Addictions Part 1

Do you have a loved one who has struggled with addiction, or have you struggled with an addiction yourself? Addictions can be one of the hardest battles we fight in a lifetime. One of the most difficult parts is trying to understand what provokes th addiction and how we find ourselves trapped in a place of suffering, time and time again. This article will provide you with some answers and encouragement for healing.

Roots of Addiction

You might be surprised to learn that there are two different deep roots behind addictions: adrenaline surge dependency and glucose deficiency. Other factors can certainly play a part too, including life stressors, immense pressure, and abuse. Nonetheless, adrenaline dependency and glucose deficiency - or a combination of the two - are nearly always involved. This is unknown to medical research and science. From these root issues stem countless possible addictions, including to alcohol, drugs, sex, food, diet soda, extreme sports, and more.

The other unknown reason people struggle with addiction is due to toxic heavy metals in the brain such as mercury, copper, and aluminum.

Glucose Depletion

To understand addictions, we must first understand how important glucose is for our bodies. Glucose is a sugar found in fruits, starchy vegetables, and raw honey. Every single cell in our body runs off glucose for fuel. The brain needs critical levels of glucose to function optimally.

When we're deprived of glucose, we'll become obsessed with getting it from a different source because it's critical for our survival. If you've ever found yourself desperate for a sugary treat, a chocolate bar, a glass of wine or any kind of white bread or pasta, that's your body longing for glucose from fruits and vegetables.

One of the main reasons addictions are so prevalent is because almost everyone is walking around with some level of insulin resistance due to too much fat in the diet. The more fat hanging around in the blood-stream, organs, digestive tract, and lymph fluid, the more insulin is needed to try to force sugar through and around the fat saturation so it can enter into the cells and the body can function. Trying to get life-sustaining glucose into organs, muscles, and the nervous system while meeting resistance from excess fat is the true, unknown meaning of the term insulin resistance. Find out more about this topic in Liver Rescue.

When glucose levels in our body and brain are depleted, we open the door to a multitude of addictions, such as processed sugar addiction and alcohol addiction, and we set ourselves up for the second root cause of addictions: adrenaline addiction.

Adrenaline Addiction

Glucose is so critical for our bodies that it needs to be consumed every one and a half to two hours (the adrenal snacks I share in Medical Medium are ideal). If no glucose is available, our adrenals begin pumping adrenaline into the body so we can function and get through the day. This adrenaline surge is commonly known as a “rush”. But these days, most of us are running on adrenaline all the time and we might not even recognize what's happening. Adrenaline is not only highly addictive, but it's also destructive in our bodies. It's not meant to be something our bodies rely on day in and day out. The stress and pressures of life, poor eating choices, and environmental toxins can all play a role in daily adrenaline surges.

Becoming hooked on the feeling of adrenaline (usually unconsciously) contributes to almost every addictive pattern, whether it's to drugs, extreme sports, anger, coffee, or anything else.

Glucose depletion and adrenaline addiction can also create symptoms of confusion, brain fog, and fatigue in young people. This can lead to medications being prescribed for these symptoms and for conditions such as ADHD. This is often what's happening with students who struggle - part of what these young people really need is more of the natural glucose and mineral salts their brains run on from fruits, leafy greens, and vegetables. 

Food Addiction

As humans, it's critical that we eat, but many people experience pain, confusion, and suffering around food and eating issues. Every person has to plan out what to eat and when to eat, but it can be terribly confusing with all the misinformation out there.

If you struggle with food issues, know that you're not alone. Most people have some kind of issue with food. Some people eat too much, while others don't eat enough. Some people are consumed with worry about what to eat, while others forget to eat altogether.

It's true that many people use food to cope emotionally, but there's more to emotional eating than that. Our bodies are absolutely dependent on food to survive, so it's essential to look closely at our relationship to food, especially our relationship to glucose. Often what's really driving what we might call emotional eating is the body's desperate call for glucose. In times of stress and emotion, that need is greater because the body uses more glucose to combat the adrenaline surges that occur when we face heartbreak, betrayal, struggles, confrontation in the workplace, and everyday worries, pressures, and concerns.

