JJ Virgin, CNS Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Expert, author The Virgin Diet and the new Sugar Impact Diet was interviewed on the Anxiety Summit by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.
“The Sugar Impact Diet” and stress/anxiety
– The role stress and anxiety play in sugar addiction
– Why sugar is a drug and what it’s doing to our health and mood
– Why all sugar is not created equal and where it hides
– Why fructose is worse than glucose
– Can we eat natural sugars, fruit, honey and agave
– The dangers of artificial sweeteners
– Signs of high sugar impact and how the sugar impact diet works
– Why snacking may not be a good thing
Here is a snippet from our interview:
When you look at it, sugar is as addictive as cocaine. It’s more addictive than morphine. Connecticut College did a study where they looked at morphine and Oreos with rats and they both lit up the same pleasure centers/reward centers in the brain. The only difference was when the rats were given a choice between morphine and Oreos; they picked the Oreos because they were more pleasurable. Maybe it’s because with the Oreos you got a little trifecta because when you look at it what’s the worst thing? So sugar lights up the reward center and then you’ve got gluten and dairy, opiates, you know, caseomorphins and gluteomorphins and so just an opiate load to you when you look at something like cereal and milk, right, with all the sugar, gluten and dairy. So clearly you’ve got a drug and the more of it you eat the more of it you want.
stress and anxiety make you crave more sugar, you’re hungrier overall and then tired so you want things that are quick, energetic pick-me-ups and have unstable blood sugar. It’s like this trifecta of bad for setting you up for going after sugar
Here is one of the sugar-is-like-a-drug studies from 2013 – Sugar addiction: pushing the drug-sugar analogy to the limit.
research has revealed that sugar and sweet reward can not only substitute to addictive drugs, like cocaine, but can even be more rewarding and attractive.
The biological robustness in the neural substrates of sugar and sweet reward may be sufficient to explain why many people can have difficultly to control the consumption of foods high in sugar when continuously exposed to them.
And the rat oreo study/faculty research concluded with this:
Even though we associate significant health hazards in taking drugs like cocaine and morphine, high-fat/ high-sugar foods may present even more of a danger because of their accessibility and affordability
JJ’s new book Sugar Impact Diet launches November 4th – be sure to grab your copy to learn how you can lower your sugar impact today!
If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com
Hi Trudy and JJ,
I just listened to JJ replay and loved it. I am aware of sugar being poison and I try hard to keep it away from my 2y daughter. She loves veggies, fish and meat… and fruit. I don’t ever give her cookies, candy or bottled juice. However, it is sooo hard to go against the “normal”. She eats these sugary snacks at school (birthday parties or just when they get hungry there), and also when I pick her up from school, the other moms bring theses snacks and she wants them and eats them there. And I feel so desperate. I am the weird one there. I need to find good snacks for her. I always bring her fresh FRUIT or dates (!), although I knew it wasn’t perfect, and I thought it would be better than a cookie… So lost…Not sure what to give her that will make her forget about the cookies her friend is having right in front of her. She likes celery, but this can’t beat cookies right now. Maybe when she is older and can undersand how food works.
Thanks for the summit!
Hi Cota
The biggest thing for kids (and everyone in fact) is to have a good breakfast with protein – sets them up for the rest of the day and really does help with needing sugar. Make sure she has protein at each meal – it’s great she loves veggies, fish and meat. And have healthy snacks on hand – a boiled egg, jerky, nuts etc. Dates are high in sugar but don’t worry about giving her fresh fruit – she needs it!
Trudy
One more thing. I understand that I should lower my 2y daughter fruit intake, but I am also worried about the amount of protein she (or adults)end up eating at the end of the day. I hear all these experts talking about the ideal diet that should include protein, fat and slow low carbs/veggies. But I have heard that too much protein can damage your liver… So confusing.
Cota
Where have you heard that too much protein can damage your liver? I don’t know how much fruit she is eating but this talk was geared towards overweight adult women so please keep this in mind. I’d only consider reducing fresh fruit in kids who are consuming a LOT and/or may have candida
Trudy
Xylitol as sugar substitute, does it have any side effects?
Hi David
The goal is to get off all things sweet but xylitol is fine while you are moving in that direction. Too much can cause lose stool.
Trudy
Loved this talk. Just wanted to know what you view is on Essential sugars, the glyconutrients that we get from nutritious fruits and vegetables.
Many thanks
Hi Justine
Glad you loved this talk. If your question is for me here goes. I am of course a big fan of organic and beautifully nutritious fruits and vegetables! Glucose is a glyconutrient and we need it to survive but too much can be problematic as we are seeing. Galactose is another glyconutrient found predominantly in diary products and dairy can be problematic for some people.
Trudy
Hi again Trudy. Thanks for your two replies to my comments.
I will work on the protein breakfast for her! I am already on board with my own breakfast.
Thanks again.
Fabulous Cota!
Hi Trudy!
I recently purchased your Anxiety Summit Season 2 CD. Listening to it JJ mentioned her free gift “My Favorite Smoothie Guide”. I don’t find it in the transcript or on this blog page. can you tell me where I might get a copy?
I’d appreciate it if you could just email it to me.
Thank you for such wonderful summits!
Jan
Jan
This link has expired but here is a similar article on her blog http://jjvirgin.com/5-reasons-breakfast-virgin-diet-shake/ I encourage you to search her blog for other smoothie articles too
Glad you’re enjoying all the wonderful summits!