Is sugar the new cocaine?

Does anyone feel like they have a food monster living in them? The angry, persistent little creature that demands a cupcake or a soda be ingested immediately or it’ll throw a temper tantrum?

Well, that’s your sugar monster. Studies done on rats reflect that sugar is more addictive than opioid drugs like cocaine, and it’s in literally everything we eat.

Compared to the 1950s our food has been specifically designed with highly concentrated sugar and low amounts of fiber and protein. The sugar today activates your brain’s reward system with a boldness and force that our bodies weren’t created to manage. The sugar has been designed to take self-control away from us.

Sugar alters your brain, nervous system, and your endocrine system—essentially the entire body. When sugar is consumed, the brain is flooded with dopamine, the neurotransmitter that communicates pleasure and desire. When the brain is constantly flooded with dopamine it is constantly faced with wanting more of that thing that initiated dopamine. Dopamine is released when alcohol and opioids like cocaine are used.

With prolonged exposure to sugar, you’re dimming your life to experience pleasure in other areas because sugar consumption is taking over the brain’s translation of what it means to experience joy.

When you eat sugar it raises your blood’s glucose levels, and when those levels are up your pancreas releases a hormone called insulin, which blocks a hormone called leptin, the chemical that tells our brains, “Okay, we’re full, stop eating please!!!”

Sugar intake per capita in the UK has since doubled since the 1950s. Sugar is hidden in salad dressings, peanut butter, sauces, protein bars, deli meats, tomato sauce, and canned beans–it’s everywhere. This new potent sugar with the perfect balance of fat and salt makes you ignore your feeling of fullness, encouraging overeating and craving more processed foods. This means spending more money on unnecessary calories while jeopardizing your health. Who wins in that situation? Food manufacturers keep rolling in more and more money because consumers are eating more and more food.

Grocery stores are selling forty thousand more products than they did in the 1990s, and with basically everything containing sugar, the sugarless options are scarce.

Can sugar hurt you?

Both emotional and physical, sugar has its detriments on our bodies. It’s evident it impacts your vanity. Increased sugar leads to weight gain, belly fat, wrinkles, accelerated aging, tooth decay, hair loss, and acne.

Sugar impacts our health by increasing inflammation, migraine headaches, brain fog, anxiety, weakened eyesight, gum disease, overworked pancreas, nonalcoholic fatty liver, metabolic syndrome, leptin resistance, arthritis, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, heart disease, asthma, suppressed immunity, sleep issues, and kidney damage. That’s just some of what we know at this point in time.

When you consume sugar faster than you can metabolize it, it immediately turns to fat in your body.

Eating sugar leads to mood spikes and dramatic drops. As sugar levels spike so does your mood, and as the levels drop so does your mood. Your body’s brain kicks into “sugar monster mode” to receive that sense of pleasure all over again, leading into another round of that same cycle. Studies report that cases of depression are linked to increased sugar intake.

Sugar dependence

The process of experiencing sugar and getting off of sugar is the same experience as cocaine.

A study was done where rats responded to excessive sugar intake with bingeing, tolerance, and withdrawals. The withdrawal symptoms included chattering teeth, tremors, headshakes, a drop in body temperature, increased anxiety, and depression.

The rats withdrawing from sugar were thrown into a body of water and found less likely to climb themselves out and more likely to just float. It’s like they lost their will to live and survive.

Getting off sugar

What was it like for me? Cutting out all sugar was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I cut out all processed and natural sugars.

The first four days I was bloated, exhausted, irritable, and SO. THIRSTY. The cravings were literally unbearable-–that was one and a half months ago. I had to have grace with myself during this process because I would go four days without sugar and then fall into its trap. Then I would do it all over again. As I continued to push through this the cravings decreased basically down to nothing, the withdrawal symptoms ceased and I actually started to experience the rewards of releasing myself from sugar’s grip.

My skin cleared up, any inflammation in my face and my body improved, my sleep is amazing, I have more energy, and my mood is consistent–I don’t experience any dramatic drops in emotions.

The best part though? I actually have my control back. I don’t feel like I’m being bossed around all the time and that by far is the best reward.

I eat essentially all vegetables, some nuts, and animal protein to survive. I have never felt better. I truly encourage you to give it a shot and have grace with yourself.

Is your dream life right over the mountain of sugar? Pick up the root of your skin struggles, sleep struggles, mood imbalance, tiredness, brain fog, and depression by getting rid of sugar.

If I can do it, literally anyone can.

*Disclaimer: All medical claims made in this article are information provided by the subject. The information is general in nature and not specifically meant for any particular individual. You should always seek out medical assistance from a medical professional based on your individual needs and circumstances.