Sugar Addiction Is Real

We need to put it on the agenda!

If I had the power to change laws, I’d make sugar addiction an official illness.

Just like alcohol, nicotine and all of the other abusive drugs.

I’m a chocoholic in particular.

And I often state this in conversations.

And I keep a straight face when everyone else begins to laugh.

Luckily, I lead a lifestyle so healthy in other areas that it doesn’t really show.

I have a few little trouble zones yet still have a body I get compliments for.

But that’s not the point.

There are so many addicts out there who are extremely good at hiding their addiction from even the ones closest to them.

There also is scientific evidence that excessive sugar consumption triggers reactions comparable to hard drugs:

It’s a heated debate. Yet, I can’t help but support the view that it should be considered a drug. Simply, because I observe the effects in myself:

• It starts with this overwhelming desire to eat chocolate. Something along the lines of: “If I don’t eat this bar now, I’m not going to make it to the end of the day.”
• Next, I tell myself the “it’s only one piece” lie. Of course, I can’t stop after that first piece. And I can’t stop for a long time.
• Following that is the feeling of having to throw up and the self-hate.
• Further down the cascade, I tell myself that this was definitely the very last time. For good. For real this time. Absolutely. Until next Thursday.
• This goes hand in hand with that feeling of weakness and guilt that tells me: “You didn’t manage it — once again! You’re such a fail! If you can’t even get this right, how are you ever going to get anything of importance right?!”
• The last emotion to hit me, and the one to last the longest, is fear. “If the others found out…I have to hide this!”
• When I do manage to stay away from it for a couple of days, I only overeat even more.
• And my thoughts dwell on chocolate all day long until the physical and mental pain that results from eating it seems easier to bear than the physical and mental exhaustion of trying to stay away from it.

Sugar consumption is often used (again parallels to alcohol and nicotine) to cope with stress at work or in our private lives.

Even though it’s clear that it’s not the solution.

Recently, I learned why eating, in general, is a resort in stressful situations:

The human body and mind subconsciously make you crave food because the digestion of it makes the body slow down.

(Got that from the Me. Mental Health app.)

And when you’re stressed, what conscious decision should you take?

Right!

Relax, take a deep breath, stretch, walk, calm down.

And then look at the situation again and find a way to deal with it that works for you.

These processes take time. Time you, I, the person at the reception claim not to have.

Which of course is complete BS.

Time to take care of yourself is always time well-spent, time invested, time that’s just as necessary as the food you eat to actually fuel your body.

Most of us know that too. And still, we choose the quick fix that doesn’t fix anything. It just covers up stuff for a short period of time.

These short periods add up, in part because the ensuing addiction causes its own stress (see above) and BOOM! you’re inside that vicious cycle.

I can’t tell you how to overcome this addiction. I’m still working on it myself.

But I’m getting better:

• I eat more fruit/drink all-natural smoothies to get my sugar + sweet taste + other useful substances into my body.
• I eat protein bars that contain chocolate for the same reasons.
• I celebrate each day on which I manage not to give in to my addiction.
• I’ve stopped blaming myself when I do give in because not eating any chocolate is not my goal and eating some once or twice per week doesn’t hurt me in any way.

My goal is to have a piece of chocolate whenever I want to but to be effortlessly able to stop after that, have my sweet tooth satisfied and stay away from it for the rest of the week just as effortlessly.

But just how difficult is that when you’re surrounded by it? When you get to the point of stopping to check the ingredients of something because you feel that if you left everything on the shelf that contains unnecessary sugar, you couldn’t eat anything anymore.

Sugar has become a convenience item. It needs to become luxury again.

As long as it’s not:

Don’t laugh when someone declares their chocoholic or cokeaholic or anything of that kind.

Take it seriously.

Make them take it seriously if they’re not.

That’s the first step to overcome the addiction.

Get access to each and every Medium article. Directly support me as well as thousands of other writers. Join a community of passionate readers and creators for just $ 5 a month. Right here: