Sugar Addiction - It's Natural

If you've failed on every diet you've ever tried, it's not your fault.

Learn the truth about low-calorie and low-fat diets - and discover the only diet that works for natural, permanent weight loss.

The good food you eat on this healthy diet boosts your metabolism, controls your appetite, and improves your moods. And the healthy, nutrient-rich foods keep your kids from getting fat and protects them from diabetes.

This 5-page report is a must-read for anyone who struggles with their weight:

What Scientists Know about Low-Calorie Diets, but Your Doctor Never Told You

Can you really be addicted to sugar? To know for sure, we need to know what we mean by the word “addiction.”

The Addiction Resource Guide defines addiction like this:

"The physical and psychological craving for a substance that develops into a dependency and continues even though it is causing the addicted person physical, psychological and social harm. The disease of addiction is chronic and progressive, and the craving may apply to behaviors as well as substances."

From the same source we get the definition of withdrawals:

"The symptoms experienced by substance abusers when they stop using the drug upon which they have become dependent. These symptoms are usually unpleasant and uncomfortable; they may include, nausea, insomnia, anxiety, weakness, trembling, sweating, dizziness, convulsions, and dementia."

Many people who regularly eat sugar in their diet will recognize themselves in these definitions of addiction.

You may have tried to give up sugar, either because you need to lose weight, or because you’re concerned about the health problems associated with too much sugar in your diet. If you’ve made an attempt to give up sugar, you probably already know that it isn’t all that easy.

About half-way through your morning you start feeling “weird” and light-headed. You need something to eat to calm your nerves or to wake you up. You miss the routine of grabbing a muffin with your morning cup of coffee. You find yourself in the cookie aisle in the grocery store, sneaking them into your basket before you can make yourself stop.

You have all the right intentions, but week after week, month after month, you’re still “trying” to cut down. You may be addicted to sugar.

Addictions actually have three or more components —
instincts, culture, and physiology.

Instincts and sugar addiction:

We can’t fully understand any addiction without taking instincts into account. After all, we wouldn’t do something over and over again until we were hooked, if that thing didn’t feel good in the first place.

Our bodies are “programmed” to enjoy the taste of sugar because many of the foods that humans need to eat for good health are sweet – fruits, roots, leaves and other vegetables provide the vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that we need for optimal health. They also provide the complex carbohydrates we need for sustained energy, and the fiber we need to keep our systems running properly.

Our instincts cause us to enjoy naturally sweet fruits and vegetables by making us believe they taste good, while making poisonous or indigestible plants taste bad. It’s simply part of our survival system.

Before the age of industrialized agriculture, and the creation of highly-refined, inexpensive carbohydrates, this survival instinct was a great advantage to humans. It caused us to eat a balanced, varied diet, and we gained the greatest benefit from the foods available to us.

However, when men first invented a mill that could take all the nutrients out of wheat, resulting in white flour, and then a few years later invented the process for turning sugar cane and beets into pure granulated sugar, our instinctive craving for sweet food laid the groundwork for addiction and disease.

Culture and sugar addiction:

It was our culture that turned wholesome foods into industrial products that can be shipped long distances, and appeal to masses of consumers. It is our culture, or our society, that offers sugar, corn syrup, and white flour in thousands of products on the supermarket shelves. Our culture encourages sugar consumption, especially for children, with traditional treats and deserts.

Culture at the family level is important because the way we are raised can affect our likes and dislikes.

People who have grown up eating lots of sugar don’t enjoy the taste of life-giving vegetables and fruits. Real food isn’t sweet enough! A culture that is awash in highly refined sugar will be an unhealthy society, filled with overweight citizens who are prone to diabetes and heart disease.

Physiology and sugar addiction:

Without the last piece of the puzzle – physiology – it would be relatively easy to give up any habit. Heroin, for instance, feels good, and its use may be encouraged in certain cultures - but it’s hard to give it up because it feels so bad when you walk away from it. For this reason it is possible to define addiction like this:

You do it because it feels good; you continue doing it, even when you know it is causing you physical, psychological and social harm, because it feels so bad when you stop.

Without the withdrawal symptoms, it cannot be said that we are physically addicted to a substance. For instance, we may eat too much fat in our diet, but we do not experience withdrawal symptoms when we cut down on fat. Although we may long for a juicy steak, fats have not been proven to be addictive.

When a substance such as alcohol, heroin or sugar is physically addictive, you know it when you try to give it up.

These withdrawal symptoms are mild when you give up sugar, slightly painful when you give up caffeine, very dramatic when you give up heroin, and are possibly life-threatening when a long-term alcoholic gives up alcohol.

If it’s difficult for you to stop eating sugar and highly refined carbohydrates, it’s probably because of the withdrawal symptoms.

The withdrawal symptoms are mild, but few people know what is actually happening – most people assume that the uncomfortable feelings will only go away if they have a candy bar or put a scoop of sugar in their coffee. They “need” the boost, and have no idea that the symptoms are temporary.

This is why it is important to realize that eating sugar to excess is not just a bad habit, and not just a matter of taste – we get hooked when we’re kids, and we have to make a true commitment to kick the habit. That means we need to know that our bodies are programmed for this addiction, our culture encourages it, and we will experience some pain when we stop.

After the withdrawal symptoms —
preventing relapse

If you committed yourself to a sugar-free lifestyle, threw all the sugar and white flour out of the house, gave up the sugar in your coffee, and replaced your mid-afternoon candy bar with an apple – congratulations!

If you successfully stopped all sugar in your diet for a month, or three months, or six – and then slid back into eating the way you used to, you have experienced a relapse.

Why does it happen? You’ve overcome the withdrawal symptoms, and your body no longer “needs” sugar, but you’re eating it again and regaining all the weight you lost.

It’s discouraging – but it’s completely natural.

Relapse happens because your instinctive survival system still considers sweet foods to be good for you - and your culture still surrounds you with sugary snacks. Getting through the withdrawal symptoms is actually the easy part.

Maintaining your commitment to a sugar-free lifestyle requires a plan that recognizes the power of instinctive cravings for sugar and the tempting availability of sugar in the environment. You need a plan so you will be prepared for the inevitable slide into relapse.

If you know it’s coming, and that it’s natural, the battle can be won.

Click here to learn how to overcome sugar addiction

Jonni Good is the author of most of the original articles on this site. Jonni always looks for the easy way to solve common health problems, by working with human nature. Her books have helped hundreds of people lose weight, get fit, and regain their health - with less struggle. Please take a moment to visit her other sites:

Do You Gain Weight... Even when you eat less than your thinner friends? Learn why it happens, and how to use nutritious, satisfying food to break the metabolic pattern that causes some people to gain weight too easily.

Sugar Cravings and Addiction – Describes a simple program to help people break their addiction to sugar and fat. This book has been popular ever since it came out in 2003, and has helped hundreds of people lose their cravings for sugar and other simple carbs. Once the cravings are under control, it's easier to stick with your diet and regain your health.

Weight Lifting for Absolute Beginners – A guide to lifting weights for strong muscles and bones.

The Easy-Does-It Diet – A guide to creating your own delicious and healthy frozen diet meals. Eat healthy, low-fat meals without paying extra for store-bought frozen diet food.

Disclaimer: This site and the articles contained here are for information purposes only. The authors have made every effort to make sure the information is accurate, but no health decisions should ever be made based on this or any other website. Please contact your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program.