Debbie No-Doughnut Downer
Sweet tooth…eating lots of sugar.. empty calories…blah blah blah…tooth decay..weight gain…yes we know. Most don’t care. We want it.
As a forever-recovering sugar addict, I wonder often about what causes us to WANT the stuff so much. Sugar has an addictive quality, meaning that when you eat some you want more. Eating a candy bar isn’t like eating black beans or salmon where when you’ve had an ample portion, you don’t start whining for me. As I’ve said many times, I’ve yet to see a child throw a huge screaming tantrum because they wanted more scrambled eggs.
Sugar acts more like a drug than a food. Consider that Americans consume around 149 pounds of sugar per person per year . Sugar in one form or another (HFCS, agave, white sugar, honey - take your pick) constitutes close to 19% of the calories that most Americans eat. That’s a lot. Especially compared to how much we were consuming in say the 1700’s: four pounds per person per year. And it doesn’t really matter which one you eat too much of, the fructose in all refined sugars causes a similar physiological response. Dr. Robert Lustig spells this out very nicely in his 90-minute lecture Sugar: The Bitter Truth.
We love sugar because it releases dopamine in the brain. This is the pleasure neuro-transmitter. Alcohol and tobacco also stimulate the release of dopamine. The trouble is if your 
brain is constantly releasing dopamine, which can easily happen if you are eating 149 pounds of sugar per year, you start to “down regulate” according to Dr. Laura Schmidt, a professor for the Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She and a group of interdisciplinary colleagues, including Dr. Lustig, recently released a new report about sugar eating that was reported in the news. The term down-regulating means that after you eat a high dose of sugar, next time you will crave more, in fact will need more to get the similar pleasure response you had before. No wonder the number of pounds per capita of sugar consumption keeps climbing. Dr. Schmidt’s group is finding strong evidence that sugar addiction, like alcohol addiction, is a marker for metabolic disorder, which leads to premature heart disease and certain types of cancer as well as obesity.
I know. I’m Debbie No-Doughnut Downer. And why now when we’re all ready for a handful of candy hearts Cynthia?! Because sugar is on our minds during ANY holiday. The issue comes up. How much will I indulge? And on what? But before you start pelting me with skittles remember these things:
- Moderation - go for 1700’s intake.
- Quality - I don’t mean substituting 10 cookies made with sugar with 10 cookies made with agave. I mean homemade goodies - where amounts added are controlled, other healthy ingredients are included in the cake mix and you control the portion size.
- Individuality - not everyone is so susceptible to sugar addiction. Like some people can have a glass of wine now and then and don’t become an alcoholic. Some folks (not me) can scarf a brownie and not need another for a few weeks (who are these people?).
Anyone else out there admitting to their sugar addiction? How do you curb it? Share please.
Tags: addiction, dopamine, Dr, Dr. Laura Schmidt, fructose, metabolic syndrome, Robert Lustig, sugar
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Unfortunately, the only thing that was kind of easy (after the first week of withdrawal and crazy thoughts) was to go completely cold-turkey. Once I stopped eating it, I stopped craving it. Not to say it wasn’t tempting… But it wasn’t an obsession. Did this a number of years ago, stayed off for nearly a year. I felt great. But it crept back in, then bounded, them gallumphed…
In this last year, I’ve joined Weight Watchers. Almost 40 lbs lost, so far. Nope, I don’t eat any of their packaged food - they don’t actually push it, which was a relief - a whole foods way of eating fits right in. But also, their system has truly helped me become much more moderate with sugar… I can have a brownie or something without going nuts, because I have to fit it into the plan, and as much as I love kale, I don’t want to live on only brownies & kale every day! Long term though, I suspect I’ll probably need to once again go off sugar completely at times. It’s just too insidious in its “more, More, MORE!” ways. For those of us who suffer an addiction response, anyhow.
Thanks for bringing up this subject, which is so painful for those of us who’ve had to face the “don’t you have any will power?” response from people (I would never say mothers-in-law) who truly don’t get how sugar affects some of us.
Comment by Anne — February 9, 2012 @ 5:15 pm
I love candy! But I dont want my 6mo old to see me eating it all the time, we will let him have some so it’s not forbidden, but I hope he doesn’t want it like I did as a kid. I notice that in summer I dont really crave it as much, maybe because all the “special” goodies are not in the stores, but I think it’s because there is so much more fruit available. That helps me, but not all year. I am working on this issue.
