SUGAR ADDICTION

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

© May 2016, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only.  It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Table Of Contents

I. INTRODUCTION

What Is An Addiction?

Psychological Causes Of Addition

II. SYMPTOMS OF SUGAR ADDICTION

III. CORRECTION OF SUGAR ADDICTION

IV. DEEPER PHYSICAL CAUSES

Problems In The Body’s Fuel System

Yeast In The Brain

V. OTHER TOPICS

Hair Analysis Patterns And Sugar Addiction

Slaughter Of The Innocents

Artificial Sweeteners

 

I. INTRODUCTION

Sugar addiction is one of the most important and widespread addictions on planet earth today, and getting worse by the day.  It affects many children and teenagers.  It also affects millions of adults, who just let it slide because it is so socially acceptable.

However, it leads directly to a host of ailments such as tooth decay, obesity, osteoporosis, cancer, metabolic syndrome or Syndrome X, and eventually diabetes.  Let us examine this common addictive behavior.

WHAT IS AN ADDICTION?

An addiction is anything that one must have in order to avoid a negative feeling or symptom.  One feels better with the addictive substance or behavior, but the end result is a weakening or greater dysfunction of the body or brain. 

This tends to worsen the addiction as a way to offset the weakness, and sets up a vicious cycle in which one needs more of the addictive substance or behavior.

Addictions can include almost anything, not just foods, drinks or other physical substances.  For example, codependency is an addiction to people in your life.  One could even be addicted to taking vacations every few months to get away from the boredom or horror of your daily life.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSES OF ADDICTION

Addictions are often not just physical in nature.  The negative feeling or symptom that an addiction temporarily “cures” can be most anything.  It is often anger, rage or even a sense of horror.  It could be boredom, fear, loneliness, depression or frustration.

For example, today many people feel a strong “need” to email or text their friends all day long, even though it is not really necessary.  It is just to avoid loneliness or feeling out of sorts, tired, bored or upset in some way.  Thus, many people live addictive lifestyles - the majority, by the way - and don’t even realize it because they don’t smoke, gamble or drink alcohol.

A related psychological aspect of addiction has to do with traumas in the past.  For example, your mother, your childhood dentist or someone else may have given you sweets to reward you or to calm you down as a child.  This is almost universal.  Most parents do not realize how they are setting their child up for problems in the future with this reward system.

What occurs is that each time the adult person eats something sweet, he or she recalls that this means he or she was a good person.  In this manner, eating something sweet becomes an emotional trigger that unfortunately worsens sugar addiction.

Addictions, in general, are discussed in another important article.  Click here to read about Addiction.  However, the point is most addictions, even sugar, have psychological aspects as well as being physically-caused. 

II. SYMPTOMS OF SUGAR ADDICTION

Do you know anyone who just has to have a glass of soda pop, a piece of fruit, a glass of sweet juice, or something else sweet?  This is sugar addiction.

It might also be a need for a sweet dessert after each meal, or sweetened tea or coffee or even carrot juice.  It could also be a strong need for a candy bar or a drink of alcohol, particularly wine or beer, at the end of the day. 

Other examples include people who love chocolate, sweetened coffee or tea at Starbucks, peanut butter, sweetened cereal, a donut or sweet roll, or just need raisins or almond milk periodically during the day.

Without the sweet treat, one may feel tired, light-headed or confused.  There may be shaking or weakness that is relieved in a few minutes by eating something sweet. 

More extreme symptoms include shaking or tremors, severe headaches, depression, anger, nausea or even vomiting.  All this can be part of sugar addiction.

III. CORRECTION OF SUGAR ADDICTION

NUTRITIONAL BALANCING

I suggest a complete nutritional balancing program to end sugar addiction.  You may begin with the “Free” Program.  However, an individualized, Full Program only with one of the Approved Practitioners listed on this website is much more powerful.  For a list of these practitioners around the world, click here.

This program, and very few others, in my experience, will slowly restore the body’s energy system so that it works correctly.  This is the best way to get rid of sugar cravings.

Here are a few notes about the program related to sugar addiction.

