Sugar addiction and how  dangerous sugar really is  It seems that warning about the dangers of sugar is flavour of the month. There have been at least  three books published in January about the dangers of sugar, scientific reports, and television interviews. The UK is to introduce a levy on sugary drinks in 2018. Some might argue that VAT is already charged on these, so there is already a levy. But it is hoped that this will encourage further use of sugar free drinks.  Imperial college, London, has produced a report suggesting that sugar free drinks are no more helpful for maintaining weight than full sugar ones. It is suggested that the alternatives to sugar may be more additive than sugar itself.  Paul  McKenna appeared on ITV’s This Morning, this week, hawking his new book ‘Get Control Of Sugar Now - great choices for your healthy future’. The Guardian  produced an 800 word version, saying that the information contained had all been said before, in his previous books. But Effective Hypnosis does see a value in the NLP exercises he suggests for creating an aversion to sugar, and there is a free CD with the book - many find Paul’s CDs more valuable than books, because regular listening produces results.  Linda Robson , one of the regular presenters on ITV’s ‘Loose Women’, said this week that she had lost 7lbs in eight days through giving up sugar. She added that she had been used to drinking a bottle of wine a night, previously. The Sun reported this, stating that she had been taking in the sugar equivalent of  200 doughnuts a month. Effective Hypnosis wondered if  it should be Alcohol Addiction tackled, rather than Sugar Addiction.  So, how dangerous is sugar?  There is evidence that forms of sugar can be good for you  - Glucose -This is a fuel source for most cells in the body, in particular,  brain cells. But too much can lead to blood sugar overload. Trehalose - is good for cleaning out fatty tissue from the liver. It is found in sunflower seeds, yeast and mushrooms. L-fucose - is good for building our immune cells. It is found in seeds, seaweed, and mushrooms. Sulfoquinose - is good for healthy gut bacteria. It is found in green vegetables. But -  Fructose - is linked to fatty liver disease, slow metabolism, type2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and rapid aging.  Effective Hypnosis can be extremely useful of you want to get your sugar consumption under control. We can make use of NLP exercises - to create aversion to dangerous sweet things, we can gently guide you towards the safe sugars, we can help with alcohol addiction. Most importantly, it will be a program that is bespoke to your particular needs - not a generalised mass produced recording that will only work with less than 20% of those that try.  For a local, bespoke service, see our entry on www.thebestof.co.uk/local/ealing, and the hundreds of testimonials from satisfied customers - that led to our award of Ealing Business of the year 2016. Matthew Hall, Master in Clinical Hypnosis www.effectivehypnosis.co.uk 01895810772 / 07732391008