If you have never been to a support group you should go. Even if you do not believe there is any reason to go it would teach some great lessons. Addiction is a very real issue in America and too often people who live without addiction are judgmental to those who suffer from one. But I'm not here to lecture you on the exact nature of addiction, I am only here to discuss my experience with addiction.
Many probably laughed at the title and the concept of sugar as being addictive. Sugar is a perfectly legal substance that does little harm to the average person. Everyone eats sugar so it can not be that addictive or we would all be strung out on sugar constantly (although for many people this is not far from the truth). What I discovered with research is that sugar is in fact very addictive and some even classify the process of sugar addiction and withdrawal symptoms the same as heroin. Personally it is hard to image sugar being anything like heroin, but the effects upon the brain are in fact very similar.
This is where the difference occurs. Heroin is highly addictive and illegal which is why it is considered so dangerous and looked down upon. Sugar, although almost just as addictive, is not visually as negative in the public eye. Hence why the comparison is so difficult.
Getting back to sugar though... In a healthy diet no more than 10% of calories should be from non-natural sugar sources. This includes desserts, soda, ketchup, dressings, etc. It does not include fruit or naturally occurring sugar in foods, but it does include juices. That means on a 2000 calorie diet only 200 should be from sugar. I believe 40g of sugar should be the highest max on most people. Less is recommended. What was I eating? Close to a quarter of my diet was sugar sourced with a guesstimate of around 100-150g per day. Certainly not healthy. To make matters worse there is a trend of Type II Diabetes in my family as well as other personal issues that could be worsened by high levels of sugar in my system.
This semester I am in a psychology course entitled Addictions where we have been learning about drug and alcohol addiction. One assignment is a six week challenge to give up a personal bad habit that may be like an "addiction" in your life. Most people chose something like nail biting or soda. One is giving up cigarettes, another shopping. The habits are all personalized, but mine has been especially difficult.
I am currently three weeks into the challenge and have successfully survived withdrawal. I will never say that sugar withdrawal is like heroin or other drug withdrawal because I have never been through that difficult of a challenge, but I can tell you what I experienced: headaches, inability to focus, uncontrollable cravings, night terrors, vision blurriness, nausea, chronic fatigue, dry eyes, etc.
Those symptoms kicked in on day three of the challenge and began to subside on day 16 while becoming unnoticeable by day 19. I survive the worst and now am focusing on preventing relapse. I had to go through the same process as addicts are given and must now keep my mind off of sugar and improving my life. My life has improved through all the difficulties. I have been told my face is clearer, weight is trimming down, and other problems I didn't even realize existed have disappeared. I am healthier and my mood is steady and those personal issues that run in the family are now less of a risk for me. If I can maintain very low or normal sugar intake after the challenge my risk of Type II diabetes may be eliminated.
The point? Addiction is very difficult to fight, but it is a curable disease. That is the word people scoff at and to be honest it is hard for me to accept the disease model as well. But the brain is altered by so many substances and it is easy to pass these altercations through your genes. It would explain why so many Americans are overweight and their children are just as overweight or even more so. Kids are being born addicted to sugar and caffeine. And drugs and alcohol are a whole different ball game. It is so hard to fight addiction, but with help it is possible to break any habit.
I challenge you to give up something difficult for you. Once you experience withdrawal and a difficulty of this magnitude you begin to see life in a different light and your prospective will be greatly widened.
Wow great blog!!!! I am going to give up sugar substitutes now. i never even thought about sugar addiction to illegal drug addiction. but it goes unnoticed as yoiu said because substances like sugar and fat are not illegal.
thanks!
I am rather curious how you are doing this because sugar is in almost everything, do you buy sugar free stuff? I am just curious. I have recently given up my addiction to night time eating. I eat at 5 or 6 and stay up until about 3 or 4 in the morning. I have started to lose weight doing this. If I get hungry I will have something very small, but not big meals like I was having at 1,2,3, or 4 in the morning.
At first when I say the title I was like ummm ok. But then I saw it was you and you write good blogs so I kept reading. I haven't had any withdrawals from stopping night time eating. I have also stopped drinking coffee in the morning, and haven't had withdrawals from that either. It makes sense because I can't drink alot of caffiene because I have anxiety issues and it will actually cause me to have a panic attack.
