I have had a ‘drug’ addiction most of my life. I’ve been addicted to sugar, and my drug of choice has been refined sugars.
Now you may think this is a bit silly, saying eating refined sugars is a drug addiction, because this brings a comparison between refined sugars and such substances like cocaine or heroin.
But…
There are a crazy amount of studies surfacing through the web and social media that compare refined sugars to cocaine and heroin, and the findings are showing that refined sugars are as addictive as other drugs, in fact sometimes more addictive because refined sugars are so readily available and so widely accepted as part of our everyday existence.
Addicted to Sugar: How it Began…
When I was 8 years old I was diagnosed with hypoglycaemia, which means my body had an intense response to sugar. It was described as an ‘allergy’ to refined sugars which resulted in my body over-producing insulin whenever I consumed refined sugar. My body saw sugar as the enemy and it went about rapidly breaking it down to get it out of my system.
This would happen at a far too rapid pace for me to handle, and after the high experienced from the sugar, I would very quickly become quite lethargic and sometimes fall asleep as my blood glucose levels dropped too quickly.
So I was told by the doctors to eliminate all refined sugars from my diet and eat regularly to maintain an even blood glucose level. I gave this a go and I found it extremely difficult: so much so, that after a while I started to eat refined sugars again.
And so began my addiction to refined sugars – even though I knew it could potentially harm me in ways that could not be reversed, particularly insulin dependent diabetes.
My Drug Addiction Grew…
It started with eating the sugar out of the sugar bowl but I got caught doing this so I had to find another source. I began to steal lollies from the local newsagency: I got caught again… so this time I stole money out of my Mum’s piggy bank and went and bought the lollies instead. Funnily enough, I got caught again! I was really determined to eat sugar!!
Let’s pause for a moment and consider what this type of dedicated behaviour may mean…
Does it sound like how a drug addict would behave?
…It does to me!
The addiction to eating sugar was so strong for me that I played Russian roulette with my health for many years.
I continued to eat sugar regularly and ignored the doctors’ warnings that at any time my pancreas could run out of steam from over-producing insulin, and stop producing insulin altogether. This could have meant living as an insulin dependent diabetic and having to inject myself with insulin daily for the rest of my life.
But there was a part of me that thought I could get away with this type of addictive behaviour, that I was invincible, and that these kinds of health consequences would never happen to me.
My Drug Addiction Continues…
Fast forward to about the year 2009. I was 33 years of age with a 1 year old daughter; as I had stopped eating gluten as a trial and felt a lot better, I decided to fully commit to not eating gluten anymore. I also stopped consuming dairy, and then rice, and through these choices lost a lot of the weight I had gained during pregnancy.
So there I was: I’d stopped eating gluten, dairy and rice – things I knew affected me – and I was feeling like I was starting to take responsibility for the food I was choosing to feed myself… but I was still very much a sugar addict, and had been one for 25 years.
Reaching the Turning Point…
I remember one day standing in my kitchen popping a Mentos lolly into my mouth, one of many that I had consumed that day, and looking in amazement at the near empty packet. I also felt the pull to check whether I had another packet, for when this one finished I would need more, but something inside made me stop in my tracks and look at what I was doing.
In this moment I realised that I was addicted to sugar – heavily addicted. This was my drug of choice. I felt this sick feeling in my stomach with the knowing that I could no longer, in good conscience, keep eating refined sugars. The time had come to really commit to not eating sugar anymore!
And so began the next stage of my journey, learning how to work with my body and my food choices – to start to understand what I chose to consume and why – to break this powerful addiction to sugar.
With thanks to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon for opening my eyes to the possibility that what we eat really does impact our health and wellbeing in a huge way.
By Robyn Jones, 38, B.Sc. (Psych), Counsellor, Goonellabah, Australia
Read Part Two: Exhaustion and the Effects of Sugar Addiction
Read Part Three: From Sugar Addiction to Gluten, Dairy & Sugar Free Yummy Delights
Further Reading:
Are We Consuming Sugar Or Is Sugar Consuming Us?
Why Are Our Service Stations Crack Houses? And What Does Sugar Do To The Brain?
