Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ok here's the deal with sugar. We humans are programmed to have a taste for it as a relic from our hunter-gatherer days. Back then, the taste of sweet was a sign of a particular plant offering a large amount of energy in a small package. Hunter gatherers actually physically used that energy so there was a great benefit to coming across fruit in the wild. (think of endurance athletes carbo-loading before a long race... Same principle as those simple carbs convert into sugar in the body, but the athletes use the energy.) we humans didn't get that sugar everyday. It was a treat, good for the body, and loved by taste buds.
Our taste buds haven't changed that much, which is why so many people LOVE processed foods which are filled with sugars. It isn't an "addiction" per se, more of a genetic predisposition towards craving it. The crave helped you to survive thousands of years ago, but it hurts you now since you don't need the energy. And that is what all that fat is hanging off your body: unused energy. Food companies know this, and it is in part why convenience foods are so full of sugar in the form of HFCS. They know that our bodies are predisposed to wanting it very badly.
You might have a massive systemic Candida infection that is causing this "craving" for sugar. Candida which is yeast requires sugar as fuel and people who have bad cases of it are known to crave sugar and bread like mad. People don't realize how serious Candida can get, but there has been people who died from such massive infections of it that autopsies showed Candida cells covering even their hearts in a thick white film. One simple way to detect it is look in the mirror at your tongue and see if it has a white film on it.
I'm still trying to make a decision on what I think about candida infections. On the one hand I have every symptom in the book and there are many and they are vague. On the other hand, my tongue is pretty pink--maybe a bit of white but mostly pink. I have no trouble believing that we are all very much out of balance in our intestinal flora and that it's not a good thing and that certain foods will help that, like sauerkraut and fermented raw milk products, but I just don't know if I believe that it is causing me to crave sugar or if it's an emotional thing.
As for sugar not being addictive--no not in the same way that heroin is, but then nicotine isn't addictive in the same way either. Sugar is different in many ways, and it's one of the few addictive substances that our body actually needs some of, unlike morphine or nicotine or cocaine. A lot of it is emotional and is tied up with complicated feelings from childhood--(I felt unloved as a child, so is that it?) and it's really hard to sort that out from what's physical and what's emotional, but in the long run, does it matter? An addiction is an addiction, and they all start out as emotional. After all, emotionally healthy people don't generally get addicted to heroin. I've never suffered acute withdrawal pains like I've heard of with alcohol, and I've never behaved in a way that is socially unacceptable b/c of it, but that's why it's such a huge problem now--the sheer amount available is making us sick and most of us don't see it as a problem bc most of us think we eat it moderately, but that is relative, and most of us are immoderate in our consumption of it, unless we make a really conscious decision to stay away from it.
Sugar is partly to blame. The condition of your heart (mind, spirit, emotions) is the other part.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LaoTzuMindFu
If sugar was addicting, why dont we have rehab clinics for children who eat/love sugar? That is because sugar is NOT addicting.
There are weight and nutrition and obesity centers for treatment and prevention, and these address sugar as an easily harmful substance to the body, I'm certain of it.
And if people don't treat their children's sugar-consumption problems, this is in part due to the fact that people on the wide-scale refuse to acknowledge issues with abusive eating as a real issue.
Also, in addition to sugar's chemical reward once dependence is established, sugar's most powerful position as an addictive property is in the emotional eating of an individual. Therefore, sugar can become a substance which people are powerfully emotionally dependent upon. That is, many reach to sugary foods for comfort, for instant gratification, for something familiar, for pleasure-and that type of problem with self-control, stemming from deeper issues (such as lacking boundaries and a sufficient sense of self-worth/lovability) leads to a bad habit or emotionally addictive behavior, enhanced by the chemical addictive quality of sugar.
If a substance outside oneself has taken control over their life to the extent that they are knowledgeably abusing their bodies, consuming unhealthy amounts of sugar, then in this way, the substance has an addictive quality. I don't think the greater power is in the sugar, but instead is in the lacking of emotional health and spiritual well-being of the individual. HOWEVER, SUGAR IS PART OF THE ISSUE. Sugar as a substance, more than something such as salt, expounds upon this issue as its chemical makeup works in the body to easily allow for dependence.