The Right Kind of Sugar

If you continuously grab for the wrong sugars, including alcohol, candy, cakes, sodas and almost all packaged foods, you're likely deficient in the right kind of glucose in your brain and other vital organs. Because of this, you can become addicted to the wrong kind of sugar. When you crave the wrong sugars, what your body is actually looking for - and desperately needs - is the natural sugars in fresh fruits and starchy vegetables. The healing glucose these foods contain help the body in countless ways, including by supporting neurotransmitters and helping stave off addictions.

No-Sugar Diets

It's best to stay away from high-fat, no-sugar diets. Your body is made to run on glucose, so if you attempt to stay away from natural sugars, you may wind up with an adrenaline addiction as the adrenaline compensates for the lack of glucose. Running off adrenaline may cause some desired weight loss initially, but over time, the corrosive adrenaline rushing through your body can burn out your adrenals and create and worsen other serious health conditions. Consequently, you may experience adrenal fatigue five to ten years after you attempt a longer-term, low-carbohydrate diet. If you are concerned about eating fruit, read my Fruit Fear article.

Avoiding the Adrenaline Rush

If you try to stay away from refined, unhealthy sugars but don't replace those sugars with natural sugars from fruits and starchy vegetables, eventually adrenaline will begin to flood your system every time you see your favorite sweet treat or glass of wine. You may notice yourself feeling excited or internally shaking, which are signs of an adrenaline rush. Flood your system with healing natural sugars and consume some glucose every one to two hours to prevent these adrenaline surges from ravaging the body.

Your adrenals will race in anticipation of whatever you're addicted to. That means you can become euphoric from the adrenaline coursing through your veins even before you take a sip of soda, binge eat, have a drink of alcohol, or use a drug. It's challenging to break an addiction cycle once it begins. That's why it's so important to supply your body with ample sugars from fresh fruits and veggies.

When you're healing any kind of food addiction, it's important to incorporate leafy greens daily, especially spinach and maché. If you want to stop an addiction to chocolate, the answer is not to cut out all sugars. Instead, bring in glucose-rich foods and fruits that will help your brain and body thrive, including dates, melons, mangos, bananas.

Alcohol Addiction

If you struggle with an alcohol addiction, your brain is likely desperate for glucose. Although the methyl-sugar in alcohol can quickly get to the brain, it can also be incredibly harmful. Unlike the healing glucose in fruits and starchy vegetables, the methyl-sugar found in alcohol can pickle the brain over time, like cucumbers in a jar of vinegar.

Instead of flooding your brain with alcohol's harmful methyl-sugar, start flooding your body with the natural glucose it craves. Start replacing your wine and vodka with the foods from which these drinks were derived - grapes and potatoes, or whichever fruits you like best. Bringing any high-glucose containing fruit into your diet is critical as you begin to break free from an alcohol addiction.

Many people who are addicted to alcohol aren't that interested in food and get most of their daily calories from alcohol. To break this addiction, it's important to routinely eat snacks and meals that are glucose-rich throughout each day. Dates, dried mango, and fresh papaya are especially helpful.

Drug Addiction

If you're addicted to any kind of drug, you're likely suffering from glucose deficiency and adrenaline addiction. If you're addicted to opiates, you may have an opiate addiction as well as an adrenaline addiction. Unfortunately, these two addictions can work together to wreak even greater havoc. An opiate addiction can be incredibly hard to break, because when a person uses, their adrenaline runs full throttle. An amphetamine addiction can be challenging to break because every time a person takes an amphetamine, their adrenals flood the body with adrenaline.

To break a drug addiction, it's important to bring in an abundance of mineral salts from vegetables, leafy greens, and certain fruits. One simple way to bring in mineral salts is drinking a daily glass of lemon water upon rising. Another critical piece is eating the right kind of glucose, including wild blueberries, apples, melons, mangoes, and papaya. Raw honey is another incredible food that's jam-packed with minerals.

