More addictive than cocaine?
Sugar addiction can sabotage your wellbeing, and limit your body's natural ability to heal.
Over the years of dealing with alternative medicine, I have come to appreciate that there is good food and bad food.
A little story: it was hot and I had been working hard all day. Driving my old pick up into the gas station, I thought I would “treat” myself to a 40 oz coke. I almost never buy soda, but with the heat and sweat, it just sounded good.
MISTAKE.
There are about 10 teaspoons of sugar in one 12 oz can of coke. In 40 oz, there’s over 32 teaspoons of sugar, all in the form of high fructose corn syrup. I was happily driving home and downing the liquid sugar until things went awry in my body. My head felt funny, and my body was in sugar shock. (That’s not a medical term, if you were wondering.) I was able to get home, but was sick on the couch for two hours as my body tried to rid itself of the excess sugar.
The takeaways?
I was not used to that much sugar.
My body was signaling that I had overloaded the system.
Coke, and every other sugared drink, was happy that I was spending my money on the bubbly liquid sugar.
The gas station obviously did not care about my well-being and would sell me just about anything to make a profit.
Health-wise, a gas station is about the worst place to get food. Some of us remember when gas stations just served gas and oil. The cheery attendant would come out and say “fill-er-up? They would wash the windshield and check the oil too. You never had to get out of your car. Now, if you do get out of your car, you can load up on cigarettes and diabetes.
You’ve probably heard that sugar is not good for your health. You likely know that it adds no nutrients, only empty calories. It’s been common knowledge for a while now.
In fact, back (many years ago) when I was in college, I had two roommates. None of us were cooks, and breakfast was usually a cereal. I remember one of the guys adding the white powder to his cereal and the other roommate whispering almost demonically “White Death… white death.”
We knew it then. And we really know it now.
So how exactly is sugar bad for us?
It feeds cancer
Excess weight gain
Headaches
Hormone imbalance
Insulin resistance
Diabetes and imbalances
Changes in brain chemistry
Cravings
Heart issues
Nonalcohol fatty liver disease
Dementia/ Alzheimer’s
Now, in moderation sugar is OK. (In this context, think 6-9 teaspoons per day.) That is about the max that the body can safely handle.
Now, you may not drink soda. Or ladle spoons of sugar into your food and drink. But what about the sneaky ways sugar infiltrates our diet?
What about “healthy” snacks like fruit gummies?
“Per the company website, Welch's Mixed Fruit Snacks contain juices from concentrate, including grape, pear, peach and pineapple. They also contain corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, gelatin, citric acid, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavors, ascorbic acid, sodium citrate, coconut oil, carnauba wax and several food dyes.”
Those particular fruit snacks are highly processed, have almost 6 grams of sugar per serving, and earned a D+ from www.fooducate.com. Sounds healthy to me!
Sugar is also habit-forming. According to some studies, sugar is more addictive than cocaine. “Sugar activates the opiate receptors” which activates our reward center. This can lead to compulsive behavior.
This is particularly worrisome when you consider how it affects kids. Convenience and amplified taste-titillating ingredients induce kids to call for more. Moms are often pulling sugar-laden “junk” off the store shelf to satisfy those cravings. It begs the question... is an overweight child a form of abuse?
Personally speaking, having a child with Down’s syndrome has caused us to look extra hard at his eating habits. In our experience, he will eat anything that is put in front of him. When we were absent one morning, the older kids decided to see if he would stop on his own when eating syrup-soaked pancakes. He ate and ate and ate. Yes, he loves sugar. Who doesn’t? But he, like many children, doesn’t have the capacity to limit himself. So we ensure he does not get it very often. His metabolic rate may be slower due to his condition, but we restrict his caloric intake to make sure he stays totally fit.
To me, it is sad to see families damage their children by allowing them to eat to obesity. Sugar and sugar drinks are one of the main culprits behind this.
Did you know that the soda industry paid the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) millions of dollars to ensure that sugary drinks are supplied with school lunches? Imagine if the school removed sugared drinks. Poorer kids could not get their sugar fix, and that would be racist.
Go on a Sugar Detox
Now, I am not sugar addicted. My wife makes few sweets, and dessert is a very special occasion. There is little processed food in our pantry, and meals are home-cooked 90% of the time. It is a decision that we choose to make. But many aren’t so lucky, and have fallen victim to a predatory food industry.
Are you sugar-addicted and want to move toward better health? It’s never too late to start making positive changes in your healthy habits. Here are suggestions from good houskeeping:
Frontload your meals with protein and fiber.
Ensure you are eating micronutrients.
Stay hydrated.
Also, keep an eye on the added sugars in alcohol, coffee additives, dressings and sauces, and fruits. Do you drink a glass of OJ in the morning? When it comes to sugar content, it is no different than drinking a can of soda.
Before you resort to drugs that paralyze your digestive system like Ozempic, make sure you’re ridding yourself of any sugar addiction you might have! There are lots of articles and videos and even books on ways to change.
Remember, your health is up to you.
Blessings,
The Medical Maverick