Does it really make you feel better to down that pint of ice cream? What is it that compels some of us to try to eat our miseries away? After all, nine times out of ten, we end up feeling guilty later.

While many of us eat, not because we’re especially hungry, but because we’re out with friends, or like the looks of that big, juicy steak, or we just can’t resist Mom’s cheesecake, many of us also lose control over our willpower and our ability to say ‘No’. So whether you’re eating when you’re not hungry because you want the companionship, or because you’re unhappy, anxious or afraid, the first step toward overcoming emotional eating is to determine its source.

Many people go beyond the occasional “comfort food” binges and become addicted to certain types of food. Gotta have a pizza with the works after a particularly bad day at work, or gobble down that package of cookies after an argument with your husband or wife? Ever wonder why the foods we ultimately reach for are bad for us? They’re the ones loaded with sugar, carbs, and fat.

When we’re upset, how many of us jump in the car and zoom off to a fast food restaurant to drown our woes in greasy burgers and fries, topped off with a milkshake no less?

Most of us don’t eat only when we’re hungry anymore. We eat because the clock tells us to, or because food is ever present in our society. When we’re upset, it’s easy to find a place that’s open, willing and able to cater to our food desires.

So how do you put a stop to emotional eating? The next time you’re upset, and before you reach for the pint of ice cream or super-size those fries, think about the guilt you’re going to feel later on.

Don’t give in to the craving, or to the emotion that drove you to food in the first place. If you’re angry with your husband, don’t punish yourself. If you’re frustrated with your boss, don’t take it out on your body. Find a healthier outlet for anger and frustration.

Here are a few things you can do the next time you get upset.

Wait five minutes. That’s easy enough, isn’t it? Many times, just the act of waiting is enough to overcome our desire to binge on sugars, carbs and fat.

Think about your long-term health. After all, when you succumb to binge eating, you’re only punishing yourself.

Find different foods to reach for when you’re upset. You can get  pleasure out of chomping a carrot in two (and it sounds very satisfying as well).

Break the cycle by finding something to substitute your particular comfort food. It sounds boring, but try shadow boxing, or punching your pillow instead of reaching for that chocolate bar. Do ten jumping jacks or take a quick walk.

Get your mind off food. It’s not the answer to what ails you.

Emotional eating is a bad habit, no doubt about it. It’s also a very powerful habit. Many of us think that if we can’t indulge when we’re upset, we’re somehow sacrificing pleasure and comfort. However, the long-term results of such attitudes leave most of us overweight, miserable and quite discontent.

Find positive, healthy ways to fight your emotions and learn new habits. Sure, it’s going to be difficult and oftentimes frustrating, but you’ll soon begin to feel much better.

Take it one day at a time. Expect to fail once in a while and when you do, don’t beat yourself up over it. Just get back on track. Pretty soon, you’ll be amazed at the changes you feel inside and see outside.

Holistic nutrition experts insist that our diets be balanced and that we remove any ingredients that are known to be counter-productive or even harmful. Government nutrition experts however do little to point out the significant problems caused by our over reliance on sugar and how this rather simple and unassuming product can cause an addiction as bad as some of the items listed within restricted schedules.

Like any addictive substance, refined sugar has little or no value for your body. Quite the contrary, ingestion tends to draw on vitamins and minerals present within your bloodstream for processing. We can see quite an analogy between some of the most addictive and dangerous banned substances and our innocent act of eating or drinking sugar. Each has the consequence of creating an unnatural “high” and each can cause long-term organ damage over time.

When we add sugar to foods or drinks or rely on processed items that are heavily infused with simple sugars, then we are choosing that initial boost of energy and reward because of our “sweet tooth” with a subsequent crash and a conversion of the ingredients into stored fat. While some of the protected, scheduled drugs may be known to create problems for our major organs, an overreliance on simple sugar intake can lead to an excess of insulin production and the onset of diabetes. All that stored fat will invariably lead to obesity and all the problems that condition brings with it.

When sugar was first introduced to our diet it was touted as the purest form of food and one which required very little in the way of preparation. It is this very simplicity that has undoubtedly caused simple and refined sugars to become one of the scourges of our modern diet. Drugs often represent the easy way out within any situation and sugar represents an easy, every day, “acceptable” fix.

Holistic health solutions focus our attention on eating a balanced, natural diet, leading a healthy lifestyle, exercising and avoiding any kind of excess. Moderating our sugar intake ranks very highly on a list of concerns and requires us to realize that our sugar addiction can be very damaging indeed.

