The experts ome in fitness and nutritionists led the term addiction a little too far. Here is a reality check.
Well-meaning bloggers publish articles about this every day, all with the same underlying message: sugar is addictive.
For this type of people, sugar is the white whale, or more precisely, its granulated, cane or even refined whale. If this crowd had lived for more than a century, they wore long skirts and carried axes to help Carrie Nation in their fight for the greatest killing of history, carrying barges, tame banners and bottles of liquor in their fight against alcohol.
The difference is that alcohol was and is a true addiction. Sugar does not.
You do not see “spiders” when you stop using sugar.
Addiction, as explained by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, is a “primary and chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory, and related circuits.”
It is characterized by an inability to consistently abstain (from the object of addiction); impairment of behavioral control; desire, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behavior and interpersonal relationships; and a dysfunctional emotional response.
Cycles of relapse and remission are common and, without treatment, addiction is progressive and can lead to disability or death.
It’s such a complex disorder that it’s hard to do it justice with just a few short paragraphs, but as a nutritionist friend says.
[bs-quote quote=”A cessação súbita de uma droga verdadeiramente viciante causaria muitas vezes uma tempestade de repercussões como a ansiedade, a náusea, os flashes quentes e frios, a diarreia e a insónia, juntamente com um monte de outros efeitos colaterais mais obscuros, mas terríveis, como taquicardia, disforia, mialgia, e por favor, deixe-me-morrer.” style=”style-8″ align=”center”][/bs-quote]
People who are denied a cream milk do not try these things. Instead, at worst, they get a wish that goes on in a couple of minutes.
The truth about the neural reward and its ways.
People say that eating sugar ignites the neural reward pathways, as with drugs. Of course, but these same paths also light up with sex, work or play playstation.
However, it’s the act of doing things that light up brain circuits like the Las Vegas strip – not the substance itself. Therefore, they can not arm themselves in Sherlock Holmes’s nutrition and say that sugar, since it illuminates the same pathways as drugs, is addictive.
If something has addictive qualities, it implies that it has some intrinsic property that makes the most susceptible people psychologically fall into a state of “love,” but mostly chemical with that substance. Sugar has no such intrinsic properties.
“Clinging to Donuts”
Also, do not confuse the common cravings with true addiction. If you want something sweet or greasy, you’re just responding to your genetic plan.
Humans are programmed to beg Donuts for their derivatives. Food in general was difficult to find in pre-agricultural societies, so we were programmed to cover our needs that were high in calories and easily absorbed, ie fats and sugars. But our current genetic programming does not match the landscape. We do not need this, even if desires still remain.
So if you are crazy about a particular food, or like it because of its sugary sweetness, it is not because you are addicted; It’s because it lights up the rewards center in your brain, left over from your cave days.
Yes, sugar is a big problem. It is one of the major contributors to obesity. It can lead to diabetes and heart and liver disease, but if you can not stop eating, or give it some medical power you do not own, well, that’s up to you.
Source.
- American Society of Addiction Medicine
- Prum, Thalia. “4 Things to Wrap Your Sugar-Addicted Brain Around.” The Pie-Hole Blogger, August 16th, 2017.
