Our bodies are not machines. We do not move from one Level of Addiction to the next in the same way we change gears in a car. The Levels of Addiction themselves are not clear-cut. But in our years of research, we have found that, for most carbohydrate addicts, movement through the Levels of Addiction often proceeds in much the same manner.
When we find differences in our carbohydrate addicts, they can often be attributed to what we call “addiction triggers.” These are situations or stresses that cause the carbohydrate addict to progress to higher addiction levels. Even when there are no obvious triggers, the apparent underlying biological disorder that causes carbohydrate addiction itself can press the carbohydrate addict to move to higher Levels of Addiction. In most carbohydrate addicts, however, we have seen, time after time, certain triggers that move the carbohydrate addict to higher levels of addiction more quickly.
Consider Linda’s case history.
Linda’s Story
Linda P. came to the Carbohydrate Addict’s Center as a last resort. “I’ve done everything,” she said, “but I just can’t take this weight off.”
She explained. “I gained it when I was pregnant with my daughter and I just can’t get rid of it. It’s been four years now. My husband and I both want another baby but I’m afraid I’m going to gain another twenty-five pounds with the next one. Maybe even more.”
She attempted to explain to us how her body had changed.
“I don’t know, it feels like my metabolism has changed or something. I didn’t think I ate that much when I was pregnant but I had nothing to compare it with. Anyway, I know I don’t eat that much now but everything I eat*seems to stay. If I manage to take off a few pounds I put it on the first time I go off the diet or even if I just relax a little. I don’t want to keep putting off getting pregnant but I’ll die if I gain even more.
“I don’t know what to do,” she concluded.
Linda’s story had a very familiar ring to us. We confirmed that she was in fact a carbohydrate addict with the Carbohydrate Addict’s Test. Then we were able to tell her that we thought we could help her. We recognized that for Linda her addiction trigger had been her pregnancy.
She had been of average weight during her childhood, teenage, and early adult years. It was only with the advent of pregnancy that her carbohydrate addiction had been activated. We had learned from other women in Linda’s situation that there is a sort of genetic time bomb that explodes into action with the hormonal changes that take place during pregnancy. Linda told us the same changes had taken place when her mother became pregnant. We had seen this family pattern many times.
Not all women have the problem, of course; even those whose pregnancies trigger their carbohydrate addiction don’t experience it in the same way. In some, the carbohydrate addiction disappears shortly after they give birth, whereas in others it continues for quite a while. In still other women, their carbohydrate addiction simply doesn’t go away until it is corrected.
In most of the cases of pregnancy-triggered carbohydrate addiction we have seen, the women have been able to regain control of their eating and their weights with use of the Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet. Many of these women have gone on to have additional children, confident of their ability to avoid the same pregnancy-overweight syndrome the next time they had a child.
Linda, however, surprised us. With the help of the Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet, she succeeded in freeing herself of the carbohydrate addiction spiral. That was evident immediately when she returned for a follow-up interview five months after first coming to us. By then she was thirty pounds thinner.
Almost before we could say “hello-how-are-you,” she blurted, “I have some exciting news.” We expected to hear that she felt ready to become pregnant once again or perhaps that she was already expecting. That wasn’t it.
Linda informed us that because she “felt so wonderful with her new figure and newfound freedom” (from worries about her weight and her desire to eat) that she and her husband decided to postpone having a second baby.
She had been promoted (“I’d been doing good work all along but no one ever recognized it or gave me any more money for it”). Rightly or wrongly, she attributed her promotion to her weight loss, her new clothes, and her positive attitude. She was enjoying her life, and she wanted to relax and take advantage of the feeling.
“This isn’t a diet that I’m afraid I’m going to go off within a few weeks. I know I will be able to keep this weight off all of my life and, for now, I’m not in such a hurry to change a thing.”
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