The first thing you should do is to conduct as much research as you can. There are some excellent resources available to help you compose a plan of attack. You should also start to learn about the different forms that sugar takes and how it is included in (unfortunately) a majority of the foods and drinks these days. Become an expert at reading food labels. These can be difficult to understand at first glance, but remember that all the figures relate to a specified “portion size,” which is usually rather different from the typical helping that we give ourselves.

Turn to fruit as one of your holistic health solutions. When we were young, we were told that eating an apple a day could “keep the doctor away” and fruit certainly has many additional benefits, minerals and vitamins. The sugar contained within fruits is naturally occurring and will interact with your body in a different way, helping to make you feel satisfied. It should be an early and ongoing weapon in your arsenal.

Processed foods contain added sugars, as this helps to preserve them during the time that they spend in distribution and on display in your supermarket. Even the most basic of foods such as white rice will put you into a low blood sugar cycle and white bread and white potatoes will also have a negative effect. Nutritionists suggest red potatoes or brown rice instead.

You may need the help of your family members or roommates, and while they may not be on the same page as you – not being willing to throw out all their addictions just yet, they should nevertheless become keenly aware of what you are trying to do. Where at all possible, you do not want to see any of those sugar-crave-inducing temptations, especially during the first critical days.

Before you embark upon this challenging, but necessary journey to end your sugar addiction, remember to research and really understand about all those foods that do not contain sugar – those grains, nuts and vegetables and so on. Some of them may be very alien to our traditional Western diet and you may not even know where to look for them in the grocery store! However, if you become very familiar with what they are and how they can be prepared to provide nutritious meals, then you’ll certainly have a fighting chance at sustaining your new healthy lifestyle.

When you realize how much more productive and fulfilling your life is, you may well be upset that you did not adopt an approach to holistic nutrition sooner.

When people turn to sugar, they may well be anticipating that additional burst of energy and the ability to “get it together” and face the tasks ahead. What they do not understand is that the ingestion of sugar triggers a complex level of activity within us. The bloodstream becomes flooded with glucose from the sugars, which our body then realizes it must regulate. Insulin is released from your pancreas which in turn aims to convert this extra energy into fat reserves. This is in no doubt a fall back to the days when our bodies could not necessarily rely on regular forms of energy and fats would be reserved for those lean times.

You do not have to be a medical doctor to know that an illness such as diabetes must be avoided at all costs. Experts tell us that hypoglycemia is a precursor to diabetes and is caused in part due to constant flows of sugar intake and insulin release, causing your body to become resistant to insulin, which is essential for such balancing.

As part of a holistic health solution it is important for every one of us to regulate the amount of simple sugars that we absorb. We might think that we are eating a balanced diet, but we should be reading those labels to make sure that sugars are not masquerading within what might otherwise be seen as a “healthy” approach. It is recommended that you only absorb a maximum of 40g of simple sugar per day. This can be found within one can of soda!

Few seem to follow a holistic nutrition approach to their diets, constrained as we are by our hectic lifestyles, schedules and what appears to be an inability to prepare wholesome meals creatively. We are constantly opting for the easy solution and loading our bodies up with excess fats, too many calories and those ever so sweet sugars. We know that the sugar rush will be followed by a sugar crash, but we do it anyway.

Many of us are proud of the fact that we do not resort to alcohol, drug abuse or cigarettes to get us through life and consider that our diets are sensible and realistic. However, while we may not have any of the more traditional addictions or vices, we may well have a sugar addiction without really realizing it.

It is important to note that simple and refined sugars are really not necessary for our bodies to function. Naturally occurring complex sugars are found in many complex carbohydrates and whole foods and a good balanced diet will provide us with the necessary energy to function rather well. Unfortunately, simple sugars are found in a large cross-section of everyday food and drink, often added for taste value or to help with preservation.

If you find you cannot get through your morning or afternoon without a can of soda, or even many of them, you likely have a sugar dependence and perhaps even a sugar addiction. Many experts disagree as to what a sugar addiction in itself might be, whether it might be a fixation on the actual taste or on the short-term energy rush, often referred to as a sugar high. Others point to the main ingredient of white refined sugar as being almost identical to alcohol, with very little if any nutritional value and an empty caloric food, just like alcohol. Once again, like beer, wine or liquor, it relies on the depletion of your vitamin and mineral resources in order to be metabolized.

To be quite clear about sugar addiction, you need to develop an approach to holistic nutrition and understand that every element of your diet must be moderated. Too much sugar creates an overstimulation of the neuro-transmitters within your brain, leading to an over tolerance and the hardwiring of your receptors to expect more and more of the same.

