Are you sugar sensitive?

You are probably wondering if you too are sugar sensitive. Let's start with an informal approach. Here's a simple question:

Imagine you come home and go to the kitchen. A plate of warm chocolate chip cookies sites on the counter just out of the oven. Their smell hits you as you walk in. You do not feel hungry. No one else is around. What do you do?

You may think the answer is obvious, but people who are not sugar sensitive respond by saying "Why would I eat a cookie if I wasn't hungry?"

People who are sugar sensitive might eat the whole plateful if they weren't hungry. For a sugar sensitive person, hunger is not the driving motivation. Those cookies mean comfort.

Being sugar sensitive means you have a special biochemistry. You have a different relationship to sugar than a person with a "normal" biochemistry. Your heart sings at the sight of a newly opened box of candy, your molecules seem to jump to attention when you get a whiff of chocolate. This sensation of your body jumping to attention is not about greed. It is the natural response of a sugar-sensitive person whose brain has just realeased a powerful chemical called beta-endorphin in response to a certain smell.

When you eat chocolate, is there a part of you that actually feels a greater level of self-esteem? Chocolate enhancing self esteem may seem like an outrageous idea, but chocolate releases beta-endorphin, and beta-endorphin causes an increase in feelings of self esteem. Your relationship to sweet things is operating on a cellular level. It is much more powerful than you have realised.

The problem is, sugar induced self esteem doesn't last too long. And having your self esteem wear off that quickly is a pretty fragile way to live. The good news is you can evoke beta-endorphin linked self esteem without the negative and addictive effects of chocoloate. You do not need chocolate! You need a sense of self-esteem based on an inner sense of well-being that comes from biochemical balance, clarity and well-being. What you eat can have a huge effect on how you feel. We'll see how to develop a food plan that can help you overcome the drawbacks of the sugar sensitive body you inherited.

Stay tuned for more articles...

Jekyll and Hyde

Are you aware of yourself, smart and sensitive to others' feelings? Are you committed to your own personal growth? Do you care about things deeply? Do you friends value you and respect your opinion? Are you successful in your work?

But do you sometimes feel your confidence slip away, leaving you in self-doubt and despair? Does it seem "crazy" that you can be so clear one day and so desperate the next? Worse, you may drop from the heights to the depths in the same day. It's almost as if another person were inside you.

You hate to admit it, but you can be moody and impulsive. You want to get things done, but your attention drifts. You lose energy and get tired. You crave sugar and turn to sweets and snack foods to get yourself going again. Sometimes you eat compulsively. You put on weight. You seem to have no self discipline. You often feel depressed and overwhelmed.

If this description fits you, you may be sugar sensitive. Your body chemistry may respond to sugars and certain carbohydrates (such as bread, crackers, cereal, and pasta) differently than other people's. This biochemical difference can have a huge effect on our moods and your behaviour. How you feel is linked to what you eat - and when you eat it.

Stay tuned for the next article on sugar sensitivity...