All of us know those moms who like to throw a few back. Some of them openly have a few libations and the closet drinkers carry their own sippy cups around town. Motherhood can certainly drive us to irrational behaviors, but it's not the best idea to abuse alcohol. Before you have your next 12 noon happy hour, take a look at this information.Recent research has conveyed that sugar may be just as addictive as heroine. If you consider yourself a recovering alcoholic, a functional alcoholic, or just a heavy drinker who has always struggled with occasional alcohol abuse, you may want to look at the possibility that you may actually be addicted to sugar.[]
Here's what helped me quit smoking: Strong determination to do so. Patience. The willingness to try again and again and not give up just because I had fallen off the wagon for the umpteenth time. I also discovered to my horror that with each attempt to quit smoking, my weight crept up by five or so pounds, which added to my determination. What ultimately helped me over the hurdle so I managed to stay quit, though, was my secret (or not so secret) weapon: Nicorette gum.Seriously. I'm not sure I would have managed without it. What Nicorette did was help me deal with one aspect of the addiction at a time.Also, you may remember that Nicorette simply didn't taste very good, certainly not when it first came out. But it did give me that little nicotine buzz that made smoking so worthwhile. So it was a good substitute for the real thing. (in fact, for a little while I used it to tide me over on long airplane trips while I was still smoking).
Sugar tends to affect the same part of the brain that heroine, cocaine, and other hard drugs do when a person uses them. The two main neurotransmitters involved with sugar addiction are serotonin and beta endorphins. We think of serotonin as the depression hormone, but it's also responsible for concentration, attention, and impulse control. When your serotonin levels are lower, you may become less able to say "no." Beta endorphins are that feel good chemical that is released after exercise, but this neurotransmitter is also associated with self esteem. Those with lower levels of beta endorphins who have excellent insight and are well accomplished might still have great difficulty with self esteem.
Sugar tends to increase both of these important neurotransmitters, thereby altering the brain's biochemistry and correcting the deficiencies that may have been there. In other words, there are many people who are self medicating for specific deficiencies with sugar, and they are likely addicted to sugary foods for this reason. Even sugar replacements such as Splenda tend to trigger cravings for sweet foods, thereby feeding the sugar addiction.An excellent 7 step program for changing the brain's biochemistry and effectively treating sugar addiction is the book, Potatoes, Not Prozac. In this book, the author outlines and describes these seven steps, which have been highly effective in helping people considered "treatment resistant" in other treatment centers. I would recommend referring to this book as an excellent resource if you believe any of this information applies to you. You may find that all along, your problem was actually sugar addiction, not alcohol abuse and depression.
In NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) a good starting point is the exercise called Establishing a Well Formed Outcome. "Well formed" means it meets all criteria of a well thought-out end result.How to Create a Well Formed Outcome & Get What You Want.Here are the steps to creating a well formed outcome:State what you want (not what you do not want). "I want to weigh 135 pounds."Determine whether you can achieve it (do you believe it is possible?).What resources do you have and what do you need (time, money, gear, clothes, equipment, coaching, whatever).Check whether anyone else is involved and any potential obstacles that may come up regarding others. Think of everyone involved in your day-to-day life.Picture yourself "as if" you've obtained what you say you want and see if that picture fits. Do you like what you see? Put together a plan of action for the achievement of your outcome.
And with certain sweeteners, notably sugar alcohols (no close relation with the real alcohol), you may not WANT to eat more than a small portion because eating too much leads to major belly aches.And then there's another big step, to be taken gradually and eventually, as you get ready for it:Wean yourself off the sweet stuff altogether. Much like I eventually quit Nicorette, and became a non-smoker for real.Also realize that no matter what, the temptation will always be there, or return occasionally. That's normal. Just ignore it.
The reason why sugar needs to go is because it triggers a physiological addictive reaction. But there's no need to quit sweet stuff altogether.Here's what I did instead: I experimented with "sugar-free" goodies. In moderate doses. Now how would this help? First of all, the selection isn't quite as big as that of sugar-containing sweets, so temptation is reduced a bit. Few people offer sugar-free goodies in their office candy jar.
A study done by Sibylle Kranz, PhD,, a registered dietitian and assistant professor of nutrition sciences at Pennsylvania State University found that:On average, added sugar intake was 14 teaspoons per day for kids aged 2-3 and about 17 teaspoons per day for those aged 4-5. The highest level of added sugar for the younger kids was 23 teaspoons per day and more than 26 teaspoons per day for the older kids.
This is different for different sugar substitutes though, so you may want to experiment. Stevia is the healthiest of the bunch, so whenever possible, choose that one. Also, try to reduce the sweetness of what you eat gradually when you have control, for example with coffee or tea. Learn to like it with less -- and eventually even without.depending on which sweetener you picked, you may find that you don't WANT to eat more than a small portion because eating too much of certain kinds, particularly sugar alcohols (maltitol, sorbitol, etc.) leads to major gastro-intestinal distress. So you eat just a little... That's what's called "self-limiting" in medicine, and it works great for sugar addiction as well.
