{"id":41514,"date":"2023-04-17T09:41:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T16:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/womensvoice.com\/en-ca\/articles\/living-culture\/copy-copy-copy-copy-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-04-25T14:06:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T21:06:32","slug":"amino-acids-eliminate-cravings-toxic-junk-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womensvoice.com\/en-ca\/articles\/nutrition\/amino-acids-eliminate-cravings-toxic-junk-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Amino Acids Eliminate Cravings for Toxic Junk Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Trust me. You are not alone. And your cravings are not your fault.<\/pee>[\/et_pb_fullwidth_code][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ inner_width=”auto” inner_max_width=”none”][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ custom_padding__hover=”|||” custom_padding=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text – Body Content” _builder_version=”4.6.6″ text_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”text_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ text_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_vertical_length=”text_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ text_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_blur_strength=”text_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ text_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” link_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”link_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ link_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” link_text_shadow_vertical_length=”link_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ link_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” 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Women\u2019s Voice<\/em> is excited to have met and talked with Julia Ross, the director of a Virtual Clinic and Practitioner Training Program, who is also the author of three groundbreaking books: The Craving Cure, The Mood Cure<\/em>, and The Diet Cure<\/em>.
We were so impressed with her life\u2019s work in addiction and neuro-nutrition that we asked her to share more with our readers about how amino acid supplementation can so quickly eliminate unhealthy cravings for sugar and other addictive food.<\/p>\n

Where do these cravings come from, and why can\u2019t we just turn them off? Solid evidence, first uncovered by addiction-focused neuroscientists in the 1970s and 1980s, attributes our overwhelming urges to the toxic effects of modern junk food on our brain\u2019s appetite control chemistry. Some researchers also found that giving addicted subjects specific brain-targeted nutrient supplements significantly reduced their addictive urges.<\/p>\n

Why eliminating junk food cravings is vital<\/span><\/h3>\n

Statistics show that most of the world\u2019s population now experiences unprecedented obesity, stress, negative moods, and chronic illness brought on by our increasing consumption of the high-calorie processed foods that we now know are 60% nutrient-void and powerfully addictive. People who are obese are at an increased risk for some of the most severe consequences: high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart and liver disease, and diet-caused cancers. In North America, the obesity and type 2 diabetes statistics are staggering \u2013 both were declared epidemics by 2000 and over 40% of adults and 20% of teens are now afflicted.<\/p>\n

Finding a way out<\/span><\/h3>\n

Despite the concerns that so many of us have about our diets, staying away from health-destructive foods has been a losing battle. Was it always this hard? No. Until the 1970s, we\u2019d enjoyed healthy eating and optimal weight and mood for millennia. This was because we were still eating adequate amounts of traditional fats, protein, and carbohydrates.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s mostly processed-food diet contains little protein and lots of the damaged and nutrient-void fats, sugars, and starches that intoxicate and addict the brain rather than nourish it. This leaves us helpless to protect ourselves and our children from the brutal course of addiction, in which our brain\u2019s powerful appetite-regulating neurotransmitters start to work against us, forcing us to follow their unnatural and destructive dictates. Innumerable studies, complete with brain scans, have confirmed this. Nora Volkow, PhD, the neuroscientist chief of the National Institute on Drug Addiction, insists that our brain-generated cravings are the same whether the substances triggering them are processed sugars or illegal substances.<\/p>\n

Like all other tissues in the human body, our brain\u2019s appetite chemistry is dependent on specific nutrients that have been well-established. The problem is that food-addicted brains are depleted in these same vital nutrients. Yet neither vitamin, mineral, nor fatty acid supplementation has helped. Why not? Because the problem, hidden in plain sight, is amino acid deficiency.<\/p>\n

We have almost completely overlooked the most potent nutrients of all when it comes to appetite control:<\/em> the 20 amino acid powerhouses found in high-protein foods and as supplements. As I discovered, and as you\u2019ll soon see, we only need a few of these amino heroes to completely restore our native ability to enjoy healthy food.<\/p>\n

My 35-year journey and discovery of the appetite-correcting superpowers of five individual amino acids<\/span>
<\/span><\/h3>\n

As a licensed psychotherapist and an addiction and eating disorder specialist in San Francisco in the early 1980s, I was asked to create an outpatient treatment program for addicted adolescents and adults, and their families. This was a dream come true for me, and within two years, our program for pot-addicted adolescents had spread into three counties and had an 80% success rate! Our adult program, however, was a complete failure. That was because the crack cocaine epidemic had just hit, and all the addiction treatment programs in the country were experiencing the same 100% early dropout rates.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, at around the same time, some of the addiction-focused neuroscientists mentioned earlier started reporting that brain-generated cravings could be reduced using a few specific amino acids taken as supplements. This opened up a whole new world by redefining what addiction actually was and pointing us toward exciting new solutions. My program had already been exploring the possibility that an improved diet and added vitamins and minerals might make a difference. But our crack-addicted clients rarely stayed around long, and those who did had ravenous cravings for junk food, gaining an average of 30 pounds in the first 30 days of recovery. Hoping to reduce their cravings for sugar as well as crack, we trialed the two suggested amino acids, which worked very effectively. Our first crack-addicted client reported being almost cravings-free during his first week on these aminos! We had equal success later using these and a few other amino acids with clients addicted to alcohol, marijuana, and methamphetamine. So did hundreds of other addiction and mental health professionals, who began to (and still do) enthusiastically recommend these amino acids to their clients.<\/p>\n

Fast forward 30 years: mass junk food addiction and amino acids to the rescue<\/span>
<\/span><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s apparent now that the world\u2019s most widespread and deadly addiction is to sugars and other junk foods, which alter our brain\u2019s pleasure chemistry and strip us of the nutrients we need to maintain a normal appetite for healthy food. In my virtual clinic, we have worked successfully with over 6,000 people who have been food cravers. To meet the massive modern food craving challenge, these clients have only needed 1\u20135 amino acids, taken as individual supplements. This simple regimen quickly corrects the primary deficiencies that propel most of their food cravings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
How individual amino acids worked for two of my clinic clients, Wendi and Don.<\/span><\/h5>\n

Wendi, a 50-year-old diabetic nurse, came to my clinic. She was 70 pounds overweight, with glucose levels over 200. Within two days of taking two capsules of a single amino acid three times per day between meals, she reported that her glucose levels had dropped under 100 for the first time in years because she had lost all cravings for high-carbohydrate junk food. Her equally carb-addicted and diabetic husband, Don, age 62, who also had prostate cancer, took two different amino acids three times per day and easily switched to a healthy diet. Within a few months, his glucose levels had dropped to under 100, and his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels went from 400 to less than 1.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Her<\/span>e<\/span>\u2019s how the aminos work:<\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. A very reliable \u201cCraving Type Questionnaire\u201d identifies which of the five amino acids are most likely to be needed by each craver. A mini version of this questionnaire (that you\u2019ll find at the end of this article) includes the amino acids needed to correct each type of craving. You can find a longer version of the questionnaire along with an amino safety precautions checklist at my website JuliaRossCures.com<\/i> in the questionnaire drop-down menu.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Within five minutes of ingesting a single capsule of their first amino, our clients typically start feeling the positive effects. (You can watch recordings of volunteers experiencing this process on my YouTube channel.) <\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Daily amino supplementation: Adults and teens typically need 1\u20133 aminos 2\u20133 times per day for several months. Children need fewer supplements at lower doses for much less time.
    (I detail all of this in chapters 11 and 12 of my most recent book The Craving Cure.<\/i>)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What about foods that are high in amino acids?<\/span><\/h3>\n

    The word \u201cprotein\u201d indicates that the amino acid content of any food constitutes its primary value. Animal protein sources are much higher in aminos than most plant sources. Because the aminos stop their junk food cravings so quickly, our clients almost immediately drop their junk foods and start eating and enjoying a totally healthy diet. Once the amino acid supplements have stocked up their appetite-regulating brain sites, high-protein foods alone, consumed three times per day, along with healthy fats and carbs, can keep their cravings at bay permanently \u2013 without the further use of amino supplements.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Why aren\u2019t we more savvy about the benefits of protein and amino acids?<\/span>
    <\/span><\/h3>\n

    Many of us aren\u2019t eating much protein, so we aren\u2019t experiencing its benefits. And there\u2019s surprisingly little information available about those benefits. For example, food labels are required to include the percentages of daily values for carbohydrates and fats but not for protein, as if protein has no value!<\/span><\/p>\n