Sugar: It does a body good

Well, this is the best thing I’ve read all week: cutting too far back on sugar may send your appetite soaring.

A new study in PNAS journal, revealed that restricting certain sweet foods for periods of time–the way you would when you’re dieting–causes “addiction-like” withdrawal symptoms and increases cravings for sugary items while decreasing the desire for healthy foods. “Dieting to control body weight involves cycles of deprivation from palatable food that can promote compulsive eating,” state the researchers.

The caveat (and isn’t there always one?) is that this was a rat study. But in the rodents’ defense, they’ve tipped us off to lots of human-relevant discoveries in the past. And from a common sense perspective, it makes perfect sense–a huge part of the reason seasoned weight experts advise never, ever dieting is because people who do tend to fall off the wagon so hard and fast that they end up putting on pounds in the end. As the saying goes, everything in moderation … even sugar.

-Camille