Sugar Addicts’ Diet. Nicki Waterman

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СКАЧАТЬ of sugar addiction is down to what sugar does when it gets into your body. Being on the sugar roller coaster means we feel terrible if we don’t have sugar because of the dip that inevitably follows our sugar hit. Not surprisingly, many of us reach for sugar to lift us out of that trough and get us on a high again. However, the part that sugar plays in making us feel certain emotions such as happiness or relief is also central to addiction. Perhaps you were given sweets as a child as a reward for being good, or maybe you raided the kitchen cupboard for biscuits after being told off. Whatever it is, it’s very likely you’ll have associations with sugar that go back to when you were younger.

      What the Experts Say

      ‘It’s more Emotional than Physical’

      Marie Reid, Professor of Nutritional Psychology at the University of Surrey, Roehampton, has written widely on sugar addiction. She says studies have failed to prove that sugary foods lead to physiological addiction, such as you can get with alcohol or drugs. Rather, it’s down to people making associations with certain feelings when they eat sugar. They may use it for comfort, for example, and if they’re denied it they can start feeling miserable.

      Professor Reid says, ‘Research suggests that people are not addicted to sugar on a physical level but maybe on a psychological level. It comes from all the meaning we have around food – sugar is regarded as “forbidden” food. So if, from a very young age, there’s an association with that kind of food as a treat, something used as reward or punishment, they take that all the way through their life. A familiar pattern would be that good behaviour was congratulated with something like chocolate so chocolate is seen as a reward food. Or they may have been given it when something went wrong, like they hurt themselves. That then moves into comfort eating to cheer themselves up when sad or miserable, or a reward when they feel happy, or both.’

      The food used for these purposes could just as easily have been something healthy like fruit. But Professor Reid says, ‘Sweet foods are often palatable, and humans have an innate preference for sweet foods – breast milk is sweet.’ She suggests that the ‘dependence-like addiction’ people so often have isn’t to sugar alone but rather to the combination of carbohydrates and fat – in other words, sugary, fatty foods such as cakes, chocolate and pastry. So as far as she’s concerned, there’s little evidence that an intense craving for sugar is down to anything physiological.

      ‘It’s Emotional AND physical’

      According to some experts, sugar acts on brain chemicals as well as having an effect on blood-sugar levels. Certain chemicals in our brains – referred to as opiates – have been linked to feeling happy and are often dubbed ‘feel-good’ chemicals. The best known are the endorphins – the natural painkillers that give rise to the ‘runner’s high’ experienced by athletes.

      In his book Breaking the Food Seduction, Dr Neal Barnard says that sugar causes the release of natural opiates, ‘cousins of morphine and heroin’ in terms of chemical structure. The result is, he says, ‘whatever physical or psychological troubles might have been bothering you are toned down a bit’. In other words, the opiate-releasing effect of sugar can make you feel like nothing else matters.

      To complicate the situation, sugar and other foods rich in refined carbohydrates are also responsible for boosting levels of serotonin, another brain chemical which helps regulate mood and sleep. The release of serotonin that comes from eating sugar brings with it feelings of contentment and relaxation.

      The trouble is that if you’re hooked on sugar, you need it to feel good. Low beta-endorphin levels can leave you with cravings and low self-esteem, while low serotonin levels can result in depression. Other experts say if you don’t have a sugar ‘fix’, you suffer withdrawal symptoms and can start to feel irritable. Most sugar addicts will respond to this by feeding the addiction, simply so they can feel ‘normal’ again. But the relief they get is only temporary, and this just locks them further into sugar addiction.

      Professor Marie Reid counters that feeling better after eating sugary foods is more likely down to ‘reinforcement’ – believing that the food makes you feel better – rather than its impact on serotonin.

      Nicki’s Emotional Addiction

      ‘For me, sugar is associated with wonderful thoughts and happy memories. When I used to think of it, I felt contented. And looking back on my idyllic childhood, I understand why. Food – especially sweet food – was given to me with unconditional love and care. Each week, my grandmother would bring me freshly made fudge or toffee and it’d be handed to me with a big kiss and a hug.

      ‘My other grandmother also baked the most wonderful cakes – apple cake, marble cake, cheesecake – and the family would all sit down to enjoy them together. I remember going to the funfair with my parents and always having pink candyfloss and pink and white nougat. But perhaps most significant was what I did every Saturday morning, without fail, with my best mate, Tania. We’d pool our pocket money which we’d be given as a reward if we’d behaved and done all our homework that week. We’d then cycle down to the corner shop to spend the lot on pick ’n’ mix. We’d put it all on the bedroom floor and spend the entire morning playing with our dolls and working our way through our stash of sweets. We were both in heaven!

      ‘Also, every day after school, we took it in turns to go back to each other’s homes for tea and there would always be buttered toast with jam, French fancies, jam tarts and Wagon Wheels on the menu. Sugary foods were what I ate on happy family gatherings, fun times with my best friend and as a reward for being a good girl. How could sugar be a bad thing when it had so many good associations?

      ‘As a result, sugar became a sure-fire way of making me feel happy. Even if things were going wrong in my life, I knew I could always get a high – however temporary – from eating sugar. It took me back to those “happy places” of my childhood. But as all sugar addicts know, this love of sugar – wherever it stems from – comes at a price.

      ‘In many ways, my overwhelming desire to eat sweet foods felt physical – I’d experience the sugar highs and lows throughout the day as a matter of course, and would reach for sugary foods to keep me feeling balanced. But there’s no doubt in my mind that my sugar addiction had extremely strong emotional roots, too, stemming from positive childhood messages about sweet foods. I also know I have an addictive personality, which doesn’t help in my fight to do things in moderation – including cutting back on sugar. In my experience, beating sugar addiction needs a two-pronged approach. You need to work at the physical side, through nutrition and exercise, but understand when, where and why the emotional side starts kicking in, too.’

      GETTING OVER YOUR ADDICTION

      As well as offering psychological support, experts who help people overcome eating disorders encourage their patients to return to eating regular meals based on complex carbohydrates and protein. These foods satisfy hunger and provide slow-release energy. Patients get into the habit of eating properly to satisfy their emotional needs but also to help stabilize blood-sugar levels and prevent the need to binge on sweet or refined foods.

      Nicki’s diet works on these principles – regular eating of the right foods to keep you from bingeing on sugary foods, plus keeping a food diary to get you more in tune with your eating habits.

      Keeping a Diary

      When you get to the 21-day plan (Chapter 13), you’ll see that the first day’s task is to start keeping a food diary.

      So СКАЧАТЬ