Mike Collins has been completely sugar-free for over 35 years. He is the founder of SugarDetox.com and SugarAddiction.com, past chairman of the board of the Food Addiction Institute, and the creator of the Quit Sugar Summit. He has helped over 60,000 people break their sugar dependency and has spent a decade interviewing more than 400 of the world's leading experts on sugar, addiction, and metabolic health. He and his wife raised two children without sugar until the age of six, and both of his sons scored perfect on their college entrance exams.

This is one of the most eye-opening episodes we've done on this show. Sugar isn't a willpower problem. It's a brain chemistry problem, and Mike explains exactly why, and what to do about it.

In this episode, we cover:

Why sugar addiction is the largest substance use disorder the world has ever known — and why it's not your fault
How sugar affects dopamine, serotonin, GABA, oxytocin, endorphins, and every brain reward chemical — not just one
The connection between sugar, drugs, and alcohol — and why so many people in recovery can't put sugar down
Why sugar stunts emotional development starting in childhood — and how it compounds over a lifetime
How Mike's mother's story explains why so many of us learned to equate sugar with love, comfort, and reward
Sugar as the "good girl's drug" — why women ages 50–80 make up 95% of his clients and what that says about people-pleasing and emotional soothing
Why "eat less, exercise more" is a $78 billion lie that doesn't address the actual problem
The difference between conditioned guilt, emotional eating, and true sugar addiction
What dopamine dysregulation actually means — and whether those receptors can come back
His 90-day approach to behavioral change and why he calls it a recovery program, not a diet
GLP-1s, Ozempic, and why the most interesting research will be about what they're doing to the brain — not the body
Why over-supplementing may be stalling your weight loss — and what the liver has to do with it
Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), how to use one, and his free book CGMs for Everybody on Amazon
Alzheimer's, brain clarity, and why he believes sugar is a neurotoxin
The journaling practice he recommends — tracking how you felt before and after eating, not just what you ate

What to say to yourself when a craving hits — and the simple self-check that changes everything

Connect with MikeWebsite: https://sugardetox.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realsugarfreeman/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SugarAddiction

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269 - It's Not Your Fault You're Addicted to Sugar with Mike Collins, The Sugar-Free Man, Founder of SugarDetox.com

The Amy Edwards Show