"Food Addiction, unlike cocaine or alcohol, humans can't exactly drop it-cold turkey or not. You can't really quit food"

Julia Ross, author of The Diet Cure says in her video (link is below) that in 2007 a study at The University of Burdeaux found that processed sugar was 4 times more addicting than Cocaine and it has same effects as opiates like Heroin (and I say sugar is more readily available too).

I have been challenged lately by something very personal to me. Although I thought I had already figured it out (and intellectually and physically I actually did), I still have a lot to learn. Before I shared it with you and the world, I had to come to terms with it, accept it, deal with it and learn more about it so that I can give you tools or information that could help you too.

I've been dealing with a food addiction and just recently found out that this addiction is also connected to my food allergies. And some of you may be thinking "What? A food addiction?" Yes. "Connected to food allergies?"...Yes. I've discovered that it's actually very common but a lot of people don't know about it or refuse to acknowledge it.

Food allergy is an immune system reaction that occurs soon after eating a certain food. Even a tiny amount of the allergy-causing food can trigger signs and symptoms such as digestive problems, hives or swollen airways. In some people, a food allergy can cause severe symptoms or even a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis.

When you eat a food you're allergic to, your body gets inflamed. Your body thinks it's under attack. If your body feels it's under attack, it releases an anti-inflammatory hormone: cortisol (result: hypertension, fat storage, hold water). This reaction also releases endorphins, which gives you feelings of euphoria. So releasing cortisol becomes addictive, you associate the food with pleasure and this addictive behavior it's pleasurable. Then you become addicted to the food you're allergic to. You like eating it! This food induced sense of euphoria comes from several chemical mechanisms in your brain. First of all, the sheer pleasure of tasting your trigger foods stimulates your brain's pleasure pathways and the release of dopamine and endorphins, (again, the chemicals that makes you feel exhilarated). You also get a quick surge of energy as the sugar hits your bloodstream. Unfortunately, that energized feeling lasts only as long as the sugar rush. Once your blood-sugar levels drop (about an hour or two later), you're left feeling drained and out of sorts. You're like an addict looking for another fix.

"We will always crave the elements to which we are most toxic."
"Sugar and salt are the most addicting substances in the planet, bar none. Cocaine and Heroin do not hold a candle to these two chemicals."
-Roger Bezanis in his book "PH Madness"

Did I know I was allergic? No because my reactions were mild: inflammation, bloating, constipation. I felt inflamed for a while and I thought it may be wheat. I started eating (still heavily processed) gluten-free products. No change. I got to the point where even a piece of fruit would get me bloated. So I started doing a lot of research online about it, read a lot, watched a lot of videos. I knew there was more to it. So pretty much by trial and error, (not because a doctor tested me) I discovered I'm allergic to pretty much any starch, dairy and overall processed foods. No wonder raw food does WONDERS for me! And I had messed up my system so much that even raw foods were upsetting my stomach. Since I had cleaned up my diet like I did going raw, when I went back to eating junk food, my body had a harsh reaction to it. I gained weight very quickly.

And I didn't want to share it with the world because I was ashamed that 3 years ago I became a raw vegan, discovered what I had was an addiction, lost a lot of weight and I still 'relapsed'. I got addicted to processed food again, very quickly I gained about 12 lbs of it back, felt I was a failure and wanted to hide.

While I didn't gain all my weight back, I still felt bad because I was addicted to cooked food again and didn't understand how it had happened. Now I know how it happened: Like an addict, I started with small bites of cooked and processed foods and then it got out of hand. I would go back and forth to raw food. But I every other day I would have my cooked food fix. Then I didn't want healthy raw food anymore, only the junk. It felt it was very much a physical need to eat the food and I couldn't stop myself from eating it.  I would go to the store and in "automatic pilot" would get the junk food and only afterwards I would think about what I had just eaten.  When I'm eating raw food the same thing happens, except my "automatic pilot" gets only fresh raw food and I don't think about the junk food at all.  It's amazing how the body works.

That's why I started my current 30-day Master Cleanse (I'm on day 25 today). Because I needed to reclaim my life. Because when I'm addicted to processed food and have no control, I do not like myself very much. I have anxiety about it and feel depressed that I have no control. I had changed my life 3 years ago and I did it with the Master Cleanse for 30 days, so I know I can do it again.

For so many reasons I'm getting back up again and sharing what I'm learning with the world... BECAUSE there are many people out there who don't know, haven't been exposed and they may be dealing and resonate with my information as I am. I have gotten so many emails over the years confirming that I can and have made a difference in someone's life just by sharing mine. And that to me means a lot! I love hearing when people tell me that I'm an inspiration and that because of my story some people have found what works for them. Although for me staying on a mostly raw vegan diet works like a charm, some people may need vitamin supplementation as Julia Ross author of The Diet Cure explains in her book. I choose to get as much nutrition and vitamins from fresh organic food. But do your own research and take your health in your own hands.

"It's your choice. You don't have to be sick"
-Food Matters Documentary

Over 3 years ago I never thought I could be a size 4 again. THAT to me was an absolute miracle. So I know what it means to find some answers and be lead into a new and wonderful path just like I was.

So THANK YOU for sharing my journey with me. I am very blessed about everything my life has brought me...very proud and excited about all I've learned from it. I've decided that if I'm going to be addicted to something, it'll be to MY HEALTH...I know I can do it. I'm determined!

Here are some excerpts of the two articles & video:

"In one sense, we're all addicted to food,"
- from Scientific American Article

"Food Addiction, unlike cocaine or alcohol, humans can't exactly drop it-cold turkey or not. You can't really quit food."
- from Scientific American Article

"Chocolate bars are loaded with salt, sugar, caffeine and fat, up to 300 calories per bar. Like a body demanding heroin for its balance, the body will crave sugar, salt and fat. Take candy from a sugar junkie, and look out! Quitting causes withdrawals. Remove sugar, processed fat or salt from your diet, and you will crave them. You will go through the discomfort of facing withdrawal similar to the withdrawal from drugs.

Strawberries and bananas don't cause cravings. You never feel guilty about eating too many cantaloupes. You never hear little voices in the back of your head saying eat, eat, eat cantaloupe. No, because natural foods balance the body and physical cravings are caused by biochemical imbalance. Street drugs, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, salt, saturated fat, refined starch and refined sugars cause cravings because they imbalance the body's chemistry.

Food allergies can also cause an addiction-like dependence due to homeostatic disturbance. Your favorite foods are usually the ones to which you are addicted. You usually feel better immediately after eating the food that you are addicted to, but shortly afterward the allergic reaction produces a feeling of irritability. It causes flatulence, nausea, depression or headaches. Milk, wheat and eggs are the most common allergic foods. Each contains large protein molecules with strong glue-like bonds. If the appropriate enzyme necessary for digestion is not available, these protein molecules enter the blood undigested. The immune system attacks these fragments as if they were invaders. Homeostasis has been imbalanced, and if these foods are continually eaten, the body will need them for homeostatic balance, causing an allergen-based food addiction."
- From article "Your Food Addiction is Great for Business

Comments

[Angela]

Great post! Thank you for sharing this vital information. I consider myself an addict in recovery. What a world we live in, where the drugs are all around us.

[Coach Purses]

We are like wheat, here on earth to ripen. We ripen intellectually by letting in as much of the universe's complexity as we can. Morally we ripen by making our choices. And we ripen spiritually by openig our eyes to Creation's endless detail.