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RELEASE
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Sullivan
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Alcoholism: The Cause & The
Cure
The Proven Holistic Method
Alcoholism by definition has been termed a “metabolic
disorder” or a “disease”. Yet most
go to 12 step programs to address it, never considering an actual
treatment. Would a cancer patient
only go to support groups to cure his/her disease? No, they seek treatment. Because most people are uneducated about
the root physiological cause of alcoholism they use 12 step programs as a
stand-alone treatment and that is the underlying cause of the reported 85%
failure rate of these programs. A
support group needs to be complimented with a treatment that will heal the
biochemistry that is causing the disease and as demonstrated in orthomolecular
treatments for alcoholism success statistics of 78% which includes those whom do
don’t attend support groups, the decision to seek treatment is
crucial.
Alcoholism: The Cause & The
Cure demonstrates the
biochemical differences of those with "addictive biochemistry". By following the proven Orthomolecular
Holistic Treatment for Alcoholism 'The
101 Program'® included in the
book, readers will learn how to once and for all cure alcoholism by healing the
physical and mental biopathways damaged by alcohol abuse as well as the root
metabolic disorder that predisposes them to it. At once educational and enlightening, Alcoholism: The Cause & The Cure
brings you the biggest gift of all - the tools and the practices to pave your
way to a healthy biochemistry which is not only the key to sobriety, but to
living an enhanced and healthy life.
Orthomolecular medicine is
being employed today to cure mental and physical illnesses from schizophrenia to
arthritis and it is the leader in successfully treating alcoholism. Orthomolecular Medicine, as
conceptualized by double Nobel laureate, Linus Pauling, aims to restore the
optimum ecological environment for the body's cells by correcting imbalances or
deficiencies on the molecular level, based on individual biochemistry, using
natural substances such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, hormones
and essential fatty acids. "Research over the last 20 years has clearly
demonstrated the damage or “cellular deficiencies” that alcohol causes to the
brain, liver, GI and endocrine system, all doing their part in ultimately
altering brain chemistry and parenting the addiction. Alcoholism: The Cause & The
Cure with The 101 Program
offers the most effective treatment known that comprehensively addresses all
biochemical pathways known to alcohol addiction to reach the depths and
travel the biochemical labyrinth that alcohol destroys to heal the body and mind.
It’s not just about being sober, it’s about being
healthy, happy, and inspired. Those
who don’t address their health when trying to quit drinking set themselves up
for relapse. The success of The 101
Program rests in the fact that it actually corrects imbalanced brain chemistry
and heals the root cause of the symptoms alcoholics suffer. Relapse is primarily
caused by the ongoing symptoms from the damage alcohol inflicted on the mind and
body over the years and the typical diet the “dry-drunk” adopts being sweets,
coffee, junk foods and generally high amounts of simple / empty carbohydrates
continuing the root cause of the “disease”. Depression, anxiety, mental and physical
fatigue, frustration, low self-esteem, and severe emotional sensitivity are just
a sample of the symptoms that follow former heavy drinkers into sobriety and as
they get worse leads them back to drinking in an attempt to self-medicate those
symptoms. Healing the body and mind
of the damage alcohol has inflicted is the most sensible way of healing the
symptoms and avoiding relapse. In
this way the bonds of addiction are not only lifted but the addictive
biochemistry that predisposes an individual to it is rooted out and replaced
with a healthy biochemistry that becomes the foundation of a new life free of
compulsive desire and behavior.
The
5½ x 8 softcover edition (ISBN 1-59196-510-1) is available from
Alternative Approaches to end Alcohol Abuse (AAAA)
-END-
Table of
Contents
Alcoholism: The Cause & The
Cure
The Proven Orthomolecular
Treatment
and
The 101 Program
Bringing the Most Advanced Holistic
Genita Petralli, HP, MH, NC
With contributions by Dr. Katherine Nelson, N.D
Edited by Carrie White, Open Window Consulting
Copyright 2003-2006 by Genita Petralli and Alternative Approaches
to end Alcohol Abuse
Dedication 10
Testimonials 13
Important! Please Read 17
A Holistic Detox Operations Manual
The Purpose and What Will Be Accomplished 23
The Natural Laws of Health 27
Definition: Addictive Biochemistry 28
Definition: Addiction 29
Definition of Disease: Separating Addiction from Disease 30
Definition of Addiction 33
Definition: Cure 35
The Premise of The 101 Program
What is Orthomolecular Medicine? 37
Bill Wilson – The First Fan of Orthomolecular Treatment 37
Alcohol Abuse and Body Chemistry 39
Adopting a Healthy Perspective 40
Treatment vs. Support Groups 41
Treatment Options 42
Support Groups 42
Talk Therapy 47
Talk Therapy Does Not Correct an Addicted Metabolism 49
Drug-centric Treatment 51
Rehabilitation Centers 55
Summary on Treatment Options 58
Legal, Illegal, and OTC Drugs 61
The Best Intervention – How to Avoid Addiction 62
Education: The Best Intervention 63
Brain Chemistry
Mental Health and Problem Drinking: Introduction to Neurotransmitters 68
Neurotransmitter Effects on Psychological Health 70
Dopamine 78
GABA 80
The Key Biochemical Factors of Alcohol Addiction Addictive Biochemistry - Genetic 82
Addicted Biochemistry – Acquired (earned) 84
Breaking Down the Damage 85
The HPA Axis 85
The Home of Alcoholism in the Body and Mind 87
How They All Work Together 90
The HPA and Addictive / Addicted Biochemistry 91
How Alcohol Works in the Brain of a Problem Drinker 93
Long-term Alcohol Abuse and Stress Disorder 94
Existential Effects of Alcohol Addiction 95
Endocrine System 98
The Sugar Connection to Addiction to Alcohol 101
Hypoglycemia and Dry-Drunk Symptoms 103
Suppression of the Endocrine System …Why Drinkers Age so Quickly 106
Hypoadrenocorticism 107
Hypoadrenocorticism and the Angry Drunk 109
Adrenals and Sleep Patterns 110
How Stress Contributes to Addictive Biochemistry 111
The Biochemical Physical and Mental Roadmap 111
Peripheral Damage That Contributes to Alcohol Addiction 114
Acetaldehyde Toxicity - Neurotransmitters and THIQs 114
Sources of Acetaldehyde 115
Tolerance 116
Withdrawal 116
Digestive System
Alcohol Metabolism in the Liver 117
Gastrointestinal Damage and Malnutrition 118
Candida Albicans 120
General Candida Albicans Symptoms 121
Progression of Addicted Biochemistry 122
Moving Forward 123
Roadmap to the Cure 124
Healing and Curing the Addiction 124
What a Participant Can Expect to Heal in Addition to the Addiction 124
What Can Be Gained by Doing The 101 Program 125
Goal: A Life Lived to the Fullest 125
Naturally Cleaning Up Life Through the Body 126
Overview 128
Healing in Three Phases 128
Phase One: Krispy Kleen 129
Phase Two: The
Phase Three: Preserve & Protect 133
Preserve & Protect Formula 134
Test Driving a New Biochemistry 135
Three Ways to do The 101 Program 136
The 101 Program Comprehensive Services Package 136
The 101 As Is Method 139
The Custom Services Package 139
The 101 Program Formulas 140
Therapeutic Nutriceuticals 140
About Supplements 142
Phase I and II Detox 143
Balancing Phase I and II 144
Phase I Too Slow 145
Phase I Too Fast 145
Liver Detox Pathways and Supportive Nutrients Phase I Regulation 146
Phase II Regulation 147
Additional Detoxification Guidelines
Introduction - Dr. Katherine Nelson 148
Every Organ Counts 148
Bowel Cleansing- Dr. Katherine Nelson 149
Gastrointestinal Restoration 150
Colonic Irrigation 150
Parasite Cleanse 151
Liver and Gallbladder Stone Flush 151
Krispy Kleen Series I Tests 155
Comprehensive Wellness Profile 155
Functional Liver Detox Profile (FLDP) 160
Series II Tests
Post-Krispy Kleen Tests 161
The HPA axis test measures: 161
Adrenal Fatigue 162
Series III Tests
Post-The
Heavy Metal Toxicity 164
PLEASE READ BEFORE TAKING FORMULAS 168
Getting Started 168
Module 1 - The Krispy Kleen Detox 170
The 101 Program Roadmap to Recovery 170
Breakout Chart 174
Krispy Kleen Detox Weekly Instructions 174
The 101 Prep (Week 1) 174
Krispy Kleen Flush (Week 2) 178
Krispy Kleen Flush (Weeks 3 to 7) 180
Snow White Fast (Week 9) 181
Krispy Kleen 7-Day Prep Week 184
Krispy Kleen Flush (Weeks 2 to 8) 186
Fasting 189
The 101 Program Fasting Broth 191
Fasting Broth Recipe 192
Depression 192
Smoking 194
Relapse versus Process 195
xSugar - Don’t stray! 196
Why Food Consumption Has Become Such a Science 196
The 101 Program Side Effect – Enhanced Health 198
Introduction by Dr. Katherine Nelson 201
Preparing a Condictive Diet
Mastering Energy Sources 203
The Bottom Line: Eat Real, Whole Foods 205
Basic Guidelines for an Addictive-free Biochemistry 208
Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load 209
Starches and the Glycemic Index 211
Good Fats versus Bad Fats 212
Removing Pesticides from Produce 214
The Krispy Kleen Detox 215
The 101 Program Meal Companion 215
The Krispy Kleen Detox Diet 215
Krispy Kleen 7-Day Prep 216
Krispy Kleen Flush (Weeks 2 through 8) 219
Krispy Kleen Detox Dietary Guidelines 221
The Best Choices
Complex Carbohydrates and Vegetables 224
Whole Grains 225
Note: Unfermented soy should not be used as a protein substitute. 226
Fruits 227
Liquids 228
After The Krispy Kleen Detox 231
Meats 231
Dairy 232
Krispy Kleen Foods 232
Krispy Kleen Recipes 234
Meal Prep Guide for the Krispy Kleen Detox 234
Protein Shake 235
Morning Meals 236
Afternoon / Evening Meals 236
Snacks 240
Dietary Guidelines for the 101
Preserve & Protect 242
Alcohol Addiction Review 244
The Biochemistry of Addiction –
How the Major Organs are Afflicted 245
Gastrointestinal (GI) Tract 246
The Liver 248
Alcohol Metabolism in the Liver 250
Acetaldehyde Metabolism 250
Causes of Liver Damage 251
Acetaldehyde Toxicity 251
Acetaldehyde’s Contributions to Addiction and Liver and Brain Damage 254
Acetaldehyde and NAD Deficiency 256
Lifestyle and Liver Disease
Drug Interaction (Recreational, OTC, Prescription) 259
Diet 260
Stress 260
Healthy Liver 262
Brain Chemistry 264
Neuro-anatomy Overview 264
Neurotransmitters and Neuro-active Peptides:
The Communication System of the Brain 265
Neurotransmitter Bioenergetics and Alcohol / Sugar 265
Normal Brain Chemistry (Balanced) 266
Downregulated Brain Chemistry 266
Upregulated Brain Chemistry 268
The Life of a Neurotransmitter 269
How Alcohol Affects Neurotransmitter Function in the Brain 270
Normal Brain Chemistry 270
Alcohol in the Brain Chemistry 271
Key Neurotransmitters Affected by Alcohol 272
Neurotransmitters: A Delicate Balance 273
Neurotransmitter Classifications 274
Amines 274
Monoamines – Catecholamines 275
Catecholamines are chemically similar to smaller molecules derived from tyrosine. 275
Flow chart Biosynthesis of Catecholamines 275
Monoamines - Indoleamines 278
Opioids 282
Beta-Endorphins / Enkephalins 282
Low Beta-Endorphin Symptoms 282
GABA 283
Glutamate 284
GABA and Glutamate : A Delicate Balance 284
Neurotransmitters: Disorders and Symptoms 285
REVIEW 286
Alcohol and The Brain The Physiological to Psychological Roadmap to Addiction 286
Endocrine System 288
Hypothalamus / Pituitary Glands 288
Hypothalamus and Metabolism 291
Hypothalamus and Neuropeptide Y 292
Thyroid Gland 293
Suppressed Thyroid Hormone Release 293
The Pancreas 294
Alcohol, Pancreas, and Diet 298
Pancreatic Inflammation and Injury 300
Pancreatitis Symptoms 301
Adrenal Glands 301
Hypoglycemic Connection to Alcoholism 302
Sugar / Alcohol 303
Similar Processes of Addiction 303
Hypoglycemia and Dry-Drunk Symptoms 304
Withdrawal 304
Dangers of the Typical Dry-Drunk Diet and Lack of Treatment Addressing the Damage 305
Key Nutriceuticals and What They Do 308
Vitamins 308
Vitamin A / Beta-Carotene 308
Vitamin B1/Thiamine 309
Vitamin B2/Riboflavin 311
Vitamin B3/Niacin 313
Vitamin B5/Pantothenic Acid 319
Vitamin B6/Pyridoxine - PLP, Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate, Pyridoxine 320
Vitamin B12/Methylcobalamin 322
Biotin 323
Key Antioxidants 327
Vitamin D 328
Vitamin E 329
Alpha Lipoic Acid 330
Glutathione 331
Minerals 332
Manganese 332
Zinc 334
Calcium 334
Selenium 334
Chromium Picolinate 335
Amino Acids 336
Essential Amino Acids 338
Tryptophan 341
DL-Phenylalanine (DLPA) 343
L-Phenylalanine (LPA) 344
D-Phenylalanine (DPA) 345
Phenylethylamine (PEA) 345
Methionine 347
Non-Essential Amino Acids 348
Glycine (Inhibitory neurotransmitter) 349
Trimethylglycine (TMG) 350
Serine 350
Glutamine 351
Neurotransmitters- Nutriceutical Precursors 354
Endorphins / Enkephalins 355
HGH 356
Introduction to Fats 356
Saturated Fats 357
Monounsaturated Fats 357
Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) 358
Polyunsaturated Fats (PUFA) 359
Omega-3 Food Sources 363
Omega-6 EFA Food Sources 368
IMPORTANT! 368
Balancing Omega-3 and -6 food sources 368
Omega-9 370
Hydrogenated Fats (Trans Fats) 370
The Adrenals and the Pancreas 372
Adrenal Health 372
Pancreatic Health 374
Additional Support 375
Withdrawal 378
Exercise 378
External 378
Internal 378
Summary 379
In Conclusion… 380
Moderation or Complete Abstinence? 380
Beyond Biochemistry 383
Dr. Katherine Nelson 383
Krispy Kleen Formula 388
Food, Herbs, Health Education 392
Suggested
When health is absent
Wisdom
cannot reveal itself
Art cannot manifest
Strength cannot be
exerted
Wealth is useless and reason is powerless.