548 Comments
Addictions can dominate our lives and for a lot of the time you don’t realise you are in it, well we do but we play the ignorant card. We can get so convinced that it seems impossible to stop it. What I have learnt and experienced is that if you focus on the addiction nothing changes. What has been my life changing cures for all of my addictions no matter how big or small is stopping the momentum and actually looking within in and taking care of myself. The I started to build self-love and it became apparent that what ever the addiction that came up was just not making any sense anymore and I didn’t want to hurt or abuse myself in this way, so it goes. Addictions can be found in anything and can be so subtle.
Even fruit sugars can leave you high and dry, I recently had a day where I really went for the fruit big time, this was followed by a low which inevitably made me crave sugar again. This can be one of our many cycles of abuse – sugar = the need for more sugar. Far better to deal with the reason why we crave it. In my case it was because I was exhausted and not dealing with that.
I had not realised how much I was relying and using sugar until I have begun to look at what I eat and why and then begun refine my choices, there is sugar everywhere, it is put into so many of our foods and we often ignore where it is in the ingredients. I am not completely out of the sugar fog, there are times I seek it, but I am much more aware of why it is happening and this supports me letting go of it as a crutch, a way for not feeling things, using it as a sedative or reward.
I don’t feel we quite comprehend the hold certain foods can have on us, sugar is definitely one of those foods that we can eat in a very harmful manner. The body knows what sugar does to it because it very honestly responds by becoming racy and having a quick high followed by the crash back down again, often leaving us feeling worse than before we ate the sugar. It’s not so much the body that seeks the sugar, more so the being within us that needs a high (and often to remedy exhaustion), and to escape feeling what it is aware of.
The addictions to sugar is something i really relate to and understand. “And so began the next stage of my journey, learning how to work with my body and my food choices – to start to understand what I chose to consume and why – to break this powerful addiction to sugar.” this is a journey of healing and rebuilding our body and the listening to all its messages and is our guide in life for so much more .
I feel how the addiction to sugar can feel like a drug and is used for relief and stimulation when we feel tension or we are in reaction to something that we want to suppress and numb ourselves from feeling. Working with our body and with our food choices reveals much about what is really going on underneath our behaviours that we are resisting and not wanting to deal with.
‘But there was a part of me that thought I could get away with this type of addictive behaviour, that I was invincible, and that these kinds of health consequences would never happen to me…’ This response to choosing something that is not supportive and addictive is probably the same for most. Speaking for myself I have felt this invincibility and or simply getting to the point of not caring what the consequences are in the moment… only to feel them later. There is definitely an underlying arrogance to the human condition that wants to get away with wayward behaviour, even though it knows it can’t.
It’s so worth listening to our body and honouring what we become aware of with regards to how we are with food rather than compare what is normal for others or what we think we ‘should’ be able to eat…
It is so liberating to be honest about addictions, and I find that more and more as there is less and less outer stimulants for which I can call my addictions, the real addictions that are driving everything underneath it all are becoming clearer to see and deal with.
Addiction to sugar can go surprisingly deep. Unlike alcohol or cigarettes it is ubiquitous and the less you eat of it the more formerly non-sweet items like lemon juice now taste sweet and sweeteners, even though they may be a protein or other non-sugar, have the same effect as sugar.
“The addiction to eating sugar was so strong for me that I played Russian roulette with my health for many years.” I meet many people with limbs missing who have had to had legs amputated due to diabetes, we really do need to ask ourselves is it worth the pleasure in the mouth when it can do so much harm to the body.
Sugar has to be one of the most legalised and ‘normal’ drugs out there. No one denies the effects of it yet seldom do we really want to do anything about it and address the actual demand for it. We can take it away from places but that does not stop our reliance on it.
Its heart breaking how many children I see addicted to sugar, when I go into any school and see the hype, the intensity, the drama and the misbehaviour and you will see very often all of this is fuelled by this crazy drug.
When we want sugar and the high we get from sugar it is amazing where we will find it. I may not go for refined sugar any more but I will have a spoonfuls of jam or a date bar etc, as it still gives me the sweetness that I’m chasing. I do feel how it is a drug, as I may say to myself I’m not going to have something sweet tomorrow, yet unless I look at why I wanted it, there I am drawn to it again.
