Well many of you know I am the carb queen, and you all can have chocolate....To some that may seem as crazy as me not having my carbs. Give me a french fry over a chocolate bar any day of the week. Chocolate is the heart of many foodies existence, are sugar cravings real? I did a blog on general cravings, they can be emotional. But, I stumbled across a study I found so interesting I had to research it further...
Unlike craving a favorite restaurant where happy memories are abound. Sugar is physically addictive. Studies at Princeton University find that sugar consumption leads to all of the identifying symptoms of addiction in rats -- increased intake, withdrawal, cravings and relapse. And many experts believe that breaking the sugar addiction is more challenging than getting off of nicotine or even heroin.
In addition to stimulating brain reward centers, sweet food markedly affects stress hormones in ways likely to provide a sense of temporary reprieve from anxiety. But the problem goes deeper. While processed sugars may produce a brief emotional high, several lines of evidence indicate that they affect our biology in ways that promote depression.
In any case, a piece of good news is that most people find that once their bodies adapt to eating a diet low in carbohydrates, the cravings for sweet foods and other carbohydrates tend to go away. If we can just get through the first week or two, we can usually be free of those cravings.
We track calories, fat, carbs, protein and fiber, but no weight loss program I have ever come across tracks sugar...Seems the only people who track sugar are diabetics.
The bottom line – sugar is addictive, and it’s dangerous to one’s health. Because of its addictive qualities, it is very difficult to give up sugar, but the benefits improve physical and emotional health make it worth the work.
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