1) The truth about fruit.  Fruit is not part of the nutritional balancing diets, and causes plenty of harm.  Fruit is mainly sugar and water, with a few vitamins and other phytonutrients.  It is very yin in macrobiotic terminology, which is harmful.

Try to resist the propaganda describing fruit as a healthy food.  We do not find this to be true.  For much more on this important topic, and why avoid fruit, please read Fruit-Eating on this website.

2) Eat at least four meals daily to help keep your blood sugar up.  Always wait at least four hours between meals.  Be sure the meals follow the guidelines in the nutritional balancing diets.  I do not recommend snacking.

3) The supplements on a nutritional balancing program are also essential to replenish dozens of minerals, and repair the body’s energy system.  Do not add others, however, please.

4) Cultivate excellent lifestyle habits.  These include sleeping over 8 hours every single night, learning to relax a lot, and loving yourself no matter what, so you are not eating out of self-hatred, anger, boredom, aloneness or other psychological causes.

This is a spiritual quest in the best sense of the word.  It does not require retiring to a cave or mountaintop.

However, it is wise to do the pushing down exercise, which requires separating yourself daily from friends, work associates and even from family.  This will help you look at your life carefully and lovingly to help discover why you eat what you do, and why you behave in ways that may not serve you to the fullest extent.  To find the only mental exercise I suggest, please go to The Pushing Down Exericse.

5) Let go of all habits that feed the sugar habit.  You may discover routines or  tendencies that contribute to the sugar addiction.  It is this way with all major addictions.

You may want sugar when angry, for instance.  You may want sugar when they have skipped a good meal, or when tired and you really need to lay down for a nap.

Try to identify when you want sugar, and what you have done to upset your body chemistry that makes the craving all the more intense.  This is a task for a lifetime, but you can make fast progress easily if you will pay attention to it.

6) Chromium.  Adding 600-800 mcg daily of chromium picolinate may help to reduce sugar cravings, and will not interfere with the program.  Please do not add other supplements, herbs or other products, as these will interfere with the nutritional balancing program.

6) Development. Unlike other nutrition programs, a complete nutritional balancing program causes development.  This is rather unique, and is an additional aid in correcting sugar cravings.  For more on this topic, please read Introduction To Development and other articles on this subject on this site.

THE TIME FACTOR

Sometimes cravings will diminish quickly on a nutritional balancing program, but other times they may persist to some degree for a few years.  It can take this long to rebuild the fuel system of the body and to eliminate yeast in the brain.

Therefore, be sure to settle in for the long haul and just follow your nutritional balancing program.

CORRECTION NOTES

Correcting fast versus slow oxidizer hypoglycemia.  If sugar cravings are severe, slow oxidizers often need to eat protein several times daily. 

However, fast oxidizers often need to eat fat with each meal, and even as a snack, in order to maintain a fairly steady blood sugar level and reduce sugar cravings.  This is very important for some people.

At times, these sharp distinctions are not clear because the body can shift its oxidation rate, so one may need to experiment, at times, with these two types of foods to control sugar cravings.

IV. CAUSES OF PHYSICAL ADDICTION TO SUGAR

These are numerous, but many are inter-related.  The main ones are:

1. Nutrient deficiencies.

2. Toxic metal excesses.

3. Weak adrenal glands.  The adrenals help maintain proper blood sugar levels.

4. At times, diabetes and/or hypoglycemia.

5. Yeast problems in the gut.

6. Yeast problems in the brain.

7. An imbalanced oxidation rate.

8. Other problems in the “fuel system” or sugar-handling system of the body.

Let us examine these in more detail.

1. NUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES

Most everyone today is mineral-starved and also often deficient in other nutrients required for health.  This is due to our depleted soils on earth, hybrid crops, use of pesticides and superphosphate fertilizers, and food refining and processing.

In addition, most people have poor quality diets, many have hurried lifestyles, do not rest enough, and have impaired digestion.  All of these reduce their nutrition.  Here are specific nutrients that are critical for proper sugar-handling.