--Anonymous
So far this text has established that a person has a broken metabolism if they are addicted to alcohol. To understand why it requires orthomolecular treatment to fix it, it is necessary to know how and why it was broken in the first place. Becoming acquainted with their specific body chemistry will also give people a clear idea of the exact nature of the challenges ahead, and make them better prepared for the journey to liberation.
Mental health relies on neurotransmitters and hormones being produced, utilized, and metabolized properly in the right amounts, at the right times. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that provide information between nerve cells via their receptors; hormones are chemicals produced by the endocrine glands that travel through the blood to relay messages to and from every organ of the body. Hormones are primarily responsible for establishing the ‘directives’ required to maintain the perfect balance the brain seeks in order to function healthily. It is extremely important that the brain functions properly, since every organ in the body, down to each and every cell, is under the control of the central nervous system (CNS). Thoughts can create harm or health for the body and mind because thoughts create neurochemicals in the body, which determine how the cells will function by giving the orders: either healthy or unhealthy.
Alcohol metabolism impairs physical and mental health by destroying and exhausting the vital nutrients and biochemical processes required for neurotransmitters and hormones to function properly. This makes it impossible for them to carry out their purpose in establishing healthy brain chemistry and homeostasis, or maintain a stable, balanced environment throughout the body. Hormones and neurotransmitters govern every aspect of our living bodies. They govern brain activity: our moods, emotions, perspective, behavior, and sleep patterns, as well as every aspect of our physical health. The diminished availability of just one neurotransmitter or a disruption in its path can adversely affect every aspect of life and health. Each neurochemical pathway relies on the accurate bioenergetics of all the others to function properly, and responds to them by altering its expression to answer them according to their information. These biochemical pathways keep all neurochemicals reacting in accordance with the needs of the brain and constantly stay in balance. The disruption in production or utilization of just one neurotransmitter can lead to a change from positive to negative attitude overnight, making the world appear lifeless and painful.
The amino acids in the proteins we eat are the building blocks for neurotransmitters. Metabolizing alcohol and its associated sugars, and detoxifying its poisonous metabolites, exhausts the body’s supplies of amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids. With these nutrients being used for alcohol metabolism and detoxification; they are not available to produce a healthy supply of neurotransmitters. Without proper amino acid conversion to neurotransmitters, the resulting imbalanced brain chemistry will begin to reveal itself through mental distresses like anxiety, depression, mental fatigue, low self-esteem, and varying degrees of social disinterest.
An example of one altered biochemical process in the brain affecting all others is the use of Zoloft for depression. Zoloft is an anti-depressant medication belonging to a group known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). Serotonin is one of the positive, ‘feel good’ neurotransmitters sent out by the brain. Zoloft blocks the serotonin molecules that have been released into the system from being drawn back into the nerve vesicle, so that they stay in the system longer and hit more receptors than they usually would. It forces these molecules to send their feel-good messages more times before being enzymatically ingested, in order to combat depression. On the surface, this sounds wonderful, but it really isn’t. This artificial way of addressing depression further disrupts brain chemistry and causes its own health issues as a result.
There are many side effects from using this type of drug. Severe side effects may include bizarre behavior, pounding in the chest, chest pain, and muscle disorder. Common side effects may include weight loss, failure to ejaculate, dry mouth, increased sweating, drowsiness, tremor, tiredness, general pain, stomach pain, loss of appetite, constipation, diarrhea/loose stools, indigestion, nausea, agitation, sleeplessness, decreased sex drive, abnormal skin sensation, rash, gas, vomiting, hot flashes, anxiety, nervousness, sore throat, changes in vision, dizziness, and headache. Other side effects may include painful erection, increased appetite, back pain, weakness, general body discomfort, weight increase, muscle pain, yawning, sexual dysfunction, runny nose, and ringing in the ears.
All of these issues are neurotransmitter related, indicating the ill effects and further damage being done to brain chemistry. This is the result of manipulating just one biochemical process of one neurotransmitter. These side effects are just a sample of the possibilities since everyone is different. Also, as with any other drug, the brain will develop a tolerance to antidepressants. Once that tolerance is met there will be yet another dependency to address, and further damaged brain chemistry.
Below is a list of the major neurotransmitters that are profoundly affected by alcohol and excessive refined / simple carb consumption, and their pro (normal, healthy states) and con (addictive, disruptive states) effects on psychological health.
Low-level serotonin is directly related to compulsiveness – the hallmark of addiction. Many physicians are beginning to assert that low serotonin levels are responsible for most, if not all, obsessive and compulsive behaviors.
Serotonin and beta-endorphins are neurotransmitters essential for the feelings of joy, well being, and peace of mind in various emotional and psychological centers of the brain. In order for a neurotransmitter to transmit its message to the mind and body, it must be released into the synapse (gaps between nerves), where it will bind with its counterpart receptor and transfer its information. Problem drinkers have very low levels of these neurotransmitters and higher levels of their corresponding receptors; this is defined as “upregulated” brain chemistry. It is commonly due to either genetic or acquired damage to the functional HPA axis, which has been discussed in Chapter One, and which will be studied in Chapters Eight and Nine.
This chapter will go into a very high-level explanation as to how brain chemistry becomes upregulated, which will explain how those with addictive biochemistry are different than those who do not possess addictive biochemistry.
Upregulated brain chemistry is a result of the brain being unable to provide the number of neurotransmitters required to meet the demands of a healthy number of its corresponding receptors. If there isn’t a large enough beta-endorphin and serotonin supply, the body will create more serotonin and beta-endorphin receptor sites in a chemical effort to find and bind with what little serotonin and beta-endorphin neurotransmitters there are available. When people with this kind of brain chemistry drink alcohol, they experience a far more euphoric response to the alcohol than people with a balanced brain chemistry do. This is because the alcohol promotes the release of excess beta-endorphins, and the sugar associated with alcohol prompts a quick, spiked release of serotonin. One of the reasons serotonin levels spike like this is because simple carbohydrates, such as alcohol and sugar, help the tryptophan (which is a precursor to serotonin) in the blood pass the blood brain barrier while blocking other amino acids from crossing. Once across the barrier, the tryptophan is converted to serotonin. These new neurotransmitters will then flood their eagerly awaiting receptor compliments. To make matters worse, another biochemical process is occurring at the same time: the byproduct of alcohol metabolism, acetaldehyde, combines with dopamine and serotonin to form salsolinol and beta-carboline. Salsolinol and beta-carboline produce tetrahydroisoquinolines (THIQs) which are morphine-like molecules that fit into beta-endorphin receptor sites, and are extremely addictive.
During extended periods of alcohol abuse, this process of flooding beta-endorphin receptors sends signals to the brain of the receptors being satiated. This signals the brain that there are plenty of beta-endorphins, in which case the brain diminishes or discontinues production of these neurotransmitters, causing a shortage of natural feel-good neurotransmitters in the body. While the initial ingestion of alcohol causes a flood of serotonin to be released thus activating the relaxing, inhibitory GABA neurotransmitters, the elevated amounts of acetaldehyde in the body caused by excess alcohol intake will place increasing demands on serotonin by binding with it to form beta-carboline; this will also make the serotonin unavailable to bind with its own receptors. This goes unnoticed while the intense euphoric effects of THIQs are present, but the next day the diminished levels of beta-endorphins and the emptying out of serotonin will produce the many symptoms with which problem drinkers are all too familiar.
This cycle of neurotransmitter depletion and displacement is worsened by the malnutrition caused by alcohol toxicity and the typical refined carb diets that problem drinkers tend to adopt. If there is a lack of the specific amino acids and vitamins and minerals required to produce feel-good neurotransmitters, the dependency on alcohol to provide replacements becomes progressively worse.
Autopsies performed on people with a history of alcoholism have shown that those who were actively drinking, and those who were recently abstinent, had very little serotonin in their brains. When a person stops drinking, the time it takes for their withdrawal to subside is a good indicator of how much damage their brain chemistry sustained in this area. The process of withdrawal involves the symptoms of the exogenous (external) chemicals emptying out, and the brain recognizing the resulting chemical imbalance (withdrawal stress and discomfort) and signaling the body to renew the natural feel-good neurotransmitters as medication for the symptoms. Withdrawal begins to subside as the brain responds with its own feel-good neurotransmitters, and disappears when it has successfully achieved a healthy balance known as homeostasis. Depending upon how recovery is approached, this process can take an extremely long time. If the recovery process doesn’t address a person’s nutritional deficiencies, and assist their body in providing the nutrients required to produce the necessary neurotransmitters, their malnourished system won’t have the means to provide these natural feel-goods in the proper quantities for quite some time, if ever. The result of this is the many symptoms the biologically damaged dry drunk continues to suffer and is the number one reason for relapse; in a desperate attempt to self-medicate and reintroduce feel-good neurotransmitters into the brain, a person will seek relief in the most effective way they know.
Do not underestimate the biochemical strength and psychological influence that sugar and alcohol addictions have in a person with upregulated brain chemistry. Those empty serotonin and beta-endorphin receptors are desperately seeking their biological mate, and if they can’t find them naturally they will instruct a person to find them elsewhere. These cravings and desires are strong and deep seated because they attract one both psychologically and physically, urging a person to use chemicals that interfere with and replace biochemical processes that are vital to their health and well being while worsening their addictive, upregulated brain chemistry. The immediate, exaggerated effects that a damaged brain chemistry will get from these substances include a short-term rise in self-esteem, energy, perceived happiness, physical and emotional pain relief, optimism, and confidence. These fixes are extremely appealing to a person who is experiencing the symptoms caused by unhealthy brain chemistry. The only way to eliminate that dangerous appeal is to naturally heal the symptoms.
Whether related to diet or a family history of sub-optimal endocrine performance, the fact is that those with upregulated, damaged serotonin and beta-endorphin brain chemistries are known to possess “addictive biochemistry” because they have demonstrated the ability to become addicted more quickly, with less exposure to the addictive substance, and in life-debilitating ways that reach more deeply into mental and physical health than those who do not have the condition.
· Serene
· Inspired
· Optimistic, positive attitude toward difficulty
· Joyful, happy
· Able to concentrate
· Creative
· Focused, mentally sharp
· Intuitive
· Mentally “relaxed”
· Active rather than reactive; solution oriented
· Responsive
· Caring, volunteer oriented
· Depressed
· Compulsive; unable to resist temptation or stick to behavioral modification decisions
· Short attention span
· Seeking quick, short lived forms of stimuli (eg, coffee, gambling, shopping, etc)
· Mentally foggy, unable to concentrate or stay focused on a task or goal
· Emotionally unstable; mood swings
· Suicidal
· Anxious
· Reactive
· Craving sweets (eg, cokes, candy, etc)
· Craving simple and refined carbohydrates (eg, pastas, cereal)
· Craving for alcohol
People who have a predisposition for addictive biochemistry are insufficiently medicated with healthy levels of natural endorphins and enkephalins. Research has established that low basal-endorphin and enkephalin production from the hypothalamus for any reason, including genetic influences or excess alcohol use, is a strong indication of addictive biochemistry.
Beta-endorphins and enkephalins are opioids whose functions in brain chemistry are as physical pain relievers and psychological and emotional calming and euphoria agents. Endorphins are essentially the body’s natural morphine. In some circumstances endorphins are considered stress hormones much like cortisol and the catecholamines: dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine (adrenaline, noradrenalin). Stress hormones are released in response to psychological or physiological pain; cuts, broken bones, intense exercise, excitement (good and bad), anxiety, inflammation, cold, extreme heat, or hemorrhage – basically anything causing an extreme response (either good or bad) from the body.
Endorphins are polypeptides and enkephalins are pentapeptides. Enkephalins are found in the beta-endorphin chain and are specifically responsible for managing pain and psychological distress. While endorphins and enkephalins are both produced by the hypothalamus, only endorphins are found to be produced by the pituitary as well, which gives this neurotransmitter substantially more “play time” in the endocrine system. For instance, endorphins are simultaneously released with ACTH from the pituitary in response to stress. ACTH releases cortisol from the adrenals to assist serotonin levels in easing the effects of the stressor, while endorphins do their part activating other biochemical pathways that reduce psychological and physical pain.
The most popular understanding of beta-endorphins is that they are responsible for the euphoric high you get when you jog: the “runner’s high”. To mediate the heightened pain and discomfort caused by the use of excess resources for running over extended periods, endorphins flood the brain and provide the euphoric feeling athletes get from the activity. The body is truly a self-contained survival mechanism; it knows what it needs to do to stay healthy. That is why The 101 Program concentrates on providing the body with the means to do what comes naturally instead of medicating it with prescription drugs that further destroy its ability to heal and care for itself.
Endorphins are also responsible for reducing a person’s perception of stress by providing a natural sense of well being and a centered disposition that “all is well” in the world. Endorphins and enkephalins help reduce the reaction to disappointment by giving a person the neurochemical ability to “let things go”, turn reactive into active (prompting one to do something about a displeasing situation rather than existing in anger and helplessness) and maintain the attitude that “this too shall pass”. In an endorphin-starved brain, such as that of a chronic or problem drinker, small nuances can be magnified into explosive, life-threatening, cataclysmic disasters, which the sympathetic nervous system will respond to as strongly as it is capable of doing via the fight or flight response. This response drains your internal resources, impairs your immune system, and fatigues your neuroendocrine system. It is unproductive and problematic, since it intensifies the original displeasing event and draws upon and wastes even more life essence. Reactive states like these will send a person straight to the bar to find relief from life situations in general, and the painful symptoms that small events can bring on; the next broken pencil while writing a note will eventually result in another hangover.
Achieving and maintaining healthy endorphin and enkephalin levels, as well as being biochemically capable of responding to requirements as circumstances require, is paramount to correcting addictive biochemistry and curing alcoholism.
