Carb
Addiction
By Lindsay // The Ketoneer
Food addiction is real. It is so, so real. I have had struggles with binge eating, overeating, and an overall unhealthy relationship with food. This is not an easy topic for me to talk about because it is and always will be an ongoing struggle. I hope if you have these same struggles, you will know that you are not alone.
Addiction
During my time in nursing school, I had to sit through AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings as a part of my curriculum. I had to go to a drug rehab center and interview an addict. I visited a behavioral health unit and sat through group therapy sessions. As a staff nurse, I cared for drug addicts in the hospital. I pumped alcoholics full of IV Ativan so they did not go into DTs. So, you could say I have been exposed to addiction. I am no expert, but I have witnessed it first hand. Something we all probably know about drug or alcohol addiction is addicts have to abstain to be sober. There is no casual use of substances for an addict. It is all or nothing. People who participate in AA meetings are not encouraged to go have a few drinks with their friends on the weekends. You are either sober or you are not. There is no such thing as “half sober.” Addiction can feel like an unstoppable force. Once an addict starts back on their path of using their substance of choice, they can’t easily stop. It consumes their daily lives. It often takes support and vigilance to establish and maintain sobriety.
Hi, my name is Lindsay and I am a carb addict. This may seem funny to you, but I am serious. I am not trying to make light of drug or alcohol addiction. I feel I am truly an addict. My substance of choice is food instead of drugs. I have used food to abuse my body over the years. If I “cheat” and eat carbs, sugar, and processed food, I literally feel like I can’t stop. I don’t want to stop. It is all I think about. All I want to do is think about food and what my next “fix” will be. It is like someone is constantly whispering in my ear, encouraging me to eat more junk food. I will binge to the point of feeling sick. I feel out of control. Getting back on keto after a cheat meal, day, or even worse, a week, sometimes feels impossible. It feels like I am standing at the bottom, looking up at a mountain I have to climb. The fact that I have headaches that cause me pain when I eat a lot of sugar is honestly sometimes the only reason that I get back on the wagon. I feel bloated, tired, and depressed. I sometimes have to get to the point where I am in physical pain to want to stop shoving carbs in my mouth. I know keto is the antidote. I know it is the only thing that will make me feel like I am back in control. I feel like a prisoner to my hunger when I eat the standard American diet. Keto sets me free. Keto is my AA meeting. Talking to my ketoneer family (you reading this blog) is my group therapy.
Carbs and the Brain
There are multiple rat studies showing that animals will choose sugar over cocaine. Obviously, it would be unethical to conduct these types of studies on humans. But, there have been brain scans done on humans that show sugar lighting up the same parts of the brain that light up in cocaine users. Here is an article showing an example of this: https://www.mic.com/articles/88015/what-happens-to-your-brain-on-sugar-explained-by-science
To say that sugar is addictive would be an understatement. Grind up the sugar, mix it with some super fine flour and processed vegetable oil, and you have the recipe for America’s drug of choice: processed packaged food.
Taming the monster
Processed food messes up your hunger signals. It gets absorbed into the GI tract extremely fast. That is why eating an entire bag of doritos seems like an easy task. Fat, protein, and real food are more satiating. It takes much longer to digest, therefore keeps you full longer. Eating three ribeyes does not sound like an easy task. Fat causes little to no rise in blood sugar and insulin. Filling up on fat and protein is the solution for me. I know that if I eat sugar and processed food, I am buying a ticket to get back on the insulin/blood sugar roller coaster that turns my stomach into a bottomless pit. Keto will not cure your unhealthy relationship with food overnight. But it is the start. Temptation will always be there. The hunger monster may not completely go away, but his voice will be quieter and less frequent when you are on keto and abstain from processed carbs.
I hope having this information will help open your eyes to the addictive properties of sugar and processed carbs. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Once I admitted I had a carb addiction to myself, I was finally able to acknowledge my problematic eating habits. If you are having trouble transitioning off of unhealthy processed food and/or are having out of control sugar cravings, check out my products page. I have recommendations for sweets and replacements for common junk food that could help you transition. These are things I reach for if I am having cravings.
As I’m reading this, I’m fighting with a sausage egg mcmuffin that won’t let go of MY cheese. Scraping it off with my fingernails, secretly hoping that I’ll accidentally get a taste of the muffin. I think it’s great that I am blessed enough to have a young fellow ketoneer who gets that! I’m sure I’m not your only follower who could never take advice, let alone inspiration, from someone who doesn’t have a real addiction. Don’t even try to tell me how to fight this if you’re not fighting it too!!! Keep your chin, or in my case chins, but not for very much longer, up and march on ketoneers!!!!!!! We got this.
Yes girl! Yes! We got this. We can fight the addiction together.