Sugar is thought to be just as addictive as cocaine so what is 'Sugar Shock'?

Sugar has the ability to boost energy levels and improve mood very quickly, so when you try to cut it out of your diet or you’ve gone too long without it, you’ll feel the ‘withdrawal’ effects, pretty strongly. This leads to a vicious cycle where you feel compelled to indulge your sugar cravings to make yourself feel better. What’s going on here and what drives you to seek out these sweet, sugary foods?

• Sugar shock #1 – Stress and emotional eating

  When you’re stressed, one way to make yourself feel better is to indulge in emotional eating, particularly with sugary foods. Sugar feeds your body’s ‘pleasure and reward’ response and while you’re under stress, this response can triple, leaving you constantly trying to satisfy sugar cravings to feel pleasure and reward Solution: Manage stress to reduce emotional eating and sugar cravings. Enjoy meditation or yoga, eat healthy foods, be active every day and get a good night’s sleep. Include herbs such as Licorice and Rehmannia to support and nurture your adrenal glands plus adaptogenic herbs Withania and Rhodiola to help you ‘adapt and resist’ stress

• Sugar shock #2 – Parasites, worms and bacteria

  Parasites, worms and bacteria may be telling you what to eat, especially sugar. They don’t have the ability to store any energy themselves so they need a constant supply of energy, and by driving your sugar cravings, they get the energy they need to survive, multiply and prosper, all at your expense. Solution: Starving parasites, worms and bacteria of their energy supply decreases their number and sugar cravings. The herbs European Wormwood, Black walnut hulls and Barberry can do this by starving parasites and worms of energy while Barberry, through its signature compound berberine, provides powerful broad-spectrum antibiotic action.

• Sugar shock #3 – Blood sugar roller coaster

  Sweet, sugary foods give you a quick hit of energy that makes your blood sugar levels soar, and once this energy is used up, your blood sugar levels crash, leaving you feeling tired, sleepy and irritable. This blood sugar roller coaster affects your ability to manage self- control, driving you to continually seek out more and more sugar just to keep your energy levels up. Solution: Balancing blood sugar levels with low glycaemic index foods along with herbs and nutrients such as Cinnamon, Fenugreek, chromium and alpha Lipoic acid help to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. Gymnema, also known as ‘sugar destroyer’ helps to reduce those sugar cravings too.

Many ways to combat Sugar Shock

As you can see, there are many ways to combat ‘sugar shock’. 'Ask a Naturopath' at Mr Vitamins to find out the best way to manage and conquer those sugar cravings.

Mr Vitamins recommends

Herbs of Gold Products to eliminate 'Sugar Shock' Find out more and shop online for these Herbs of Gold products below

• GlucoPlex
• ParaStrike
• Stress Ease Adrenal Support

        References Braun, L & Cohen, M. (2007) Herbs & Natural Supplements, An Evidence Based Guide (2^nd Ed.) Churchill-Livingstone, Elsevier Bown, RP et al Rhodiola rosea: A Phytomedicinal Overview, HerbalGram (2002) 56:40-52 American Botanical Council Darbinyan, V. Rhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue. A double blind cross-over study of standardised extract of SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night duty, Phytomedicine, 2000, Oct:7 (5):365-71. Hyman M (2012), The Blood Sugar Solution, New York, Little, Brown and Company. Murray, M. T. & Pizzorno, J, 2012, The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine (3rd ed.), New York, Atria. http://www.livestrong.com/article/96983-causes-sugar-cravings/ http://mindbodygreen.com/0-14975/crave-sugar-or-fat-blame-your-gut-bacteria.html