Northfield Chiropractor Gets Real About Health and Sugar Addiction

Nicotine is an addictive substance. People who are addicted to nicotine are susceptible to lung, throat, or mouth cancer.  Lung, mouth, and throat cancer are expensive and deadly. Therefore, you should stay away from nicotine.

That is not very provocative, and even a children know that story.  How about this story?

Sugar is an addictive substance. People who are addicted to sugar are susceptible to diabetes. Diabetes is expensive and deadly. Therefore……

That one is not as well known, but more people in today’s society can be considered addicted to sugar. The problem is that most people don’t know they are addicted. There is not that general understanding like there is for tobacco or cocaine. They don’t know that there is an amount of added sugar in just about everything that we consume. The food industry knows this too.  This article talks about what McDonald’s knows about your brain.

Imagine if a food company put small amounts of nicotine in your child’s food. You would be outraged! Why are we not outraged by the added sugar? That is because we allow them to do it. The clever ads and marketing has just brainwashed us into thinking that Lucky Charms are fine for kids.  After all, it is considered a kid’s cereal.  We allow it even though it is setting them up for sugar addiction and possible diabetes.

This is not the only problem. It sets up the kid’s sense of what they enjoy in foods and drinks. There was an interview with a child on the radio that said that the child doesn’t like the taste of water.  What!?  This is one of three things that any living thing needs to survive, but soda has caused this child to think that water is not sweet enough. That poor child is not going to have a healthy life, and it is not his fault.

One problem might be that sense of enjoyment discussed earlier. When a person eats enough sugar there is a dopamine rush that causes that person to feel good. Perhaps it is that dopamine rush that we track down every time that we eat? We shouldn’t be eating to feel good. We should be eating to gain nutrients, but the food industry has us right where they need us.  They know that we will have down days, and they know that we will go straight for the dopamine inducing “feel-good” foods.

Call to action:

Take control of your sugar intake. Don’t let the food industry get you hooked on foods that have a hidden amount of sugar. Look at sugary foods the same way you would look at a tobacco company trying to convince your children that they should smoke or chew. Learn how to eat healthily, and pass that information to your children. Know that type II diabetes is preventable, and don’t let the food industry give it to you.

For more information on how you can eat healthier call Cannon Pointe Chiropractic 507-645-8000. It is not as complicated as you might assume