It really is insidious that refined sugars are in most food that are available for us to consume. The staples that we as a society are led to believe are ‘essential’ for living a healthy and normal lifestyle are all filled with this chemical, yet our obesity and diabetes rate are going through the roof. I love what you have shared here Robyn as it asks us to honestly consider what we are consuming, why and what effect it has on our body and being.
sugar is a nightmare of a substance to get hooked on – it sets up endless cravings for more of the same and wallops the nervous system into extreme highs and low’s, craving for the next sugar fix, to repeat the cycle of temporary relief. all over again.
Sugar is a drug and the reality of this is something we are becoming more aware of in the world today as it is being added to everything we eat. This is a real sharing and very relatable to and feel the craving it brings as well as the tiredness , need and the effect on our health.
I would love to see what would happen if we suddenly took away all sugar – just think everyone would have to get really honest with where they are truly at.
The thing about giving up anything , a food, activity, hobby, is also about seeing and being honest too about where or when something else becomes a replacement which can have the same effect, like for instance giving up chocolate to consume nuts or health bars, even apples, or giving up smoking to take up jogging or running. Intention and motivation being everything to reveal the everything about ourselves.
When we observe the behaviour of children before and after sugar it is quite clear that sugar is no different to a drug.
Yes, it is quite drastic and the withdrawal symptoms are not pretty as well.
We give sugary gifts all the time to people, what would happen if we substituted the sugar with poison?
I would say sugar and any other form of stimulant that escalates the nervous system is one of the most challenging addictions to break.
Great story Robyn: almost everyone has an addiction, yours was sugar. Beautiful to see this pivotal moment where you decided never to eat refined sugars again.
It is interesting that we deem some substances ‘drugs’ and other substances which have the same effects on the body are considered and accepted as a very normal part of life, in fact, if you don’t use these substances you are often seen as abnormal even when we know that these substances alter you greatly.
I know this addiction well and I’m yet to kick it. My feeling is that I will need to connect to love for myself that is greater than the addiction I’ve indulged in.
The more we see our health from our body first the more we will be willing to see the similar effects of sugar, drugs, emotions or TV. The different substance is not so important – it’s the effect on our body that is key. Thank you Robyn.
That’s a powerful way of looking at it, and it takes away pressuring ourselves or needing to control or thinking we need to use willpower. Simple really when we connect to our body.
After stopping all refined sugar in the 1980’s and then over the many years since I am finally feeling the effects of anything that is sugary. So one can see how sugary substances are very much a drug of choice for almost everyone. Slowly over the years all substances that are sweet drop out of my diet, which included fruits and high-end-carbs as they were all making me feel sleepy. That now some 30 years on from my first disconnecting from refined sugar I have such a connection to my body the slightest amount of anything sweet, which brings on a heightened feeling and then the crash with a sleepy feeling has been eliminated from what I eat. Now what ever I am eating it is up to me to choose connection and not to check-out-with-food-choices that only end up dulling my awareness. For me this is becoming a loving discipline that needs me to be dedicated to not be distracted by the smallest thing that sets-up-the-yo-yo-effect. Or being obedient to the Love we all are so that I do not get distracted away from being connected, a deep connection, which is bountiful to say the least.
This is such a powerful sharing Robyn and exposes behaviours that are familiar to so many of us which I certainly did my best to dismiss. I have often claimed not to have a problem with sugar but many years ago I stopped buying e.g. biscuits because one was never enough and before I knew it the whole packet would be consumed. So I have had the knowing that it was detrimental to my health and wellbeing for a long time but chose to ignore the impact until fairly recently and it is only as I have gradually refined my diet that I have become more aware of the impact of different choices and how my body feels afterwards and how often I still choose to dull myself when I do not want to feel something.
Eating the whole packet of biscuits has also been my experience Helen, and now that I have reduced my sugar significantly I can feel the effects of it in my body, usually in the form of a headache and then feeling jittery. Another thing I have noticed is how the smell of sweet things makes me feel nauseous.