If you find that you have been suffering from depression or mood swings, or that your family, friends or partner accuses you of being irrational and irritable, you should take a cold hard look at your sugar intake. It will be necessary to refer to the nutrition labels on all foods that you consume. You will become an expert in deciphering all those figures and should especially look for references to glucose, fructose, sucrose or lactose within. Holistic health solutions encourage you not to focus on snack diets or eating “on the fly,” but rather to assume control over your destiny.

We are constantly being told that we need to cut down on fats within our diet. Saturated fats are a major enemy and we must always check on cholesterol levels and focus on heart health. We also need to pay particular attention to our sugar addiction, as there is a very long list of potential health problems awaiting us if we do not.

In the last thirty years, the average caloric intake of most Americans has increased by between 150 and 300 per day. It is also true to say that the average American does not “trade” those calories for cardiovascular activities, and thus those calories are not serving any real purpose other than adding to the national obesity statistics.

Rather than take a holistic nutrition approach, we often opt to take the shortcut and go for foods that we know will give us a little “buzz” of activity, thus assuring ourselves that these particular types of food must be good for us. Little could be further from the truth, however and it’s no surprise that the American Heart Association has now set specific limits on the amount of sugar that they suggest we eat or drink per day.

The amount of fructose in our diet, which is widely used in processed foods, has more than doubled since the 1970s. It is estimated that we consume on average more than 22 teaspoons of sugar every day, with young people taking in considerably more, no doubt due to their penchant for those cans of soda drinks. It is apparent that sugar is a precursor to over eating, as its effect on the brain can trigger the body into thinking that it is undernourished and needs more food.

A restricted sugar diet should be part of holistic health solutions considered by everyone individually. It should not be necessary for politicians to suggest additional legislation to discourage us, as is being considered by the city of San Francisco for example, in the form of a “soda tax.”

Being overweight can contribute to many different health conditions and can place considerable strain on your heart and most of the major organs. Obesity is a national epidemic in the US, probably more so than in any other country in the world. It is also linked to a lack of productivity, depression and other illnesses.

The number one thing consumers should do to create a path toward a healthier existence is to start reading food labels. Be particularly careful when it comes to the amount of sugar added to processed foods and always pay attention to portion size. This can be very misleading and almost invariably, the size of the portion of food that ends up on your plate is much larger than the referenced portion size on the label!

Take an individual stance and cut back, as the national sugar addiction appears to be getting worse as each year goes by.

It has been determined that a high concentration of sugar in the blood is likely responsible for cross-linking and any foods that have such a high concentration, such as sodas, should be generally avoided.

Inflammation can also be caused when foods high in sugars, known as high glycemic level foods, are ingested. This process will also release a high proportion of free radicals into the body.

Total holistic health solutions suggest a balanced, if not defensive approach to nutrition as we age. Foods which are known to be problematic should naturally be avoided, but we tend to avoid taking an overall view of holistic nutrition and often take shortcuts due to our busy schedules. It is unfortunate that we often put good health far down the list of priorities, until we suffer an unfortunate wake-up call of some kind. We can deduce from this that we do not prioritize our lives correctly and should put good health and longevity right at the top of the list.

There are enough medical and scientific studies around to show us that the ingestion of saturated fats and high levels of cholesterol are significantly bad for our health and cause premature aging. Sugar may be one of the silent killers, as it is not regarded with such anticipation as those foods which are high in fat. The truth is that sugar has zero nutritional value and has been shown to cause a spike in appetites as well.

Further studies by dermatologists suggest that eating sugary foods can significantly contribute to the development of wrinkles. Once again it is found that when glucose enters the bloodstream it attaches to the proteins used by the body to keep our skin supple and affects their ability to perform. In such situations collagen and elastin are no longer able to help us in our battle against a weathered look.

Aging should be a natural process and we should not contribute to its acceleration. If we were to treat our bodies as a temple and take a much more educated look at what we eat or drink on a daily basis, then we would feel more productive and more able to take on the trials and tribulations that life presents to us each day. Many people preach that caloric restriction extends life expectancy by keeping the flow of insulin in check. Sugar addiction can cause insulin levels to become highly elevated and it follows that we will age before our time, unless we’re careful.

Stress is an everyday occurence in all our lives. Some of us are able to deal with it better than others. The recent severe economic downturn around the globe has piled on additional levels of stress and has challenged us more than ever before in many cases. Many people choose to turn to external influences and “fixes” to deal with their stress levels, often turning to cigarettes or alcohol or maintaining a less than optimum dietary level.

