Sugar Addicts’ Diet

UNREFINED CARBOHYDRATES

These are eaten pretty much as nature made them. Examples of unrefined complex carbohydrates are whole grains used in whole-grain bread, or brown rice complete with its husks. These release energy slowly in the body. With unrefined complex carbohydrates, the fibre – made up of glucose molecules strung together – cannot be broken down or digested, and as a result helps to slow down the speed at which the rest of the carbohydrate breaks down in the body.

REFINED CARBOHYDRATES

These are essentially ‘sneaky’ sugars that have been processed to extend their shelf-life and make them desirable to us shoppers. But in the process they’ve lost many of the nutrients that made them beneficial in the first place. These refined carbs are often lacking in essential minerals and vitamins. Importantly, they have also had their fibre – such as cellulose or pectin – taken away. It’s this fibre that can help to slow down a carbohydrate’s breakdown into glucose, which in turn helps to regulate blood-sugar levels. The fact that they can be broken down so quickly after being eaten means these refined carbs are essentially just like simple sugars. But because so many of us don’t know the effect they have on the body, they are hidden or ‘sneaky’ sugars.

As you’ll see in Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo), we’ll be telling you about which foods you should eat to help stabilize blood sugar and minimize your sweet cravings. The carbohydrates we recommend are unrefined – refined carbs are a definite no-no.

THE SUGAR ‘ROLLER COASTER’

When we eat simple or ‘sneaky’ sugars, they go straight into the blood. This huge ‘hit’ of sugar causes the body to flood the bloodstream with the sugar-control hormone, insulin, to try and regulate sugar levels. The trouble is that the body isn’t designed for such high sugar levels – the most sugar our caveman ancestors would have got was from berries picked off bushes, not chocolate bars or jelly babies! Excessive amounts of insulin end up being released to deal with the sugar, either by removing it from the blood or taking it to the muscles.

Imagine a roller coaster which starts off at a low level, climbing to a high peak before dropping down into a dip. It’s the same principle when you eat sugar. You start off with low amounts of sugar in the blood (the roller coaster dips), eat lots of sugar (the roller coaster rises), then insulin is produced to flush the excess sugar out, dropping sugar levels back down (the roller coaster dips again).

‘So what?’ you might think. Well, eating sugar – where the roller coaster peaks – and the rise in blood-sugar levels may make you feel high, happy and even euphoric. After all, that’s one of the reasons sugar is so attractive. But the point at which the roller coaster falls – the ‘sugar dip’ – can leave you feeling tired, ratty and even depressed. As well as increasing your risk of certain illnesses (see Chapter 4 (#u7473120a-dd8e-5e9c-8c49-9edb20ba4794)) and putting on weight, it’s this dip that can make you want to eat more sugar to get that roller coaster back on a high again. If you don’t break your sugar-eating habits, you’re essentially destined for life on a sugar roller coaster that you’re not allowed to get off. Life on this roller coaster is a crucial part of sugar addiction.

Which Foods Fuel the Roller Coaster?

Simple sugars are perfect fuel for this blood-sugar roller coaster, as are the ‘sneaky’ sugars – the refined carbohydrates. The extent to which specific carbohydrates (including ‘good’ unrefined complex carbohydrates) make the roller coaster rise – and the speed at which they do so – depends on something called the Glycaemic Index (GI). The GI is a way of measuring the effects of food on blood-sugar levels. Foods range from high GI down to low GI.

High GI foods break down quickly during digestion and raise blood-sugar levels rapidly and to high levels. Examples include white rice (not basmati) and white bread.

Mid GI foods break down moderately slowly. Examples include pasta and raisins.

Low GI foods break down slowly and release sugar gradually into the bloodstream for long-term energy. Examples include lentils, sweet potatoes, and fruits such as cherries and peaches.

In simple terms, if you want to stop the roller coaster – or at least stop it rising and falling so sharply – you should be trying to eat low GI foods rather than high GI ones. But don’t start panicking and trying to work out what the GI rating of foods is. The Sugar Addicts’ Diet incorporates these principles for you so foods we suggest you eat will tend to be low or medium GI, and those we advise cutting down on or removing altogether will tend to be high GI. We’ll be providing you with lists of these foods later on, as well as a meal planner and recipes.

