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You may have heard of sugar addictions. But can you actually be addicted to food? Or is it something made up so people don’t feel so bad about overeating? The debate has been ongoing, but there has finally been an answer to the question “Are sugar addictions real?” The answer is, yes, sugar addiction is a real addiction that people often need medical attention to break. Sugar Addiction_ Is it real

Read on to learn more about:

  • What is sugar addiction?
  • How is sugar as addictive as drugs?
  • What is the gut’s role in addiction?
  • How do you know if you have a sugar addiction?
  • How to break sugar addiction

What is sugar addiction?

Sugar addiction is exactly what the name implies: an addiction to sugary products. Sugar can be found in healthy foods like fruits and grains. However, many unhealthy and highly processed foods are where the majority of sugar in modern diets come from. 

Added sugar to cereals, coffee, sauces, and marinades is where sugar can hide in your foods without you realizing it. 

Foods that are salty can be sugar-ridden as well. And what people don’t realize is that starchy foods are sugars too. This is because carbohydrates are both sugars and starches. So just because your cravings are for salty foods like chips, it doesn’t mean that sugar isn’t your issue. 

Addiction is defined as “a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive seeking and use despite adverse consequences.” Differing from dependence disorders, addictions will have cycles that include:

  • Bingeing
  • Withdrawal
  • Craving
  • Sensitization

All of these are seen in people who have sugar addictions. 

Is sugar as addictive as drugs?

We often hear about alcohol and drugs as being addictive. We know these products have chemicals in them that can make them more addictive to certain people. These chemicals change the brain chemistry to make the body desire or crave more.

Believe it or not, sugar IS as addictive as drugs. 

In all addictions, there are changes made to the brain — specifically the reward system. This is where your brain uses dopamine to let you know you’re doing something good. When your brain has changes made to it because of addiction, it will reward you for putting the addictive substance into your body. That sets off the dopamine cascade, so you get that “feel good” high. 

When you deprive your body of these products, you get undesirable withdrawal symptoms. These can include, but are not limited to:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Headaches
  • Cravings
  • Irritability

The different receptors in the brain become changed with addiction, telling your body that it needs these stimulants or substances to function. While this isn’t true, the chemical changes in your brain make it truly believe that it needs them. So it responds with chemical cascades that punish your body if you don’t continually have them i.e. the symptoms we listed above. 

Studies on rats show that sugar can be as addictive as cocaine. One study had shown that more pleasure centers in the brain are activated with cookies than with cocaine or morphine, causing cookies to be potentially more addictive than drugs.

It should be noted that artificial sweeteners affect the opioid receptors in the brain the same way other sugars do. So you may think you’re choosing a healthier option, but artificial sweeteners affect your brain as much as real sugars do. 

What is the gut’s role in addiction?

The exact role of the gut isn’t really well understood. However, studies show that the gut definitely has a hand in addictions of all kinds, and it affects the ability to recover from them, too. 

A study done with rats showed that rats who had their microbiomes depleted of microbes (healthy and unhealthy via the use of antibiotics), led to more neuronal recruitment and higher tolerance to opioids. Basically, their brains told them that they needed more of the drugs than the control group. 

Dysbiosis is common in people suffering from substance abuse. This can be a tireless cycle of the unhealthy gut causing more cravings and sensitized neurons, which would mean a more powerful addiction.

How do you know if you have a sugar addiction?

Sugar addiction isn’t quite the same as other addictions. It’s more commonly accepted to eat sugary foods on a regular basis. But some ways you can tell if you might be addicted to sugar include:

  1. Eating sweets even though you aren’t hungry — just because you are craving them
  2. Headaches, irritability, shakiness, and other withdrawal-type symptoms when you don’t have them
  3. Having other addictions or a family history of addictions (of any kind, not just sugar)
  4. Experiencing cycles of craving, bingeing, and withdrawal
  5. Purging after a sugar binge (whether forced or as a result of too much sugar)
  6. Cyclical bingeing — forcing yourself to go days without sugar, only to find yourself bingeing on it a few days later
  7. Going out of your way to get sweets (or getting out of bed at night just to get sweets)
  8. Suffered from ruined relationships (health, romantic, job, etc.) because of your inability to stop eating sweets, even though there would be consequences
  9. Always have sugary snacks with you
  10. Lying about or hiding your sugary snacks/intake
  11. Difficulty waking up in the morning, needing sugar right away, and crashing midday

Any of these or a mixture of them can be indicative of sugar addiction. If you suspect you may have one, it would be a good idea to bring it up to your doctor and see how you can break the cycles. 

Continuation of sugar addiction can lead to health problems and diseases such as:

  • Obesity
  • Diabetes
  • Insulin and other hormonal issues
  • Mental diseases and disorders

How to break sugar addiction

Quitting cold turkey is always an option, but many find that they get back on the train only to find themselves having a worse addiction when they do. So, how can you break your sugar addiction, especially since weaning can be just as hard?

First, talk with your doctor about your suspected sugar addiction. They will be able to help you get to the root of your problem and see what may be causing the addiction in the first place. 

From there you can get a specialized game plan on kicking the sweets to the curb. 

Some suggestions we can give you to try are:

  1. Practice mindfulness (especially mindful eating)
  2. Use a food app to track what you’re eating. Look for one that counts your sugars. Sometimes you don’t even realize how much sugar you’re eating until you start tracking it. Let the first few days be just tracking. Don’t let yourself feel bad about your sugar intake. Then start seeing where you can reduce it.
  3. Focus on eating healthy and filling foods (here’s looking at protein, whole grains, and leafy greens!)
  4. Get an outlet to manage your stress and start limiting it
  5. Get your gut health under control. Since gut health has a huge influence on addictions, keeping it under control is crucial to breaking the habit. Use Atrantil as a way to get your gut microbiome more balanced.
  6. Get adequate sleep. Not getting enough sleep can cause you to crave unhealthy foods (especially super sweet coffee).
  7. Swap your unhealthy snacks and drinks for healthy ones. Consider it a sort of wash-out period to help your body stop craving.
  8. Commit to good health. Give yourself reminders of this commitment daily, especially when you go to grab those unhealthy foods.

Last of all, be gentle with yourself. Holding yourself to crazy standards and beating yourself up over it won’t help you break the addiction. It will just add more stress and cravings. 

Addiction services are accepting sugar addiction as a true addiction. So if you don’t want to go to your doctor, you can look into them for help, too. 

Addiction of any kind is nothing to be ashamed of. All that truly matters is that you get the help you need to improve your health and life.

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