Eat sweets to relieve stress? Beware of sugar addiction

Do you crave chocolate when you’re anxious? Do you always unconsciously reach for cake when you are depressed and rely on eating sweets to relieve stress? A professor of anti-aging management medicine at Juntendo University in Japan said that the habit of eating sweets to relieve stress is actually a kind of "sugar addiction." The inability to control your dependence on sugar will greatly increase your risk of developing diabetes and metabolic syndrome. If you want to quit this sugar addiction, it is recommended that you follow the Bai Ze "keto diet" principle in your daily diet, so that you can say goodbye to sugar completely!

The habit of eating sweets to relieve stress is actually a form of "sugar addiction."

In his book "To Be Beautiful and Live Long", Takuji Shirasawa, professor of anti-aging management medicine at Juntendo University in Japan, pointed out that sugar can indeed make the brain produce dopamine, which brings pleasure and improves mood, but it is also a "mild drug" that makes you want to eat more sugar to feel satisfied when you are under stress. Medical research in recent years has found that people develop unbearable "addiction" symptoms to the sweetness of sugar, just like they do to alcohol or cigarettes.

Sugar is addictive and causes symptoms of dependence that cannot be broken

The reason why sugar is addictive is that it is a delicate sweetness artificially extracted from raw materials such as sugarcane. It is a seasoning that is designed to cater to human desires and make food as sweet as one wants. The sweetness of sugar is different from that of natural fruits such as bananas or apples. Excessive intake of artificial sweetness will paralyze the dopamine receptors in the brain, a neurotransmitter that brings pleasure. Once the sugar intake is insufficient, the satisfying pleasure cannot be obtained. In order to obtain the satisfying pleasure, more sugar must be consumed, leading to an uncontrollable addiction.

Follow the 4 principles of Bai Ze's "keto diet" to completely quit sugar addiction

If you are addicted to sugar and cannot control your sugar intake, you may increase your risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. In order to break this state of sugar addiction, Professor Shirasawa Choji recommends that it is best to continue the Shirasawa-style "keto diet" for 2 to 4 weeks to improve your physical condition.

Please maintain the following 4 principles in your daily diet and try to reduce sugar intake. For staple foods, it is recommended to replace white rice with brown rice. It is fine to feel full as usual. If you want to add variety, you can add eggs or dairy products, natto, tofu and other healthy foods.

If you want to break this sugar addiction, it’s best to drink homemade vegetable juice for breakfast.

【4 principles of Bai Ze keto diet】

Principle 1/Drink your own vegetable juice for breakfast.

Principle 2 / Eat vegetables and meat, or vegetables and fish for lunch and dinner.

Principle 3/ Eat nuts as snacks.

Principle 4 / No alcohol.

Keto diet recipe examples

★Breakfast: Cabbage and turnip kiwi juice (for 2 people)

Ingredients: 50g cabbage, 50g turnip, 80g kiwi fruit, 200ml soy milk.

Method: Put vegetables, kiwi fruit and soy milk into a blender and blend until they become easy to drink.

★Lunch: Fish as main dish

1. White grilled salmon.

2. Pumpkin soup.

3. Serve broccoli with salt koji dipping sauce.

★Dinner: Red meat as main dish

1. Fillet steak.

2. Tomato and asparagus salad.

3. White radish and pearl mushrooms.

7 key points to maintain a healthy diet to avoid sugar addiction

After 2 to 4 weeks of keto diet, your body will basically be free from sugar addiction. When you resume your normal diet, please pay attention to the following precautions to keep your body and mind healthy:

1. Maintain the habit of drinking homemade vegetable and fruit juice for breakfast.

2. Try to avoid sweets.

3. Replace the staple food with bread made from brown rice, whole grains, or whole wheat flour.

4. Seasonings can be replaced with larger crystallized coarse sugar, koji paste, and salt koji.

5. Eat enough vegetables.

6. Eat fresh, unprocessed, high-quality protein.

7. Eat fermented foods that are good for your health.