Sharing Sugar Stories
- Why Breaking Sugar Addiction is Important
Sugar addiction is a silent killer. Although you don’t see immediate consequences like you do with alcohol, cocaine, meth, heroin, etc., the damage is just as severe in the long run. It doesn’t appear to be life-threatening on the surface, because its effects are cumulative and take time to materialize.
Over the years it slowly destroys organs and systems in the body that eventually lead to a variety of debilitating health conditions, like insulin resistance, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, chronic fatigue, attention deficit, Candida overgrowth, anxiety disorders, chronic headaches, hyperactivity, obesity, hypoglycemia, adrenal fatigue, weakened immune system, nutritional deficiencies, autoimmune disorders, cancer, Alzheimer’s/Dementia, and many more.
Not only that, addiction to sugar often leads to alcoholism or drug addiction, as the body breaks down and tolerance builds.
- Sugar is a drug
Sugar has a chemical make-up that is almost identical to alcohol. It stimulates the neurotransmitters in the brain that are responsible for addictive behaviour in the same manner as alcohol and harder drugs. This is why we feel “high” when we eat sugar. Brain imaging scans reveal that sugar affects the brain in the same way as hard drugs like cocaine, heroin and morphine.
Over time as sugar is continually ingested, tolerance builds and more sugar is needed to achieve the same effects, just like alcohol and drugs. Eventually this leads to complete dependence on sugar to get through the day. A sugar addict is born. Sugar is now used simply to feel normal; they can’t stay away from it even if they want to.
They will begin to lie, sneak, hide, deny, rationalize, justify, blame, make excuses and even steal for their beloved sugar and will continue to consume the substance even when they are facing severe consequences like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, just like an alcoholic or a drug addict. They will engage in uncontrollable binges and even go out in the middle of the night to get a fix.
The sugar addict will go through the same kind of withdrawal and grief as they try to give up their beloved substance of choice as an alcoholic or drug addict does. They also struggle with cravings and relapse that are identical in nature to addiction to drugs and alcohol, when the true roots are not addressed.
Eventually their life falls apart, just as it does for the alcoholic and drug addicted. Sugar addiction treatment and recovery becomes as important as addressing any other addiction.
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