I read a newsletter article this morning in MyDiabetesCentral that talked about sugar addiction. There was a recent study done at Princeton on rats that concluded that the chemical changes that go on in the brain are just like what happens in people who use cocaine, heroin or other substances.
When I think about how I feel about how sugar affects me, I have to agree with their results. I have always had what society refers to as a sweet tooth, but I never thought of it as an addiction until now. As much as I try to avoid sweets, I find that I still crave them, which is understandable because they are all around me.
If you read food labels you begin to realize that it’s in most of the processed food you buy at the grocery store. Enriched flour, potatoes and rice all turn into sugar also. Also check out the salad dressings and soft drinks. Alcohol is on the list too. It’s like that old punch line “Everything I like is either, illegal, immoral or fattening.”
Diabetics have a harder time dealing with sweets and salty snacks, because they mess with your insulin level. The sugar makes your body produce more insulin which makes your bold sugar drop and then you crave more sweets. Salty snacks like chips, pretzels, etc. are refined carbohydrates which cause your body to react the same way.
So if you just have to have just one more cookie … you might be a sugar junkie. I have been trying to wean myself off of the stuff for years and tried to go for the naturally sweet things like fruit and honey.
One product for sweetening that has come along more recently and I like is Stevia. It is hard to find sometimes, but I found you can get it online also. This is actually a herb that is very sweet. I use it in coffee and on cereal. They even have cookbooks that show you how to use it.
For me eliminating sugar completely is really hard to do, but I have found that the longer I keep away from it, the easier it is to stay off of it. I don’t have the cravings I used to have when I was younger, and that is a good thing.
When I think about how I feel about how sugar affects me, I have to agree with their results. I have always had what society refers to as a sweet tooth, but I never thought of it as an addiction until now. As much as I try to avoid sweets, I find that I still crave them, which is understandable because they are all around me.
If you read food labels you begin to realize that it’s in most of the processed food you buy at the grocery store. Enriched flour, potatoes and rice all turn into sugar also. Also check out the salad dressings and soft drinks. Alcohol is on the list too. It’s like that old punch line “Everything I like is either, illegal, immoral or fattening.”
Diabetics have a harder time dealing with sweets and salty snacks, because they mess with your insulin level. The sugar makes your body produce more insulin which makes your bold sugar drop and then you crave more sweets. Salty snacks like chips, pretzels, etc. are refined carbohydrates which cause your body to react the same way.
So if you just have to have just one more cookie … you might be a sugar junkie. I have been trying to wean myself off of the stuff for years and tried to go for the naturally sweet things like fruit and honey.
One product for sweetening that has come along more recently and I like is Stevia. It is hard to find sometimes, but I found you can get it online also. This is actually a herb that is very sweet. I use it in coffee and on cereal. They even have cookbooks that show you how to use it.
For me eliminating sugar completely is really hard to do, but I have found that the longer I keep away from it, the easier it is to stay off of it. I don’t have the cravings I used to have when I was younger, and that is a good thing.
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