DISQUS

Shirley · 2 years ago

OK, you're getting me hooked on this carbs/insulin article. If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were following me around, because more and more your articles seem to be describing me. I have much inflamation in my body. I thought it was just arthritis and I was just getting old (HA! can't be that one!). Your article gives me hope that maybe I can actually lose weight AND live without this painful inflamation AND, it seems, without tons of drugs. Changing how I eat does sound hard though. I can't wait to see those tricks up your sleeve you promised!

Cerebrl · 2 years ago

I am glad that this information is of real help to you. Since most authorities do not have this information readily available to the public, I feel that it is my duty to pick up the slack.

Hopefully, if we catch this early enough for you and others, drugs will not be needed at all. I have actually dealt with someone that is real close to me with this exact condition. She tried the drugs that are supposedly insulin sensitizers, and they did not produce the results that was worth the $100 a month for the prescription.

What she did find was the most successful was exactly what we be explained in Part Two of the above article. The trick is all in the mind; people that are insulin resistant are psychologically addicted to carbs and the chemical cascading effect that follows. Your brain will lie to you, and the trick is not believing the lie.

Well, thanks for reading and commenting, and we will see you at Part Two. Take care for now!

Marilyn · 2 years ago

hi every one good stuff given above Dr. Nancy Dunne has developed pcos Over the past few years, PCOS and ovarian cysts have become especially relevant to me. My 22-year-old daughter's menstrual difficulties and persistent acne have been diagnosed as aspects of polycystic ovary syndrome.Take a look at her book here:
Dr. Dunne's all about pcos .

Lisa · 2 years ago

I am living proof of this. I have been doing Desmaisons' Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Plan, and I am becoming less insulin resistant and am feeling great and dropping weight. I really, really recommend this to everyone.

Cerebrl · 2 years ago

Interesting, but sugar is not the only problem. Does she address insulin, starches, sugars processed and natural? The article above was addressing something very specific and just ridding your diet of certain sugars, while potatoes, grains and other starches are still being consumed, you will not see much, if any at all, results. If it works for you, that is great, I just am not sold on most of these plans, especially when addressing insulin resistance. I do thank you for your comment though.

Lisa · 2 years ago

Yes, the plan is done in steps, and it addresses getting rid of whites and sugars and caffeine and other sweet or addictive substances based on one's own body's reactions (as seen by detailed journaling of foods/feelings/physical reactions). To look at it as just a sugar free thing is only a very small part of it. It is 7 steps with many many small steps embedded. Meals consist of therapeutic protein dosage and complex carbs as a base.

Cerebrl · 2 years ago

That's interesting, does he/she address any of the psychological aspects of the addiction? From all that I have studied, the addiction to food is more psychological than it is physical. If you are addicted to say sugar, but you don't address why you are addicted to it, your addiction will just take another from with some other food, or action. I hope that is addressed because that is a large rationale behind nearly all addictions, especially food.

Thanks for the run-down on what the program is, I will take a deeper look at it in the near future. Take care Lisa, hope we hear from you again.

Lisa · 2 years ago

I used to think my addiction was a psychological issue, too. :) I tried all the therapy, diets, nondiets, cognitive behavioral therapy. None of it helped my obesity, bingeing, sugar fixation, insanity, or depression. Now, I have read a lot more, and the thing is that addicts to alcohol, sugar, and other stuff have lower levels of serotonin at birth. They also have unbalanced beta endorphin levels. They use drugs to bring up serotonin levels and BE levels. So, actually addiction is very much physiological. I can honestly say that's the truth for me. Just changing my food has changed EVERYTHING. No psychological help needed. Often, in recovery, the feelings that addicts have are sugar feelings, ie, they are brought on BY the use of the addictive substance.

Lisa · 2 years ago

Sorry!! I'd love to erase all but the last post. The message was that the comment was not received due to the server being down. Didn't know it posted three times. hehe.

Cerebrl · 2 years ago

Hey Lisa, don't worry about the multiple posts. Let me ask you a question though. What browser and operating system are you using, because it seems it happens frequently with you? Not that it is your fault or anything, it is probably your browser that is not communicating correctly with my web server.

As far as your addiction, there is definitely a portion of people that have addiction in their genes. It is interesting that you mention beta endorphins. I have not heard anything about that as it normally deals with pain or fear, and I will do some research on the subject. I would also like to ask if you went through withdrawals of any kind. If you did not, I have a hard time understanding how it was a physical addiction.