Stress and diet can be inexorably linked and if we are not able to control our stress, we can certainly add to it by eating very poorly. Sugar addiction is prevalent in modern society as its inherent ability to enhance flavors and add marketability to some otherwise bland food and drinks has endeared it to the manufacturers.

What is often termed comfort food could just as easily be called stress food, as when we turn to these particular products we are trying to modify a certain situation that we are going through. However, what many of us do not realize is that when we add sugar-based products and super refined sugars to our intake in these situations we can significantly aggravate the original problem. When we are stressed, our natural digestive processes may not function as well and the interaction of the sugar with our existing body chemicals can cause our stressful situation to become apparently worse. What we set out to try and temper, can be aggravated in this way.

Holistic health solutions recognize that sugar addiction is a primary contributor to the very stress that we are feeling in the first place. Our over reliance on sugar has undoubtedly accumulated over time and is contributing to a chemical imbalance within. This makes it more difficult to deal with everyday stresses and strains and the vicious circle can be completed when we turn to comfort foods to try and remedy our symptoms.

It is important to understand that a certain amount of stress is a vital ingredient and makes the human body function well. It can generally create good brain function and a level of awareness allowing us to deal with our complex lives. However, when stress becomes overbearing it can be very difficult to deal with, can lead to irrational decisions, the potential for long-term health problems and a significant sugar addiction, all of which must be contained.

A variety of imbalances within the body can be responsible for spurring a sugar craving, especially when it comes to insulin production. If, for example, you are used to drinking sugary coffees or cans of soda at any opportunity, your body may have been accustomed to significant spikes in glucose and consequent insulin production, leading to a constant level of anticipation.

It’s important to take a really balanced look at holistic health solutions in your life if you find that you are constantly having to fight off those sugar cravings. One of the more important areas for your attention should be the balance of your overall diet. Sometimes you may not be getting as much protein as you should and you may need to realize that what your body is really asking you for is protein and not sugar.

As we said previously, temptations are everywhere and often you can do little about their location. However, you can certainly clean your house of these temptations, where you have overall control and this means not stocking up on those tempting “after dinner” treats, or that carton of “Ben and Jerry’s,” sitting in its special place in your freezer!

You should know that there is a difference between simple processed sugar and sugar that is already contained within foods. Processed foods and candy bars, processed juices and soda drinks all contain sugars that contain zero calories or nutritional value and these are responsible for that “high” and subsequent low. Fruits, on the other hand, contain naturally occurring sugars which interact with your body in an entirely different way. We know that nutritional experts are always preaching at us to eat more fruits and vegetables and if you can get into the habit of eating an item of fruit every day, you will get beneficial fibers, vitamins and minerals as well.

Do not underestimate the power that this sugar addiction can have over you. You will need to make significant dietary changes and have a lot of willpower to be able to get through the early stages. Pay attention to everything that you buy in the grocery store from now on and read the labels to reveal your best buying choices. A sensible approach to holistic nutrition will soon help you overcome the worst.

2. Sweat. In a sauna (not a steam room — too much chlorine is in the steam), or a hot yoga class, or in a hot bath followed a snuggling under warm covers, let yourself sweat. It helps the skin, your largest organ of detoxification, do its job.

4. Rebound, i.e., bounce on a mini-trampoline. All exercise is good, of course, but a mini-tram is supposed to particularly target the lymphatic system and help it do its clean-up tasks. The lymphatic system has no pump like the heart, so it can use some help. I do my 5-minute warm-up at the gym on a mini-tram.

5. Scrape your tongue first thing in the morning. Your body does a lot of detoxing during sleep, and that coating on your tongue when you wake up (in Ayurveda, they call it ama, metabolic debris) needs to come off before your first drink of water. They sell inexpensive tongue scrapers in the dental care aisle at health food stores and many drugstores.

6. Use a neti pot. The yogis have long recommended “sinus bathing” as a part of enlightened hygiene, and you can purchase a neti pot (beautiful ceramic ones and low-cost plastic models) at most health food stores. You fill it with warm water made into a saline solution by the addition of some finely ground salt and, following instructions, let the water flow into one nostril and out the other; then do the other side. This is not always a pleasant experience, but it definitely clears your head, is a godsend during allergy season, and I swear by it after plane flights and when colds and flus are going around.

7. Dry body brush. Before your bath or shower, use a special dry body brush (ask at the health food store: this is a brush with a removable handle, meant to be used on dry body skin) to buff your skin, starting with the feet. Then work up, using upward strokes on the calves and thighs, fingers-to-shoulders moves on your arms, and gentler round motions on your abdomen, hips, and chest; this is not for the face. It helps the skin to detox, removes dead skin cells, is warming and energizing, and in Europe even standard MDs claim that it helps diminish cellulite.

