Why Diets Fail (Because You're Addicted to Sugar) (3 page)

Moreover, you will learn about some fascinating research discoveries that you may not yet be aware of, many of which may explain why certain approaches that you have taken in the past to lose weight have been unsuccessful. All too often, research findings are reported in scholarly journals or discussed among researchers and members of the scientific community, and even though they may have direct application to human life, they rarely reach the larger public. Thus, such findings fail to have a significant effect on the day-to-day lives of the people who could benefit. That’s why this book is so valuable. Together, we’ll explain why John’s revelation, and resolution, regarding addiction to sugars was beneficial to his life, and could be to yours, in so many ways.

Although diet will certainly be discussed, we’re reticent to call this a “diet” book, as that term doesn’t necessarily reflect how extremely valuable this book can be to individuals who struggle to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight. But trust us, when you implement the diet, like John did, you can reawaken to a life that is more fulfilling, fun, and rewarding than anything you could have imagined.

Treating Food as a Drug

One important shortcoming of most diets out there is that they fail to recognize that highly palatable, highly caloric foods can be addictive. And when we say “addictive,” we don’t mean in the fun-loving sense like “I am addicted to watching
CSI
” or “I am addicted to checking my Facebook.” In this context, we use the term “addicted” more literally.

The idea that food, and sugars in particular, have addictive characteristics is not necessarily new. For many years, we’ve heard reports of people claiming they feel driven to eat sugars and other sweets, much as drug addicts might feel compelled to get their next fix. These stories, while fascinating, were largely anecdotal. Yet studies now suggest that foods high in added sugars and other carbohydrates satisfy the clinical and scientific requirements for an addictive substance, like a drug that’s abused. Excessive intake of some types of foods can result in behaviors and changes in the brain that are akin to what one would see with addiction to drugs. Yes—heroin, morphine, cocaine, alcohol … and sugars.

Studies suggest that people who are clinically addicted to food can be found among people who are overweight, obese, or normal weight, so addiction to food is not necessarily something that is exclusive to obesity. People with disrupted eating patterns, such as binge eating disorder, may also meet the criteria for addiction to food. However, another important group that may be affected by the addictive nature of food is made up of those
at risk
for becoming addicted—and that group includes almost all of us.

As we’ll discuss later on, addiction is a multifaceted disorder that has multiple causes. Genetics certainly play a role, but so does the environment. Repeated exposure to, and use of, one’s particular drug of abuse promotes addiction. Think about what it would be
like if it were easier to obtain drugs like cocaine or heroin—if they were legal and socially accepted, and we were bombarded constantly with pictures of people enjoying them—the drug problem in this country would undoubtedly be worse than it already is. Because our modern-day food environment
is
dominated by high-sugar and high-carbohydrate foods, we are
all
at risk for developing an addiction. So, even if you don’t feel compelled to overeat sugar-rich foods, and you don’t experience other symptoms of dependence, you can still benefit from this book. While this science is relatively new, it has far-reaching implications not only for you as an individual who may be struggling to lose weight but also for multiple disciplines, including public health and policy regarding the marketing and sale of certain types of foods. (We’ll say more about this in later chapters.)

How do we get addicted? There are several ways. One relates back to the idea we mentioned at the start of the chapter about how we have more food choices now than we did fifty years ago. While in many ways the assortment of foods available to us is an advantage (as the saying goes, variety is the spice of life), the variety of foodstuffs out there are not all healthy. We are plagued with fast-food restaurants, convenience food stores, and snack machines pretty much wherever we go. Even in the grocery store, we are faced with aisles of different types of snack foods and treats, cakes, cookies, and sweets. And we buy these items up. Not only do we like to eat them, but often, to “save money,” we also buy them in massive quantities at shopping clubs or in value packs. Those supersized bags of chips, sodas, and other snacks may be adding to our supersized waistlines. And this type of excess eating doesn’t just apply to junk food. Other foods, some of which are promoted as being healthy, are being consumed in excess. For example, bagels, boxes of cereal, and loaves of bread have, like us, become larger and larger over time.

Why do we keep buying and eating such foods? Well, for one, they are easy to obtain, as so often they are right there in front of us.
Our fast-paced modern-day lifestyles, which have left us with less time to prepare meals at home, have forced us to become dependent on this convenience.

