Why Diets Fail (Because You're Addicted to Sugar) (20 page)

Note that if you are truly addicted to sugars (you can tell by taking the self-assessment on
this page
), you will most likely have to work a little bit harder to stick to this way of eating than someone who doesn’t have a strong addiction. This is because you aren’t just battling the urges that one might normally experience when limiting certain foods on a diet; you are also fighting the cravings and experiencing the withdrawal that may come along with your addiction, which is driven by biological impulses and can impede your progress. But don’t worry; in Steps 6 and 7, we’ll cover how to recognize and deal with aspects of withdrawal and craving.

Think about the following suggestions about the types of food to eat as a general guide. Your personal nutrition needs and food preferences should also be taken into account whenever making food choices so that you can tailor the foods that you eat accordingly. The goal of this book is to inform you about the aspects of addiction that can manifest in response to overeating some types of highly palatable foods so that you can use this information to reconsider your eating habits and enact the necessary changes in what you eat to ensure that you are in control of what you eat. This chapter offers some suggestions, not a prescription, of healthy alternatives to foods that you may crave. It will ultimately be up to you to figure out the best eating plan that will work specifically for
you
. But here are some ideas to jump-start the process!

Let Go of Liquid Sugars

In Eliminate Sugary Beverages, you’ll bid adieu to liquid sugars (beverages sweetened with sugars). As you now know, many of our excess calories come from beverages. In fact, studies show that not only is the consumption of calorie-dense beverages on the rise, but also that when you drink your calories, your body elicits a very different response than when you eat solid foods. The bottom line: liquid calories appear less satiating.
¹

By avoiding sugar-sweetened beverages, such as colas and other soft drinks, and replacing them with some of the alternatives described below, you can drastically reduce the amount of sugar you take in. Note that many drinks that look healthy, like sports drinks or iced teas, contain a lot of sugar, and so it’s important to remember to check the nutrition label before drinking.

It’s important to drink a lot of liquids, and water is without a doubt the best thing to drink for your health. In fact, it’s a good idea to get in the habit of carrying a bottle of water with you throughout the day. Tea and coffee may be acceptable options as well, as they have sugar equivalencies close to 0, but this assumes that you sweeten them with artificial sweeteners (which we will discuss in the next section). If you enjoy your tea or coffee with cream or milk in it, watch out! Both cream and milk contain sugars.

If you insist on drinking sodas, think about what it is about the soda that you like. Some people are attracted to the carbonation or fizz. If that is you, opt for seltzer water. It is carbonated, but calorie- and sugar-free, and can come in lots of different flavors. Mineral water is also a good choice; it comes in fizzy and still versions. You may want to use diet sodas and beverages sweetened with artificial sweeteners (including teas and coffees) with caution, in light of the information we discuss next. It turns out that they don’t necessarily reduce obesity and may not help to reduce your dependence on sugars.

What about Milk?

Milk is usually a household staple. Whether you start the day with a big bowl of cereal and milk, use it to cool off your first cup of coffee, down a large glass with your bacon and eggs, or cap off dinner with dessert and a cold glass of milk, like most Americans you probably have a gallon of milk in your refrigerator.

And guess what? Milk has sugar in it! Plain cow’s milk purchased in your local grocery store doesn’t contain added sugar;
lactose
is the type of sugar that occurs naturally in milk and other dairy products, such as cheese. Switching to skim doesn’t help matters much. Skim cow’s milk has reduced fat content, which reduces the calories, but the lactose amount is the same. If you purchase flavored milks, such as chocolate or strawberry, sugar is added to increase sweetness. Alternative milks such as almond, soy, or oat milk may also contain added sugar, so be sure to check the nutrition label.

Cow’s milk has a sugar equivalency of 5 (see the
Sugar Equivalency Table
in the appendix). It’s not a very high number, and that’s because it’s mostly comprised of water. Also, there are nutritional advantages to dairy products that may contain lactose that are important, such as calcium and vitamin D that help to promote bone health, which makes drinking milk and consuming other dairy products acceptable. Now, there are lactose-free options available, including lactose-free milk and other dairy products and light versions of soymilk, that contain, or are fortified with, vitamins and minerals such as calcium and vitamin D. Again, be sure to read over the nutrition label to check for the amounts of sugars and carbohydrates contained in these products.

Bottom line: If you must drink milk, limit the amounts of it, and measure how much you use. If you are one of those people who sips coffee throughout the day, be aware that when you pour your milk directly from the jug, gauging the amount you drink can be tricky. Most creamers should be avoided, as they contain a lot of sugar, but there are some sugar-free creamers available.