Comment by Juliana Caton — February 9, 2012 @ 5:48 pm
Cool post! I don’t think I knew I had such an addiction to sugar until I met my husband, who comes from an entirely different cultural tastebud background. The dessert after every meal and a sweet snack in between too just didn’t work for him. The sweet stuff made his teeth hurt, and sometimes he would spit out a candy bar and scream “How can you eat that!” and scrunch up his face like he just ate something sour. Undoubtedly, this affected how much sweet stuff I myself ingested. Indulging in a bowl of ice cream, covered in caramel sauce, a top a chocolate fudge brownie, was just no fun with a partner watching quizzically, with a skepticism that implied maybe he was just waiting for me to throw up. And the next morning, when I wasn’t feeling too good, he was ready to tell me why. Kind of started to make sense, and I cut back a lot. Now, I can’t eat as much sweet stuff as I used to. I crinkle up my face every now and then when I see people popping lollipop after lollipop. Half a jelly filled donut is sometimes too much for me. Isn’t that unbelievable? But it seems that when you cut down so drastically, it is hard to get back to that peak of sugar overload. I’m kind of glad! I still struggle though with refined sugar’s cousin, the carbohydrate! I still need those darlings like water.
Comment by Jennifer @ Raisin Questions — February 10, 2012 @ 7:50 am
Thank you so much for this post. I am truly a sugar addict. Though I have overhauled our diet over the past few years, and make all baked goods from scratch, I still eat way too many sweets. I’ve been feeling sluggish and chubby lately so I think it’s time to learn about sugar and what it does to our bodies. I’m going to watch the 90 minute video with my husband this weekend. Thank you!
Comment by Becky — February 11, 2012 @ 9:34 am
Wow this post was really interesting, I can really relate to being a sugar junkie.
I find myself craving it the most when I’m hungry and on the run with no decent food - nutrient dense - to eat. So I try and make an effort to sit down and eat something really filling and wholesome, then when I have that craving, I only have room for something little.
I also try to avoid having it in the house, because chocolate has been known to call my name from the cupboard!
Some suggestions are to carry a little pouch of snacks with you (dates, nuts, dried fruit- whatever you like) for when you get those cravings, that really helps me and my kids love it.
My sister in law swears by having a big drink of water when the craving comes, which sometimes works for me.
Comment by Tui — February 11, 2012 @ 11:44 am
Oh man, this came at such a good time today. I get so frustrated with all the candy my kids receive from outside my home. I feel like my kids are constantly bombarded with sugar from school, church, girl scouts, etc. I took my daughters off of artificial colors to try and curb the sugar, since so much of what they get is colorful junk. It has been one heck of a battle though. People think I am so mean when I won’t let my daughter have bright red candy. Even my own mom lays a guilt trip on me, like I’m the wicked witch of the west. Today I got so fed up with it that I announced that all candy that comes into my house would be thrown out. I will gladly pay my daughters for their candy and then directly throw it away. I’m not opposed to candy every now and then, but I feel like it is a constant in my children’s lives. They fight over candy, they cry over it, and they throw tantrums over it. I’ve had enough. Thanks for sticking up for me Cookus Interruptus!
Comment by Sam — February 12, 2012 @ 4:28 pm
I’ve learned over the years that I just cannot eat sweets or I crash! Finding out that I should also avoid gluten really helped me to cut out cookies, cake, pie, doughnuts, etc. At work, everyone knows that if it is not really good dark chocolate, I will pass on goodies. Planning ahead and having a substitute ready saves me when everyone else is enjoying their treats! A daily planned fruit and nut snack gives me a healthy option to have available and a cup of hot tea has become my substitute for soft drinks. But when I’m tired and stressed, the vending machine calls my name - the craving never really goes away. Fortunately, Cookus Interruptus has explained why and supports me with healthy cooking ideas!
Comment by Molly B — February 12, 2012 @ 6:13 pm
Besides focusing more on having more and different veggies and fiber and water (leveling out my blood sugar), i started what sounds goofy but i think it helps, i swear! instead of rerunning that tape of “i am addicted to sugar,” i started telling myself “yeah, i used to have a problem with sugar.”
it sounds dumb, but i think it helps! also, if i really really want row of brownies, i will not obsess and debate, i will EAT it! just knowing i’ll let myself do that takes the edge off and i don’t want it so bad. but i had to really let myself EAT it first! does this make me a mental case?! it’s my blood sugar level…must be dropping…
Comment by Wendy — February 12, 2012 @ 9:07 pm
Hey I love how you guys came to the table on this. I will likely struggle all my life with sugar addiction. Lots of good ideas here. I also use a kuzu broth made with apple juice. Kuzu has been used to aid in alcoholism and like it or not the two addictions are similar.
Comment by Cynthia Lair — February 13, 2012 @ 1:46 pm
I agree that sugar consumption is out of control and struggle with craving it a lot myself. But I’m also struggling with how to raise my children around it too. I was raised in a house where regular access to sweets was denied (because my parents were doing what they thought was healthy for us) and both my brother and I developed binge-eating habits. I don’t want to replicate this with my children and have read that regular access to “forbidden foods” is best in teaching children how to manage them. Yet it does feel hard to give my kids sweets. What’s a parent to do?
Comment by Susan — February 20, 2012 @ 12:35 pm