After my mom died we also started eating everything that is light. Less calories, sugars, and things overall. I want to switch to 1% milk but my dad won't let me.
I admire you for giving up something and I hope other vow to give up things as well.
http://www.progressiveu.org/043043-mom-i-can-finally-write-you-letter
Sorry to disappoint you, but I am voting for Lewis Black.
DrifterDani~
You are correct, almost everything has sugar cooked into it but giving up natural sugar is not the focus. Although I do focus on avoiding any foods with known sugar contents (cream sauces, ketchup, dressings, etc) I am not going crazy in avoid all sugar. Of course I can have fruits and vegetables that are naturally sweet.
I am so glad to hear the first commenter is giving up artificial sugar. That stuff is so unhealthy. I am not permitted to use substitutes because of their own negative health effects and the fact that artificial sugar actually makes the cravings for sugar much worse.
That is too bad you father won't allow you to switch to 1%. That is all I drink and it really is beneficial for your body. Enough calcium and vitamins but without the milk fat that is actually unhealthy for an adult body.
The Heathen's Guide to: Greed
I'm not supposed to eat corn syrup as part of the diet restrictions for crew. But it's impossible to avoid- I don't drink much soda, so avoiding corn syrup in that sense is easy, but corn syrup is in my favorite drink (iced tea) and even in things like ketchup. I can appreciate the difficulty of breaking a sugar addiction, not because I have one, but because I know you can’t get away from sugary foods in our culture. At least other addictive substances are more difficult to acquire.
I agree with your statement at the beginning of your blog when you said it was beneficial to attend support groups, even if you don't have a problem. My dad is a former alcoholic, and for years after he went clean, he still went to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and would bring me sometimes. You can really learn a lot from the life experiences of people in AA- some of them have tragic moments and inspiring recovery stories.
Just brew some black tea, put honey in it while it is hot, a little lemon, if you wish, and chill. Good stuff. A little honey will taste sweeter than corn syrup with less calories, and honey has anti-bacterial properties.
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Have you ever made sun tea before EW? It is awesome! My mom and I used to make it
http://www.progressiveu.org/043043-mom-i-can-finally-write-you-letter
Sorry to disappoint you, but I am voting for Lewis Black.
DrifterDani~
Can it be made indoors? Because I have no outside access in my condo. I'd have to leave it on the shared entry porch, which my neighbors would not like because they are nitpicky.
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
You just need to put it somewhere where it can be warmed up by the sun. If it won't get warm, then you shouldn't put it there. A windowsill will work fine, though, if your container will fit.
~C
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Didn't think about that. Thanks :)
http://www.progressiveu.org/043043-mom-i-can-finally-write-you-letter
Sorry to disappoint you, but I am voting for Lewis Black.
DrifterDani~
That's exactly how my mom always made sun tea. I never liked it, but I remember the pitcher sitting in the windowsill all day in the summer. ^-^
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
--
Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!!!
I have never tried it inside before, but I am sure you can put it in artificial light. What we used to do is take a big glass jar or one of those tea dispensers with the push button take hot water fill it up and put a bunch of tea bags in it, then take the bags out and put it out in the sun all day then bring it in. If you like it cold then add ice, or if you like it sweet add some kind of sweetener after it is done. I am sure you could do this under a large lamp that is really bright. It changes the tea and makes it lighter colored. It is the best tea ever.
I understand about not being able to set it out I am sure you could make it indoors if you had a bright enough light. Make sure you seal it pretty good as well.
http://www.progressiveu.org/043043-mom-i-can-finally-write-you-letter
Sorry to disappoint you, but I am voting for Lewis Black.
DrifterDani~
About six years ago, someone suggested to my mom that she give up sugar. She did and within three weeks, she was feeling tons better, had lost 10 lbs, and was way easier to be around. Since then, we've been going on and off with various different health kicks (one month, we went without gluten (bread and stuff)...it was THE WORST month of my ENTIRE life). It doesn't really bother me (visably)...it makes my brother go INSANE...etc...it's really interesting to see what the effects of different foods can have on different people. Awesome blog and good luck with the no-sugar thing!