Yes, studies have recently shown that sugar substitutes aren't as helpful for weight loss as we all would have liked, so they're not the ultimate solution.Still, for many of us, they may help with that first step, and eventually, you'll find it easier to reduce the sweet stuff even more, especially when you find that your weight goes down faster (or stays off better) when you keep the sweet treats, even sugar-free ones, at a minimum. And if someone offers you cookies or leaves their candy jar sitting on their desk in the office, you just think of how good it will feel when you fit in your bathing suit again.
[Sugar Addiction Treatment]
Here's what helped me quit smoking: Strong determination to do so. Patience. The willingness to try again and again and not give up just because I had fallen off the wagon for the umpteenth time. I also discovered to my horror that with each attempt to quit smoking, my weight crept up by five or so pounds, which added to my determination. What ultimately helped me over the hurdle so I managed to stay quit, though, was my secret (or not so secret) weapon: Nicorette gum.Seriously. I'm not sure I would have managed without it. What Nicorette did was help me deal with one aspect of the addiction at a time.Also, you may remember that Nicorette simply didn't taste very good, certainly not when it first came out. But it did give me that little nicotine buzz that made smoking so worthwhile. So it was a good substitute for the real thing. (in fact, for a little while I used it to tide me over on long airplane trips while I was still smoking).
Sugar tends to affect the same part of the brain that heroine, cocaine, and other hard drugs do when a person uses them. The two main neurotransmitters involved with sugar addiction are serotonin and beta endorphins. We think of serotonin as the depression hormone, but it's also responsible for concentration, attention, and impulse control. When your serotonin levels are lower, you may become less able to say "no." Beta endorphins are that feel good chemical that is released after exercise, but this neurotransmitter is also associated with self esteem. Those with lower levels of beta endorphins who have excellent insight and are well accomplished might still have great difficulty with self esteem.
Sugar tends to increase both of these important neurotransmitters, thereby altering the brain's biochemistry and correcting the deficiencies that may have been there. In other words, there are many people who are self medicating for specific deficiencies with sugar, and they are likely addicted to sugary foods for this reason. Even sugar replacements such as Splenda tend to trigger cravings for sweet foods, thereby feeding the sugar addiction.An excellent 7 step program for changing the brain's biochemistry and effectively treating sugar addiction is the book, Potatoes, Not Prozac. In this book, the author outlines and describes these seven steps, which have been highly effective in helping people considered "treatment resistant" in other treatment centers. I would recommend referring to this book as an excellent resource if you believe any of this information applies to you. You may find that all along, your problem was actually sugar addiction, not alcohol abuse and depression.
In NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) a good starting point is the exercise called Establishing a Well Formed Outcome. "Well formed" means it meets all criteria of a well thought-out end result.How to Create a Well Formed Outcome & Get What You Want.Here are the steps to creating a well formed outcome:State what you want (not what you do not want). "I want to weigh 135 pounds."Determine whether you can achieve it (do you believe it is possible?).What resources do you have and what do you need (time, money, gear, clothes, equipment, coaching, whatever).Check whether anyone else is involved and any potential obstacles that may come up regarding others. Think of everyone involved in your day-to-day life.Picture yourself "as if" you've obtained what you say you want and see if that picture fits. Do you like what you see? Put together a plan of action for the achievement of your outcome.
And with certain sweeteners, notably sugar alcohols (no close relation with the real alcohol), you may not WANT to eat more than a small portion because eating too much leads to major belly aches.And then there's another big step, to be taken gradually and eventually, as you get ready for it:Wean yourself off the sweet stuff altogether. Much like I eventually quit Nicorette, and became a non-smoker for real.Also realize that no matter what, the temptation will always be there, or return occasionally. That's normal. Just ignore it.
The reason why sugar needs to go is because it triggers a physiological addictive reaction. But there's no need to quit sweet stuff altogether.Here's what I did instead: I experimented with "sugar-free" goodies. In moderate doses. Now how would this help? First of all, the selection isn't quite as big as that of sugar-containing sweets, so temptation is reduced a bit. Few people offer sugar-free goodies in their office candy jar.
A study done by Sibylle Kranz, PhD,, a registered dietitian and assistant professor of nutrition sciences at Pennsylvania State University found that:On average, added sugar intake was 14 teaspoons per day for kids aged 2-3 and about 17 teaspoons per day for those aged 4-5. The highest level of added sugar for the younger kids was 23 teaspoons per day and more than 26 teaspoons per day for the older kids.
This is different for different sugar substitutes though, so you may want to experiment. Stevia is the healthiest of the bunch, so whenever possible, choose that one. Also, try to reduce the sweetness of what you eat gradually when you have control, for example with coffee or tea. Learn to like it with less -- and eventually even without.depending on which sweetener you picked, you may find that you don't WANT to eat more than a small portion because eating too much of certain kinds, particularly sugar alcohols (maltitol, sorbitol, etc.) leads to major gastro-intestinal distress. So you eat just a little... That's what's called "self-limiting" in medicine, and it works great for sugar addiction as well.
Yes, studies have recently shown that sugar substitutes aren't as helpful for weight loss as we all would have liked, so they're not the ultimate solution.Still, for many of us, they may help with that first step, and eventually, you'll find it easier to reduce the sweet stuff even more, especially when you find that your weight goes down faster (or stays off better) when you keep the sweet treats, even sugar-free ones, at a minimum. And if someone offers you cookies or leaves their candy jar sitting on their desk in the office, you just think of how good it will feel when you fit in your bathing suit again.
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