I never thought that I had a sweet tooth but then I did move onto non-refined sugar like honey and that seemed to be fine, until my awareness with my body become stronger and started to feel how this still had an impact on my body.
The more I have given up sugar in all its forms, including almost all fruits, the more I have noticed how sensitive my body is to even the smallest amounts of it, and how wired and jittery I feel if I have any, like when I had a kale and berry smoothie and got an instant headache, felt fuzzy-headed, and then crashed and fell asleep soon afterwards. This made me wonder what I was doing to my body years ago as a kid and even adult when I would consume massive amounts of sugar from candy, ice cream, etc. and had a tolerance built up for it just like any other drug!
With such honesty as is expressed here, people have the opportunity to reflect upon something which is not often, in the average workplace reflected upon. I have been at conferences where every table always has huge bowls of sweets and Lollies… in fact, they seem ubiquitous.
I feel it is important from time to time to take a look at our food choices to see if there are any foods that we need or crave. For me if there is a food that I feel I cannot live without for a week then I consider it to be an addiction and with this awareness I look at the bigger picture as to why it is, that I feel I cannot live without it.
Thank you Elizabeth. I love what you are sharing here. I feel inspired to follow in your footsteps!
‘Now you may think this is a bit silly, saying eating refined sugars is a drug addiction, because this brings a comparison between refined sugars and such substances like cocaine or heroin.’ Not so strange. My children have never been offered refined sugar in anything and we have always been careful not to give them any sweet things. A few years ago, however, we were at a fish restaurant and we allowed our children to have a dollop of ketchup with their food. The consequences of this were felt for the rest of the evening! On the way home in the car, my children literally displayed all the symptoms of being drunk – they were overstimulated, couldn’t control their giggles and were not talking any sense at all. The hyperactivity going on was exhausting for us – goodness knows how it made them feel!
It is amazing how pronounced the affects of sugar are when it is not part of ones diet. Many people are so dosed up on sugar they don’t notice any difference when they consume it.
Yes, and there is a need to keep dosing to keep the levels up and the stimulation going for without it the exhaustion and aftermath of such stimulation is felt, so creating the additive behaviour. I have experienced this myself when I was hooked on sugar.
Eating repeatedly something that we know that harms us, clearly shows the level of addiction we have with some foods. We can see this attitude related too with harming behaviours, relationships, ways of exercising, etc. Only with love and honesty we can look at those choices for what they are and realise their quality… the first steps to start breaking the chain one day we decided to live with.
I have what you would call an addiction also – it’s eating nuts. This has now become only the one type of nut macadamias. It has been many years now I have been aware of this addiction and almost every week I do not eat any until I weaken and give in on day 6 or so. I have had it come up a few times now reading this blog and when I have given my space to feel and move towards a different choice it has flowed nicely for me. I am learning what it feels like to not numb what I am feeling and know and just accept this is me with no need to dull myself down.
What a powerful supportive sharing on the understanding of sugar addiction that is really relatable to and shows what is really going on . I know the addiction to sugar and the way it effects me also with the haze i used to live in that comes back the moment I eat sugar again also.
For a government to allow and pass food that is riddled with sugar’s harmful ways shows the depth of care we are not willing to go to that has resulted in the crisis in our health care system.
I find the same thing, the moment I go back to eat sugar suddenly it captures me and I want more and it is very hard to stop myself at this moment which shows how powerful it is. After all I am an intelligent man and so surely I could easily say no, but this often has not been the case so I know there has to be more going on.
I don’t eat sugar but I still have my ‘go to ‘ foods to make me feel better but if I am really honest they dull my awareness and heighten my mental and emotional bodies which takes a toll on my energy levels and equilibrium. Thankfully my awareness of this supports me sometimes to just say no… giving me more clarity and sense of purpose and significantly more energy
It certainly does take a moment to really feel the choices we are making and then chose differently. Sugar is addictive, but it is about looking at why we don’t want to feel present in our bodies and what are we avoiding. I know I craved sugar because it took me away from feeling stillness and sensitivity in my body.