Over the years I noticed that many of my patients seem to be addicted to sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Despite my efforts to get them off these harmful substances, they often have a difficult time staying away from them. Addiction is defined as the continued use of a mood altering substance or behavior despite adverse dependency consequences. When you are addicted to something, you keep exposing yourself to it even when you know that it is harming your health.
Sometimes Food Can be more Addicting Than Drugs
Sugar and HFCS certainly fit the bill when it comes to addiction. We now know that excessive fructose from sugar and HFCS is the driving force behind insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes. When you throw high glycemic carbohydrates into the mix—those foods that quickly push up your glucose levels, your brain takes a hit. Eventually this leads to a form of food-induced brain dysfunction called Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome. The first symptom you get when this disease hits is craving for sweet and starchy foods. This pushes you to keep consuming more of the very food that is frying your brain. Thus you can also add starchy foods to the list of addicting substances.
The Brain-Busting Properties of Sugar
Although we don’t fully understand how sugar, HFCS and high glycemic carbohydrates trigger these changes in the brain, there are several likely mechanisms. Sugar and HFCS seem to stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain, helping to set up a craving cycle. It is also likely that carbohydrate cravings are hard-wired into our brains. During our evolutionary history, dropping glucose levels would occur when we didn’t eat for a period of time. Because our brain depends on glucose for its energy needs, our brain would respond by sending out hunger signals telling us to eat. If there were a shortage of food—a common occurrence in those days, and our glucose levels continued to drop, our brain would pull out the big gun—carbohydrate cravings. This would push us to eat a food loaded with carbohydrates or fructose rather than a Mastodon steak loaded with protein and fat. That’s because eating a carbohydrate is the quickest way to restore glucose and glycogen levels.
When it Comes to Food Choices, Carbohydrate Cravings Are Driving the Bus
In those days we only had access to slowly absorbed carbohydrates like seasonal fruits, berries and tubers. When you respond to these cravings by wolfing down a Twinkie or similar fare, you end up with a massive glucose spike followed by a crash below normal. You brain doesn’t know what to make of a glucose spike but it does know what low levels of glucose mean—it’s time to eat! You respond by eating another Twinkie. This results in repeated cycles of low glucose levels. In this setting your brain continues to magnify normal hunger signals and carbohydrate cravings. You end up with the pathological cravings that are typical of CARB syndrome.
People with CARB syndrome have diffuse brain dysfunction that seems to leave the carbohydrate craving switch permanently in the “on” position. When faced with a variety of food choices, people with such cravings always seek out food loaded with sugar, HFCS and starch. In essence they become addicted to junk food. These cravings then lead them down the pathway to metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes. As CARB syndrome progresses, they can develop up to 22 brain dysfunction symptoms that interfere with their ability to function in multiple settings. It’s not a pretty picture.
The Key to Success—Knock Down the Cravings
If you seem to be a slave to these cravings, what should you do? Over the years I have found that one of the best ways to knock down these pesky cravings is to take the amino acid L-glutamine as a supplement. L-glutamine is the most common amino acid in your body, so taking it as a supplement is about as “natural” as you can get. L-glutamine is available in both capsule and powder forms. I recommend taking at least 1,000 mg three times a day between meals. The dose can be increased as needed. Taking chromium picolinate or Cinsulin, a concentrated form of cinnamon, can also help to suppress these cravings.
Soon we will be selling a product called CARB-22 on this site. Over the years I have found that CARB-22 is one of the most effective treatments in managing patients with CARB syndrome. This supplement not only helps to suppress carbohydrate cravings, it also addresses the other 22 symptoms of CARB syndrome. Some of the more common symptoms of CARB syndrome include mental and physical fatigue, poor memory, insomnia, difficulty concentrating and focusing and mood swings.
Willpower—Don’t Use a Peashooter When Hunting Elephants
In my experience people who try to fight carbohydrate cravings using willpower alone are rarely successful for more than a short period of time. Oprah Winfrey has been using willpower to fight her carbohydrate cravings for years without much success. It’s too bad that the people trying to help her don’t understand the CARB syndrome disease model. Fame and fortune are powerless when it comes to fighting this disabling disease. You need access to better information and my goal is to provide you with that information.