RESPECT LIFE
http://progressiveu.org/blog/respectlife
"It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
~Mother Teresa
That is amazing. I've heard stories like this and thought I'd like to try it, but then I realized that would cut out frosted mini wheats, chocolate, Kalhua, and a whole host of other favorites. Dunno if I could do it. The thing is, I know my taste would change and I'd start to dislike all those things. I don't know if I'm willing to dislike those things, though.
But I digress... did she make you and your brother do it, too? How did you feel during the ordeal?
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I don't think your taste buds would dramatically change from abstinence unless you had another major change in diet at the same time. Most likely you would be unable to eat/drink as much as normal.
Alcohol is part of the challenge that I have given up. I have a feeling when I am able to drink again I may not be able to keep up like I normally do. It will require me to scale back and limit the amount of sugary alcohol drinks I have.
Then again it will be interesting to see if sugar starts tasting bad after this. Right now I still love the smell and really want the sugar, but I can not have it. Maybe when I try to eat sugar my body will make me stop. That would be a success on staying on a low sugar diet.
The Heathen's Guide to: Greed
I gave up potato chips for a long time a while back. I went from eating them all the time to going months without them. And when I did open up a bag again, I can attest that hat had previously been a delicious, salty snack had become a disgusting mouthful of grease. I ended up snacking on them out of sheer boredom sometime later, and liked them again, only to go through the same thing as before. I think I'm permanently done with chips now... except Sun Chips, but they're made with whole grains, so I feel better about eating them anyway.
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
--
Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!!!
I think they do change. Mom couldn't stand the taste of sugar after her experiment. (of course, now she eats sugar again, so it doesn't bother her)
RESPECT LIFE
http://progressiveu.org/blog/respectlife
"It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
~Mother Teresa
Haha, yeah, that's always been my big thing, too...there's no way I could give up my chocolate!
She didn't make us give up sugar, but she the no gluten thing was a family thing. Some members of our family benefited from it (mainly the type Os), but I was miserable. I'm a big grain eater. I was really moody and then it ended up causing me some eating issues. My mom was always on my case about me getting anorexic, so that was a big ordeal for a bit. It's all good now, though. Mom's gotten a lot more lax about everything and we're more normal. LOL
RESPECT LIFE
http://progressiveu.org/blog/respectlife
"It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
~Mother Teresa
My German teacher did the same 'no-sugar' diet a few years ago, and while I can't imagine doing that (especially with all of the sugars in just about everything you can buy), I have to admit she looks so much healthier. I saw pictures of her from the years before when I was in middle school, and the transformation simply from not having sugar and excersizing more is incredible. She's a whole new person, but the only problem is, if she has just one piece of candy, she's on a sugar high for the rest of the hour. Kudos to you for going through with those various diets, by the way, there's no way I could, I just thank God for my slightly higher metabolism :)
I despise sugar and HFCS! They're so bad, and I honestly blame HFCS for a percentage of the obesity rate increase over the past 30 or so years.
Have any of you seen the new HFCS commercials? I cant find one of the commercials online, so I'm linking to a description of one.
Craziness.
:idk:
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~Fallon~
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.- Russell
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Well, they aren't not accurate... HFCS IS okay in moderation. Problem is that it's really, really hard to consume it in moderation, because it's in EVERYTHING.
~C
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Here you are. Straight from the Corn Refiners Association website. :-)
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
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I am addicted to sugar as well. I try very hard to simply avoid eating junk food. If I have to snack, I want to snack on something healthy, like carrots. I thought coming to college and not being able to afford to buy junk food would help... until my mom started sending it to me. I did get her to stop though, and I'm going crazy with sugar cravings. But I'm glad for it. I want to be as healthy as I can be, and avoiding unhealthy snacks is a great thing for someone who snacks to get through the day.
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
--
Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!!!
I try to avoid eating junk food as well.
