Why It's Harder to Quit Carbs Than Cocaine

Can you imagine going to a birthday party where everyone celebrates with a line of cocaine?

Maybe if you live in Hollywood or hang out with high rollers.

But most of us mere mortals who are not surrounded by mind altering drugs on a daily basis are more likely to be tempted by pizza and birthday cake than powders and pills.

Which is why it can be harder to avoid refined carbohydrates than cocaine.

First there are the TV commercials.

Unless you DVR your favorite shows and zip through the commercials, your subconscious will likely absorb hundreds of hypnotic images a week flashing images of happy people eating carb-laden foods.

Then there's work where a non-stop conga line of cupcakes and bagels dance into the break room on a daily basis.

For Sunday dinner, Aunt Sally serves chips, lasagne and ice cream -- unless it's someone's birthday and there's cake to go with the ice cream.

If you dare say "no" to the cake, Uncle Roger will chide, "What's wrong with you? It's a special occasion" -- as if someone having a birthday is a rare event.

Meanwhile, every day you pass dozens of fast food joints pushing crispy french fries and puffy buns -- and nearly as many coffee shops shilling adult milk shakes disguised as coffee drinks.

Even the new Starbucks Mini Caramel Frappuccino has 29 grams of sugar. That's 7 teaspoons -- three times more than a Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut.

Which means unless you hang out with a crowd that spends most of its spare time doing drugs, you are a million times more likely to be confronted with high-carb foods than heroin or cocaine.

Obviously, it would not be reasonable to expect your friends, family and co-workers to forgo their favorite refined high-carb foods.

What's important is to recognize how difficult it is for you to stray from the average American diet -- to deliberately decide to be different than the "normal" eating community.

When high-carb foods are pushed on you on a regular basis, it can takes enormous will power to resist them -- especially since they light up the pleasure center in your brain and can give you the same intense high as a street drug.

So when you do resist, be sure to high five yourself. Because it's way, way harder than it looks. 



More from Diet Skeptic:

Why I'm Addicted to Chia Seeds

Why Fat Head Pizza Is the Holy Grail of Low Carb Pizzas 

The Shocking Truth About Imported Olive Oil 

Making Cauliflower Rice in the Vitamix 

Why WebMD Doesn't Want You to Get Well


Follow Nancy's board Low Carb Recipes on Pinterest