· High pain tolerance
· Pleasant disposition, feeling light throughout the day
· Sensitive, sympathetic
· High self-esteem
· Compassionate
· Connected and in touch
· Hopeful, optimistic, euphoric
· Positive attitude
· Emotionally positively energized
· Indifferent attitude toward sweet foods and alcohol
· Solution oriented
· Low pain tolerance
· Tearful, reactive
· Small tasks seem to require too much effort
· Low self-esteem
· Uninspired
· Aggressive
· Depressed, hopeless
· Craving sugar
· Emotionally and psychologically overwhelmed
· Feelings of isolation
As mentioned in the previous section, research has repeatedly established that low enkephalin levels in the brain, which are produced by the hypothalamus, are a key marker of both genetic and acquired addictive biochemistry. In laboratory tests, rats that were deprived of enkephalins drank extensively while rats bred with healthy concentrations of enkephalins had absolutely no interest. The next logical step is extremely important in healing addictive biochemistry: if low natural levels of opioids create a desire or need to drink, wouldn’t healthy levels dismiss it? Yes they do.
Enkephalins are actually distributed throughout more areas of the brain than endorphins, so their deficiency can adversely affect more areas of an individual’s mental health. Enkephalin deficiency is the underlying cause of many of the symptoms problem drinkers use alcohol to self-medicate: incompleteness, lack of fulfillment, inability to participate in activities and experience any gratification or enrichment to the point that they become disinterested in things they once enjoyed or lack any motivation to do new things, inferiority complex, feelings of inadequacy, fearfulness, and insecurity. A shortage of enkephalins can essentially cause a person to feel empty inside, worthless, and unable to find self-gratification in personal interests or ineffectual as a person. Healthy enkephalin presence in the brain, however, produces a natural sense of well being, calm, an almost spiritual peacefulness and joy, healthy self-esteem, confidence and even euphoria.
A key feature of The 101 Program is that it brings the neuroendocrine system to such a healthy state that the function of the HPA axis is repaired to the degree that the hypothalamus is able to produce and store a healthy level of enkephalins. The use of supplements first accelerates the healing process, removing the toxic damage that impaired brain function; then nutritional support and herbs stimulate endorphin and enkephalin production, while also preserving what is produced by inhibiting premature reuptake. While these treatments are taking place, the program participant is taught how to use other lifestyle activities to stimulate healthy, natural endorphin and enkephalin levels. This is a most important feature of The 101 Program’s success because it is necessary for a chronic drinker to be able to maintain healthy enkephalin levels in order to dismiss the desire for alcohol.
There can be a number of reasons for low enkephalin levels in the brain; reasons that are common for most neurotransmitters.
· Malnutrition or toxicity cause a lack of sufficient amino acid precursors and their nutritional cofactors, which means the brain does not have the ingredients to produce enkephalin.
· High concentrations of enkephalinase, the enzyme that metabolizes endorphins and enkephalins, removing them from the synapse where they are active (other neurotransmitters have their own respective digesting enzymes)
· Damaged or genetically deficient hypothalamus.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in controlling movement and posture, modulating mood, and playing a central role in positive reinforcement and dependency. This neurotransmitter plays an important part in signaling reward in the brain. For example, pleasurable events such as eating, drinking, and having sex are all associated with increased brain dopamine levels, while individuals who are experiencing depression or anxiety may have lowered brain dopamine levels. Many drugs that give pleasurable or calming effects either stimulate dopamine levels in the brain, mimic it, or, such as in the case of cocaine, inhibit the re-uptake of dopamine. The result is increased dopamine levels for longer periods of time, which causes the euphoric, pleasure seeking, alert, inspired / ambitious (albeit short-term) effect of the drug.
Dopamine is also associated with the reward system in the brain in that the pleasure a person gets from the memory of how an event, person, or drug made them feel stimulates dopamine in the associated reward center of the brain and encourages them to seek out that pleasure or feeling again.
Prolonged alcohol abuse can cause low dopamine levels, rendering one incapable of feelings of pleasure unless they are provoked by events or activities. Dependency on a drug to provide pleasure means that dopamine levels are artificially over stimulated, which raises the expectations in the brain: from that point on higher dopamine levels will be required to produce a significant pleasurable response. The bar has been raised, and the dependent brain will now find it extremely difficult to satisfy the requirements for experiencing pleasure in activities that were once greatly enjoyable. This is because dopamine receptors are downregulated (fewer produced) due to extended periods of overproduction of the neurotransmitter, which creates a requirement for more dopamine to stimulate the same sense of pleasure that they once received from the “simple pleasures” in life. A new biochemical scenario is created, where the reward system’s new threshold for excitement or pleasure is raised above what regular life has to offer. Someone who has experienced artificially produced exaggerated dopamine levels over a long period of time can become desensitized to the pleasurable effects of happiness, fulfillment, and self-gratification.
Biochemically, The 101 Program will show its participants how to naturally increase dopamine levels; however, it is also important for a recovering problem drinker to re-engage in their interests until they begin again to receive the joy and pleasure they once did, or to find new interests or pleasurable activities. The bottom line is that finding sources of self-gratification, pleasure, and joy also helps to fix imbalanced biochemistry, but it takes time. Inspiration or satisfaction from the activity will not typically happen right away; damaged brain chemistry needs time to re-adapt to pleasure, just as it did to alcohol. But it will happen.
In the initial stages of The 101 Program, dopamine precursors are included in the therapeutic protocol to assist the body in producing healthy levels of the neurotransmitter, so that the body and mind may begin experiencing the benefits of naturally produced dopamine quickly. Providing one is faithful to a condictive diet and the sugar and refined carb restrictions that someone with addictive biochemistry must maintain, a former problem drinker will overcome the damage from alcohol toxicity and be able to produce healthy levels of dopamine and other neurotransmitters naturally.
GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is the most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter found in the brain. Inhibitory neurotransmitters prevent post-synaptic firing (electrical pulses) and are associated with calm, relaxed, and pleasurable states because they manage the excitatory neurotransmitters and prevent over activity in the nervous system. GABA is widely distributed in the neurons of the cortex and contributes to motor control and vision. It also regulates anxiety, and is an important player in inhibiting stress signals and calming the body in upsetting situations.
Alcohol and sugar are known to increase GABA levels; conversely, levels drop during hypoglycemic periods when the body is low in blood sugar, causing hyper excitability during these episodes. Clinical studies of alcohol dependence have shown that GABA levels are also significantly low during alcohol withdrawal and protracted abstinence (the initial withdrawal period after the cessation of drinking, which is when a person is especially vulnerable to relapse). Alcohol produces many of its intoxicating effects through over expressing GABA. Problem drinkers have shown that they have more GABA in the brain while drinking, with a dramatic decrease when they stop. The rise in GABA is partly due to the quick rise in serotonin (a GABA modulator), caused by alcohol. During alcohol metabolism, the serotonin binding to its receptor on the GABA molecule activates GABA, initiating the relaxed and calm states associated with initial alcohol intake.
The ability of the brain to produce GABA diminishes over time in long-term problem drinkers, so that when GABA levels drop too low in response to low blood sugar episodes or prolonged alcohol abuse, there becomes an imbalance of GABA/glutamate during non-drinking hours. The relative rise in the excitatory neurotransmitter, glutimate, produces anxiety.
Since GABA is always substantially depleted during withdrawal, GABA and its nutriceutical cofactors that help it over the blood brain barrier are included in the Krispy Kleen Detox formula. The use of therapeutic dosages of B3, inositol, and C in the formula will help reduce the anxiety typically experienced during withdrawal, since this combination creates molecules that attach themselves to the GABA-benzodiazepine receptors and induce a calming effect without the use of alcohol.
Glutamate is the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the body, and is associated with learning and memory. An excitatory neurotransmitter is one that causes postsynaptic cells to fire. These are normally balanced by GABA and other inhibitory neurotransmitters like glycine and serotonin.
While alcohol will initially increase GABA, providing the relaxing effects of drinking, in cases of long-term alcohol abuse GABA is severely depleted; in the absence of alcohol this causes glutamate levels to become relatively high (upregulated). Upregulated glutamate levels can be responsible for mental withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, fear, tremors, and paranoia. Excess glutamate in concert with extremely low levels of GABA (inhibitory neurotransmitter) is responsible for the more severe symptoms of withdrawal where the central nervous system becomes over excited and causes convulsions and delirium.
The over expressed glutamate and under expressed GABA condition is also a primary cause of the uncomfortable symptoms such as anxiety, nervousness, paranoia, frustration and feelings of being overwhelmed that problem drinkers experience during the day before they start to drink. These symptoms also intensify when the individual tries to quit. Over expressed glutamate levels and toxicity are also the two major causes of cell death in the brain.
Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter of the sympathetic nervous system that is important for attentiveness, emotions, sleeping, dreaming, and learning. Low levels of norepinephrine are known to contribute to depression. High levels are known to cause anxiety, agitation, irritability, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even bipolar disorder. In the case of depression, which is common to alcohol abuse, there is a biochemical chain of events that dictates this: when an individual meets with stress, norepinephrine rises, prompting serotonin to be released which then signals the hypothalamus to release CRF (corticotrophin release factor) which ultimately produces cortisol.
In a healthy person’s response to stress, serotonin levels are raised because it is required to mediate the over expression of norepinephrine and bring the mind in balance to reduce the effects of the stress. Over expression (excessive release of a neurotransmitter from cells) of a neurotransmitter always depletes its stores within cells, so when the stressor goes away, norepinephrine will rebuild stores and serotonin will regain its healthy levels. However, when a person is under prolonged stress, serotonin and its precursors are “emptied out” due to the demands in mediating the norepinephrine response, thus causing a biochemical environment primed for depression by low serotonin and norepinephrine. This exact same chain of events is played out in prolonged alcohol abuse to a far greater degree. A common condition in problem drinkers is one of serotonin being chronically low and norepinephrine being left to rise because there is a lack of cortisol from fatigued adrenals to convert it to epinephrine for use in aiding blood sugar metabolism. The individual will begin to experience extreme nervous-related and emotionally uncomfortable symptoms from anxiety, and panic attacks to hypertension and emotional outbursts.
Epinephrine is the body’s fight-or flight-hormone and is produced by the body to prepare a person to protect him or herself and survive threat. Epinephrine is produced in the adrenal medulla and is found in the sympathetic nervous system. When it is released throughout the nervous system it produces states of heightened awareness (alertness) and energy to provide everything necessary to survive threat. It is also released during periods of emotional upset, physical or emotional trauma, any type of actual or perceived threat; and the hypoglycemic episodes that alcohol abuse is known for.
The neuroendocrine system is the “home” of addictive and addicted biochemistry because the genesis of addictive biochemistry is an imbalance of neurotransmitters and hormones caused by a deficiency in one or a combination of these neurochemicals. This imbalance results in the body’s inability to sufficiently medicate itself in a natural way. Any external substance that a person experiences which produces and activates the neurochemicals that are absent will tempt that person to use it repeatedly to self-medicate the symptoms experienced by the absence of a healthy, balanced brain chemistry. Those who inherit a neuroendocrine system unable to produce a balanced, sufficient supply of serotonin, GABA, dopamine, norepinephrine, enkephalins, endorphins, or acetylcholine are candidates for addiction to alcohol and other substances.
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· Following is a list of symptoms and side effects of additive biochemistry. It’s easy to notice that the foundation for each symptom is found to be in the endocrine system.
· Poor blood sugar management – most of the time the person is hypoglycemic or sugar sensitive.
· Weakened or damaged adrenals and pancreas, possibly noting a family history of an unmet need for brain glucose; results in general compromised endocrine function and digestive disorders
· Upregulation of serotonin and beta-endorphin receptor sites in the brain (because not enough of the neurotransmitters are being produced). Low serotonin creates under expressed GABA (inhibitory) activity, which can cause a number of uncomfortable excitatory (over expressed glutamate) symptoms which alcohol efficiently medicates.
· Craving for sweets from birth; this is a product of low serotonin levels and poor endocrine function.
· Low dopamine levels
· Over expressed sympathetic nervous system caused by an imbalance between the inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters, leaning heavily toward the excitatory side. This condition can cause mental disorders in childhood, which may lead to using alcohol in an attempt to release and activate serotonin, GABA, endorphins and dopamine.
· Tendency toward insulin resistance, which leads to more internally produced alcohol in the body from unused carbs, thus producing more highly addictive, brain-altering THIQS. THIQs occupy endorphin receptors and can cause reduction of endorphin production, promoting self-medication. Insulin resistance also adversely affects the delicate balance of the neuroendocrine system and has a tendency to create intense cravings for simple/refined carbs, perpetuating the habit of “mainlining” with sugary industrial foods, a habit that underwrites alcohol addiction in adulthood.
· Poor pancreatic function, which causes the digestive process to prefer simple/refined carbohydrates over complex carbs, proteins, and fats. This condition causes the body to seek simple carbs for energy, and leads to malnutrition and compulsive behavior
· Low enkephalin storage and availability in the hypothalamus, possibly due to extreme fluctuations in blood sugar from adrenal fatigue and the pancreas overreacting to blood glucose levels
· Underdeveloped or injured hypothalamus or pituitary
· Efficient alcohol metabolism
· Inefficient acetaldehyde metabolism
· Acquired addicted biochemistry is caused by any brand of lifestyle that involves prolonged use of a substance (legal or illegal) that causes the body and mind to become dependent on it to feel right; due to the neuroendocrine system being damaged to the point where it can no longer provide or utilize the neurochemicals required to feel good naturally.
· Excessive simple carb diet causes aggravated hypoglycemia and creates symptoms that the person is driven to satisfy or medicate.
· Alcohol metabolism produces THIQs (morphine-like neurotransmitters that bind with beta-endorphin receptors) in such abundance that the body’s own production of endorphins is cut down.
· Overall diminished performance of the neuroendocrine system results in the brain’s inability to produce its own feel-good neurotransmitters, causing depression and a plethora of mental and physical disorders.
· Acetaldehyde toxicity leads to liver, brain, gastrointestinal, adrenal, thyroid, and pancreatic damage. This depletes numerous nutrients and undermines vital biochemical processes and leads to tissue damage, metabolic disorders (addiction), and disease.