Also, it is true that bodies, biologically, are made differently. Some people don't even enjoy sweets, almost as if they are incapable of desiring to eat them, while others do. My family has a history of diabetes and it shows up allover the board, and most of us enjoy sweet foods. Obviously our bodies have some gene coding that give us hereditary issues with blood sugar, making us weak to dietary sugar in that it can hurt us more than those who don't have a history of diabetes.
I don't think hostility on a forum accomplishes winning people to your view of the issue, and lacking an open mind about the possibility of not knowing everything will benefit you in the long run, whether or not it is immediately gratifying to your sense of worth, which at present looks to be at least partially rooted in being "the one with the right answer." It's not a very immutable thing to find value in, seeing as we're all flawed and lack perfect knowledge.
Ok here's the deal with sugar. We humans are programmed to have a taste for it as a relic from our hunter-gatherer days. Back then, the taste of sweet was a sign of a particular plant offering a large amount of energy in a small package. Hunter gatherers actually physically used that energy so there was a great benefit to coming across fruit in the wild. (think of endurance athletes carbo-loading before a long race... Same principle as those simple carbs convert into sugar in the body, but the athletes use the energy.) we humans didn't get that sugar everyday. It was a treat, good for the body, and loved by taste buds.
Our taste buds haven't changed that much, which is why so many people LOVE processed foods which are filled with sugars. It isn't an "addiction" per se, more of a genetic predisposition towards craving it. The crave helped you to survive thousands of years ago, but it hurts you now since you don't need the energy. And that is what all that fat is hanging off your body: unused energy. Food companies know this, and it is in part why convenience foods are so full of sugar in the form of HFCS. They know that our bodies are predisposed to wanting it very badly.
this is great, i think this is true also. people are predisposed genetically to craving sugar, even as many people, unknowingly or not, eat or supplement their diets in ways that allow them to hardly ever experience such cravings. plus our body chemistry has changed in varying ways over the thousands of years, differently in different regions of the world. And even within regions, we all have different blood types and different metabolisms and different pH sensitivities. The issue of "addiction" with reference to sugar, is both biological and, as I described in my other post, spiritual/emotional.
There are weight and nutrition and obesity centers for treatment and prevention, and these address sugar as an easily harmful substance to the body, I'm certain of it.
And if people don't treat their children's sugar-consumption problems, this is in part due to the fact that people on the wide-scale refuse to acknowledge issues with abusive eating as a real issue.
Also, in addition to sugar's chemical reward once dependence is established, sugar's most powerful position as an addictive property is in the emotional eating of an individual. Therefore, sugar can become a substance which people are powerfully emotionally dependent upon. That is, many reach to sugary foods for comfort, for instant gratification, for something familiar, for pleasure-and that type of problem with self-control, stemming from deeper issues (such as lacking boundaries and a sufficient sense of self-worth/lovability) leads to a bad habit or emotionally addictive behavior, enhanced by the chemical addictive quality of sugar.
If a substance outside oneself has taken control over their life to the extent that they are knowledgeably abusing their bodies, consuming unhealthy amounts of sugar, then in this way, the substance has an addictive quality. I don't think the greater power is in the sugar, but instead is in the lacking of emotional health and spiritual well-being of the individual. HOWEVER, SUGAR IS PART OF THE ISSUE. Sugar as a substance, more than something such as salt, expounds upon this issue as its chemical makeup works in the body to easily allow for dependence.
Also, it is true that bodies, biologically, are made differently. Some people don't even enjoy sweets, almost as if they are incapable of desiring to eat them, while others do. My family has a history of diabetes and it shows up allover the board, and most of us enjoy sweet foods. Obviously our bodies have some gene coding that give us hereditary issues with blood sugar, making us weak to dietary sugar in that it can hurt us more than those who don't have a history of diabetes.
I don't think hostility on a forum accomplishes winning people to your view of the issue, and lacking an open mind about the possibility of not knowing everything will benefit you in the long run, whether or not it is immediately gratifying to your sense of worth, which at present looks to be at least partially rooted in being "the one with the right answer." It's not a very immutable thing to find value in, seeing as we're all flawed and lack perfect knowledge.
