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That Sweet Taste from Sugar is a Sour Food Addiction

Sugar is Addictive

Everyone overeats from time to time, but is food itself addictive? The concept of food addiction is a persistent yet debatable topic. Scientists analyze whether foods can affect the body in an addictive way while consumers shop for and eat foods where the majority of our calories consumed come from processed high-fats or high-sugars typically found in convenient fast foods. Therefore we wonder: is our generation addicted to certain foods?

Recent studies from various resources have shown that sucrose (sugar) has an “addictive” effect on the body. We’ve learned that when sugar hits your tongue, it triggers the release of feel-good chemicals in the brain which get you addicted to sweet foods. We’ve unknowingly created a vicious cycle: the more sugar we consume, the more sugar we crave.

So is sugar addictive? We all know how difficult it can be to stay away from sugar, especially since it is lurking in the most unlikely places. The sugar industry is a huge business in America. Food manufacturers know you’ll keep coming back for more by adding more sugar to their products. In fact, sugar is such versatile a filler that it’s added to every kind of junk food imaginable: juice, soda, cookies, candies, yogurt, breads (and plenty more) which all too often are the foods we now feed our children.

Sugar is the culprit and the contributor of diseases affecting our health. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, diabetes and obesity are directly linked to eating refined sugar and simple carbohydrates. High sugar products on the market today have replaced older generation’s diets of primarily fresh fruits and vegetables.  This explains why obesity in the United States and worldwide is reaching an outrageous epidemic with over one billion overweight or obese individuals.

We need to relearn and stop the addiction and planned action can help. In plain dictionary terms, addiction is “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.” At Revitalize-U we go right to the root core to help modify these harmful habits that sabotage your dieting efforts.

Thinking in terms of “you are what you eat”, sugar may taste sweet but the consequences are undeniable. Why not wake up your taste buds to healthy alternatives and be in control of your diet? Even if you don’t need to lose weight, the promise of better health and well being is assured when choosing natural food products that come from organic and unprocessed food sources.

About the author

Dr. Cynthia Thaik, M.D., FACC is a Harvard-trained cardiologist serving the greater Los Angeles community at her holistic health center in Burbank and Valencia, CA. Dr. Thaik is the author of Your Vibrant Heart: Restoring Health, Strength, and Spirit from the Body’s Core. To learn more about Dr. Thaik or the Holistic Healing Heart Center, or to schedule an appointment, please contact info@drcynthia.com or call (818) 842-1410.

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