· Liver becomes progressively less able to properly detox; more acetaldehyde exposure for the brain accelerates the brain damage.
· Alcohol and excess refined/simple carb diet cause chronic high insulin levels, which lead to suppression of the endocrine system by diminishing many key hormones such as HGH (one reason why problem drinkers age quickly).
· Advancing injury to the neuroendocrine system due to continued use of alcohol and excessive refined carbs causes the addiction and its symptoms to seat deeper into the biochemistry, causing a person to become progressively more dependent.
Below are high-level genetic markers, conditions caused from alcohol toxicity damage, and acquired metabolic disorders that are associated with and contribute to addictive biochemistry and alcohol abuse. They either encourage addictive biochemistry and alcohol addiction (genetic), or are a result of excessive drinking. These conditions predispose a person to addiction, and if they are already addicted, the explanations will demonstrate how that happened.
The HPA axis is where the endocrine and central nervous systems interact in the brain, and is responsible for the regulation of every biochemical function of the body down to the performance of every cell. Any hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal dysfunction leads to deficient provision of the neurotransmitters and hormones required by the neuroendocrine system to produce sound mental and physical health. This dysfunction shows itself as an imbalance in the HPA axis, and more importantly, in a plethora of mental and physical illnesses, including addiction. The cause can be genetic or acquired; the end product is the brain failing to produce sufficient natural neurotransmitters. The ensuing neurochemical imbalance encourages an individual to seek relief through outside sources. When those sources are toxic, the condition becomes worse and intensifies the addiction. The art of healing this condition resides in removing the toxic substance, healing the damaged organs, and then assisting the neuroendocrine system in producing sufficient feel-good neurotransmitters naturally.
· Serotonin depletion and neurotransmitter/receptor imbalance
· Beta-endorphin depletion and imbalance and their effect on dopamine release
· Enkephalin depletion and imbalance
· Inflammation causing poor circulation and biosynthesis of key neurotransmitters and hormones in the brain
· Over excitation of sympathetic nervous system
· Profound negative effects on brain chemistry from fatigued adrenals
· Tolerance increases and withdrawal intensifies over time, encouraging daily use of alcohol.
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· Hypoglycemia/sugar sensitivity
· General suppression of the endocrine system
· Adrenal fatigue
· Pancreatic injury
· Low thyroid function
· Compromised hypothalamus function
· Compromised pituitary function
· Alcohol metabolism byproducts, inefficient acetaldehyde metabolism
· Efficient alcohol metabolism
· Nutrients exhausted from metabolizing alcohol and detoxing its byproducts
· Inadequate protein synthesis
· Metabolic poisoning
· Liver damage
· Gastrointestinal damage, malnutrition
· Acetaldehyde toxicity
· Acetaldehyde addiction
· Sources of acetaldehyde
· Candida Albicans
· General Candida Albicans symptoms
As stated, addictive or addicted biochemistry is essentially the body’s inability to adequately self-medicate with natural transmitters like serotonin, GABA, dopamine, endorphins, and enkephalins. This inability predisposes an individual to seek relief from the resulting symptoms in external ways such as alcohol. Low GABA, serotonin, dopamine, and endorphin levels mean that excitatory neurotransmitters such as glutamate, norepinephrine, and epinephrine are not properly managed, causing an overactive nervous system. This overly sensitive nervous system leads to symptoms that problem drinkers are known to self-medicate. These symptoms, along with the nutritional deficiencies that create them, are the bedrock of the progression of alcoholism in active drinkers because the longer one drinks, the more damage is done to the neuroendocrine system, intensifying the problem and causing the person to drink more and more. This vicious cycle continues to apply to the former problem drinker since they will self-medicate with caffeine, excess simple and refined carbs, cigarettes, or drama, all of which release, for a short period, the naturally deficient feel-good neurotransmitters.
Research has concluded that the ‘home’ of alcoholism is in the HPA (hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal) axis of the neuroendocrine system. Armed with the knowledge of the markers of addictive chemistry, scientists have developed sophisticated tests, which monitor the performance of this axis by measuring dopamine, serotonin, GABA, glutamate, epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenalin), cortisol and DHEA which are the primary neurotransmitters and two key hormones affected by alcohol metabolism. These tests provide invaluable information for evaluating the breadth and depth of addiction in an individual, as well as for targeting the specific needs for therapeutic nutriceuticals to help dismiss the addiction from the brain chemistry.
The endocrine system is the network of glands in the body comprised of the hypothalamus, pituitary, pineal, adrenals, thyroid, parathyroid, and sex glands. These glands secrete hormones that travel through the blood to the organs of the body, carrying messages with the intention of keeping an organ regulated and healthy, essentially functioning as it should. A hormone’s message will stimulate, suppress, or maintain functional cell or tissue activity of the organ by which it is received.
The hypothalamus is the centerpiece of the endocrine system and is located in the middle of the base of the brain. The hypothalamus’ ultimate purpose is to establish and maintain balance, or homeostasis, within the body. It regulates functions of the autonomic system such as breathing, heart rate, hunger, thirst, sex drive, sleep, urination, and metabolism including blood sugar control.
The hypothalamus houses connections to hormones from the endocrine system and neurotransmitters from the nervous system. It utilizes the information it receives from these systems to control and balance the CNS and endocrine system and to establish healthy brain chemistry and nervous system function. It communicates with both systems to correct hormone and neurotransmitter imbalances by either slowing production of what is in excess, ingesting or degrading specific neurotransmitters faster, or in cases of deficiency, producing and releasing them as required.
The door to addictive biochemistry and imbalanced brain chemistry opens when either the hypothalamus or one of the organs that serve the hypothalamus is injured, dis-eased, or malnourished. In any one of these conditions the entire system will fall off the “point zero” (homeostasis) that the HPA system tries to maintain, and the door for addictive biochemistry is opened. Addictive biochemistry and full out alcoholism are associated with over expression of the excitatory neurotransmitters: glutamate, epinephrine and norepinephrine. This over expression indicates low levels of the inhibitory neurotransmitters, serotonin and GABA, the neuromodulator dopamine, and the opioids, endorphins and enkephalins. In the case of alcohol addiction, excessive use results in various nutritional and chemical deficiencies that render the hypothalamus incapable of doing its job and providing the necessary inhibitory neurotransmitters on its own. Over time, these nutritional deficiencies will result in actual damage to the brain, endocrine system, and other key organs that are taxed by the metabolism of alcohol.
The pituitary gland is located below the hypothalamus and is directly connected to it via nerve and circulatory pathways. The hypothalamus regulates the function of the pituitary gland, which in turn controls hormonal secretions of all other glands. The pituitary gland controls the adrenal glands and signals for the release of cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine in response to low blood sugar, as caused by alcohol metabolism. The pituitary secretes adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH), which controls the adrenals and their release of cortisol. Adrenal release of epinephrine and norepinephrine is also triggered by corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) and signals from the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). In the case of cortisol release, when the hypothalamus registers low blood sugar it will send CRH to the pituitary, which then releases ACTH, which will cause cortisol to be secreted from the adrenals. This chain of events will also cause the release of epinephrine and to a lesser degree norepinephrine. Prolonged increased levels of epinephrine will block insulin receptors and lead to insulin resistance and lowered serotonin, endorphin, enkephalin, and GABA levels. This means impaired HPA function and increased compulsive and addictive behavior.
The adrenals sit on top of the kidneys and are directly controlled by the pituitary gland and signals from the sympathetic nervous system. The adrenals are comprised of two sections; one is the medulla, which is the inner core, and the second is the adrenal cortex, which is the outer layer. The medulla relates to the sympathetic nervous system and produces the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine. The adrenal cortex produces sex hormones, aldosterone, and cortisol.
Chemical messengers (hormones) that are received from the pituitary, and signals from the sympathetic nervous system, determine the timing and quantity of hormones to be released from the adrenals. If they are injured, diseased, or fatigued they will not be able to keep up with the demands for production, and mild to severe mental disorders will surface as symptoms of compromised adrenal health.
Although it is hard to imagine because they are docked on our kidneys, adrenal health is fundamental to our mental health. Proper levels of cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine are crucial to mental well being, so concentrated focus needs to be applied to their health when healing addictive biochemistry and alcoholism.
These organs work together to control a person’s response to situations that are stressful, upsetting, or damaging. They can also be the path to addiction through excess alcohol use. During periods of acute stress special serotonin receptors on the hypothalamus are stimulated, and cause the hypothalamus to produce CRF (corticotrophin release factor). The CRF is sent directly to the pituitary, where it causes ACTH to be sent to the adrenals, triggering the release of cortisol. Cortisol is sent throughout the body on a number of different missions, with the primary one being to reduce the stress by stimulating serotonin (inhibitory neurotransmitter) release in the amygdala, as well to stimulate other helpful neurotransmitters to mediate the effects of stress on the body. The serotonin has an inhibitory effect on glutamate (excitatory neurotransmitter) and acts to calm a person down. The amygdala is directly connected to the hypothalamus and is a component of the limbic area of the brain where processing of emotions, fear, panic, and long-term memories happens. Excess alcohol use can make the brain incapable of carrying out this important process. Many forms of depression, anxiety, and panic disorders originate here due to low serotonin levels, and the ensuing over expressed glutamate.
The markers in the brain chemistry that spell genetic addictive tendencies are the same as those of a person who earned the condition through alcohol abuse; they are low endorphin, enkephalin, GABA, serotonin, and dopamine expression. These always result in the same chemical situation: the over expression of the sympathetic nervous system through glutamate, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. The condition does not always involve all of these neurotransmitters; the activities of just one or two can initiate the practice of self-medicating once a person is exposed to a substance that helps balance their deficiencies. The symptoms suffered by people with inherited capacity for addictive biochemistry that are not actively drinking are not as pronounced as those of the active drinker; however they are debilitating and extremely mentally and physically uncomfortable.
Symptoms can vary depending on the exact neurotransmitters involved, but they can include everything from depression, mental and physical fatigue, and cravings for simple carbs to low self-esteem or confidence, low-grade anxiety, and restlessness. Alcohol can fix all of these in one blow because it immediately raises the levels of all of the deficient neurotransmitters. The price is high though, because on the other end, with withdrawal, comes the bottoming out of the already-low levels of neurotransmitters.
Long-term drinking causes over expression of excitatory neurotransmitters glutamate, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, and under expression of the inhibitory neurotransmitters serotonin, GABA, and dopamine, as well as the opioids endorphins and enkephalins. These over and under expressions during periods of sobriety cause the oversensitive ‘excitatory’ nervous system symptoms that make a person want to self-medicate. During sobriety, a person will suffer their own combination of these now-magnified symptoms due to the now-magnified neurotransmitter deficiencies that have been aggravated by withdrawal.
Drinking makes extreme demands on the adrenals, and problem drinking invariably fatigues the adrenals and brings the problem drinker to a serious stress syndrome. Since the fatigued adrenals are unable to produce sufficient cortisol, DHEA and epinephrine, they will suffer from over expression of norepinephrine, which is known to cause irritability, anxiety, aggression, hypertension, and bipolar disorder.
What happens within the body of a person who has been abusing alcohol for a while and has damaged their neuroendocrine system is this: while the person is drinking, GABA, endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin are over expressed. This causes relaxation and soothing of the symptoms from which they had been suffering. However, this overuse of inhibitory neurotransmitters causes a depletion that leaves stores empty the next morning when a person wakes up, causing the over expression of glutamate and catecholamines at that time. Symptoms of this condition include anxiety, restlessness, worry, short attention span, inability to focus, restlessness, jitters, insomnia; signs that the person is internally overexcited. Similarly during drinking, endorphins and enkephalins are over produced and emptied out, causing a lack of natural pain killers available to mediate the condition the next morning; the person will need to have alcohol again to reproduce these opioids and kill the pain.
The internal scene of a person who rarely drinks excessively is quite different; this person has ample healthy stores of serotonin, dopamine, GABA, endorphins, and enkephalin, and will immediately rise to the job of balancing the over expressed glutamate. In the long-term drinker this is impossible because their body’s ability to manufacture and replenish healthy levels of these neurotransmitters has been diminished from the damage of alcohol toxicity and the resulting malnutrition. The possible genetic handicap of not being able to naturally balance the autonomic, sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system by producing ample amounts of inhibitory neurotransmitters may also be involved, which means there was a precondition of low levels of the natural feel-goods. This precondition serves to accelerate the progression of alcohol abuse.
Once damage is established in the HPA system by long-term drinking, the cycle becomes deeply embedded in a person’s biochemistry. This condition renders a person entirely dependent on alcohol to achieve peace, relaxation, a sense of happiness, and the natural euphoria of life; they can no longer achieve that state naturally, within a reasonable amount of time, and not without going through a severe withdrawal period.
Inherited and acquired states of imbalance are predominately caused by the weakening of HPA organs as they are damaged by extreme blood sugar fluctuations over a considerable period, or malnutrition. Alcohol metabolites such as acetaldehyde will add to the damage of these organs in variable degrees, making a considerable contribution to the addiction.
There are many known contributors to genetic biochemical imbalance. A family history of brain sugar needs going unsatisfied due to reasons like famine or dietary restrictions that caused an excess of grain consumption over protein is one such contributor. Unsatisfied brain sugar needs can weaken adrenals, cause injury to the hypothalamus and pituitary, and result in the genetic predisposition to seek alcohol and other simple sugars and stimulants to self-medicate. Another contributor is an early adoption of the industrialized food craze that manifests in nearly 95% of what is at the supermarket, being adulterated with sugars, hydrogenated fats, or foods so processed that there really isn’t any nutrition in the product anymore. These so-called foods cause malnutrition and damage the delicate workings of the HPA axis in the same way as alcohol toxicity.
Excessive dietary sugars, OTC, prescription, and street drugs, malnutrition, disease, and environmental toxins (especially acetaldehyde) can create a deficiency of neurotransmitters and imbalance or even damage the neuroendocrine system. This imbalance creates an immediate requirement for restoration and rebalancing of neurotransmitter levels before illness and possibly disease have a chance to set in. Alcoholism is extremely responsive to neurotransmitter repletion since their deficiencies and imbalances provide an opening for alcohol to become a perceived necessity for the body; that is at the very root of alcohol addiction.
