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Sweet Tooth - Sugar and It’s Imitators

Tue, 2 Aug 2011 09:37:02 -0400

Sugar does two things to you physically. The first thing it does is supply the most immediately accessible fuel in the body. The second thing it does is raise seritonin levels in your brain so that you feel good.

The taste of sweet does two things as well. Most obviously, it immediately creates a very pleasurable sensation. The second, more esoteric effect is that is raises the appetite levels of the brain... not just for sugar, but for all foods, which affects your natural portion control.

So what does this mean about my Sweet Tooth?

Well for one thing, it means it is NOT my body craving sugar for its fast access to fuel unless I have hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). In fact, most people going into hypoglycemia take sugar as a learned response, rather than a craving. And being type 2 diabetic, low blood sugar has been rarely a problem, as I test my blood regularly.

What it could mean is that I am addicted to the heightened seratonin levels. That I am getting a mild “high” off the sugar I eat. Scientists have proposed that possible theory a long time ago. And while I don’t throw that one out completely, I have to say that there is less probability for me personally, because I am permanently on antidepressants to control a chronic depressive disorder. In other words, I’m pretty aware of when I’m down. And when I’m down, my reaction might be to go cry in my pillow for two or three hours, but never to have an ice cream or chocolate fest. (except those traumatic or heartbreaking event kind of things- but that is not ordinary depressive episode - then ice cream/chocolate is fricking medicine!- and taken in controlled quantities with a friend!)

So this brings me personally down to the nitty gritty - the taste of sweet itself. The taste of sweet and it’s pleasurable experience is more than likely a total addiction.

And the more I have, the more I want. If I have been off of sugar for a week, and then eat something sweet, it is UBER sweet! A DQ Midnight Truffle Blizzard Treat is practically like a spiritual experience! It is like a ...well... you know what I’m talking about, this being a G rated blog. THERE is the “drug” addiction! My brain has recorded this experience and the taste and rated it on a scale of one to ten, a 15!!! I want to keep this feeling forever!!!

But after the prior experiment in my last blog, I learned that my brain could be fooled. By the time I have finished that small Blizzard, provided I ate it slowly, I should have realized that the taste and flavor had diminished to a point where I was no longer experiencing a 15, or even a 10... more likely maybe a 5 or a 7. And would not be able to acquire that original experience for at least a week without sugar. Nooo! My brain is saying more! And Godde forbid that I have ANYthing with sugar or artificial sweetener in the house, or it is GONE! It is not my body, it is my brain that remembers that experience all too well and wants it again.

And even if I try to appease my brain with artificially sweetened tea or soft drinks, I now have to deal with that esoteric problem... my appetite has increased... and for me, by volumes. Which means if I stay on my diet for the rest of the week, I am eating so many “free” veggies that I could consume a weeks worth of groceries in them. I can now really begin to see why the holidays have always traditionally been the worst time for food consumption.

And as a side note, it has always been the worst time for my depression to spike, many times beyond unbearable. My doctor once told me it was not the sugar that caused my depressive disorder, but higher levels of sugar in the blood makes it more difficult for the body to repair injuries. And that is what my depressive disorder is... an chemical imbalance that causes injuries to the neural pathways in my brain. This helps me to understand why November has always felt like entering the psychological mouth of hell for me, unless I am already on proper meds. And have kept sweets out of the picture.

My name is Deborah Jackson, and I am a sweetaholic!

Blog Author - Deborah L (Shutek) Jackson

Sweet Tooth - The Experiment

Mon, 1 Aug 2011 15:10:47 -0400

I need you to help me by doing an experiment.

Take a piece of fruit that you love and cut it into 10 - 15 small pieces. Very slowly take a piece and as you eat it, concentrate on the sweetness as well as the flavor. After you have done this and swallowed, repeat this carefully and slowly until you have finished. Midway through, take not as to whether or not it tastes as sweet or just the flavor. By the end of the experiment, do you experience the same amount of sweetness or flavor?

My results were that I did not. By the end of my snack, the sweetness was considerably less and even the flavor had diminished quite a bit. Like gum that had been chewed until there was only a hint of flavor and sweetness.

The sweet taste had dulled. Even the artificially sweetened tea I drank afterward was not quite as sweet. Yet I craved that sweet sensation that I had to begin with at the beginning of the experiment. Somehow, I instinctually believed that eating more sweets would retrieve that sensation, even though now I logically knew it wouldn’t.

How many times have I said that I just can’t get enough of sweets, when in truth I have deceived myself completely! So then, what really is a “sweet tooth”? What makes my car want to turn into an ice cream place as I pass by? What makes me want to grab a handful after handful of M&M’s, when after the end of the first handful I am only experiencing an illusion?

Has anybody else experienced this as well?

Blog Author - Deborah L (Shutek) Jackson

Staying Thin and Adjusting!

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 18:31:03 -0400

“I am an artist illustrator who has illustrated children’s literature and a cutting edge tarot deck and researches symbology.”At the bottom of this page, there are two very different pictures of me. Which face making that comment would you consider more credible?

Since May of 2010, I have been working very hard at losing weight. Ok, I haven’t quite finished. But I’m only shy of 8 lbs before I hit my one hundred lb goal. It amazes me that there are support groups for all sorts of traumatic adjustments in life, but we have NONE for those of us that have lost so much weight that people no longer recognize us.

Not only that, but you normal people treat me differently, now. About the time when I am psychologically prepared to push the issue with both guns, you are friendly and pleasant, leaving me dazed and confused. And times when you would have found me incapable of doing something and treated me so rudely that I would just prefer to decline even trying, you’re now aggravated that I didn’t just hop in there. Something inside me knows that you are reacting to the real person inside of me, but, you see, that only messes up my brain because I have been already programmed after many years to act and react differently in order to get you to understand where I am coming from. And that also means a certain amount of accepting that you really won’t get it completely but with luck close enough.

So I have to say for the first half year of being smaller, I have walked around in disorientation and confusion. because I have really begun to understand that who I was underneath, my subtle movements and facial expressions, the emotions I felt, the thoughts I was thinking, were all distorted in your eyes. This is the longest I have ever stayed this thin and the first time I have come to this realization. And I am still learning to adjust... All by myself. It is not easy. I made myself a social recluse for many years, because I couldn’t adjust to how I was misperceived. And I now have to learn to trust again. But this time I can truly understand why I was misperceived. Don’t get me wrong - I am still a crazy artist... always will be! But I find that even in that I am taken just a bit more seriously. So to tell the truth, if both people below said the original statement at the top of the page, who would have made a more credible statement?

They are both me!

Blog Author - Deborah L (Shutek) Jackson