How to Fix the Sugar Problem Once and For All

Today, we are going to be talking all about sugar cravings. Specifically why many of us feel so obsessed with sugar and what to do about it.

Because, if your world is anything like mine, especially now during the holidays, it’s sugar sugar everywhere!

And the big problem is, we know that we shouldn’t eat sugar. We know that it’s bad. Even if you don’t really why it’s bad, we can all pretty much agree that it’s bad for us.

So we are in a world of sugar. We want to eat the sugar. And the suffering or conflict happens because we know we shouldn’t eat the sugar.

But we want too...

But we shouldn’t…

So today I want to talk about what is happening with our hormones and our brains that make us want the sugar so bad and then talk about the ultimate fix to the problem.

I’d like to know what is your favorite sugary treat during the holidays? What is your sugar of choice?

Mine is hot chocolate with those mini marshmallows with a shortbread cookies.

Or these chocolate covered orange gummy sticks. They are super sugary and my brain loves them.

So this is the type of stuff I’m talking about. Now normally, we can keep our sugar intake to a minimum or control it because life isn’t throwing sugar at us all day.

But during the holidays, there is sugar everywhere! Coworkers are bringing it to work, Starbucks is pushing it, all social get togethers have it, you receive it as gifts, etc.

I think it’s more than timely to discuss sugar and how to handle sugar.

Firstly, let’s talk about the problem with sugar. Why can’t we just eat it?

Sugar is not only very fattening to our bodies, it is very addicting to our brains.

The problem with sugar is not the calorie count. The damage of sugar isn’t something that you can just exercise off.

The damage of sugar is immediate and long lasting and future damage promoting.

So it hurts you now, later and later than later in ways you can’t reverse or make up for.

Sugar stimulates the hormone insulin in the body. This is what make sugar so fattening. The higher and longer your insulin is on, the more fat you accumulate. Eating dietary fat doesn’t make you gain weight, eating dietary sugar does.

It’s not the cream in the white chocolate candy cane latte, it’s the seven layers of sugar in the latte.

Depending on the state of your metabolism, or how healthy it is, when you eat sugar, you may end up turning on the fat accumulation switch that you can’t turn off until you finally go to sleep.

Sugar also lights up your brain like drugs do. Your brain likes sugar. It releases dopamine when you eat it, when you taste sweet. You in turn feel good. Feeling good is a chemical reaction in your brain, not just a mood.

Dopamine also enforces the habit of wanting more sugar. It drives you to seek out more sugar. And eat more sugar. Once you’re hooked, you’re hooked like cocaine.

I know that sounds dramatic, but it’s actually scientific.

Sugar is also inflammatory. So if you have arthritis, skin issues, bowel issues, pain, sugar will make it much, much worse.

It also sticks to your red blood cells and cause damage to your tiny capillaries if you aren’t able to clear the sugar from your blood enough.

So, that’s why sugar is bad. It has a cascade of negative effects in your body that are enforced by your brain.

Yikes.

One of the big issues we have with sugar is we want it so much!

Why? Couples reasons:

First, of course, is the dopamine hit we get with it. If you want to feel festive and have a break at work, those sugar cookies feel great and do the trick. This a huge reason we want sugar during the holidays especially. We want to have fun, it’s how we celebrate.

Second, it gives you a burst of energy. Like lighting a match. The big first flame and then the quickly dying flame is exactly what you feel with sugar. But we are happy for that burst of energy, especially if we are out shopping, or super busy and tired from all the parties or whatever.

Third, if you have metabolic damage, you crave sugar because you need it to survive. If you have metabolic damage, your body thinks it’s starving and that there is an energy crisis.

So your brain and your liver are screaming at the top of their little hypothetical lungs for sugar. Not broccoli. Sugar.

Part of metabolic damage is a problem called insulin resistance. Which means you have too much insulin in your blood and your are always, biologically, burning sugar for energy. And poorly I might add.

Women and men with metabolic damage are sugar burners. You can burn through 90% of the sugar you ate in mere minutes. 90 minutes as an average.

So, every 90 minutes your brain is screaming for more food! More energy! More sugar!

Why doesn’t it just burn your body fat that you want it to between meals?

Because it can't.

When your insulin is on and high, it’s like a traffic cop telling your fat cells to keep your body fat locked up tight. It blocks fat burning and increases sugar burning.

Only when you insulin comes down low enough can your stored fat leave it’s little cells to be burned for energy.

The hallmark of metabolic damage is insulin resistance and the way it’s blocking your ability to burn fat and forces you to constantly burn sugar.

So you, maybe more than people next to you in the check out line are constantly craving sugar, thinking about sugar, wanting sugar, needing sugar.

And by the way, it doesn’t have to be something sweet. All carbohydrates turn to sugar in your blood and that what your liver wants. So even those of us who are craving chips, popcorn, French fries, bread, pretzels, etc, that is actually still sugar.

It’s salty sugar.

We want it because we need it.
When we fight it, we are fighting our brains addiction to it and our bodies screaming for it.

So if you feel like you have no willpower against sugar, that’s actually true but not true.

It’s not your willpower that’s the problem, it’s that you're fighting your body and the stakes are survival and feeling good.

Your willpower will bow at the foot of your metabolism and your brain.

You haven’t failed a moral test. You’re actually surviving.

This tug of war is non-stop. You may win for a few days, but those of us who struggle with this know, it’s just a matter of time before we crack.

Your brain and liver will always win.

I want you to know that you are ok. You are not a failure. You are ok. It’s not your fault.

So, what do we do about it?

Firstly, you need to repair your metabolism. Without the driving force of needing to burn sugar for survival, the driving signal to eat sugar becomes much quieter.

If you can burn body fat between meals, you can stand in the aisle of Target and not be tempted by the Starbucks cake pops, the caramel corn, or the potato chips.

Because if you can burn body fat, your body is not in an energy crisis. You’re fine.

You’re alert.

You’re patient.

You’re happy.

You’re kind.

You're not desperate or riding high and low blood sugar levels.

Once you get in there and repair the insulin part of your metabolism, you can move onto the dopamine part.

Word of wisdom from someone who has done this for a while. And who has done this incorrectly for a while.

Fix your metabolism and insulin first. Then move into the dopamine addiction with your brain and behavior. Don’t try to intuitively eat your way out of this. It won’t work.

The signals are too jacked up.

Fix the body brain signals first. Then focus on just the brain.

This is what we do of course in the Freese Method. We fix the right things in the right order so nothing seems that hard.

By the time you get to your emotional eating issues in week 9, you are a different person, physical and mentally and you are much more prepared to take this part on and much more likely to be successful.

Craving and restraint is a tough cycle to get into.

Repairing and rebalancing is a much easier way to take care of the sugar problem.

If you are ready to overcome your addiction to sugar. If you are ready to re-regulate your hormonal signals and burn your body fat.

If you are ready to transform from a sugar burner with cravings, to a cool calm and collected fat burner —AND stay that way.

It’s time to get in and fully repair your metabolism. From step 1 to 5, and do it right. Then you’ll keep it right and finally stop the struggle.

You absolutely have what it takes to eat well, say no to sugar easily without feeling deprived and lose weight. You just need to repair your metabolism first.