Sugar, Appetite: Bad Nutrition Slam Gets Worse by Joan Kent, PhD

Sugar, Appetite: Bad Nutrition Slam Gets Worse
By Joan Kent, PhD

Here’s some information about sugar and appetite that most people don’t know. Of course, some of you may know it, especially if you’ve heard my presentations on sugar, or read my book and my articles.

Anyway, this could be considered Part 2 of my last post. Here’s the info.

Endorphins

Sugar triggers beta-endorphin, usually called endorphins. Endorphins inhibit the part of the brain that causes satiety – the feeling that we’ve had enough food and don’t need to eat more. That part of the brain is the VMH.

When we eat sugar, the VMH is blocked by the endorphins that sugar triggers. So we want more food at a given meal. Or we may want to eat again sooner than we normally would.

Endorphins can also change which foods we want, as mentioned in a previous post. They’ll probably make you want more endorphin-triggering foods – sugars or fats.

Either way, sugar is likely to change your food landscape.

Priming

Endorphins from sugar trigger another brain chemical – dopamine – just enough to make us want to eat more sugar. This is probably the best reason not to follow the common advice to eat a little bit of sugar when you crave it. (Terrible advice!)

Some people are more susceptible to this ‘priming’ effect than others. If it affects you, you may find yourself wanting more sugar after you’ve eaten just a little bit.

Withdrawal

People joke about being chocoholics or sugar addicts, but other people know it isn’t a joke. If you eat sugar often, you may find that you crave sugar when it’s not around – or when some time has passed since you’ve had any. That could be a sign of withdrawal. If you’re also feeling kinda cranky, it most likely is withdrawal. If so, you’ll probably crave sugar and eat more of it.

Bottom Line
Sugar can impact appetite dramatically. As covered in a previous post, it can also increase fat in our diets. Think of all the sugary foods – such as ice cream or chocolate cake – that contain a lot of fat, along with sugar. Those fats are typically not healthful ones, making a bad nutrition slam even worse.

By the way, alcohol can affect appetite in similar ways, and sometimes with even more impact than sugar. But that’s a different post.

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Free Webinar! Please join me on Thursday, September 17 for an informative webinar called “Sugar: It’s Not Just Health – It’s Mood, Appetite & More”. RSVP by emailing me at drjoan@FoodAddictionSolutions.com with your best email. Webinar details will arrive in your inbox.