Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program

Why You Are Different If you are a sugar addict, you can't "just say no" to ice cream, candy, soda, chocolate, or cookies. If you are a sugar addict, people have been saying "watch your calories," "exercise more," "clean up your room," "stop snacking on cookies," "stop drinking," "stop smoking," or "why don't you just ______" to you nearly all your life. You fill in the blank. The message is the same, although the content may vary. The problem is clear. You are doing something that you don't want to be doing. But the solution isn't so clear. If you could just stop it, you would! You can't just say no. And the longer this helplessness goes on, the more tricks you try, the more failures you have and the more hopeless you feel. On the outside you may act cool. You might even have flip responses or pat retorts, but each time you hear the "why don't you just say no" message-even if it is subtle-you brace yourself. You ask yourself: "Why can't I get it together and take care of myself? Where is my willpower? Why aren't I like other people?" They just decide to do something and then they follow through. Again and again you decide, you make a commitment, you start-then your resolve fades. You get busy, you get overwhelmed, you get distracted, and your intention dissipates like the morning fog in the noonday sun. Nancy is a sugar addict. She has vowed to give up chocolate almost every day of her life. Three days into her commitment to quit, something always happens and she reaches for a candy bar. Rosemary, who is not a sugar addict, decides that chocolate isn't good for her skin. She decides to cut it out of her diet, never buys another candy bar, isn't tempted, and doesn't think of it again. Rosemary's resolve may be inconceivable to you. Nancy feels like your sister. When you are a sugar addict, saying no is not an issue of willpower. Your biochemistry has a direct effect on your behavior. Your craving and desire for sugar are profoundly affected by your brain chemistry, and even more significant, by what and when you eat. You are a sugar addict because you are sugar sensitive. Sugar addiction is a primary symptom of sugar sensitivity. If you are sugar sensitive and your meals are erratic, if you skip breakfast, eat lots of sweet things, drink quarts of diet soda or eat pounds of pasta and bread, then you will be depressed, moody, erratic, volatile, forgetful, and impulsive. You may have a short fuse, a short attention span, and a reputation for being all over the place. You may have trouble with your weight, you may have an eating disorder, or you may have a problem with aggression. It has probably not occurred to you that the food you eat could have such a dramatic effect on you. You may have figured out that sometimes you are really cranky when you haven't had your "fix." You have to go out and get a pint of your special brand of ice cream even if it's eleven o'clock at night. Your friends or parents or boss may have noticed that you have something like a split personality. Sometimes you are creative, cheerful, charming, funny, and delightful. Other times you are a royal pain in the butt and even the people who love you stay out of your way. You are a sugar addict. When you first hear me talking about sugar addiction in this way, you may not be convinced that it is a real condition. You may not think it is possible to be addicted to something so "harmless" as sugar. Stay with me while I take you through the reasoning for my position. Criteria for Addiction Here are the criteria the American Psychiatric Association uses to determine addiction:
DesMaisons, Kathleen is the author of 'Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program' with ISBN 9780345441324 and ISBN 034544132X.