There is so much truth in this post, and one thing I'd like to add is that when I've spoken to diabetic friends, they felt they had even less control over their sugar cravings after they became diabetic. I personally believe, with no science to back me up on this, that as our blood sugar gets more whacked out, which it is for years before diabetes actually becomes apparent, our cravings for sugar grow more intense. I can tell that in myself--the longer I stay away from sweets, the less I think about them b/c my blood sugar is under better control. I have no idea if this falls under the official def of "addiction" but it sure feels like one to me, and any substance can be addictive, according to the needs of the individual. I still haven't had any! (I haven't bought the Halloween candy yet either.) Oh but, I'm just making excuses.
I am addcited to sugar as well...Usually I would eat cup cake, cookies, twix, snickers and stay the same. I am trying to make a decision on what kind of sugar to eat though. For example, I would pick cup cake or drink sweet tea. That's it. So if I choose to drink sweet tea, then that's the only sugar I get. I refuse other sweets that comes after sweet tea. It works for me but I don't know about other people.
There is so much truth in this post, and one thing I'd like to add is that when I've spoken to diabetic friends, they felt they had even less control over their sugar cravings after they became diabetic. I personally believe, with no science to back me up on this, that as our blood sugar gets more whacked out, which it is for years before diabetes actually becomes apparent, our cravings for sugar grow more intense.
I've noticed this too. Three family members with diabetes have this insatiable appetite for sweet foods to the point it is almost ridiculous. I don't know what the mechanism is for this, but its strange to observe.
Woo hoo! 5 lbs off and only from not eating sweets in the last 2 weeks. I didn't diet and I haven't even exercised lately--just stopped the crazy eating. I've had a little sugar--I love honey on my greek yogurt in the am and a little brown sugar on my oatmeal, so I'm not a purist--just not binging on the cakes, cookies, and candies. I'm plotting about what to do for the holidays. Who's up to join me?
Apparently, sugar, fat and salt do act on the brain in the same way that some addictive drugs act:
Quote:
"Highly palatable" foods -- those containing fat, sugar and salt -- stimulate the brain to release dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with the pleasure center, he found. In time, the brain gets wired so that dopamine pathways light up at the mere suggestion of the food, such as driving past a fast-food restaurant, and the urge to eat the food grows insistent. Once the food is eaten, the brain releases opioids, which bring emotional relief. Together, dopamine and opioids create a pathway that can activate every time a person is reminded about the particular food. This happens regardless of whether the person is hungry.
Not everyone is vulnerable to "conditioned overeating" -- Kessler estimates that about 15 percent of the population is not affected and says more research is needed to understand what makes them immune.
That doesn't mean you can't control it, but clearly for some people it takes much more will power than it does for others.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Sugar is partly to blame. The condition of your heart (mind, spirit, emotions) is the other part.
There are weight and nutrition and obesity centers for treatment and prevention, and these address sugar as an easily harmful substance to the body, I'm certain of it. 
If a substance outside oneself has taken control over their life to the extent that they are knowledgeably abusing their bodies, 
consuming unhealthy amounts of sugar, then in this way, the substance has an addictive quality. I don't think the greater power is in the sugar, but instead is in the lacking of emotional health and spiritual well-being of the individual. HOWEVER, SUGAR IS PART OF THE ISSUE. Sugar as a substance, more than something such as salt, expounds upon this issue as its chemical makeup works in the body to easily allow for dependence. 
Also, it is true that bodies, biologically, are made differently. Some people don't even enjoy sweets, almost as if they are incapable of desiring to eat them, while others do. My family has a history of diabetes and it shows up allover the board, and most of us enjoy sweet foods. Obviously our bodies have some gene coding that give us hereditary issues with blood sugar, making us weak to dietary sugar in that it can hurt us more than those who don't have a history of diabetes.
I don't think hostility on a forum accomplishes winning people to your view of the issue, and lacking an open mind about the possibility of not knowing everything will benefit you in the long run, whether or not it is immediately gratifying to your sense of worth, which at present looks to be at least partially rooted in being "the one with the right answer." It's not a very immutable thing to find value in, seeing as we're all flawed and lack perfect knowledge.