Nicki’s Physical Addiction

‘When I had a bag of sweets in front of me, I’d have that physical “rush” you get when something really exciting is about to happen to you. And when I ate them, they never disappointed. I’d get an intense, overwhelming rush of energy, taking me to a real high. I’ve never taken drugs but I often wonder if it’s a similar feeling. The trouble was that I’d have to keep on eating the sweets to get that high feeling. In my world, there was no such thing as eating just one pink shrimp – I had to eat the lot. It was like being on a confectionery conveyor belt where the sweets kept coming and I kept eating. I never felt sick or reached “saturation point”, which really added to the problem. If I’d felt ill, I might have been inclined to stop! But of course I had to stop eventually, not because willpower kicked in but because the sweets ran out and there was nothing more to binge on. When I saw the bottom of the bag, I’d feel really sad and deflated. After my sugar “high” it was like payback time – I’d have low energy and would start feeling weary. Other people picked up on it, too. They’d say, “What’s the matter with you?”’

THE EMOTIONAL ADDICTION

As we’ve seen, a large part of sugar addiction is down to what sugar does when it gets into your body. Being on the sugar roller coaster means we feel terrible if we don’t have sugar because of the dip that inevitably follows our sugar hit. Not surprisingly, many of us reach for sugar to lift us out of that trough and get us on a high again. However, the part that sugar plays in making us feel certain emotions such as happiness or relief is also central to addiction. Perhaps you were given sweets as a child as a reward for being good, or maybe you raided the kitchen cupboard for biscuits after being told off. Whatever it is, it’s very likely you’ll have associations with sugar that go back to when you were younger.

What the Experts Say

‘It’s more Emotional than Physical’

Marie Reid, Professor of Nutritional Psychology at the University of Surrey, Roehampton, has written widely on sugar addiction. She says studies have failed to prove that sugary foods lead to physiological addiction, such as you can get with alcohol or drugs. Rather, it’s down to people making associations with certain feelings when they eat sugar. They may use it for comfort, for example, and if they’re denied it they can start feeling miserable.

Professor Reid says, ‘Research suggests that people are not addicted to sugar on a physical level but maybe on a psychological level. It comes from all the meaning we have around food – sugar is regarded as “forbidden” food. So if, from a very young age, there’s an association with that kind of food as a treat, something used as reward or punishment, they take that all the way through their life. A familiar pattern would be that good behaviour was congratulated with something like chocolate so chocolate is seen as a reward food. Or they may have been given it when something went wrong, like they hurt themselves. That then moves into comfort eating to cheer themselves up when sad or miserable, or a reward when they feel happy, or both.’

The food used for these purposes could just as easily have been something healthy like fruit. But Professor Reid says, ‘Sweet foods are often palatable, and humans have an innate preference for sweet foods – breast milk is sweet.’ She suggests that the ‘dependence-like addiction’ people so often have isn’t to sugar alone but rather to the combination of carbohydrates and fat – in other words, sugary, fatty foods such as cakes, chocolate and pastry. So as far as she’s concerned, there’s little evidence that an intense craving for sugar is down to anything physiological.

‘It’s Emotional AND physical’

According to some experts, sugar acts on brain chemicals as well as having an effect on blood-sugar levels. Certain chemicals in our brains – referred to as opiates – have been linked to feeling happy and are often dubbed ‘feel-good’ chemicals. The best known are the endorphins – the natural painkillers that give rise to the ‘runner’s high’ experienced by athletes.

In his book Breaking the Food Seduction, Dr Neal Barnard says that sugar causes the release of natural opiates, ‘cousins of morphine and heroin’ in terms of chemical structure. The result is, he says, ‘whatever physical or psychological troubles might have been bothering you are toned down a bit’. In other words, the opiate-releasing effect of sugar can make you feel like nothing else matters.

To complicate the situation, sugar and other foods rich in refined carbohydrates are also responsible for boosting levels of serotonin, another brain chemical which helps regulate mood and sleep. The release of serotonin that comes from eating sugar brings with it feelings of contentment and relaxation.

The trouble is that if you’re hooked on sugar, you need it to feel good. Low beta-endorphin levels can leave you with cravings and low self-esteem, while low serotonin levels can result in depression. Other experts say if you don’t have a sugar ‘fix’, you suffer withdrawal symptoms and can start to feel irritable. Most sugar addicts will respond to this by feeding the addiction, simply so they can feel ‘normal’ again. But the relief they get is only temporary, and this just locks them further into sugar addiction.

Professor Marie Reid counters that feeling better after eating sugary foods is more likely down to ‘reinforcement’ – believing that the food makes you feel better – rather than its impact on serotonin.