Zinc.  Plenty of zinc is required for insulin production and release.  Zinc also extends the action of insulin greatly so it does not break down.  Here is a clue to “insulin resistance”.  Most people are zinc deficient and have toxic levels of copper, iron, lead, mercury or cadmium, minerals which replace zinc in the insulin molecule at times, causing it to malfunction and to be very fragile.  This is the main cause of insulin resistance.

Chromium. Chromium is needed to help attach insulin to cell walls, so that sugar can pass into the cells.  Chromium deficiency is also almost universal in America, due to deficiencies in the food supply, and particularly the widespread eating of white and bleached flour.  Whole wheat is much higher in chromium, but is rarely eaten in comparison with white flour products.

B vitamins play an important role in insulin metabolism and energy production in the cells.  Some are needed at various levels of metabolism in order for insulin to function correctly.

These are also widely deficient, especially if one eats white flour products, sugar in any form, and little meat, as many vegetarian-oriented people do daily.

Magnesium. Magnesium is involved in insulin metabolism.  It is needed for the enzyme that helps make insulin.  It is also a critical mineral for many enzymes involved in energy production and other body functions.  Most people are low in magnesium.

Other.  Many other nutrients are required for insulin production and other aspects of sugar-handling in the body.

2. TOXIC METALS

Toxic elements such as cadmium, lead, mercury, chlorine, fluorides and copper can block glandular activity. They can also block any of the steps in the energy cycle by replacing an essential mineral in that step of the energy cycle.

The topic of the role of the toxic metals is so large that it is beyond the scope of this article, although it has been touched upon in several places.  It is just another reason to guard what one eats and avoid all environmental sources of toxic metals as much as is humanly possible.

I would suggest that it is simply not worth the trouble to travel to faraway places or breathe dirty air.  It catches up to even the healthiest people, shortening their lives and causing, in many instances, imbalances and diseases of sugar metabolism.

3. WEAK ADRENAL GLANDS

This is a very common problem today.  The adrenal glands produce cortisol and cortisone.  These are called the glucocorticoid hormones.  One of their functions is to regulate the level of glucose in the blood.

If adrenal gland activity is low, blood sugar levels will tend to be too low on a chronic basis.  As a result, less sugar than optimal will be available to the body cells and sugar craving is the end result.  This sounds simple, and in part it is.  One must have adequate adrenal activity or one will crave sweets.  This will happen even if one is careful about the diet, lifestyle and everything else in one’s life.

The adrenal glands can become weakened or even ‘burned out’ for numerous reasons.  Refer to the article on Adrenal Burnout Syndrome for much more information about your adrenal glands.  For instance, the adrenal glands require vitamins C, E, and B-complex.  They also require many minerals such as zinc, manganese and others.  Deficiencies in these nutrients is all that is needed to have depleted and sluggish adrenal glands.

4. DIABETES AND/OR HYPOGLYCEMIA

Diabetes means high sugar in the blood.  However, it is always found with low sugar in the cells.  This is an important cause of sugar cravings.

Hypoglycemia means low sugar in the blood.  However, the level of sugar in the blood can be normal, and one’s cells can still be starving for glucose.  These is no common medical word for this condition, but it is one of the most common causes for sugar craving. 

Many cases of diabetes are not diagnosed by doctors.  Symptoms can be subtle, and it may not show up on simple blood tests.  A 5-hour glucose tolerance test is required, and this is a much more involved, costly, sometimes unpleasant test.  As a result, doctors do not routinely order it.

Also, problems with blood sugar are so common that some blood laboratories have responded by expanding the range of normal values, instead of insisting that anyone with a fasting glucose level outside of the narrow range should be diagnosed correctly as hypoglycemic or diabetic.  To learn more, please read Diabetes and Hypoglycemia on this site.

5. YEAST IN THE INTESTINES

This is another extremely common condition, especially among those who eat any sweets at all, and among those who eat a lot of grain and other starches.  The sugars and starches are the natural food for yeasts, so there will be die-off if one reduces or stops eating these foods.

In these cases, the craving for sugar may be due to the unpleasant effects of die-off of yeast if one does not eat some sugar regularly.