Following is a simplified version of the chain of events that takes place when someone with addictive chemistry drinks alcohol.
· Drinking causes increased serotonin, GABA, endorphins, and dopamine in the brain.
· Hypothalamus produces increased CRF.
· Pituitary produces ACTH and endorphins are simultaneously released in the brain, causing heightened mood from drinking.
· Adrenals release high levels of cortisol, norepinephrine, and epinephrine (as triggered by sympathetic nervous system).
· Result: 20 to 30 minutes later, dramatic decrease in blood sugar and feel-good neurotransmitters
· Individual begins to feel ‘excitatory’ symptoms of stress, and has another drink to medicate the symptoms; the cycle begins again.
· Individual experiences symptoms of low levels of feel-good neurotransmitters (depleted during alcohol consumption).
· Elevated glutamate (excitatory neurotransmitter), high cortisol, norepinephrine, and epinephrine (stress neurotransmitters)
· Combination of high levels of stress neurotransmitters and low levels of feel-good neurotransmitters leads to diminished mental/physical capacities, depression, anxiety, physical fatigue, loss of interest in activities, emotional instability.
· Result: Individual begins to cultivate habit of replenishing feel-good neurotransmitters by using alcohol as a prop. The individual’s own ability to produce neurochemicals is damaged, and addiction is born.
There are possibly a hundred different pathways for the various symptoms caused by alcohol toxicity and damage. This chapter has demonstrated that regardless of the pathway, the result is the same; alcohol toxicity and the results of its metabolism in the brain cause the psychological symptoms suffered by problem drinkers. These symptoms trigger the survival mechanism for the body to reduce pain, and since a damaged body can’t do this naturally, it will seek relief in alcohol.
Due to alcohol toxicity damage and malnutrition, adrenal fatigue causes low cortisol output, which leads to high norepinephrine levels (over expressed). The debilitating symptoms of this condition have been mentioned earlier. The cause is that cortisol is required (along with SAMe) to produce epinephrine from norepinephrine. When this doesn’t occur, norepinephrine is over expressed while epinephrine and cortisol are diminished. Note here that cortisol is also required in some areas of the brain to activate serotonin, so that when it is low, serotonin expression is also inhibited. This condition of elevated norepinephrine with decreased serotonin delivers a person into the “alarm” stage for stress disorder, characterized by extreme anxiety, panic attacks, paranoia, insomnia, aggression, irritability, hypertension, and even bipolar disorder. All of these conditions center on the deregulation of the HPA axis.
The conscious is the communication center between the soul and the physical world, and vise-versa – a mission control that reads information from our senses, feeds it to our higher self, and then responds according to our soul’s programming. It is a labyrinth of roadways housed inside the brain that provide a means for energy to convey information in the form of electrically charged pulses, from the “higher self” and the physical world down to every cell in the body. Problems arise when these roadways and tunnels are blocked, damaged, or forced into detours. More problems occur when these roadways are filled with vehicles (electrical pulses) that cannot make the trip and are breaking down due to environmental assaults or lack of proper fuel and maintenance. Discord and chaos ensue when the information for which each vehicle is responsible misses its destination; communication is lost. As these chemical “vehicles” break down and drift around aimlessly, they cause traffic jams, accidents, and distractions on the roadways of the mind while picking up dangerous hitch hikers. When life-sustaining information cannot be expressed – either through directives from a person’s DNA, which stores the survival information of our species, or through the quantum field embodying their mind/body relationship – it becomes disconnected from the universal laws that sustain and generate life. The vibrancy and light of life fades and separation and chaos cloud a person’s perfect expression of self.
The chaos and discord in a person’s cellular body out-pictures itself in a number of physical, emotional, psychological, and situational distresses. The macro mirrors the micro: as it is above, so it is below. Perspective becomes distorted and the person loses contact with the better side of themself when constant intoxication damages the vehicles and roadways that facilitate communication between the higher self and physical existence. They become a chaotic swirl of nervous impulses, constantly reacting to circumstance because neurological damage from alcohol toxicity and the amped-up existence caused by excessive sugars have disconnected them from their higher self and removed them from the driver’s seat. They become more energy and compulsiveness than thought. In this state it is easy for a person to lose their direction in life and find that they are no longer able to take charge of events and circumstances. They no longer hear the music our biochemical rhythms are supposed to dance to, feel the higher vibrations our life energy is supposed to align with, or see the world they live in through the crystal clear understanding of their soul’s eyes. Losing this higher vision disrupts the view of the world and a person’s understanding of their purpose in it; they incorrectly react to circumstances and events in life and as a result, become mentally and physically exhausted by their struggles by the end of the day.
Essentially, a disruption in this self communication means that we lose our grace and biochemical rhythm in the cosmic harmonic dance that celebrates health, because the grace and beauty of that dance is expressed in the choreography of the mind and body communicating as they were designed to. As deities created in the “image of God”, our perfection is unable to express itself when our intuitive understanding of the world becomes blocked or distorted by the physical separation and chaos caused by toxic substances that poison the paths between our mind and body communication systems. The supreme intelligence of God can no longer work through our higher consciousness and DNA to keep us healthy and give life to our creative forces. Those creative forces are the entitlement that separates us from all other creatures on Earth, the gift that allows us to consciously create our day, ultimately making us masters of our reality. They are impaired by the disconnection to the master plan; the blueprint of our existence which channels the energies of the universe through our consciousness is lost as sheaths of foreign substances distort its path and we lose touch with the creative forces which define us as the “image of God”.
The result is that the body’s higher intelligence and instinct for living can no longer keep the physical body healthy or give life to its creative forces. Thus we become unable to mold energy in our lives into a healthy, happy environment and become instead victims of random circumstances. The clear channels of peace, intuition, inspiration, guidance and sense of well being that bring us naturally to happiness and accord are replaced by fear, anguish, anxiety, depression, and lack of healthy desires. This is when circumstance, stress, toxic thoughts, and addiction begin to rule us instead of our better judgment and the higher laws of the supreme intention. The enlightened information required for sound judgment, higher thinking, insightfulness, and guidance is not being received because our brains become like radars with low power supplies tuned to the wrong frequencies. We begin responding to our surroundings in an inaccurate way, without focus or healthy intentions. This internal disharmony leads to matching disharmony with the outside world. A person who cannot understand or communicate their own needs becomes cut off from the environment, since it cannot provide for a person on its own. The disharmony with their environment is a result of the disharmony within their bodies. The laws of balance in the universe are not negotiable. A person’s external life becomes progressively messier as it adapts to their chaotic internal world. They become cut off from “the universe that provides” because the universe doesn’t know what they need, since their “transmitter” has been shut down by addiction, which diminishes the expression of their “Chi” - Life Energy – the umbilical chord that connects a person to the abundance of the heavens that is their rightful inheritance as a child of God. The stronger a person’s chi is, the brighter their light; and the closer and more open they are to the flow of energy that operates on the frequencies of the universal laws that express health. In order to have a healthy relationship with the world, a person must build a healthy vessel through which the energy of life may flow and open a path for their divine inheritance.
Physiological health has a profound effect on mental health and vice-versa, ultimately encouraging or discouraging spiritual expression. It is possible to modify genetic expression (DNA) with focused thoughts and beliefs, so it is extremely important to maintain a healthy frame of mind; thoughts, beliefs, and expectations will reflect themselves in physical health, experiences, and environment.
The beauty of all this is this that there are many ways in which a person may reestablish accord with their divinity by clearing the roadways and building vehicles fit for the trip. In addition to treating the body like the temple that it is, he or she must also treat their mind like the temple’s garden and plant loving, appreciative, beautiful thoughts in it as well by creating a holy space within through meditation and prayer. This provides a wonderful destination for their vehicles with enchanting roadways and scenery. By practicing the principles that bring one back to the vibrancy where the laws of mental and physical well being operate in accordance with the divine laws that created the physical world, a person will once again find the sense of spiritual connectedness that has been lost.
The spirit is always present; it’s the awareness of it and experiencing life, and the enchanting gifts of perception, understanding, and vision that is poisoned by alcohol toxicity. Through the flow of these laws’ vibrancy and perfect instruction, life becomes the very enchanting journey it was meant to be and abundance flows once again.
Most problem drinkers are hypoglycemic, meaning they experience low blood sugar episodes throughout the day. The rest are at least sugar sensitive, meaning that they experience a distinct high when they have sugar and a distinct low when they don’t. Hypoglycemia and its causes play an important role in the root of addiction and addictive biochemistry. On the surface, hypoglycemia appears to be a rather simple condition to review. But extreme fluctuations in blood sugar throughout the day set in motion a very serious chain of events that strongly contributes to addictive biochemistry and other health issues. Left unattended, these issues frequently result in numerous physical and mental dis-eases.
A child can be born with hypoglycemia or a precondition that will result in hypoglycemia if not managed with proper diet. An adult can also drink their way into the condition. Habitual alcohol consumption can create hypoglycemia by continually triggering insulin, coritsol, and epinephrine reactions, thereby exhausting the pancreas and adrenals. Damage from the very toxic acetaldehyde also plays a major role in injuring these two organs and diminishing their functions, which will eventually render the problem drinker hypoglycemic.
Insulin initiates a number of metabolic processes associated with addictive biochemistry, making it a key player in the development of addiction. When you drink alcohol, the sugars it contains are absorbed immediately into the bloodstream and quickly send your blood sugar up to abnormal levels. In response, those who are sugar sensitive or hypoglycemic overproduce insulin to deal with the sugar (glucose). The pancreas over reacts and brings glucose levels down way too quickly, resulting in low blood sugar. When the glucose-starved cells aren’t getting the fuel they need, they begin sending out distress signals, some of which cause very uncomfortable physical symptoms. A person becomes irritable, shaky, fatigued, ‘low’, headachy, and fearful. In the absence of another drink, the adrenals and the pancreas will release epinephrine and glucagons, which will counter low blood sugar by triggering the release of the body’s stored glucose from the liver. In most problem drinkers, the fatigued adrenals, and possibly pancreas, won’t be able to release enough epinephrine and glucagon to ease low blood sugar symptoms. The result is that most people will probably opt for another drink to medicate the symptoms, setting the cycle in motion all over again.
What
happens in many long-time drinkers at this point is that if they don’t have
another drink, the body attempts to bring its blood sugar back up by releasing
cortisol. This is the common
physiology of those who can drink all night, because cortisol and SAMe in the
brain convert norepinephrine into epinephrine, and the increased levels of the
three stress hormones wakes the person up.
These are the drinkers that become energetic after a couple of drinks,
and because of this characteristic in their metabolism they are encouraged to
drink themselves to sleep. Trying
to stop during the middle of this cycle would cause them to feel wide awake, yet
at the same time experience the crash of their declining blood sugar levels
physically and in mental capacities such as anxiousness and restlessness. Combined with the fact that rapidly
falling blood sugar levels will cause serotonin to empty out, these symptoms
cause tremendous cravings for
another drink. Remember, low
serotonin equals carbohydrate cravings plus compulsive behavior. This is why it is so hard to “just have
one”!
This process takes only a short time to damage the pancreas and adrenal glands, causing more severe alcohol-induced hypoglycemic symptoms like emotionally charged mood swings and the 0 to10 explosive reaction to confrontation and difficulty that problem and heavy drinkers are known to have made an art form. Keep in mind that on a much smaller scale this same blood sugar roller coaster exists for caffeine and sugar junkies; however, their episodes are not as colorful since they do not have the intoxicating effects of alcohol reducing their inhibitions.
There is a large difference between someone who is curing his or her addiction with The 101 Program and someone who is going the way of traditional treatment without directly addressing their alcohol-induced and/or genetic disadvantages. As the hypoglycemic symptoms intensify due to the high caffeine/refined/simple carb diets people pursue in the absence of alcohol, and the damage from former alcohol abuse continues to progress under the surface, a person experiences depression, mental and physical fatigue, a sense of being overwhelmed, anxiety, and fear. Everyday reality will become frustrating and difficult when seen through the effects of the mental incapacities caused by hypoglycemia. A person will get easily overwhelmed as the day’s events mount on top of compromised physical and mental health, inundating them with psychological and physiological struggles. The body prompts the person more and more urgently to relieve their symptoms of stress, anxiety, anguish, fatigue, depression, or even just a bad mood, with sugars, caffeinated beverages, and refined carbohydrates. These will ease the symptoms, since they cause the release of a little serotonin and endorphin to help medicate the body; when the short-term effects wear off, the same cycle will repeat itself.
Empty carb diets like this continue the damage to the neuroendocrine system, and also “empty the tank”. Over time there is less serotonin and endorphin to be released, demoting these neurotransmitters from psychological controls to simple energy tools that offer next to none of the psychological and emotional relief they once did. Without the relief a person once gained from the neurochemical reactions these neurochemicals caused, they will be prompted to search for relief somewhere else. The addiction to alcohol can never be healed while a low blood sugar appetite is being maintained by a diet and lifestyle that continue the damage to the body, mainlining with another form of the same substance that created the appetite and damage in the first place.
The detox and healing within the practices and guidelines of The 101 Program rid a person of those symptoms and impulses in a healthy way, since they will cure the hypoglycemia by establishing healthy blood sugar levels throughout the day. A participant will eat to nourish the brain so that they have plenty of the right nutrients to help them feel great naturally throughout the day. They will cure one of the key causes of the addiction, instead of feeding or masking it for a few hours with coffee and donuts. Since hypoglycemic symptoms are a key cause of alcohol addiction and relapse, this condition absolutely must be addressed to free a person from the symptoms.
The sugar associated with alcohol plays a very big role in the appeal of and addiction to alcoholic beverages. If a person’s biochemistry is naturally sugar sensitive, the habit of drinking simply for the enhanced effect sugar/glucose has on a serotonin/beta-endorphin-starved brain chemistry is easily fostered. An upregulated brain chemistry (more receptor sites than neurotransmitters to bind with them) is a strong genetic marker for predisposition to addictive biochemistry, which is in turn a symptom of an imbalanced neuroendocrine system. The power of sugar addiction is every bit as powerful as that of alcohol. Godiva chocolate stores are as appealing to a sugar addict as the dealer’s house is to a junkie because of the manner in which its products are experienced in a beta-endorphin- and serotonin-affected upregulated brain chemistry. For sugar-sensitive people, sugar produces a milder, yet similar, euphoric high as that of opium or morphine. This is because their beta-endorphin/serotonin-starved brain cells have an army of receptor sites waiting to collect as many of the beta-endorphin and serotonin molecules released from the metabolism of sugars as possible.
