We know chocolate and cakes and ice cream are full of sugar and bad for our teeth. We even know a steady diet of sweet things can cause us to pack on the pounds.
What you may not be aware of is, sugar is addictive and can cause health issues, and refined carbohydrates are just another term for sugar. Translated this means just about any food you purchase in a box or package at the supermarket is soaked in sugar, and is turning you into an addict.
Sugar addiction symptoms are a hankering for something sweet or savory during mid-afternoon or in the evening after dinner. We lived on 3 square meals a day with nothing in between for thousands of years, but then we introduced snacks and now they’re a habit and rarely needed to satisfy hunger.
Even our three square meals have become polluted with refined sugars and carbohydrates. If your diet contains large doses of potatoes, pasta, white bread, white rice, corn, and sweetened beverages then you’re in the danger zone of sugar addiction.
All these sugars cause insulin levels in the bloodstream to rise and store the excess sugars we don’t need for energy as fat. And because our diet and eating habits keeps plenty of sugar in our bloodstream to support our sedentary low energy lifestyles, we never have to reach into our stored fat and it just accumulates.
In effect our sugar and carbs addiction causes health issues such as heart disease, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, and some auto-immune problems – quite a collection of challenges. In addition, there is also a growing pile of evidence linking sugar addiction to chronic depression.
There a number of prominent nutritionists and doctors who’ve been voicing concerns on our sugar addictions for awhile and these include researchers and books such as Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph. D., Sugar Blues by William Dufty, and the Sugar Busters series which also covers the sugar addiction of kids.
So what to do about all this?
Nothing short of elimination of sugar and refined carbohydrates from your diet will work. We instinctively know we should eat more fruits, vegetables, fresh salads, fruits, and nuts, and this needs to be instead of, and not in addition to sugars. You also need protein at every meal and so if you’re not a vegetarian you can eat liberal amounts of eggs, meat and fish.
You need to pay attention to the contents of the food you purchase – sugar creeps into packages in many forms, such as all those ingredients ending in “ose” like fructose, glucose, sucrose, dextrose, and anything with syrup and crystals in the name is empty calories waiting to turn to fat and keep you addicted.
Of course it won’t be easy to change and persistence and commitment will be needed. You may even suffer with sugar addiction withdrawal symptoms and feel tense and irritable and even slightly unwell during the first weeks of changing your diet. But it will quickly pass and you’ll be given a new lease on life.
The wake-up warning and message here is, sugar addiction isn’t a fun term to be banded around only when talking about your friend’s love of chocolate, and pastries, and the reason they’re overweight. This may all be true, but the problem is much more serious and insidious as now you realize most carbohydrates are a disguise for sugar and the battle is for your health.
