Many people tell me they’ve quit sugar. They eat “Healthy” foods like organic noodles, fried rice, granola bars, chips, and prebiotic sodas. These ultra high-carb foods instantly turn to sugar in the body. So I wonder “What’s the disconnect?” Last week I hosted friends for a week’s visit. They like to snack every 3 hours on sugar or carbs. I said nothing, but it was an AHA! MOMENT! Now I FINALLY understand. Every ADDICTION brings cravings. We feel “hungry” and want more FUEL as sugar and carbs. Since SUGAR is as addictive as COCAINE, it stimulates the same brain pleasure centers as hard drugs!
Worldwide billions of people die of chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimers, etc, usually related to high blood sugar and inflammation. Many of these people avoid sugar and believe they are eating a “healthy” diet. Perhaps they don’t eat pure sugar, but fried rice, granola bars, snacks, chips, and prebiotic soft drinks all give them a giant glucose rush every few hours. Their meal may not TASTE sweet, but in the body, carbs are the SAME as SUGAR. Prebiotic soda sweetened with organic cane sugar might not help you kick the habit. And Flax Plus cereal with cane sugar, oat syrup, and barley malt is guaranteed to give you a whopping sugar spike. When grains are processed the nutrition gets stripped away. Whole grains are better than refined, but they’re still very high in carbs. Even worse, chemically raised foods are extremely detrimental to health, and can still be labeled “Non-GMO”!!
Common High-Carb Culprits:
- Wheat (bread, noodles, pasta, crackers, chips, cookies)
- All Rice (white, brown, red rice, chips, crackers)
- Corn (whole, chips, crackers)
- Potatoes (baked, fried, chips)
- All Grains & cereals (wheat, rice, corn, barley, rye, spelt, even whole)
- All Roots (potatoes, cassava, arrowroot, carrots, beets…)
- All Sugars (table sugar, coconut, palm, date, maple, molasses, agave, oat syrup, barley malt, rice syrup…)
The Solution: Eat mostly vegetables, balanced with healthy oils, proteins, and low-sugar fruits.
Try the 28-Day Plan to Kick Carb Addiction.
Check out Dr. Axe’s “5 Steps to Kick Sugar Addiction”
According to Dr. Robert Kiltz:
“Most of us crave carbs. And when we devour carbs we feel happy–but only for a little while. Eventually, we need to eat more and more carbs just to feel ok.
“Healthy” Granola bar contains extra sugar and GMO carbs. From General Mills!
For millions of people, this consistent and increasing stream of carbs can lead to negative health consequences like obesity, diabetes, chronic inflammation, heart disease, mood disorders, and hormonal imbalances. Yet we keep coming back for more.
This craving-reward-negative consequence cycle suggests that yes, carbs are addictive.
It’s worth noting that they’re called the “diseases of civilization” because they are almost non-existent in traditional hunter gatherer societies.
It’s worth noting–and not a coincidence–that healthy traditional populations relied on high-fat low-carb diets. And of course, processed foods were non-existent.
Most food in the standard American diet is loaded with refined grains and added sugars–making carb addiction an important area of exploration.”
Research on brain chemistry of carb addiction indicates these pleasure chemicals activate the same brain centers as drug addiction.
A 2013 study by Harvard researcher David Ludwig, found:
“People who consumed high-GI carbs had greater activation of opiate and dopamine receptors in the craving and reward center of the brain.
Ever wonder why white carbs are so addictive? It has to do with chemicals that travel from the stomach to the part of the brain where you produce dopamine, a hormone and neurotransmitter that affects the brain’s pleasure and reward centers. Once these areas of the brain are stimulated, you’ll keep on wanting more of the addictive substance, whether it’s alcohol, drugs or carbs.
Too many refined carbs—baked goods, French fries or processed snack foods like chips and pretzels—are simply toxic for your body. They’re often responsible for visceral or omentum fat, the dangerous fat you can carry around your middle that actually inhibits your body’s ability to make insulin, which makes you more prone to diabetes. White carbs also increase your risk for cardiovascular disease and even cancer.
“It takes 28 days to detox from most addictive substances, and refined carbohydrates, such as white flour and white rice, are no exception. This plan can help you break free of carbs. You’ll be amazed at how you’ll look and feel afterward, and you’ll have more energy and shave off unwanted pounds, especially around your midsection.” Dr. Mehmet Oz
According to Robert Cywes, MD, PhD – Diet Doctor
“When we “detox” from sugar/flour, refined grains your brain’s reward systems will heal slowly but surely. Sugar does have a huge impact on neurotransmitters and receptors, that’s why addiction exist. I will use an analogy to explain. If you cut yourself with a knife, it will take some time to heal you may end up with a scar, which is a forever memory. Like a body memory, addiction is a lifetime memory of something your body craves. Addiction progressively get’s worse over time, until you get your fateful diagnosis of high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, or Alzheimers, it doesn’t matter, as these are all caused by inflammation. Once we allowed ourselves to become “Addicted”, we must change our whole lifestyle to recover. Food is the biggest change to make, and the foundation to build your health and mental attitude for a strong healthy life.”
Clearly, SUGAR Causes Inflammation.
Inflammation leads to diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s Disease. The biggest culprit, High Blood, pressure affects 1.3 billion people all over the world, caused by our collective misunderstanding of sugars, fats, inflammation, and cholesterol. Let’s set the record straight. We all want to live a long and happy life. We have to study this issue to understand how to live healthy for many years. Sadly, this simple information you won’t hear from many doctors, yet it could save your life.
Inflammation Causes Disease.
But what is inflammation? Well, inflammation is an irritation in the body, tiny penetrations in the delicate endothelial layers inside the blood vessels, organs, or skin. Inflammation is caused by many surprising things, including injury, foreign particles, industrial farm chemicals, sugar, trauma, cell phone radiation, excess iron, nanotechnology, unhealthy fats, fluoride, toxins, alcohol, chemicals, microorganisms, parasites, vaccines, psychological excitement, and emotional stress. Ha Ha! We deal with these every day!
Sugar especially causes inflammation.
GLUCOSE has sharp little molecules that get stuck in the endothelium layers of the blood vessels, making little rips or tears. To heal the opening, your body makes hard plaque to close the wound. This can bring floating particles in the blood vessels and clots that slowly close the blood vessels. This is the cause of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. It can cause similar problems in any part of the body.
Thanks for Listening!
Sri Jana, aka Jane Barthelemy, is an intuitive healer and author. As a practitioner of Kundalini Buddhist meditation for over 50 years, she has an MBA and worked as CFO of Rudi’s Bakery for 10 years. Her life path includes other careers including opera primadonna in Italy, and owner/designer of Marco Polo Designs, a Venetian glass jewelry company. Serious health challenges led her to teach Qigong, Taichi, and write two wellness cookbooks: “Paleo Desserts” and “Good Morning Paleo published by DaCapo Press/Hatchette Books in New York. Her first website JanesHealthyKitchen.com recently won the 2021 Corp Today Magazine Award for “Best Healthy Food & Lifestyle Blog – North America”. Her upcoming intuitive books include: “Heal Your Past Lives”, and “Buddha Speaks – Channeled Passages from the Master”. Srijana and her Bhutanese husband Lama D are faculty members of the NewEarth University. They teach Buddhism and live in Bali where they offer distant healings, classes, and retreats. Website: FiveSeasonsMedicine.com.
Suggested Resources
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/carb-addiction/
The 28-Day Plan to Kick Your Carb Addiction, https://www.oprah.com/health/dr-oz-kick-your-carbohydrate-addiction/all
https://www.dietdoctor.com/addicted-carbs-help