Among other chemicals, some yeasts produce alcohol in the intestines that give a person a slight alcoholic lift or high.  When this stops due to stopping sugar, one can feel depressed, anxious and irritable.

One could even go through a full-blown alcoholic withdrawal with tremors, and even delirium.  This will drive most people back to sugar very quickly, especially if they do not understand why they have such severe symptoms when they stop eating sugar.

6.YEAST IN THE BRAIN

Another reason for sugar addiction is that there is yeast in the brain that thrives on sugar.  This is very common today.  If one does not eat sugar, the yeast starts to die off.

One might think this is a good thing, and it is.  However, many people today actually like the brain yeast because it produces alcohol.  This small amount of alcohol gives them a slight ‘high’ all the time, and numbs their consciousness a little.  This reduces feelings such as depression, anxiety, anger, rage and others.

This is an extremely common problem and most people and most doctors do not understand it well, at all.  To overcome it, one must:

1. Alter body chemistry so that yeast does not grow well and thrive inside the brain.  This requires making the entire body more yang in macrobiotic terminology, reducing copper toxicity, in most cases, and balancing and strengthening the body nutritionally.

This step is most important, and occurs with a nutritional balancing program in all cases.  Otherwise, the brain yeast tends to persist, and makes it very difficult to ever end sugar cravings. 

2. One must pass through a process of withdrawal from the alcohol “high”.  If done quickly, this may not be pleasant.  Sometimes this occurs slowly, in which case one may not notice it much.  One simply notices that one’s thinking becomes clearer, memory often improves, and the brain works much better.

3. If emotional traumas are behind the need for the alcohol production in the brain, one may need to focus on forgiveness of oneself and others.  To read about this, read Forgiving on this site.

To read much more about yeast in the body – its causes and correction – please read Yeast on this website.

7. AN IMBALANCED OXIDATION RATE = LOWERED ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Before leaving the topic of impaired glucose metabolism (the sum total of all the above processes), let us address the end result in another way.  When the body cannot process its food properly, it develops what is called an imbalanced oxidation rate.  In very simple terms, it means the fuel system works either too fast, too slow, or some mixed up combination of the two.

Low Fuel Efficiency.  An imbalanced oxidation rate can be said to diminish one’s “fuel efficiency”.  We all know about fuel efficiency due to our automobiles.  In terms of the body, it means that when the oxidation rate is very sluggish, one does not use food properly to generate much energy.  It is like driving a car or bicycle in the wrong gear with the engine turning too slow, or pedaling too slowly.  It just does not work well.

As a result, the person feels tired and often apathetic and even depressed, and tends to overeat on sugars and other foods in an attempt to clear up the low oxidation rate.

Some people burn their “fuel” at a faster-than-normal rate. These individuals have low reserves of glycogen, a storage fuel, in their liver and muscles. If their diets are inadequate in fats and oils, which are higher calorie foods, they can literally run out of available sugars.  When this occurs, a craving for sweets or alcohol will occur.  It will eventually also give rise to a large number of common metabolic illnesses and both physical and emotional symptoms.  View the article on The Oxidation Types for a better explanation of this complex topic.

8. OTHER PROBLEMS IN THE BODY’S “FUEL” SYSTEM

To understand sugar-handling better, an analogy with a gas-powered automobile may be helpful.  Please bear with me, as the analogy may seem corny, but it is accurate in many ways.

As some people know, in order to move gasoline into and through one’s car engine, one must move it through a number of steps or stages.  This requires the fuel pump, the fuel lines, the fuel filter, and the carburetor or fuel injectors.

Then one must have functioning spark plugs, valves, timing, and enough air in the cylinders to burn the fuel correctly.  Finally, the exhaust must be removed so that more fuel can be burned.  All parts of the system must work perfectly, or the car will not run properly!

The body also has a set of steps or stages that must all work perfectly, or fuel will not be delivered and burned properly.  The steps involve the entire digestive system, the liver, the blood stream, the cell membranes, and the mitochondria in each cell.  All must work correctly to avoid sugar cravings.