The reason I say this is because there has been no recorded physical withdraws that happen when sugar is removed from the diet of an addict, at least from what I have read.

With that being said and from what I know, your body does not build up a physical need for the sugar. So, when the sugar is removed their is not a massive deficit that in turns creates withdrawals. When people eat what they are psychologically addicted to it may raise certain neurotransmitters that elevate mood or pleasure, but it [sugar] does not take over or replace those neurotransmitters.

In contrast, when drugs or addictive chemicals replace what is "domestically" created by your body, and then it is removed causing a deficit of neurotransmitters in your brain, that is when withdrawals takes place because now the sufferer is imbalanced.

Again, I am not a neuroscientist by any means, but this is what I have read about in all the journals of medicine and science.

In addition, what the discovery is, is that there are about 3 to 4 very important psychological components that are responsible for addictions. One is leptin, and it has been know to be a biochemical responsible for satiety, kind of like a feedback mechanism for how much to eat. The second is dopamine and its receptors, usually the higher the persons body fat, the less dopamine receptors are present. What this means is it takes more dopamine (consumption of object of addiction) for the same feeling of "pleasure". Serotonin plays a big part for many things, yet I have not read much on its connection with food addiction. The last is the orbitofrontal cortex, it has been linked to addiction and controlling impulse behavior. When damaged or under-active it negates a persons ability to control the impulse behavior.

Either way, I am just glad that you are doing better. Addiction in any form is a really tough thing to deal with. I would also like to thank you for your contribution to this thread. I would love to continue this discussion. Has all your knowledge come from that one book? Or have you been doing so serious studying of this subject? Take care Lisa and hope to hear from you soon.

Lisa · 2 years ago

I use firefox and windows 2000.

The book that I read that explained my story to me was DesMaisons' first book, 'Potatoes Not Prozac.' She explains beta endorphins and how they are upregulated and downregulated with sugar usage, caffeine usage, etc. Chocolate and other things that have sugar can be used to get a BE hit or to take away pain or whatever. Once a person starts this (especially if the person is sugar sensitive), then the person becomes dependent on substances for the BE hit and for serotonin production. DesMaisons looks at it as a 3 legged stool: blood sugar, serotonin, BE. Most addicts have one or all of those things out of whack. For me, it was all three!

I would say that sugar withdrawal as well as caffeine withdrawal is very real. If one goes off of sugar cold turkey, it can be quite awful-- headaches, sweats, shakes, irritability, incapacitation. It is said to be as bad as heroine withdrawal for some folks. I can say taht I've tapered off of caffeine already, and it was a very real addiction for me. When I tried to go cold turkey in the past, it was painful! Sugar is the same; I think most folks in OA would tell anyone that.

I am still working through the steps of the program. I'm on step 4. So, I still have sugar in my diet in small, regular dosages. Doing this slowly makes withdrawals very mild. I plan to detox fully after we move house in the fall. :) here are the steps:
1. breakfast with enough protein (1/6 of total body weight not to exceed 42 g. at each meal), within an hour of waking, and with a complex carb
2. journaling food, feelings, and physical reactions
3. three meals a day, 5-6 hours apart, with enough protein and complex carb
4. eat a potato before bed or some other brown carb to help the body produce serotonin; take vitamins
5. switch from white carbs to brown ones
6. detox from sugar
7. get a life

These are the steps I'm following, and I'm 8 months into it.

Oh, I wanted to say, too, that dopamine is a part of it for many folks. It is that sparkly feeling. For me, coffee does that. It affects BE and dopamine in my system.

Joanna · 2 years ago

I am also struggling.. how do I start? when I took carbs of diet then had more energy. Where do I find this diet as I came accross this side by accident...

Thanks
Joanna

Cerebrl · 2 years ago

Hey Joanna, I am sorry to hear of your struggle. I cover the diet in some detail in part two of this series. Here is the link: Part Two of Syndrome X

If you would like more information on the diet please just comment with some specific questions. I am always willing to help people out as much as I can. Take care.

jimmy · 1 year ago

great discussion... i enjoyed this post

Cerebrl · 1 year ago

Thank you. I always love feedback. Hope to see you again.