Compare this to the more balanced neurotransmitter-to-receptor count in non-addictive, non –sugar-sensitive people. There is much more of a rush feeding the starving receptor sites than there is feeding the balanced receptor sites. The quest for that euphoric feeling will send addicted people rushing to the nearest liquor store day-in and day-out, or for sweets in the absence of alcohol, without blinking an eye. The urge to reach for a beer comes from the same place as the urge to order pie after dinner, or even have pie for dinner.
In many respects, alcohol and sugar travel through a person’s system in the exact same manner. They create the same endocrine, brain chemistry, and digestive imbalances; they are both carbohydrates with zero nutritional value. They feed upregulated (excessive receptor) serotonin and beta-endorphin conditions in brain chemistry, negatively influencing a number of other metabolic functions and affecting other neurotransmitters, while reducing internal production of natural enkephalins, beta-endorphins, and serotonin. It is this distortion of the brain chemistry, in particular the disruption of the serotonin process, that creates intense cravings for sugar and alcohol. Specifically, low serotonin makes a person crave sweets and other carbohydrates, thus giving them the feeling that it’s either time for snacks or for drinks. The main difference is that with alcohol a person gets a second level of reaction; the metabolism of alcohol and sugar turned acetaldehyde produces high levels of THIQs that mimic beta-endorphins and other opioid-type neurotransmitters.
Low serotonin levels are directly linked to compulsive disorders, and addiction is a compulsive disorder. When it comes to alcohol, the compulsive disorder translates into not having the internal control to resist an urge, desire, or temptation to do something one knows to be unhealthy, and not being able to stop the repeated behavior. The temptation creates an impulse and the person, who is supposed to be the one in control, is not present or “vocal” enough to intervene. In the heat of the moment, how much strength does one have against reaching for a donut or beer? Why is the temptation or desire so strong in the first place? When it comes to alcohol or sugar, the presence or absence of mental fortitude in the face of temptation is directly related to the availability and utilization of serotonin in the brain. With adequate serotonin, beta-endorphin, and enkephalin biosynthesis, a person is able to feel good naturally with or without a drink, so the desire for alcohol is not experienced as a physical and mental craving. Moderate drinkers drink because they enjoy having a drink or two with friends, not because it will make them feel better or give them relief from an emotional or psychological symptom. Although it will provide relaxation and give them a slight buzz, it is not essential, since they feel good inside their own skin anyway.
Since compulsiveness is one of the symptoms of an addicted biochemistry, when you add the debilitating symptoms suffered by problem drinkers, there is not much standing between them and answering the call to self-medicate those symptoms. It is natural to seek relief from mental and physical pain; it is a survival mechanism. Compulsiveness means that there is no ‘off’ switch to help someone maintain control in the face of those urges. So the goal must be to heal the root cause of the symptoms so that one is no longer carried by compulsiveness to engage their inherent sense of survival through self-medication with harmful external substances.
Another obvious indicator that ties hypoglycemia and alcoholism together is their shared symptoms in the absence of sugar or alcohol. They are a direct result of the imbalanced brain chemistry caused by beta-endorphin, enkephalin, GABA, and serotonin deficiencies.
Hypoglycemic and dry-drunk symptoms may include:
· Depression
· Anxiety, constant worrying
· Fear
· Nervous exhaustion
· Phobias, paranoia
· Inability to concentrate
· Mental and physical fatigue
· Suicidal tendencies
· Insomnia
· Excitability, irritability
· Frustration
· Confusion, lack of mental clarity
· Crying spells
· Asocial/antisocial behavior
· Short attention span
· Lack of follow-through
· Mood swings, emotional instability
· Stomach problems
· Internal trembling
· Nightmares, night terrors
· Faintness, dizziness, tremors, cold sweats
· Heart palpitations
· Numbness
A brilliant endocrinologist, Dr. Tintera, MD, after years of research, concluded that even recovered problem and chronic drinkers who have been sober for many years continue to suffer the effects of hypoglycemia. He believes that the treatment of alcoholism “centers essentially on the control of hypoglycemia… by far the most important part of the physiological treatment of alcoholics is the complete restriction of easily absorbed carbohydrates.” He also states, “If hypoglycemic alcoholics stop drinking but continue to consume large amounts of caffeine and refined sugars, the outbursts of irritability and sudden anger will continue. These symptoms will disappear only when brain glucose levels stabilize.”[1] This is true for all the other symptoms of the dry drunk as well. When a recovering drinker gets off the hypoglycemic cycle and stops replacing one source of sugar for another, the cravings and urges go away. “…for many years, he [Bill Wilson] suffered from depression and other hypoglycemic symptoms. He also consumed huge amounts of sugar and caffeine. Finally, by eliminating sugar and caffeine and making other dietary changes, he stabilized his blood sugar and achieved a sense of well being.”[2] Bill Wilson has been reported as being severely depressed for years after he quit drinking. One of the most evident symptoms of hypoglycemia is depression. When Bill learned that quitting sugar and caffeine would rid him of his depression he did so and found that he stabilized his blood sugar and “achieved a sense of well being”. This is why heavy drinkers, after not drinking for years, go back to alcohol during low blood sugar cravings. When they return to drinking, they are replacing the sugars and refined carbohydrates such as cokes, candies, muffins, donuts, pastries, chips, empty carb snacks, and other junk foods on which they relied for relief during sobriety. This behavior is reversed when they try to stop drinking; they will eat refined, simple carbohydrates and drink cokes and coffee to replace the blood sugar levels alcohol provided. Low blood sugar symptoms are actually distress messages that precede full-blown withdrawal if they are not answered. This cycle will continue until the addictive biochemistry is healed. Until then, in order to feign off withdrawal, a person will continually cater to the strong sugar and alcohol (i.e., endorphin and serotonin) craving, be it dry or drunk.
This process of replacing one for the other is also the premise of the well-known progression of addiction. The root of the addiction is continually worsened and progressively more deep-seated in the biochemistry, in the same way as with other substances. This causes identical damage to the mind, and a complete lack of healing; the damage is just progressing slower when sugar is taking the place of alcohol. A recovering drinker’s success does not center on their will power. It is entirely dependent on them being serious about maintaining healthy blood sugar levels, and ending the feeding of the monstrous appetite of a distorted biochemistry.
It is no wonder that almost everyone at AA meetings covets that coffee machine at 9:00 at night. While they think they’re doing the right thing by giving up alcohol, they’re actually continuing that harmful attachment to both sugar and alcohol. By quitting drink, they are now enduring all the suffering without any of the benefits of self-medicating. This is sometimes so physically and mentally debilitating that it drives people into deep depression, isolation, and suicide. While their outward symptoms such as drunken behavior and missed days at work are gone, the personal suffering is still there.
In this situation, it is very easy for a person to believe that they have a disease to battle with for the rest of their life. As long as they are simply replacing alcohol with sugar, they will suffer from these extreme blood sugar fluctuations and resulting symptoms, and will be tempted to start drinking again. They are maintaining addictive biochemistry when they answer with a coke the same symptoms they once answered by going to the bar after work.
Caffeine, sugar, and cigarettes all raise glucose levels, providing quick, short-term energy, pleasure, and mental acuity. These substances elevate serotonin and beta-endorphins levels and provide sober hypoglycemics the sense of well being that their mind and body crave in the absence of alcohol. Those that try to quit drinking, yet adopt the habit of mainlining simple sugars and caffeine to self-medicate their symptoms, are not getting off the hypoglycemic roller coaster or stopping the addictive behavior that continues their suffering. Carb- and sugar-dense diet choices and their resulting symptoms adversely affect all other areas of a person’s life, many times leading them to develop addictive personalities that affect their relationship with other people as well. Essentially, their relationships with all the people, events, and products in the environment become absorbed by the quest to ease their symptoms via any means available. Aggravated addictive biochemistry typically carries with it obsessive/compulsive disorders that can reach into nearly every aspect of one’s life. An imbalanced biochemistry will out-picture itself in an unbalanced and dysfunctional lifestyle.
When insulin is constantly being over produced to counteract spikes in blood sugar, another health issue arises: after it is done delivering the available glucose into the cells, insulin hangs around far longer than the sugars that triggered it. The endocrine system is a very complicated network of checks and balances; when one process is unstable, the others are sure to suffer as well. An equally disruptive process begins in response to the over abundance of insulin in the blood: the body produces another hormone called somatostatin, which suppresses insulin release. At the same time, it suppresses HGH (human growth hormone) release and hormone production throughout the endocrine system. This process is a contributing, if not key, cause of hypothyroidism and the pre-aging that afflicts many problem drinkers. Long-term suppression of HGH promotes rapid aging (drinkers lose their glow quickly and are easily identified in their 30’s because of this), increased body fat, reduced energy levels, reduced lean tissue, diminished bone density, cognitive impairment, poor sleep, and decreased sexual interest.
The series of checks and balances in the endocrine system, and the effect on the whole system of one imbalanced process, leads to many hormonal and neurotransmitter health issues. Women are particularly at risk during perimenopause and menopause; an imbalanced and suppressed endocrine system will certainly complicate and aggravate the physiological process of menopause and vise-versa. The question of aging for female drinkers is therefore made even more complicated.
Another reason problem drinkers age so quickly is that the process of metabolizing alcohol, acetaldehyde, and other associated metabolites produces extremely harmful amounts of free radicals that contribute to accelerated cellular cross-linking and aging. Cross-linking is when cells bond together, making them denser. This is one reason why those who smoke and drink lose the elasticity in their skin quickly. Cross-linking, for example, is the process responsible for windshield wipers hardening and having to be replaced periodically … not good for those wishing to maintain a youthful, healthy glow.
Hypoadrenocorticism is the medical term for fatigued adrenals, and is one of the key ingredients in a body’s inability to manage blood sugar levels.
The adrenals are one of the three major organs of the neuroendocrine system that comprise the HPA axis (hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal glands). They are a key player in blood sugar management and their compromised health is at the very root of both genetic and earned addictive biochemistry. Research has established that alcohol addiction’s home address resides in the dis-eased, imbalanced functioning of the HPA axis, and adrenal fatigue lives in that home. An imbalanced neuroendocrine system, in the case of addictive biochemistry, favors the excitatory neurotransmitters that feed the sympathetic nervous system, which then produces the symptoms and health issues related to the condition. Herein lies what is broken and herein lies what needs to be fixed.
Those with genetically inadequate adrenals characteristically show a decreased metabolism and typically possess cravings for simple/refined carbohydrates from birth, which is a sign of upregulated brain chemistry. Fatigued adrenals cause upregulated brain chemistry because they can’t adequately meet the demands of the system to stabilize blood sugar, resulting in prolonged low blood sugar episodes.
The adrenals produce cortisol to bring blood sugar up during low blood sugar episodes, but this should happen only occasionally; it should be the exception, not the rule. There should be an intermediate step between low blood sugar and adrenal activity; it is the glucagon step. During this step, glucagon is released from the pancreas to stimulate glycogen release from the liver, which will be converted into glucose. However, when alcohol has been in the picture, sugar sensitivity or hypoglycemia will develop, and insulin will drive blood sugar down much faster and lower than it should. This causes the glucagon step to begin much more quickly than is healthy. When glucagon stores are exhausted, the endocrine system triggers the adrenals for cortisol.
This example assumes that there were adequate glucagon stores available in the first place. If the pancreas is damaged or fatigued, sufficient stores of glucagon will not be made available for the glucagon step, and the body will go directly to the adrenals for help. This process takes long enough that once blood sugar has dropped so low as to require cortisol from the adrenals, a person is already making themself a drink or in the refrigerator fetching a beer. If they have quit drinking, they are heading for a soda or cup of coffee.
When the pancreas does not function properly, a person’s internal ability to manage blood sugar before it falls too low is diminished, and as it diminishes they will be prompted to seek external methods. The more someone relies on external methods, the closer their diagnoses for diabetes and a number of other illnesses becomes, in addition to seating their addictive biochemistry deeper in their behavior as it grows more and more compulsive.
Chronic, extreme blood sugar fluctuations throughout the day can ultimately harm the entire neuroendocrine system, because every organ in this delicately balanced network is directly responsible for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. Chasing blood sugar levels up and down all day long is extremely taxing on the organs and systems of the HPA axis. Low blood sugar signals the hypothalamus to secrete CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone), which then signals the anterior pituitary cells to secrete ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), which then signals the adrenal cortex to secrete cortisol to raise blood glucose. In problem drinkers, especially those who are sugar sensitive or hypoglycemic, this cycle occurs numerous times each day, giving life to the term “blood sugar roller coaster” and fatiguing everything involved in its maintenance. As the adrenals become more stressed from trying to keep up with daily blood sugar fluctuations, they get progressively slower in responding to descending blood sugar, and symptoms become more severe. A person suffering from these symptoms begins to seek anything that will feed the need for immediate brain sugar or glucose throughout the day. This may be caffeine, cigarettes, cokes, simple carb meals, or alcohol. Though the pathways are multiple, the end destination is the same: constant blood sugar fluctuations will fatigue and eventually injure the adrenals. The more overworked they are, the more inefficient they become at responding to the body’s blood sugar regulation requirements, and low blood sugar symptoms are worsened and continue to feed addictive biochemistry.
Over time, the constant demand on the fatigued adrenals to respond to high and low blood sugar levels takes a toll. Natural ability to physically, emotionally, and psychologically handle stress diminishes. When exhausted by continuing demands for epinephrine and cortisol, the adrenals no longer have the ability to respond properly; they no longer have the ability to protect a person from stress. When the adrenals are so weak that they can no longer provide a sufficient supply of stress hormones, a person can no longer respond calmly or think clearly in times of difficulty. The result is usually anger, frustration, anxiety, or emotional instability.
