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Is Sugar Really Acting Like a Drug in Your Brain?
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May 23, 2025
The sweet lure of sugar is everywhere, sneaking into our diets more than we might realize. As our taste preferences shift toward the sugary side, serious questions arise about sugar’s addictive nature. Inside our brains, sugar sparks reactions that are surprisingly similar to those caused by recognized addictive substances. Listen now to explore the science behind sugar cravings — and read more here: https://reluctantlowcarblife.com/is-sugar-an-addictive-substance-2/ #ReluctantLowCarbLife #SugarAddiction #LowCarbLiving #HealthyHabits #FoodAddiction #CutSugar #BrainAndSugar #HealthAndWellness
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[Music]
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this is Anita from Reluctant Low Carb
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Life If anyone has struggled with
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addiction and specifically sugar
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addiction you understand that sugar can
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be and is very addictive Today I want to
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talk about or answer the question is
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sugar an addictive substance
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i believe sugar is yes an addictive
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substance Why because the sweetness in
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our mouth and in our brain It causes our
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dopamines and we that's why you feel so
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good after you eat sugar Your brain it
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just triggers something in your brain
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You feel good You have this high and
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then you have this low and then you want
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it again So you eat it again So you get
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this high and then this low It's sort of
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like this reward sort of circuitry that
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goes around with sugar you know releases
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this dopamine comp compared to certain
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types of drug or drug abuse In fact
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there are some people that say that you
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know sugar is addictive as as things
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like cocaine that sugar can be extremely
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addictive You know some people have a
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higher tolerance for it than others but
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of course if you don't have a high
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tolerance and the withdrawal it can be
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very difficult for you to withdraw from
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sugar completely That's why you can sit
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down and and I've done this and maybe
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many of you out there are feeling like
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this Maybe suddenly you have a bag of
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M&M's and you before you know it you've
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eaten the whole bag You know like I'm
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not talking a small bag I'm talking a
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bigger bag right and um you got a small
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bag anybody can eat through those It
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becomes you know you're just sitting
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there and you're and before you know it
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you're you're eating that not even
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realizing you're eating it and suddenly
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you've eaten it or a whole box of
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cookies where you're eating it and you
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didn't even realize that that whole box
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of cookies is now gone
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That's because the way the sugar makes
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us feel and how addictive sugar is into
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our brains that there can be this you
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know psychological aspect of sugar
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addiction People have actual withdrawals
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from sugar You can feel actual
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withdrawals from it It can change your
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mood swings You don't feel maybe as
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happy when you don't have sugar in your
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life You have withdrawal symptoms like
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you would have from maybe if someone who
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had like a drug addiction But there is a
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cost to our sugar addiction And well
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that's one of the big uh problems here
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is that you know there is a health cost
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to our sugar
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addiction You know excessive sugar um
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leads to chronic you know diseases as we
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know That's why you know you know
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diabetes has gone up so much um
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especially the last 20 or 30 years that
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diabetes has gone up very very high
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because of the overconumption of sugar
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Most of us are eating more sugar than
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what we think we're
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eating You ask a lot of people they
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might say "Well I don't eat much sugar I
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don't eat hardly any sugar at all." But
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what the problem today is so many people
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are eating processed foods and alloced
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foods that it's not just the candy
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you're eating Of course if you're eating
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candy you understand that you're eating
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sugar It's all the added sugars which is
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in the food that we are not expecting it
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to be in the foods itself which is
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causing us to have uh more sugar and
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sugar addiction than we've ever had
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before So you know there's different
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ways that we can look to com combat this
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First of all the number one way is to
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start with education is educating
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yourself about the perils of sugar And
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two you know starting to eat as we talk
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about eating fresh foods and foods that
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help that are fresh that help give you
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satiety If you're going to eat sugar
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then add the sugar in yourself In other
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words you know if you're going to you
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know decide you're going to have a
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cookie well then bake the cookie
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yourself so you know how much sugar is
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exactly in that cookie If you are going
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to have you know sugar in something you
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cook you add that sugar and you know how
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much it is or do like I do substitute
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for great sugar substitute like monk
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fruit sugar which I will if a recipe
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calls for some sugar it needs a bit of
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sweetness I will use monk fruit sugar
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which has zero calories and doesn't work
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the same way as sugar does but also
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still gives you the sweet taste So find
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ways to educate yourself and to be be
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creative with it but don't you know buy
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all these packaged or you know packaged
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foods which you don't know how much
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sugar is in there and then really you
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have so you're eating more sugar than
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what you think you are because you're
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eating those packaged foods or you're
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eating out in places and you don't know
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how much sugar has been added into the
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food that they are serving you there
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That's why things like fresh foods and
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whole foods is a great way for you to go
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because you can really understand what
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kind of sugar you have in there So when
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we ask the question is sugar addictive
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my answer to it is is yes that I believe
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sugar is an addictive substance My
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co-orker James Johnson has written a a
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blog post on this called is sugar an
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addictive substance where he goes into a
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lot more detail than I have and he talks
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a lot about sugar and how sugar is an
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addictive substance If you're interested
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we will put a link u to the blog post in
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the description below so that you can
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read more about that and find out
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discover why sugar is addictive So just
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in closing just remind you are my rules
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on sugar as one If you can if you're
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cooking use a sugar substitute something
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like a monk fruit sugar If it recalls
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for a little bit of sweetness which
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recipes do we like that sweet taste in
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our mouth It will not work the same as
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an addiction as it does for real sugar
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If you can't you know put in put in less
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sugar than maybe what the recipe calls
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for And eat fresh foods That's what we
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talk about here a lot because then at
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least you know then how much actual
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sugar is in that food or get your sugar
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in other ways like fruits and and in
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natural ways which is far better for you
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than eating you know just sugar plain
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and understanding that when you do eat
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candy candy does have sugar or cookies
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or packaged cookies or all those things
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have sugar in them and a lot of the
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prepackaged foods have sugar in them So
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you're eating a lot more sugar than what
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you think you are when you're eating
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those things So be realistic about your
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sugar intake along with your sugar
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addiction This is Anita from Reluctant
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Low Carb Life Thank you so much for
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listening Subscribe become part of our
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community and we'd love to hear from you
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and love to hear what you have to say
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Thank you
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[Music]
#Blood Sugar & Diabetes
#Candy & Sweets
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