Miss Mandie

I had the most delicious dream last night.

I was indulging in a box of Chocolatier chocolates. Revelling in the creamy softness of Milk Encore, a milk chocolate shell that melts away to a smooth creamy milk centre, and sucking in the goodness of the Lemon Macadamia, a decadent macadamia praline enriched with the zesty taste of of lemon.

After finishing the box, I moved on to those puffy marshmallow things covered in chocolate.Yes, in the real world I would have made a more sophisticated selection, but c’mon, I was dreaming.

I was gorging. I was happy. I was in sugar-fuelled ecstasy.

Then suddenly the realisation: Oh my god! I broke my diet! Shit. Shit. Shit.

But then morning rolled around, and I breathed a sigh of relief. All was well in the world. I hadn’t consumed 100 grams of sugar in one sitting.

I am not on a diet to lose weight.

I am trying to break my sugar addiction.

Don’t think sugar is serious? Standing on my soap box for a moment, I’d like to inform you that in a study with rats,  it was found that refined sugar was far more addictive than cocaine.

Think about it:

Cocaine is a drug refined from coca leaves.

Opium is a drug refined from poppies.

Sugar is a drug refined from sugar cane.

Oh yeah baby, just give me another hit of that dark chocolate laced with mint.

I recently finished reading “Sugar Dreams“, one of the latest books out in the Aussie market about the dangers of a substance that permeates most of the foods we consume in Western society.

The issue I think with this type of addiction is that most of us have it and we don’t even realise.

We are fed sugar so young we’re doomed from the start. We’re rewarded with it, bribed with it, denied it, count down to holidays that celebrate it (Easter – woohoo!), bargain with it, steal it, nag our parents for it.

Think you don’t have it because you don’t like cake? Have a look at the ingredients on the foods you eat. I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve had to cut out to get off the stuff.

Obvious things like cakes, biscuits, chocolates, lollies, hot chocolate, ice cream.

But then sweet chilli sauce, milk, juice, tomato sauce, flavoured yoghurt, jam, bread, baked beans, muesli bars, honey.

Even tins of corn kernals and kidney beans, salad dressings, gherkins, rice crackers, vegetarian soy mince.

It’s everywhere!

And for all of you that like a little tipple, sorry folks, alcohol is included as it behaves just like sugar in the body, along with refined carbohydrates such as white bread, white flour, white rice and white pasta.

Taken from the blog of the guy who wrote Sweet Poison:

Any sugar addict (that is anybody) will tell you that sugar makes them feel better.  The reality is that they are suffering a mild downer caused by the time since the last hit of sugar.  Taking more sugar simply lifts them back to how an unaddicted person feels all the time. This vicious cycle of mild pleasure followed by mild withdrawal which in turn is relieved by mild pleasure is the simple mechanism of addiction.  It is the same no matter which is the poison of choice, from cocaine to sugar.  Just because it’s sold in supermarkets rather than back alleys doesn’t make it any less addictive or dangerous.

I remember reading about that cycle of deprivation and satisfaction when I read Allan Carr’s “Easy Way to Stop Smoking”. He used the analogy of tight shoes to depict the craziness of addiction: would you voluntarily wear tight shoes just so you could experience the relief of taking them off? No? Well, that is exactly what we’re doing when we’re feeding addictions. It’s relief from the withdrawals symptoms we’re getting, not real pleasure.

It’s not just about the response of dopamine in our brains either.

Sugar changes our actual brain chemistry, making it easier for other drugs to find their way to the pleasure centre in our brains.

Great, so I can attribute that incessant sugar seeking as a child to my adult hungering for all things high-inducing.

So here I am embarking on something that a year ago I would have scoffed at. I am ridding myself of the last addiction I am being controlled by.

I’ve kicked caffeine, nicotine, drugs and alcohol. Sugar – you’re next!

What can I expect at the end of this addiction cycle?

I’m not too sure as I have never experienced what it’s like not to need my sugar hits.

But if I am to believe the research, I can look forward to increased energy, glowing and clear skin, steady moods, and it will feel easy to pass on the chocolate cake for dessert and be a cinch to always fit into my favourite jeans.

As well as avoiding a range of diseases and unhappiness including diabetes, heart disease, immune deficiency, herpes, yeast infections, PMS, loss of memory, nervousness, irritability, negative thought patterns.

Nice!

There is so much more on the subject that I can’t be bothered typing out here and you can’t be bothered reading in one stint I’m sure, such as how amino acids can help to balance our brain chemistry again and help us kick not only our sugar habit but drug and alcohol addictions.

So if you’re interested in learning more, get one of the books linked on this post or just google “sugar addiction”.

If anyone else is on board with me on this, let me know. Mutual support and encouragement would be appreciated!