8. Enemas and colonics. I include these because they’re standard-issue detox practices and many, many people swear by them. They say that we have toxic build-up in the colon that’s been there for years and needs to be washed out.

9. Get away to somewhere clean and quiet. By “clean,” I mean where the air is pure (mountains, ocean) and where electro-magnetic-field radiation is at a minimum. Some people are irritated that they can’t get much cell phone reception, but it’s really a blessing. If you can get away for even one weekend a season, it’ll help.

10. Eat raw food and think loving thoughts. Okay, that’s two suggestions, but seriously: just eating a high-raw, plant-based diet, even without fasting or a juice diet, will go far toward your detoxification efforts. If you find yourself having a “detox crisis” — headaches, fatigue — rest, eat lightly, and let it pass, or rest, eat more heavily (add in more cooked food), and slow down the detox process to a comfortable rate. And your thoughts are ever important: make them loving, to yourself, your body, and everyone in your world. That way, you detox negativity from deep, deep inside.

We know that heart disease can be the number one killer in our society, but we are not generally as aware that sugar can be very bad for us as well. Sugar is evident as a preservative, as a flavor enhancer in a very wide range of products, especially in processed foods. The truth is that we could lead a life without any additional or “added” sources of sugar, as there’s plenty to be found, naturally occurring within a wholesome diet.

An addiction to sugar is apparent in almost every one of us. The craving may not be as obvious but it is nevertheless likely, especially as our modern diet is made up of so many processed foods and sugar in the form of simple carbohydrates. The Western diet is largely responsible for the levels of obesity that we see in major countries such as the United States and as food is seen as a chore that gets in the way of our rather hectic lives, we tend to load our diets with foods that are far from balanced and are far from holistic health solutions.

If you find that you are unable to pop into the corner store or gas station without leaving with a sugary substance – a snack or drink, then that craving is definitely in evidence. Drinking alcohol on a regular basis can also hide a sugar addiction. If you find yourself secretly cursing that the “foods that taste really nice are always bad for you,” then you are tacitly admitting to your problem.

Before you can kick your sugar habit, you have to take stock of your situation. Do you find that you are overweight, have little energy, become unfocused rather easily and wonder why you get these crazy mood swings? The likelihood is that your sugar intake is way too high. Less than 5 teaspoons or less then 20 g is the recommended daily intake for sugars. This refers to added sugars, rather than naturally occurring. Read those labels!

Once you have decided that you are suffering from sugar addiction symptoms and that your sugar intake is way too high, you have made the first big step to kicking your habits. You may find it rather difficult to start off with, but if you value holistic nutrition as much as you should, then you can develop a whole new approach to diet, exercise and look forward to living a much more productive life without a sugar addiction to slow you down.

It seems that when we get stressed (and it is very easy to do that these days) our balanced diet becomes a distant memory and we load up on convenience foods and the very inappropriately named “comfort” foods. Processed, simple sugars flood into our diets as we get the quick fix and we believe that we feel better, although fundamentally nothing could be further from the truth.

To function correctly and to really understand the importance of holistic health solutions, we all need to adopt an 80/20 approach to our bodies and to our diets. The 80/20 rule will allow you to restore balance to your life, if you apply it prior to each meal.

To understand what the 80/20 rule is all about we need to understand that our body is made up of both acid and alkaline and when these two become out of balance, chaos reigns! All foods need to be alkaline, acidic or neutral, with by far the largest amounts being made up of alkaline forming foods. In this case 80% should be alkaline and the acid forming foods should represent 20%. This is a long way from the average American diet, unfortunately.

Alkaline-based foods are largely vegetables and fruits and some nuts & seeds, while acid-based foods include animal protein, starch, sugar, alcohol, dairy and some grains. For some reason it has become traditional to serve vegetables as “a side” and in very much smaller portions, whereas according to the 80/20 rule it should be the other way around. Give it a try: 80% alkaline forming food and 20 % acid food on your plate at each serving.

The 80/20 rule also tells us that we should train our bodies to become satisfied before we feel “full.” In other words, when you get to 80%, stop eating. Over a period of time you’ll be amazed how this approach will really make you feel better.

Almost everything that we do, our careers, our personal lives, our aspirations, depend on how we maintain our health. This in turn has a great deal to do with how we eat, and if we apply the 80/20 approach to our diets we can expect to be far more productive, and have longer, happier lives as a result of our holistic nutrition approach.