Nicki’s Emotional Addiction

‘For me, sugar is associated with wonderful thoughts and happy memories. When I used to think of it, I felt contented. And looking back on my idyllic childhood, I understand why. Food – especially sweet food – was given to me with unconditional love and care. Each week, my grandmother would bring me freshly made fudge or toffee and it’d be handed to me with a big kiss and a hug.

‘My other grandmother also baked the most wonderful cakes – apple cake, marble cake, cheesecake – and the family would all sit down to enjoy them together. I remember going to the funfair with my parents and always having pink candyfloss and pink and white nougat. But perhaps most significant was what I did every Saturday morning, without fail, with my best mate, Tania. We’d pool our pocket money which we’d be given as a reward if we’d behaved and done all our homework that week. We’d then cycle down to the corner shop to spend the lot on pick ’n’ mix. We’d put it all on the bedroom floor and spend the entire morning playing with our dolls and working our way through our stash of sweets. We were both in heaven!

‘Also, every day after school, we took it in turns to go back to each other’s homes for tea and there would always be buttered toast with jam, French fancies, jam tarts and Wagon Wheels on the menu. Sugary foods were what I ate on happy family gatherings, fun times with my best friend and as a reward for being a good girl. How could sugar be a bad thing when it had so many good associations?

‘As a result, sugar became a sure-fire way of making me feel happy. Even if things were going wrong in my life, I knew I could always get a high – however temporary – from eating sugar. It took me back to those “happy places” of my childhood. But as all sugar addicts know, this love of sugar – wherever it stems from – comes at a price.

‘In many ways, my overwhelming desire to eat sweet foods felt physical – I’d experience the sugar highs and lows throughout the day as a matter of course, and would reach for sugary foods to keep me feeling balanced. But there’s no doubt in my mind that my sugar addiction had extremely strong emotional roots, too, stemming from positive childhood messages about sweet foods. I also know I have an addictive personality, which doesn’t help in my fight to do things in moderation – including cutting back on sugar. In my experience, beating sugar addiction needs a two-pronged approach. You need to work at the physical side, through nutrition and exercise, but understand when, where and why the emotional side starts kicking in, too.’

GETTING OVER YOUR ADDICTION

As well as offering psychological support, experts who help people overcome eating disorders encourage their patients to return to eating regular meals based on complex carbohydrates and protein. These foods satisfy hunger and provide slow-release energy. Patients get into the habit of eating properly to satisfy their emotional needs but also to help stabilize blood-sugar levels and prevent the need to binge on sweet or refined foods.

Nicki’s diet works on these principles – regular eating of the right foods to keep you from bingeing on sugary foods, plus keeping a food diary to get you more in tune with your eating habits.

Keeping a Diary

When you get to the 21-day plan (Chapter 13), you’ll see that the first day’s task is to start keeping a food diary.

So why are we asking you to keep a food diary? Most of us eat food without thinking about how it makes us feel – it’s just like fuel to fill our faces and stomachs. But it is important to know what you’re eating and how it makes you feel. For starters, if you’re not clued up about food, you can end up eating more than you should, the wrong types of food or going a day eating hardly anything. Actions like these can lead to weight gain and feelings of illness and/or unhappiness. Writing it down in a diary helps you to take a good, hard look at your eating habits. Also, if you don’t write it down, it’s easy to forget that mini chocolate bar you ate, or the half portion of chips you finished off your kids’ plates!

There is an example of Nicki’s food diary here (#litres_trial_promo). Nicki found that filling in the diary helped her understand the times of the day when her cravings were at their worst (such as on waking and the ‘post-lunch’ dip), and aware of foods that made her happy or short-tempered, satisfied or bloated. Working from left to right, these are the columns to be filled in:

• Time of day – put in WHEN you ate.

• Food/Drink – fill in WHAT you ate. Put exactly what you ate (e.g. one large baked potato with tuna and sweetcorn, NOT just ‘jacket potato’).

• Physical symptoms – write in how you felt PHYSICALLY (e.g. rushed, sick, hungry, full).

• How you’re feeling – put in how you felt EMOTIONALLY (happy, grumpy, tearful, normal). For ideas of how you might feel (rather than just filling in ‘fine’) see our list below.

• Other factors. Here you might want to put in such things as ‘Have PMS’ or ‘Had argument with colleague’ or even ‘First day of holiday’ – anything that may be relevant to the choices you’re making and how you’re feeling. Also record your exercise here. Don’t forget it’s not just the gym that counts. ‘Walking the dog’ goes in here, too!

How You’re Feeling: Some Suggestions

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS: POSITIVE