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Sugar Addiction - Treatment, Symptoms and Causes

Last Updated: Oct 30, 2024

What is Sugar Addiction?

Eating Sugar foods has been a part and parcel of our daily life. A spoonful of sugar is necessary starting from the morning breakfast with coffee to the lunch and dinner with dessert and the nights with ice-cream. Try to avoid eating sweet foods and see how difficult it is for our body to resist this. Sugar addiction is often used amongst people who are engaged in low carbohydrate diets. These people often refer to the cases when they were able to break the chains of sugar addiction that bound them to the life of various unexpected illnesses. “Sugar’ is often called as “White Death” or “Sweet Poison” by many scientists. Sugar is a carbohydrate and like all carbohydrate it contains 4 calories per gram. The sugar calories are processed fairly quickly. This means the digestion process is relatively straightforward. Your body doesn’t have to work very hard to digest it.

Causes of Sugar Addiction.

  • Humans crave sugar from birth for good.Breast Milk has many important carbohydrates that are fed to the growing baby as well as it is sweet.The carbohydrates in breast milk stimulate the release of serotonin, endorphins, and promote relaxation. These are all important reactions in babies and contribute to the bonding process between mother and child. Though we consider all the above importance of breastmilk, the sweet taste is prominent.
  • The natural desire for sweet foods continues and the body still gets this physiological sense of reward from eating sweets.
  • In times when food was scarce or immediate energy was needed, these cravings were lifesaving. When you stay for an elongated period of time without eating, the body starts consuming the simple sugars and craves for more of it.
  • Another thing is skipping meals or waiting too long between meals. This leads to significant hunger, which makes you crave anything sweet or salty you can get your hands on. Cramming the sugary foods into your body late in the day means the calories will get stored as fat.
  • salty foods and beverages are incredibly addictive. That’s why many processed foods are loaded with them. They trigger the release of dopamine, a brain chemical that motivates us to engage in rewarding behaviours.

What is the symptoms of Sugar Addiction?

If you have sugar addiction lookout for the following symptoms: -

  • You intend to eat only one piece of some sugary food but once you have completed eating that, you desire more. That is the first and most important sign for sugar addict.
  • You also tend to eat the simple carbohydrates. Croissants, pasta, white bread,white rice, and pastries are amongst the popular simple carbohydrates that sugar addicts will like.
  • A healthy human body tries to keep a level for the types of food an individual is consuming. For example, if you eat too much salty food like snacks or animal foods (meat products) you will crave sweets to make a balance to it.

If you have any of the above symptoms, consider yourself as the addicted person. First of all, be aware. You might realize that you're sick and tired of your eating habits being controlled by sugar.

Treatment of Sugar Addiction.

  • Instead of eliminating your sugar habit, try shifting your focus and energy to something that isn’t related to sugar, to something that feeds you.
  • Eating in small amounts and in regular intervals ensures that the craving for junk food is reduced and a balance is maintained.
  • The first week of sugar abstinence can be uncomfortable, when the cravings are at their most powerful. Fighting the urge takes will power. If the person spends his pool of will power to taking up different challenges, then it would become increasingly difficult for him to resist the temptation.
  • Have a stable life like sleep early, exercise to support you – walking, yoga, and more.
  • Think before using substitutes for sugar. Popular substitutes are not beneficial replacements of sugar, but they increase the craving for sugar even more. For many people, they also bring unpleasant side effects like headaches and stomach aches.
  • Eat regular and healthy food every day.
  • Don't get disheartened or lose motivation even if you relapse a few times while starting to cope up with the addiction. It is normal. The key to a successful rehabilitation is consistency, not intensity. It is okay to start small. There are plenty of resources and professionals that specialize in sugar addiction to help you overcome this. If you want it, you can do it!
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Prevention to avoid Sugar Addiction.

The initial step is simply to lessen the glucose spikes that deliver sharp increments in insulin. The substance in our eating regimen that is most in charge of these surges is starch—to be specific, anything produced using potatoes, rice, flour, corn, or different grains. (Jalebi, Rasgulla, Think pasta, lasagna, white bread, doughnuts, treats, and cakes.)

You can limit the glucose raising impacts by exploiting common substances in edibles that moderate sugar assimilation which slow down carbohydrate digestion into the circulation system. Regardless of what sort of sugar blocker you utilize, your waistline (and wellbeing) will win at last.

Withdrawal symptoms of Sugar Addiction.

Sugar have a powerful influence over behaviour, making cutting it out of our diets very difficult. Some people quickly adjust to functioning without sugar.Others experience severe cravings and find it very difficult to resist sugary foods. The withdrawal symptoms can be attributed to the adjustment being done by the body of an individual from a surplus sugar environment to a sugar-free one. The temporary drop in dopamine levels may be the cause of the psychological symptoms including cravings. Also, our surrounding is filled with sweet temptations that you now have to resist.

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Written ByDr. S.Sagin Raj Diploma in Diabetology,CCRH (certificate in reproductive health),MBBS,F.F.M(family medicine)General Physician
Reviewed By
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Reviewed ByDr. Bhupindera Jaswant SinghMD - Consultant PhysicianGeneral Physician
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