I don't know about you, but me, when I wanted to slow down on the sugar, I turned into this :
Hard hard. Feeling tired, wanting to cry in front of advertisements on TV and tripping up anyone eating Italian ice cream in the street (mouhaha)... In short:I was just as pleasant to put up with (for me as for others) than the smell of good sauerkraut when you wake up on January 1st.
Faced with this transformation, perhaps even more frightening than that of the Hulk, I realized that sugar is really addictive, which scientists confirm. Jordan Gaines Lewis, PhD student at Penn State College of Medicine (USA) and author of a brilliant study on "the brain addicted to sugar", explains what happens to us when we stop (or at least when we reduce) sugar.
1/ Our brain assimilates sugar to a reward. Remember the "sugars" offered to "nice horses" or "nice doggies" in cartoons as a reward? Well…our brain does the same (tough on pride). Yep, the big chunks of cheesecake you bite into play on our brain's reward circuitry (known as the "mesolimbic circuit," if you want to show off) and stimulate the release of dopamine, the addictive molecules. Besides, our rascal in the brain activates hormones that sort of tell our body, "Hey, this cake is seriously good." I could remember that. "Poor of us.
2/ We are victims of our ancestors. Yes. Generally, we prefer the sweet taste to what is acidic or sour. Why ? BECAUSE OF OUR ORIGINS OF PREHISTORIC MEN AND WOMEN! "When our ancestors bit into berries, a sour taste meant 'Not ripe enough' while a sour taste meant 'Poison alert!' “, explains Jordan Gaines Lewis. Thank you ancestors, cool!
3/ We eat more added sugars. Yes, today it is very difficult to miss out on added sugars in all prepared dishes. However, the effect of these sugars is very sneaky:they make us addicted. It's a bit the same principle as with drugs:if you take them regularly (cigarettes for example), it's even more difficult to do without them because our "reward circuit" is hijacked. The more we eat, the more we are addicted to it. A vicious circle.
4/ We are really lacking. Yes, this feeling is real. Experiments carried out on rats have shown that a reduction in sugar can lead to symptoms of anxiety and depression. The most frightening ? Rats dipped in sugar water didn't even try to escape. In addition, a new study just published by the journal Physiology &Behavior shows that "sugar addicted" rats are more aggressive when 'craved'... Hence the 'Hulk'.
Ok, it's scary but it's not inevitable! We stop smoking, so why not reduce sugar? Just try to limit dishes with added sugars and reserve our sweets and pastries for real moments of reward and just to do yourself some good, from time to time. Because - let's face it - that's not why we're going to stop chocolate cakes for good (no, but).