However, dependence on food appears to be more than just a matter of convenience; science suggests that we are biologically dependent on certain types of foods, and this may contribute to obesity.

What exactly does it mean to be addicted to food? Due to the constant, excessive exposure to foods laden with sugar and other carbohydrates (as well as their logos, commercials, and advertisements) that has occurred as a result of our modern food environment, many of us may experience significant cravings for sugar-containing foods. As we build up tolerance for them over time, it takes larger and larger amounts of those candy bars, chips, and ice cream cones to satisfy our cravings. Most importantly, some of us may experience withdrawal symptoms between sugar fixes, which can be exacerbated when we quit consuming sugars and other carbohydrates for a period of time (if you’ve ever tried to eat a low-carb diet, you know what we mean). We may also have powerful cravings for these foods when deprived of them, even when this deprivation is self-induced, and these cravings can lead to overeating and excessive calorie intake, which means more weight gain.

Here’s an example. Lower-carbohydrate diets have been found to be superior to low-fat diets in terms of promoting weight loss.
⁵
And most low-carb diets involve reducing or eliminating added sugars and other carbohydrates. But as we mentioned above, when people follow diets like the Atkins Diet and quit eating these high-sugar, high-carb foods, many experience discomforts like headaches, for example.
⁶
None of us feels good when we have a headache, so who can blame us for cheating a little bit or, in many cases, quitting the diet completely. But these headaches or any of the other discomforts that have been reported by people eating a low-carb diet may actually be signs of withdrawal. These popular diets don’t tell you that when
you rapidly switch from a diet dominated by carbohydrates to one that lacks them, you may experience the negative feelings and physiological changes that are akin to a drug withdrawal.

Even though it is not a pleasant process to endure, reminiscent of what happens when heroin addicts go into detox, withdrawal from sugars and other carbohydrates is part of the process of no longer being chemically dependent on them. In order to break free of your dependence, you must know how to anticipate and endure the withdrawal and cravings that might lure you back to overeating high-carbohydrate foods. That is the purpose of this book—to offer a new approach toward achieving your weight-loss goals by recognizing and coping with addiction to sugars and other carbohydrates.

How to Use This Book

Why Diets Fail
presents an eight-step program to help you lose weight by restricting your intake of certain types of foods, and in some cases eliminating them completely from your diet. At the same time, we understand that adhering to a low-carbohydrate diet needs to be done with an understanding of the possible addictive nature of these types of foods. So we’re going to take it slow.

In each chapter, we introduce one new step that is designed to help you learn about your present diet habits, recognize signs of addiction to sugars and other carbohydrates, develop a sensible and realistic low-sugar and low-carbohydrate meal and snack plan, manage your withdrawal and cravings for the carbohydrate-rich foods you lust over, and maintain this way of eating. In the second part of the book, we present the Sugar Freedom Plan, which is a plan for getting you off sugar and on to your new way of eating and living. At the end of each chapter is a section we call Food for
Thought. In these sections, you will be asked to reflect on aspects of your life (your eating patterns, your coping techniques, and other life patterns) so that you can apply the concepts presented in each chapter to
your
life. In addition to these reflections, you may find it helpful to grab a piece of paper and a pencil or pull up a notepad on your handheld device and jot down any information that you find interesting, insightful, and potentially useful for the future as you read the book. You don’t have to use complete sentences or reference specific page numbers, you can just write some short phrases or key words that you know will jog your memory. Remember that each one of us is unique and you will be reading this book with your own personal weight-loss and health goals in mind. We provide approximate time frames with regard to reducing or eliminating excess sugar sources from your diet, but these are merely a guide, and you should work through the steps at your own pace.

The sad truth is that most of us are overweight because we eat too much. And if you aren’t overweight, you are certainly in danger of becoming overweight based on our present food environment. In this book, you will learn about the evidence of food addiction that has been found in both laboratory animals and humans. In addition, you will be given a step-by-step plan that will help you to recognize whether you have an addiction to sugar-rich foods and explain how to reduce your intake of these foods, what foods to eat (or avoid eating), how to cope with the side effects of addiction, and how to reduce behaviors that may lead you back into the cycle of addictive overeating. You will learn ways in which you can replace sugars and other carbohydrates with sensible alternatives that will leave you feeling full and in better control of your weight-loss plan.

Now it’s time to get started and take your first step toward a lighter, healthier, sugar-free you.