It's also important to eat nourishing foods every hour or hour and a half when you're healing from a drug addiction. Celery and celery juice can be incredibly healing for all addictions, but especially drug addictions. Celery can also help with the detox process by purging the liver of toxins, and people with drug addictions usually have extremely overburdened livers. It's critical to understand how the liver works and what it needs, which I share in my book, Liver Rescue . Finding a good doctor, clinic or rehabilitation support is also important for drug addictions.

Breaking Addictions

When it comes to combating addiction, it's essential to fuel your body properly and understand the role of adrenaline. For example, bulimia is a challenging disorder to break because it's easy to become addicted to the tremendous amount of adrenaline that surges - and can create a euphoric feeling - when the contents of the stomach are forced up. (Other factors, including emotional hardship and toxic heavy metals in the brain can also play a role in bulimia).

Glucose & Mineral Salts

A glucose deficit in the brain may be the problem behind as much as 90% of addictions. That's why eating plenty of fruits, leafy greens and vegetables is critical for breaking any kind of addiction.

In addition to their glucose content, many fruits and vegetables contain a high mineral content, which feeds neurotransmitters and supports and restores brain health. Spinach and kale are loaded with healing mineral salts. Other mineral-rich fruits include cranberries, wild blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, kiwis, dates, and melons.

To understand the importance of these natural mineral salts, let's take a look at the brain. The brain is filled with neurons. Each neuron has an electrical impulse that crosses from one side of the neuron to the other with the support of neurotransmitter chemicals. These electrical impulses need sodium, potassium, magnesium, and glucose to zip across the neurons successfully.

Unfortunately, when someone experiences severe stress or pressure, the neurotransmitter chemicals diminish, and the electrical impulses no longer have the support they need to cross the neurons. The electrical impulses may heat up as they try to cross the neurons, and they can begin to short circuit as a result. If enough electrical impulses short circuit in someone's brain, the person may become addicted to something like unhealthy foods because brain fog, confusion, and fatigue often result in excess hunger. In these moments, what your body actually needs is glucose and mineral salts, which can cool down the electrical impulses and support the neurotransmitter chemicals.

Heavy Metal Detox

Incorporating the heavy metal detox daily is another critical practice to include as toxic heavy metals can cause addictions. Clearing heavy metals out of the brain will allow neurotransmitters to rebuild and thrive. The Medical Medium Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie is a great way to get the five essential heavy metal detox foods in daily: cilantro, wild blueberries (or wild blueberry powder ), spirulina , barley grass juice powder and Atlantic dulse.

Healing Foods & Supplements

* GABA and 5HTP for neurotransmitter chemical support.

* Lemon balm for the nerves and brain.

* California poppy to help break any kind of addiction.

* Inositol or any supplement that contains inositol.

* Vitamin C supports the adrenals and heals nerves that have been injured by past adrenaline surges. Consider Micro-C.

* Passionflower and elderflower tea for the nervous system.

* B-12 with adenosylcobalamin and methylcobalamin is critical and a high-quality B-complex supplement can be incredibly supportive.

* Valerian can be really helpful, though it may not be the best for someone with a sensitive stomach or sensitive nerves.

* Ginger can help break addictions.

* Barley grass juice powder and spirulina are powerful foods that are loaded with minerals and can support neurotransmitters as well as remove heavy metals from the body and brain.

* Fennel is an incredible addiction-fighting food filled with mineral salts and vitamin C. If you're looking for a healing drink, try making fennel and celery juice.

* Wild blueberries, the most powerful food on the planet, can be an amazing addition to your diet as you heal.

Try working with a practitioner who can help determine which supplements and foods best support you.

Lowering your fat intake can also help stabilize your adrenals and neurotransmitters and allow your body to absorb more mineral- and glucose-rich foods. If you enjoy meat, try cutting your consumption in half. If you eat a high-fat, plant-based diet, try lowering the total amount of fat you consume.

Moving Forward

Being human isn't easy in our world, and dealing with an addiction can be a brutal battle. Know that you're not alone - many people struggle with addiction. There are reasons for addictions, and there are steps you can take to give your body the support, food and supplements it needs to overcome any addiction. I support you, and I believe in you.

This item posted: 01-Mar-2017

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