Pure Wellness Centers
Defeat Addictions
- Kicking the Sugar and Carb Addiction
- Drug, Alcohol, and Other Addictions
Kicking the Sugar and Carb Addiction
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Six months ago, Melissa didn’t believe she could lose her constant desire for sugar. A typical sugarholic, she remembers fighting a sugar craving every day.
“Sugar controlled me — my weight, my energy, even my social life,” she says. Some days she held out until after dinner, others she lost before noon.
“Grocery stores are full of it and it’s there when I pay for gas. They even have a dish of chocolate kisses at my bank.” Melissa felt surrounded. “I couldn’t resist,” she recalls. It is important to take pleasure in food and the occasional “treat” is to be enjoyed and savored. The problem is when the occasional becomes a compulsion.
Today, Melissa is in control of her sugar habit and can skip the sweets. Using simple strategies, she discovered, like many others, that it is possible to change her tastes in food.
What’s the big deal?
Research shows that sugar contributes to as much illness and suffering as other legal addictions, but suffers none of their social ostracism. Smokers huddle outside. Alcoholics have their own support groups. Sugar addicts ... well, someone at the office is always bringing them sugary treats.
Sugar’s load of extra calories is a major factor in controlling weight gain. But, scientific research also makes it clear that sugar contributes to cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes, infections, acne, depression, cataracts, nervous system conditions and chronic fatigue.
Sugar is far worse than “empty calories.” It is actually an anti-food. It steals nutrients. People live longer on nothing than they do eating sugar. This fact was first discovered with marooned sailors in 1806 and later verified by laboratory experiments.
The refining process removes fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals and requires the body to rob these essential nutrients in order to metabolize the sugar. It drains the body of B vitamins, chromium, zinc, magnesium and calcium. With fewer nutrients available, other necessary body processes suffer.
This applies to refined carbs as well as sugar. In Singapore, for instance, during a white-rice shortage, infant mortality was cut in half after a government decree ordering the consumption of whole, unrefined rice only. Refined wheat also has protein, fiber and a dozen nutrients removed. Many sugarholics and others consuming lots of processed food live in a constant state of nutrient depletion.
Why do we crave sugar?
Humans evolved as carb seekers. The tongue has its own parking place for sugar. The brain, which utilizes more calories than any other organ, constantly bellows “feed me.” The problem is that signal for calories becomes scrambled by our culture into “bring me sugar.”
When the genetics for sugar orientation were sorted out there was no such thing as refined sugar. Even the apple was smaller, less sweet and more crabby. In the last 200 years, we’ve gone from eating no refined sugar to an average per capita intake of 140 pounds per year. Think of a carbohydrate, or starch, as a long chain of carbon atoms, like links of a necklace. Refining is an artificial process that breaks the chain into shorter pieces. Short chains happen to taste sweet. Sucrose, table sugar, is composed of only two carbon molecules, fructose and glucose.
For thousands of years the major source of sugar to the human body was the digestion — breaking down — of long-chain carbohydrates. Now machine grinding and chemical reactions pre-digest our carbohydrates. Basically, refined carbohydrates release sugar into the blood stream faster than we’ve evolved to handle it. This challenges the cells’ energy-producing systems, throws hormones out of balance, and triggers the release of numerous harmful compounds.
Research shows that sugar increases the risk factors for cardiovascular disease — both heart attacks and strokes — by raising blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, clotting factors and inflammatory chemicals. A major concern for health authorities now is the huge number of baby boomers who have progressed from over-consumption of carbs, to weight gain, to high blood pressure and cholesterol, and ultimately to heart attack or stroke.
Melissa eventually became a poster-child for the effects of refined carbohydrates. “My weight continued up. My skin started breaking out when I was in my 30s. I relied on coffee for energy. Then came the blood pressure and finally, my doctor was saying ‘pre-diabetic.’ That got to me.”
Retraining your brain and body
Melissa felt like many people. “I thought it would be impossible. No way could I not eat sugar.” But after applying a variety of strategies (see below) she reported, “Slowly, I got stronger and I had fewer cravings. It wasn’t easy, but each day I felt better.”
After six months of recovery, Melissa felt like many others who doubted they could change their taste preferences. “I would never have believed it. I can actually go to events where they’re serving desserts and not want any. They’re just too sweet on my tongue. I have more energy, less depression and it’s helped my self-esteem not to be strung out.”
Like Melissa, you can gain control of the health-robbing compulsion for sugar. Take control of your sweet tooth and enjoy a sweeter life.
Drug, Alcohol, and Other Addictions
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Medical detoxification and nutritional rejuvenation are excellent treatments for drug, alcohol and other addictions because they:
- Speed removal of addictive substance from the body, especially the nervous system.
- Maximize nutrition, thereby enhancing recovery of damaged tissues and minimizing withdrawal symptoms.
As with all toxins, drugs and alcohol are primarily detoxified by the liver. The Pure Wellness program improves functioning of the liver’s detoxification capacity. Toxic chemicals are safely removed. The patient quickly feels better, with fewer withdrawal symptoms and little or no cravings.
Our treatments are also effective because they reduce depression, anxiety, pain and inflammation, conditions that contribute to the addictive behavior. When you feel balanced mentally and physically you’re less likely to desire drugs and alcohol.
The desire to stop addictive behavior is necessary for overcoming drug and alcohol abuse. The mind is a powerful healer. As part of our treatment we prescribe Cranio-Electrical Stimulation (CES). This therapy increases soothing alpha waves and mood-elevating serotonin. This helps you keep a positive attitude during your recovery, thus removing the desire for alcohol or drugs.
Components of the Pure Wellness system:
- Detoxification shakes that support the liver (and taste good!).
- Rejuvenating supplements that improve energy and reduce withdrawal symptoms and cravings.
- CES treatments for normalizing the brain and nervous system.
If you want to quit, we’re here to help you with safe, natural solutions for drug and alcohol addictions. Begin your recovery today by calling:
Seattle: (206) 324-2225
Renton: (425) 255-8100 Ext. 6