Except for my fruits and veggies (and occasional box of fruit snacks/impulse chocolate buys) I try not to have food... handy? in my kitchen. Everything I have, I have to actually prepare somehow. I can't just open a box or bag and eat. I have a lot of steel cut oats, pasta, rice, beans, etc. Snacking takes work. ;-)
This somewhat limits my junk food consumption. When I want something salty, I make popcorn, when I want something sweet, I eat fruit, or make some oatmeal. I'm also a fan of toast and bagels late at night, which is somewhat of an improvement over a can of pringles. ;-)
I will admit to always having a pint of Ben and Jerry's in the freezer, though. Only because I take like 4 bites and I'm done. It usually takes me a few weeks to go through an entire pint of ice cream. :-D
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
Sadly, I need to have handy snacks. If I didn't have them, I'd end up cooking something more often than I need to, end up eating way too much, and then gain back all that weight I just lost! The biggest issue with needing to snack right now, though (which is probably something I should ask a doctor about) is that if I don't eat something between meals, I'll get really shaky and not be able to concentrate. When I was at home it happened sometimes, though not as often, and when my mom checked my blood sugar had skyrocketed. Same thing happens when I'm running late and am forced to skip breakfast. I know that can't be normal, but as my doctor at home is awful and I haven't had time to find a doctor out here, I'll just have to deal with it for the time being by having something on hand.
Also, I envy your ice cream. I can't afford ice cream. The only place where I CAN afford it happens to be a half hour train ride away. I don't want my ice cream to melt, so I'm forced to go without...
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
--
Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!!!
Omgosh...yet another reason why I could never give up sugar...Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream is probably the best ice cream PERIOD.
RESPECT LIFE
http://progressiveu.org/blog/respectlife
"It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
~Mother Teresa
No... Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk is their best flavor. But... since that isn't distributed in Wisconsin, I've had to settle with Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, which is the next best thing. Though, I've heard they have pumpkin pie too, but it's seasonal. And I can't find it here, so they must not distribute that flavor in Wisconsin either.
Ben and Jerry's why do you hate Wisconsin so much!?
Oh well. I still have Kopp's Frozen Custard, which is about 10 times better than ice cream. :-)
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
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Hmm, I've never tried that one. Mom's favorite is New York Super Fudge Chunk, but the local Wal*Mart doesn't have it, which is a pain. Dad loves the Caramel Sultra. And, like I said, I think Phish Food is probably the most heavenly ice cream period. Bummer it's all wicked expensive.
RESPECT LIFE
http://progressiveu.org/blog/respectlife
"It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
~Mother Teresa
...I really, really want ice cream now. But I can't afford any... gah! Why must ice cream be so expensive? Why must the nearest ice cream be in the 7-Eleven, thus being even MORE expensive?
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
--
Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!!!
I guess I never really think about how expensive ice cream is because it takes me like 3 weeks to finish a pint. And, by the time I'm ready to buy another one, B & J is on sale for $2.50 again. ;-)
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
What kind of mutant super powers have you developed? 3 weeks to finish a pint?
I down one in 30 minutes. And I have the ass to show for it.
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Right there with you. Of course, I only buy pints when I'm upset....
~C
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I just eat like 3 or 4 bites at a time to satisfy my sweet tooth. Or when I know I'm gonna eat a lot of ice cream, I just buy flavors I know I can't handle more than 2 bites of. Like whatever one has the caramelized pears and brown sugar... I don't think that's Ben and Jerry's though... But sometimes... I just eat the whole pint. Not very often.
Other times I just ignore the ice cream in my freezer because the flavor of the day at Culver's was Oreo Explosion or Pumpkin Pie or something. And I never miss Grasshopper Fudge or Amaretto Cheesecake at Kopp's... :-D
I still bike or walk to school everyday though, so my ass is doing alright so far. Gonna have to cut back on the sweets when I'm forced onto the bus in a few weeks though... ;-)
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
You have made me face reality. I hate you for it, but thank you anyway.
I'm not extremely obsessive about my health because I figure all of my good decisions (not drinking coffee or any caffeine at all) balance my bad decisions (my passion for marshmallows and hotdogs). Now that you've pointed out how addicting sugar is--especially with your withdrawal symptoms!--I guess I can't pretend any longer. I have to start watching what I eat.