Hypoadrenocorticism combined with the lowered inhibitions of alcohol can bring on periods of uncontrollable anger, for which many long-term heavy drinkers are well known. In a milder scenario, the failing adrenal glands and lack of stress hormones can have daily low-grade psychological effects. These include worry, agitation, paranoia, anxiety, fear, and the artificial feeling that something is wrong. Failing adrenals adversely affect a person’s brain chemistry and a body’s ability to produce, store, and regulate the release of stress buffers and feel-good neurotransmitters. The person can become over-sensitive and begin distrusting people and situations, causing them to live defensively and migrate toward complete isolation. They tend to have outbursts, create arguments, and become emotionally distraught and over reactive in response to mild disruptions. A brain low on glucose and lacking in calming neurotransmitters is not capable of rational thought, which renders a person progressively more unable to control their irrational thinking. Left untreated and with alcohol in the picture, this lifestyle can cause one to quickly spin out of control and fall into a life-debilitating downhill spiral. Jobs, lovers, and friendships are lost and children are often verbally and physically abused. Ultimately, lives are irreversibly damaged as a result of the destructive personalities that these drinkers develop. Through their own actions they become isolated and are left to drink themselves to death while they become angrier and angrier at the world.
Due to multiple low blood sugar episodes throughout the day, the adrenals are required to produce higher-than-normal levels of cortisol in problem drinkers. Levels are usually higher in the morning and gradually decline; just before sleep they should be at their lowest. If cortisol levels are high at night, it can be difficult to fall asleep; if they are too low in the morning, it can make it difficult to even think about getting out of bed.
Long-term problem drinkers usually experience insomnia when they first stop drinking. This is because in the absence of alcohol, blood sugar will remain very low for the first few days, until it stabilizes naturally. The body stabilizes throughout the day by releasing cortisol, which then lingers in the system, making it hard to fall asleep at night. Long-term drinkers also usually suffer from lowered serotonin levels. Since serotonin is the precursor for melatonin (induces sleep), serotonin precursors must be supplemented in the diet to prompt serotonin and melatonin release. Once blood sugar stabilizes and serotonin is made available, cortisol resets for the natural sleep patterns, called the circadian rhythm, and allows the person to have a good night’s sleep.
Initially, if a person is under a lot of stress, their adrenals release catecholamines; norepinephrine, epinephrine, and cortisol. If everything in a person’s body is working well, these levels will return to normal once the stress is gone or reduced. If a person is exposed to a moderate or significant amount of stress over an extended period of time, cortisol levels can remain elevated. This will lead to development of abnormal patterns of cortisol levels that result in fatigued adrenals. Diminishing cortisol supplies from fatigued adrenals can offer up several symptoms that include anxiety, extreme mental and physical fatigue, nervousness, and restlessness; symptoms that problem drinkers will be compulsively driven to self-medicate.
Problem drinking creates both physical and psychological extended periods of stress and causes excess stress hormones to be continually secreted. No matter the source of the stress, the result will be production of excess stress hormones, which will deplete the body’s resistance and lead to many illnesses, addictive biochemistry, and alcoholism.
This is how and why, from a biochemical standpoint, alcohol negatively impacts cerebral function, mood, attitude, perception, and behavior through the damage it causes to the physical body. Essentially, alcohol metabolism places extreme demands on the body. It exhausts vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty and amino acids, thus creating deficiencies in the biochemistry and negatively impacting each and every organ and cell in the body. It is extremely important for the person suffering from this condition to remember that much, if not all, of their negative thinking is a result of the physiological damage caused by alcohol, and when that damage is healed the negative thinking will go away.
A general review of conditions that cause psychological illness as a result of alcohol abuse is:
· The HPA axis is the intersection of the central nervous system and the endocrine system. When nutritional deficiencies or actual injury keep the hypothalamus from balancing these two systems and maintaining homeostasis within the body and brain chemistry, mental capacity is diminished in all areas of the human psyche. Any combination of a number of symptoms may have opportunity to manifest. One of the symptoms of an imbalance in the HPA axis is addictive biochemistry, which, given the opportunity, can lead to alcoholism. In essence, if the body cannot properly medicate itself thru the HPA axis, it will instruct the person to do so on their own.
· Alcohol damages the organs of the digestive system including the stomach, gastrointestinal system, liver, and pancreas. Without a healthy digestive system it is impossible for a person to get an adequate, balanced supply of vitamins, minerals, and fats from the foods they eat. If they lack this nutrition they cannot produce the neurotransmitters and hormones needed for brain and general health. This condition inevitably results in malnutrition and disease.
· Toxins and free radicals produced during the breakdown of alcohol in the system kill cells in every organ of the body. Organs that suffer the most initial cell damage are the brain, liver, pancreas, adrenals, stomach, and gastrointestinal system. This promotes destruction of key biochemical processes required for a healthy metabolism. These free radicals also cause hardened arteries, prematurely aged skin, degenerative diseases, and cancer.
· Alcohol is a depressant that suppresses serotonin levels in the brain. As a person continues to drink, their life begins to suffer; opportunities are missed, and healthy avenues of gratification, relaxation, pleasure, fulfillment, and sources of natural joy and happiness are lost. The result is a life that becomes progressively more centered on alcohol to supply these sensations, which perpetuates the cycle of serotonin suppression. Alcohol-induced depression due to low serotonin levels is a very serious issue. Autopsies reveal that those who have drunk themselves to death or committed suicide have very low serotonin levels in the brain.
· Alcohol metabolism exhausts and destroys vitamin B stores in the body, resulting in health problems such as fatigue, depression, anxiety, stress, obesity, and weakened adrenals.
· Alcohol damages and suppresses the endocrine system, causing conditions such as hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, low HGH, and the inability of the pancreas to produce necessary enzymes for the breakdown and utilization of foods, particularly protein and fat. Inability to break down protein and obtain amino acids for the body’s biochemical processes makes it impossible for the body to manufacture neurotransmitters.
· Heavy alcohol use destroys the availability of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter essential for memory, general nerve health, and neurotransmitter transmission.
· Alcohol disrupts the inner wisdom of the body, which is designed to carry out genetic orders to establish healthy, balanced brain chemistry. This disruption surfaces in many active problem drinker and dry drunk symptoms such as depression, fatigue, nervousness, anxiety, mental collapse, outbursts, emotional instability, and paranoia.
· Elevated norepinephrine, typically caused by low cortisol in problem drinkers, creates over excitement and symptoms like anxiety, nervousness, impatience, aggression, and hypertension.
· Alcohol consumption over a long period of time causes constant, elevated levels of insulin in the body, which lead to suppression of the endocrine system. This results in conditions such as hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, and compromised pituitary and hypothalamus function.
The body produces an average of one ounce of alcohol a day from unused carbohydrates. A body that is constantly being fed excessive amounts of sugars will produce even more. Both internally produced alcohol and ingested alcohol are metabolized into acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase. From there, it is converted into acetate (vinegar), and is dismissed from the body through the bile or urea. The liver is the organ in charge of executing this process. If the liver cannot keep up with the amount of acetaldehyde being produced, and it is not efficiently detoxed, the unmetabolized acetaldehyde will travel through the blood, adversely affecting everything with which it comes in contact. In the brain it combines with beta-endorphins to produce THIQs, which have morphine-like qualities and fit into the opiate-type receptor sites meant for beta-endorphins, thus giving a person a euphoric response to alcohol. This is also very dangerous because acetaldehyde is more toxic than alcohol and is the major cause of brain, liver, pancreatic, adrenal, and gastrointestinal damage to problem drinkers. It will also be interesting to note that alcohol dehydrogenase, which breaks alcohol down into acetaldehyde, is found in the stomach and small and large intestines. This could give an indication of why 20% of alcohol-related diseases originate in the GI (gastrointestinal tract). Excessive acetaldehyde levels over time will damage cells, generate scar tissue, and cause a high production of free radicals, ultimately resulting in accelerated cell death and disease.
Since THIQs feed all of the eager upregulated beta-endorphin receptor sites, an individual with imbalanced brain chemistry will achieve an added rush of the morphine-like response to alcohol. High production of THIQs equals a high risk that the individual will choose to drink because he or she enjoys it that much more; it satisfies yet another hypoglycemic condition in an instantly gratifying way.
This arm of the addiction cycle looks like this: a person drinks excessively because they like it more than most if they have upregulated beta-endorphin and serotonin brain chemistry. As the alcohol slowly begins to adversely affect their body chemistry, THIQs replace the few beta-endorphins that were being produced by the body, further decreasing their production. The person begins to feel daily low-level anxiety, fatigue, depression, and frustration. Progressively, small things begin to frustrate them more and big things weigh heavily in the absence of alcohol. Ultimately, they become chemically depressed and suffer a number of psychological and emotional disorders, resulting in the inability to function healthily in the world. Alcohol is their only answer, since it leads to production of THIQs to fill the endorphin sites, making the world seem livable again.
Excess sugars and simple carbohydrates promote the same premise of addiction as alcohol does, since they too stimulate serotonin, endorphins, and dopamine on one end and empty them out on the other, and they both produce acetaldehyde. Pasta, donuts, coffee, breads, ice cream, candy, and sugar will defeat rather than help a person trying to quit alcohol use.
Acetaldehyde toxicity cannot be discussed without including mention of hangovers. Hangover symptoms are caused from a number of neuroendocrine changes, and free radical and dehydration effects on the body. But the sensation of extreme nausea is due to acetaldehyde poisoning and that of another by-product of alcohol metabolism: malondialdehyde. The harmful effect on the body from this substance is similar to that of radiation poisoning.
Acetaldehyde toxicity is present in high levels in the environment, slowly poisoning the public’s minds and bodies. Acetaldehyde toxicity is a strong contributor to alcohol and sugar addiction; it is also likely to be a key for nicotine addiction, and a contributing factor for why some people like to smoke only when they drink. Cigarette smoke also produces acetaldehyde, which temporarily increases THIQ production and intensifies the euphoric experience from the alcohol. Chronic acetaldehyde exposure increases a person’s propensity for addictive biochemistry because it constantly diminishes natural endorphin synthesis, causing the person to seek the THIQs produced by acetaldehyde more urgently and consistently.
Ingested chemicals are not the only source of acetaldehyde toxicity. Due to the many environmental toxic assaults in today’s industrialized world, including acetaldehyde exposure, it is wise to do an environmental detox a couple times a year. A person is constantly bombarded by poisons and pollution from their environment. Please see the Resources section for information on environmental detox.
Common sources of acetaldehyde are:
· Alcohol
· Cigarettes
· Candida Albicans
· Excess / unused carbohydrates
· Car and diesel exhaust
· Perfumes, drugs, lacquer, varnishes, synthetic flavoring substance, food preservatives and fragrance
· Residential fireplaces, wood stoves, bushfires, and agricultural burning
When receptors are flooded with too much of a specific neurotransmitter, the body will begin to downregulate, meaning fewer receptors will be made available to receive the corresponding neurotransmitter. This is the brain’s effort to regulate and balance its chemistry. A tolerance to a drug or alcohol means that it takes more of that substance to achieve minimal results, due to fewer receptors being available to receive and activate the substance’s effect.
The brain requires a steady flow of specific amino acids and other nutrients to produce neurotransmitters. These nutrients become exhausted by the demands of metabolizing alcohol and its byproducts. In most alcohol abusers it is rare that the appropriate nutrients are in the diet to begin with, making metabolism and detoxification of alcohol even more inefficient. Consistent alcohol use also begins to replace the brain’s natural neurotransmitters with those produced by alcohol, which will trigger the brain to increasingly slow production of the natural chemicals. These factors lead to the brain failing to have the necessary neurotransmitters available to produce healthy moods and mediate emotional and physical pain naturally.
When a person stops drinking, withdrawal is the discomfort they experience between the time when the brain registers the need for inhibitory and feel-good neurotransmitters, and the time when it actually manufactures them in adequate amounts. This time frame depends on a number of factors, mostly based on the general health of the digestive system, endocrine system, and liver, and the availability of the required nutrients needed to produce such as serotonin, beta-endorphins, enkephalins, dopamine and the relaxing GABA.
The liver is the organ primarily responsible for converting alcohol into acetaldehyde. The liver converts much of the acetaldehyde into a neutral substance called acetate (vinegar). In some individuals alcohol changes very quickly into acetaldehyde, and the acetaldehyde is converted much more slowly into acetate. This provides increased opportunity for addiction and damage to vital organs like the pancreas, adrenals, brain, gastrointestinal system, and heart.
Those who are extremely efficient at metabolizing alcohol into acetaldehyde have an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase II, which can process alcohol up to 40% more efficiently than the standard alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme. People who have this enzyme have a natural ability to drink large amounts of alcohol without becoming intoxicated. This is very dangerous, since a person who is able to drink more than the average person, and chooses to do so because they like it, is producing more THIQs, thereby suppressing serotonin and beta-endorphin production at a higher rate. This forces the body to rely almost entirely on THIQs to feel good, which reinforces the addiction.
In short, if you’re 120 pounds and can drink most people under the table without becoming intoxicated, when normal drinkers would be calling random people out of the telephone directory in the wee hours of the morning, nip it in the bud now. Anyone who can drink at that rate needs to learn to manage their body chemistry. Chemistry such as that, left unmanaged, usually leads to alcohol addiction.
The heavy drinking that poured excess amounts of sugar into a person’s system for years has also made their body dependent on simple carbohydrates for energy. If you abuse alcohol for a substantial period you lose the ability to efficiently break down the complex carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in the foods you eat. Just because this is reducing fat does not make it a good thing. The anti-fat craze has generated undue fear in the last 20 years, causing people to try and avoid fats all together – including the good ones. The inability to break foods down leads to a lack in the building blocks necessary to produce hormones and neurotransmitters. One night of heavy drinking can damage the lining of the stomach and intestines, which is why problem drinkers consistently demonstrate mild to severe gastrointestinal damage that interferes extensively with digesting nutrients. Due to this damage and the standard 21st-century diet, which is heavy in simple carbs and hydrogenated fats, long-term drinkers do not have the enzymatic fortitude to get through the tougher digestive jobs with complex carbs, proteins, and fats; therefore, they cannot gain the nutrition they need from the foods they eat.
Lifeless foods provide energy, but not nutrition. There is good energy and there is amped-up, running from a tiger energy. The body should be fueled by nutrition that feeds the parasympathetic nervous system; the natural, peaceful, long-lasting, focused, and centered source of energy. No body needs energy derived from nearly pure glucose being shot into its veins and setting off its biochemical alarm system. Excess ingestion of this “wired”, raw energy over activates the sympathetic nervous system and forces it into a “fight or flight” chaotic swirl of nervous impulses all day.
