowering the activation energy of the reaction that they catalyze and this allows the metabolic reaction to occur faster that it would under normal temperatures.

What makes cofactors important?

Just like we have mentioned above, the cofactors will catalyze the reaction ensuring sufficient metabolic energy generation. One of the notable important cofactors is the metal ions. These include ions such as Magnesium (Mg⁺⁺), Potassium (K⁺) and Calcium (Ca⁺). These cofactors bind the enzymes and participate in the reaction by removing electrons, protons, or chemical groups from the substrate. In reactions which involve oxidation-reduction, coenzymes remove electrons from the substrate and then pass them to the other molecules. Habitually, the electron is added to a proton to form a hydrogen atom before it is passed on. Through this way, coenzymes serve to carry energy in the form of electrons from one compound to the other.

Is amino acid treatment safe?

Yes, amino acid is a very safe treatment of addiction since it involves providing the body with all what it requires in the process of addiction recovery and allowing it to cure naturally. This treatment seeks to restore neurotransmitters to their initially healthy functioning state that they used to be at before addiction. This gives the patient a permanent solution to addiction. Another advantage of using amino acid treatment is that it ensures that the patient is free from craving effects and unlike some addiction medication methods which leaves behind addiction effects in the long run, amino acid treatment is not addictive. With all these advantages we can now conclude that amino acid treatment is a safe and a recommendable method of addiction treatment.

Amino Acids Aid in Treatment of Addiction

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