As every type 2 diabetic knows, our basic problem is having too much glucose (sugar) floating around in our bloodstream instead of getting into our muscle cells because the receptors on those cells are blocked with fat. This excess sugar will eventually damage our body’s vital organs…heart, kidneys, brain, feet, and eyes…unless you can get rid of it.
Addictive nature of sugar.
There is no doubt that sugar is addictive.
Doctors inject naloxone when a person overdoses on heroin. This drug prevents heroin from attaching to receptors in the brain, and the patient usually recovers quickly.
In controlled studies, researchers offered volunteers sugary foods and recorded how much they ate. Subsequently, under the same conditions, they have administered naloxone intravenously to the same volunteers and then offered them the same sugary foods.
The researchers noted that naloxone causes a significant decrease in the desire for sweet foods. This strongly suggests that sugar affects the brain in essentially the same way as heroin and other opiates, though obviously not to the same degree.
It appears that sugar stimulates the release of opiates within the brain, and these opiates, in turn, trigger the release of dopamine that generates feelings of pleasure… in the same way that recreational drugs like alcohol, cocaine, and tobacco .
So what is the solution?
The preferred solution is to follow an ultra-low-fat diet for 4-6 weeks until the fat is cleared from receptors in the muscle cells, allowing glucose to enter and deliver its energy. At the same time, you should stop eating sweets and stop eating sweet things.
But if the latter is too difficult (because, say, you lack the necessary willpower), you could try to find a substitute for that sugar you eat… something that calms your sugar cravings.
There are two main groups of sugar substitutes…sugar alcohols and high-intensity sweeteners.
sugar alcohols
Sugar alcohols are carbohydrates with a chemical structure that resembles sugar, but also have components that make them an alcohol. They are 25-100% sweeter than sugar and have a similar taste.
Sugar alcohols include sorbitol, xylitol, lactitol, mannitol, erythritol, and maltitol, and are often found in toothpaste, chewing gum, and some “sugar-free” foods. Unfortunately, they are not calorie free.
Most sugar alcohols have between 1.5 and 2 calories per gram, about half the number of calories as sucrose (sugar), which has 4 calories per gram. Therefore, they will increase your blood glucose level, especially if you eat too much.
However, the sugar spike will not be as bad as you might expect. Sucrose has a glycemic index of 65, while sugar alcohols, such as xylitol, have a glycemic index of around 7. This means that sugar alcohols take much longer to digest and cause a slower, lower rise in blood sugar. blood glucose after meals.
Tea glycemic index is a reference to how quickly food is broken down in the stomach and absorbed. The higher the number, the faster food is broken down and the faster glucose is released into the bloodstream.
But on the other hand, because sugar alcohols are more difficult for the body to break down, some of them remain in the intestine, and if you consume too much, you may experience digestive discomfort such as gas, cramps, or diarrhea.
Another problem with sugar alcohols is that they are often packed with higher amounts of fat or salt to make up for the reduced sugar content…there seems to be no winning.
high intensity sweeteners
Also called artificial sweeteners, high-intensity sweeteners are no- or low-calorie alternatives to sugar. They are made from a variety of sources and can be 100 to 20,000 times sweeter than sugar. Some can leave a bitter or metallic taste in the mouth. Two newer artificial sweeteners, stevia and SGFE, come from plants and are sometimes referred to as natural sugar substitutes.
The use of high-intensity sweeteners can obviously reduce carbohydrate and calorie intake. But if you replace the lost calories with calories from other food sources, you will lose the benefits you need.
In fact, researchers have seen this in some studies on high-intensity sweeteners. Some of the trials show no difference or even possible weight gain when using these sweeteners. But in other studies, where food intake was better regulated and patients did not replace these free calories with other high-calorie foods, weight loss was maintained.
Food to go
The big downside to sugar substitutes is that they don’t break the sweet tooth habit… so when the substitutes aren’t available you’ll go back to using sugar… that’s why I recommend you don’t use substitutes It’s much better if you take away the sweet tooth.
This is what I did and I didn’t find the process of giving up sugar in my tea and coffee particularly difficult. Just remember one great truth… except for our taste in breast milk, all our tastes, our acquired tastes… what you have gained with practice, you can lose with more practice.