In regards to malnutrition, this is how the cycle goes: alcohol damages the pancreas, reducing its ability to produce and release the enzymes needed to extract amino acids from the proteins and synthesize the fatty acids from food. The gastrointestinal tract suffers its own list of damages caused by metabolizing alcohol; 20% of alcohol-related disease is in this system. Assuming a person has a decent diet (which a majority of heavy drinkers don’t), this damage interferes with their ability to digest and utilize the nutrients in the foods they eat. When their body is not provided with the proteins, complex carbs, fats, vitamins, and minerals it requires to function healthily, or cannot digest them regardless of how much food is eaten, it becomes malnourished. This is extremely serious; in the view of orthomolecular medicine all disease, when traced to its origins, is caused by some form of malnutrition. Weakened immune system, semi-starvation neurosis, disease, various forms of psychosis, mental distress, fatigue, depression, and addiction are just a few of the ways in which malnutrition manifests itself. Further, when a body is malnourished it cannot detox efficiently because it does not have the necessary nutritional tools to do so. Cell function is further damaged and destroyed by the prolonged levels of toxins in the body, which aids and abets the progression of more diseases.
In conclusion, malnutrition results from alcohol-inflicted gastrointestinal tissue damage, the exhaustion of nutritional resources, the taxing nature of free radicals produced by the process of alcohol metabolism, and the damaging effect of toxins building up and recycling throughout the body.
The only way to accurately address malnutrition and the damage it causes is through a highly nutritious diet and therapeutic supplementation. It is extremely difficult to derive adequate amounts of nutrition from today’s foods; even harder for someone who is recovering from malnutrition and also has the challenge of healing from long-term alcohol abuse. To heal, a person must meet one extreme, alcohol toxicity, with the intelligent tools of the opposite extreme, targeted therapeutic nutrition.
Given time, alcohol and refined carbohydrate diets will injure the pancreas and create a preference for digesting and using simple carbs for energy. An overworked and undernourished pancreas under attack from acetaldehyde poisoning will release inadequate levels of pancreatic enzymes into the small intestine. Because the body is being told that “it needs energy now, please raise blood sugar”, the pancreas will use its resources to make and secrete amylase (carbohydrate) enzymes over trypsin and lipase, the protein and fat enzymes. When there is a deficiency of these enzymes, complex carb, protein, and fat nutrients are not adequately broken down or absorbed, resulting in malnutrition and spiked blood sugar from the metabolism of empty carbs only.
This simple carbohydrate digestive preference is a contributor to insulin resistance because it causes chronic high levels of insulin. Just as receptors in the brain will downregulate in response to too many neurotransmitters, insulin receptors do so in reaction to the chronically high insulin levels that are experienced as a result of problem drinking and excessive refined carb diets. Due to this insulin resistance, problem drinkers tend to have higher blood glucose levels after a meal and in response to alcohol; if insulin is ineffective in delivering glucose into the cells of the body, the glucose remains in the blood and continues to rise.
Those with healthy diets and digestive capabilities would not have the same elevated blood sugar levels; the work it takes to break down and digest fats, complex carbs, and proteins slows the conversion of these foods into energy/glucose and their entry into the bloodstream. What little simple carbs are present in a healthy diet would need to compete with the complex carbs, fats, and proteins in the digestion process, which slows the simple carb’s entry into the blood system as well. This ensures a balanced blood sugar level, and healthy levels of insulin.
Candida Albicans is a microscopic yeast/fungal infection, similar to molds that live in damp areas, and can be a lethal production house of acetaldehyde. It is one of the most commonly encountered human pathogens, causing a variety of conditions that range from mucosal infections in generally healthy persons to life-threatening systemic infections in individuals with impaired immunity. Oral and esophageal Candida infections are frequently seen in AIDS patients. Those with a history of long-term problem drinking are easy candidates for Candida infections that are often localized, such as vaginal and oral infections, and cause considerable amounts of discomfort. In some patients with severely compromised defense systems (AIDS, burn and leukemia patients, prematurely born infants, those suffering from bouts of emotional or physical stress), the yeast of Candidas can turn into a deadly pathogen and cause systemic infections. Few classes of drugs are effective against these fungal infections, and all of them have limitations with regard to efficacy and side effects.
Candida Related Complex can also be caused by excessive sugar intake. Excessive sugars in the diet, addiction to junk foods and simple/refined carbs, drug and alcohol addiction, and excessive use of broad-spectrum antibiotics are causing Candida cases to grow at an alarming rate in the modern world.
Because it has been established that a large number of treated problem and chronic drinkers suffer from Candid-related complex at one time or another, this section is included so that the reader may explore whether or not they are experiencing its symptoms.
Participants with mild to moderate Candida growth tend to be cured naturally during the 8-week Krispy Kleen detox, making additional nutriceutical supplementation unnecessary. However, anyone who experiences lingering health issues after their detox, like the symptoms listed below, should seek out a qualified healthcare practitioner who specializes in this condition. These professionals are best qualified to test for and treat Candidas for complete recovery.
It’s important to keep in mind that many people experience some of the symptoms listed below occasionally, as insignificant health issues. They come and go as a result of stress, colds, viruses, and disagreement with certain foods. An indication of Candida would be recurring, multiple symptoms (after detox) that take away from general health and sense of well being, or prolonged discomfort as a result of any one or a combination of these symptoms.
· Incapacitating fatigue
· Problems with concentration and short-term memory
· Flu-like symptoms such as pain in the joints and muscles, extreme tightness in the shoulders and neck
· Hyper-acidity/acid reflux, brown-colored mucus in the back of the throat
· Blisters in the mouth/tongue/throat, either white or “blood blisters”
· Insomnia or disrupted sleep
· Sore throat
· White-coated tongue
· “Crawling” skin
· Chronic sinus problems
· Headaches including migraines
· Chronic dental problems
· Visual disturbances including blurring, sensitivity to light, and eye pain
· Depression
· Irritability
· Anxiety, panic attacks
· Personality changes and mood swings; irrational rage or crying for no reason; fear of talking to people or any kind of confrontation
· Preference for isolation
· Chills and night sweats
· Shortness of breath
· Dizziness, light headedness, and balance problems
· Sensitivity to heat and/or cold
· Gluten and/or casein intolerance
· Irregular heartbeat
· Irritable bowel, constipation, and/or diarrhea
· Painful gas and abdominal bloating
· Low-grade fever or low body temperature
· Numbness, tingling, and/or burning sensations in the face or extremities
· Dryness of the mouth and eyes
· Difficulty swallowing and projectile vomiting
· Severe PMS or endometriosis
· Recurrent yeast infections
· Recurrent ear infections, rashes and dry, flaking skin, eczema, dermatitis, skin discoloration, and/or blotchiness, dandruff, jock and rectal itching, chronic athlete’s foot, chronic toenail and fingernail fungus
· Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
· Allergies
· Sensitivities to noise/sound, foods, odors, and chemicals
· Anemia
· Muscle twitching and muscle weakness, jerky-leg syndrome
· Low sex drive and/or numbness in the genital area
Alcoholism is commonly referred to as a “progressive” disease. This term promotes the idea that as a recovering drinker, a person can never have another drink. The common belief is that because it is progressive, a drink equals a drunk, for the rest of a recovering drinker’s life. However, the biochemical processes and the resulting damage that got a person addicted can be completely healed and reversed in most cases. Also, with the present knowledge of the fundamental genetic markers that identify someone with addictive biochemistry, the genetic conditions can be treated as well.
In the absence of taking the initiative to heal alcohol’s damage as well as address any possible genetic influences, however, that theory is absolutely right; the condition is progressive and having just one drink is dangerous.
Many people would gasp at the idea of a former problem drinker being able to become a moderate drinker, but that is because – until recently – the process of actually healing the addiction was never offered. If a person addresses their damage before it is permanent, then moderation can be an option. Long-term alcohol abusers are capable of successfully completing The 101 Program and remaining abstinent, with no desire to return to drinking, while leading healthy and happy lives. Some have chosen drinking in moderation, and are able to do the same: lead healthy and happy lives, unencumbered by a battle with addiction. This program heals the addiction, and the choice to drink again or not is the individual’s … a participant is put back in their driver’s seat when they heal their compulsive behavior and alcohol addiction. Complete abstinence or moderation are personal options that individuals must explore for themselves. One person who drinks to the point of such mental and physical damage that they can’t achieve a complete cure does not dictate the lives of everyone who has ever abused alcohol.
It is paramount to address the specific healthcare requirements of a former problem drinker. These individuals have specific healthcare requirements that need to be implemented in their recovery in order to cure the addiction beyond just stopping the drinking. They need to heal the damage that has been done and balance their neuroendocrine system so that they can enjoy healthy brain chemistry. This will enable them to enjoy sobriety and live and cherish a full life, not endure it as an unending battle with addiction.
· Withdrawal – the condictive diet and nutriceutical protocol provided will get a person through the initial stages of detox with minimal discomfort. Many of the symptoms will subside within a week.
· Detox – the Krispy Kleen 8-week detox is a most comprehensive, aggressive detox for addiction and addictive biochemistry. It aids in clearing symptoms and accelerating the healing process. Many ailments that people did not even realize were alcohol toxicity-related disappear during this time.
· Therapeutic supplements aggressively correct cellular composition as well as biochemical deficiencies created by genetic influences and the damage caused by alcohol.
· The Program will heal the adrenals, pancreas, thyroid, pituitary, and hypothalamus, and optimize the endocrine system.
· Optimize and balance the HPA axis.
· Correct hypoglycemia and sugar sensitivity and banish low blood sugar symptoms; curing cravings for sugars and refined carbohydrates.
· Adjust dietary practices to heal and avoid addictive biochemistry.
· Provide the nutritional components required by the organs to achieve optimal mental and physical health, via healthy levels and usage of all key neurotransmitters and hormones.
· Encourage natural endorphin and enkephalin production through nourishing the pituitary and hypothalamus.
· Heal and regenerate the liver.
· Identify the metabolic disorders created by alcohol toxicity and learn how to use the tools that will heal them.
· Hypoglycemia
· Brain and brain chemistry; mental disorders like anxiety, depression, despair, mental fatigue, mood swings, emotional instability, learning impairment, memory problems, hypertension, and paranoia.
· Heart disease and high blood pressure
· Hypothyroidism,
· Accelerated aging process
· Diabetes
· Liver disease
· Skin disorders and eczema
· Impaired immune system
· Kidney, pancreas, adrenal, cerebral, intestinal and stomach damage
· Freedom from addiction, including from addictive personality disorders
· Excellent health
· A sense of well being
· Elimination of cravings for alcohol and sugar
· Inspiration
· Optimism
· Energy
· Clarity
· Peace of mind
· Cerebral retention
· Weight loss and control
· Neurological health
· Focus
Understanding the biochemical mechanics of addiction and knowing how it operates is a tremendous advantage for people in recovering their health and curing addiction. The cure also gives them the opportunity to turn their problem drinking into a blessing that will set the stage for a happy and full life, a life lived unencumbered by addictive biochemistry or the social politics of alcohol abuse. Managing addictions requires an enormous amount of energy – energy that would be better spent participating in productive and fulfilling activities and making life more enriched and enjoyable. The process of healing this condition will deliver a person into a state of enhanced health that most people never experience; this challenge is truly a blessing, a chance for people to get their lives back on track. Millions of people live their lives only halfway because they don’t recognize that they are suffering from various mental and physical ailments; their mild condition never culminates in a way that is life or lifestyle threatening. Since their condition is not life threatening, they never deal with it or realize how much better life could be. These people live in a sort of purgatory, thinking that what they feel is normal because they can function in an outward way and appear to be fine on the surface. However, just underneath the surface lies despair, a feeling of being disconnected from others and the world, and the inability to really open up to, and enjoy, life. Clearly, they are not living to their full potential and embracing all the splendor of life.
Successful completion of The 101 Program will provide a person with the opportunity to live their life to its full potential and experience the whole of the magnificent world in which they live.
A depressed mind void of hope, joy, and peace will make choices and create situations in life that will serve only to reinforce the anguish, pain, loss, hopelessness, and misery in which it believes it lives. Stuck in this situation, it cannot see beyond its present circumstance. It will leave behind a trail of missed opportunity; a result of a life half lived because the mind was too poisoned to see and realize a better future. One who is chemically poisoned cannot achieve harmony with other people or their environment. The result is further anguish, anger, distress, emotional and physical pain, suffering, panic, destructive behavior, and disease. But when the poison that has been damaging a person’s social and personal relationships and circumstances is removed, they will naturally choose healthier, more fulfilling ways of communicating and managing their interpersonal relationships. They will be one hundred percent capable of getting on the path to healthy relationships and personal success.
What a person expects out of life and circumstances is the vehicle that will carry them through their journey in life. Thoughts and the belief system play a defining role both consciously and unconsciously in the experiences a person chooses. Their innermost thoughts create their expectations, expectations govern behavior, and behavior creates the experiences they create from what life has to offer, both good and bad. If a person cleans up their thoughts by opening up their higher consciousness through healthy brain chemistry, they will naturally clean up their life.
A balanced mind and body chemistry is the foundation of the inspiration, strength, focus, and peace of mind that will keep a person on their path to a healthy, joyful, and productive lifestyle. Anyone who started drinking early in life may not have experienced a balanced, healthy lifestyle as an adult. They may not have a mental vision of what they are like unencumbered by addiction. These individuals will have an exhilarating experience as they come to know the life within themselves. The energy and inspiration that has been lying dormant will begin flooding into them as they progress through this program; they will wake up feeling reborn. Those who do have memories of a vibrant time in their life have those memories to refer to for inspiration: times of health and the inspiration that comes with it, of close friendships, lots of fun and activity, good relations with family, witnessing goals come to fruition and desires manifest, personal and career objectives being met, and peace of mind. Between the enthusiasm and excitement of those watching doors open for them for the very first time, and the evidence of the one who once had health and happiness, both sets of people have plenty of fuel for motivation. Everyone will discover a positive, inspired zest for life. As healing begins, a person’s spiritual awareness will open and life will present itself in the majestic manner in which it was meant to be experienced.