The exact steps, and the nutrients required for each, are described in a separate article entitled The Energy System on this site.

V. OTHER TOPICS

HAIR MINERAL ANALYSIS PATTERNS ASSOCIATED WITH SUGAR ADDICTION

Sugar addiction is common, and can occur with many hair analysis patterns.  The most common patterns include:

1. Either a slow oxidation rate, or a fast oxidation rate with a low sodium/potassium ratio.  Either imbalance can cause sugar cravings.  For more, read Fast Oxidation and Slow Oxidation on this website.

2. Presence of the ‘amigos’.  These are oxide forms of iron, manganese, aluminum, and at times other minerals such as copper, nickel, chromium, selenium, molybdenum, cobalt, lithium, boron and vanadium.  For more on this topic, please read The Amigos on this site.

3. A four lows pattern.  To read more about this, please read Four Lows Pattern on this site.

4. Other.  High toxic metal levels, Poor Eliminator Patterns, and Sympathetic Dominance are among other common patterns that occur with sugar addiction.

SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS

Congenital sugar addiction.  The sugar habit usually starts at a young age.  In fact, today some children are born deficient in vital alkaline reserve minerals such as zinc, manganese and chromium.  These children may be born with a tendency for sugar addiction.

Feeding sweets.  The addiction may also develop early due to careless parents assume that children like sweet foods, which is often not the case until they learn the habit from their parents.  Never feed a child sugar, fruit or fruit juices.

Vaccines and drugs.  Giving babies and children antibiotics, vaccines and other medical drugs further sets the stage for sugar addiction because these medical drugs all weaken the children’s bodies.

Antibiotics, in particular, often lead to yeast in the intestines and even in the brain.  Yeast feeds on sugar and can induce an addiction to sugar.

Sweet rewards.  Sweets are also usually used as rewards by parents, dentists, doctors and other adults who want to placate children.

Food marketers.  Most foods marketed as "children's foods" advertised on television are sugar-coated to help sell the product.  This is a disgrace and is indecent, as no better word can be found.  It sets the children up for a lifetime of illness and disability.

In this manner, advertisers and parents alike cultivate the sweet taste in vulnerable children. They begin to regard it as normal when it is not.  The results include attention deficit, learning problems, autism, hyperactivity, infections, brain tumors and a rash of other disorders that are “new” for children, such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, manic-depression or bipolar disorder, random violence and the list goes on.

To add insult to this, even more insidious in many cases it sets the stage for sugar addiction and adult diseases and shortened lives that go with sugar problems.

THE TRANSITION

Here are some tips for breaking the sugar habit:

- Avoid temptations as much as possible.  Do not keep sweet foods or other sweet items in the house.  Make yourself go out for them.

- Fruit can be worse than other sugars, and is more yin.  Do not substitute fruit for other sugars.  Honey and maple syrup are the least yin if you need a substitute, but I don’t recommend any sweeteners.

- Eat frequent meals – up to 6 per day if cravings are intense.  Be sure the meal has some fat or protein (depending on your oxidation type), if this helps with sweet cravings.  Meals need to be 4 hours apart, at least.  Do not snack, however.

- Distract yourself instead of eating.  Perhaps have a cup of tea if you are at home.

USE OF SWEETENERS

If you have a sugar addiction, try to avoid all of them. They will all keep the sweet taste alive.

Many people turn to artificial sweeteners, thinking this will avoid the problems of sugar.  This is not only not true, but in some ways can make the problem worse.  Nutrasweet, in particular, also called Equal or aspartame, has more side effects than can be listed in one short article.  One can check this on the internet.

Even natural sweeteners such as xylitol, mannitol and stevia, which are probably a little better, are not that safe and keep the sweet craving and taste alive.  So I do not recommend any of them.

Studies have shown that people who use Nutrasweet, for example, often will then eat a sugary food as well, easily defeating the value of the low-calorie artificial sweetener.

Once again, avoid the sweet craving problem by not feeding sweets of any kind, including honey or any fruit juice – even diluted - to yourself or especially to children.