How addictive is sugar and flour? Susan Peirce Thompson tells us that...

So there's several lines of research on the, you know, food is more addictive than heroin and cocaine or as addictive as heroin and cocaine. Some, some make it look like as addictive, some more addictive. Some are in humans, some are in animal models. So for one thing, we've just got really good brain imaging scans of the actual site of addiction. So right in the nucleus accumbens area of the basal ganglia, you can see how in the obese brain, the dopamine receptors are more blown out than the dopamine receptors of even a heroin addict, an active heroin addict or active cocaine addict. Like the downregulation is just perfect. Meaning that if you're not engaged in getting a hit, either pursuing it or getting it, you feel itchy. Like a profound feeling of dis. Ease in your skin. Like not okay until you make the decision to go use. And as soon as you're on your way to go cop, whether you're on the, on your way to the convenience store to buy some chips or some candy bars or whatever, or you're on your way to the, you know, the dope man's house to get a hit, whatever it is, until you're, you're on your way to procure, you feel like you're crawling out of your skin. That's basically what it feels like. Like, not okay. And people, I think, fail to realize that the addicted addict isn't using to get high anymore. They're using to get normal. They're using to get back to baseline. So there's those studies, then there's research looking at, in animal models, you can sort of shock their feet as they stand at the trough to get a hit. And you can see how much shock will they tolerate to get their next hit. And so with those studies, it looks like sugar is as addictive as heroin and cocaine. And then there's studies taking animals who are already pre addicted to a drug, like intravenous shots of cocaine, for example. Then once they're addicted and you make them go a couple hours without a hit, so now they're shaking for a hit of cocaine, you give them a forced choice between a hit of cocaine, which they're already hooked on, or some sugar. And they prefer the sugar. They prefer the sugar even though you haven't pre addicted them to sugar. So those are some of the studies that make it look like sugar is even more addictive than cocaine. The preference for sugar is hardwired in, of course. It's preferred even by babies in the womb who haven't Ever been exposed to food of any kind, yet they've just been sucking down amniotic fluid. And they're connected, still in the uterus, by the placenta. That's how they're getting their nutrients. But the taste receptors develop within a few months in the womb. And if you inject a sweet taste, like saccharin, just an artificial sweetener, into the amniotic fluid, the fetus in the womb will suck down the fluid faster to get more sweet. So, like, well before birth, we already prefer a sweet taste. It's certainly hardwired in. So anyway, there's some of the research there. It's not controversial, like, just saying. The controversy around food addiction as a construct comes from the legions of counselors and mental health workers who are trained to treat eating disorder patients. These training protocols were created decades and decades and decades ago before we knew anything about addiction science. And they are taught to this day in their programs that there are no bad foods and that people with an eating disorder, bulimia, anorexia, background, the first thing is to get them off of their food rules and to make them eat normally, all foods like a normal eater would. And so those practitioners see it as a very dangerous idea to believe in food addiction. It's not controversial. To brain scientists who study addiction. It's like, well, there's the food addiction right there. It's like on the brain scan. It's not controversial. I hear you all, that you hate the thought of it, that it seems unfortunate that foods could be addictive, that it sounds silly, like we're saying you're addicted to air or something because you do need food to live. But just saying you need food to live, you don't need donuts to live. And they're addictive. Like, I don't know what to tell you. Right, but they are. So we still have a gap in the people who are being trained to help people in these fields. And, you know, food addiction is still controversial, but I'm going to put quotes around that because it's not controversial to some of us, you know, Hi, it's.

Michael, head coach at Optymyze, and I hope that you enjoyed that wisdom from our brilliant luminary guest faculty member of Optymyze. Coach, it's time. It's time to master yourself, to serve heroically and to empower others to do the same. Our world needs virtuous, heroic leadership. And you at your absolute best. Of course, helping you do that is what Optimize Coach is all about. You can find all the information and sign up to join Class 3, which starts soon at www.Optimize me, Coach. Let's be the change and change the world one person at a time together, starting with you and us today.