Ted Tuesday: How Sugar Affects The Brain

"When you eat something loaded with sugar, your taste buds, your gut and your brain all take notice. This activation of your reward system is not unlike how bodies process addictive substances such as alcohol or nicotine -- an overload of sugar spikes dopamine levels and leaves you craving more"

Good Morning Folks,

Sugar is one of the most addictive substance. Yet, remember kids, sugar (or any one food or macro-nutrient) isn't the sole reason you're overweight and "addicted" to food. Don't go immediately jumping onto a Paleo diet. It is calories in calories out. The truth will always be that. With four million views between Ted and YouTube and 26,000 questions answers in this Ted Lesson, here is a subject everyone will admit thinking about several times a day. Now you can get honest advice.

Hooked From The First Bite
From the first bite sugar sends a message to the brain, activating the its reward system. That’s right; sugar has a similar effect on your brain to hanging out with friends, sex, and even drugs. This reward system is a series of electrical and chemical path systems across several different regions of the brain, Dr. Nicole Avena, a researcher in the department of psychiatry at the University Of Florida College Of Medicine explained in a recent TED talk. When you eat something loaded with sugar, your taste buds, your gut and your brain all take notice.

Why do we constantly crave sweet food? Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

This is your brain on sugar (via TED-Ed):

Sugar. Just the thought of a sweet snack can make even the most hardcore dieter weak at the knees. The promise of a single fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie can make children eat an entire plate of vegetables or motivate couch potatoes to run that one extra mile. So what exactly does sugar do to our brains that make it so, well addictive?

The liner notes from the presentation contained a lesson Dr. Atkins first taught me, the commented reported, "One of my clients were having trouble losing weight in spite of dieting for while. I went to her house to see what was inside her fridge and pantry.No surprise there: 90% of the food she was consuming had #hidden  sugars. #Sugar  is a delicious and  #addictive poison that is better consumed sparsely and please don't be fooled by  #lowfat, #light  anything or #sugarless anything."

There is a great site to learn more here and also at the Ted source.

Thanks for listening and have a GREAT Day,

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer  

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE.  

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