Fruit Juices

Avoid fruit juices as beverages, as one big glass of fruit juice can contain as much sugar as ten or twelve pieces of the fruit. Also, some fruit juices have added sugars, like high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose, to make them even sweeter. In addition, fruit juices don’t have the fiber and some of the nutrients that you get in whole fruits. Dried fruits are also something to be careful about consuming, as many have added sugar.

Sugar Substitutes

The big question on your mind may be this: if I am going to remove sugars from my diet, can I substitute alternative or artificial sweeteners to sweeten my beverages and meals? As you now know, sugar isn’t just the white stuff you put in your coffee; common table sugar substitutes, like honey and molasses, are also considered sugars, and it doesn’t help much to substitute one sugar with another.

This is really a difficult question to answer. On one hand, the goal is to reduce your intake of sugars and your dependence on them, so instead of using substitutes, you should perhaps focus on alternative foods. We know that the taste of sugars, and even the effect that they have once they hit our stomachs, can independently activate the brain reward systems. So, when you consume a sweet substitute, like aspartame, you could still be satisfying your addiction. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that sugar substitutes are always a bad idea. Just like morphine addicts sometimes need to take methadone to help them get clean, perhaps artificial sweeteners can help in the beginning stages of weaning you off of high-sugar, high-calorie foods.

There are many artificial sweeteners available that are used to sweeten a variety of drinks and foods without the added sugars or calories. But the question is, do they cause addiction like carbohydrates and added sugars can? The answer is probably not. Artificial sweeteners are, by definition, artificial. This means that while they can activate some of the hormones and neurochemicals in our body that are associated with ingesting real sugars, they don’t do it to the same extent. If you recall, one study reported that mice preferred glucose to protein even when they could not taste it, suggesting that factors aside from taste (for example, postingestive effects) may be involved in the rewarding effects of sugar. Similarly, when rats were trained with and given access to both glucose and an artificial alternative (saccharin) but the taste of the glucose was modified by adding an unpleasant taste to it, the rats still preferred glucose.
²
It appears that real sugars may have a stronger effect on our reward systems, and thus, may be more likely to contribute to addiction.

There has been a lot of buzz about the safety of artificial sweeteners (also referred to as nonnutritive sweeteners, because they have few, or no, calories), such as aspartame, saccharin, neotame, and sucralose. Besides being found on restaurant tabletops, ready to be added to a cup of coffee, they are often contained in some soft drinks, ice creams, cookies, jellies, yogurts, nutrition bars, and many other foods. Considering that these artificial sweeteners are becoming increasingly commonplace in our diets, one is left to wonder: are they safe?

Among the media, there is widespread concern about the effects of artificial sweeteners on health, and with good reason. There are a handful of studies that suggest that artificial sweeteners might not be as safe as one might think; studies have linked aspartame and saccharin to cancer,
^3
,
4
and identified sucralose as a migraine trigger.
⁵
However, there are several other studies suggesting the opposite, finding that they are safe. The FDA states that artificial sweeteners
do
not
cause adverse reactions. Similarly, with regard to aspartame, the American Cancer Society reports “no health problems have been consistently linked to aspartame use.” However, both do call attention to the fact that people with phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare genetic disorder in which people are unable to break down the amino acid phenylalanine, should limit their intake of phenylalanine from all sources, including aspartame.
⁶
Based on this evidence, artificial sweeteners are considered safe.

You might also wonder whether or not there are potential health benefits from consuming artificial sweeteners. With regard to weight loss, there is very limited evidence to suggest that the use of artificial sweeteners leads to decreased calorie consumption or weight loss. In fact, some research suggests that consuming artificial sweeteners is linked to, and might promote, obesity!
⁷
The American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association state that the data are inconclusive as to whether replacing caloric sweeteners (such as sucrose) with artificial sweeteners is beneficial for energy balance or cardiometabolic risk factors.
⁸
In other words, it is
not
clear if consuming artificial sweeteners helps with weight loss, energy balance, or risk factors having to do with our hearts and metabolism.

So, before you sprinkle NutraSweet and Equal into your coffee and think it helps you to lose weight, think again. But if you are having a tough time reducing your intake of sweets, artificial sweeteners may be able to help you transition from eating high-sugar, calorie-laden foods and get accustomed to this diet plan. However, remember that artificial sweeteners can affect brain reward systems in ways that are similar to sugars. So, if you find that they hinder your progress by triggering cravings for more food, then it might be better to avoid them completely.

What to Eat Instead of Junk Food and Other Carbs