Meet ‘The Carb Addiction Doc’ with a different approach to weight-loss

healthHackers episode 48 with obesity surgeon, Dr Robert Cywes a.k.a ‘The Carb Addiction Doc’

No time to watch the video? Below is the Soundcloud audio version. You can also get the podcast on your iPhone here or check out Spotify here.

In this episode, you’ll hear Dr Cywes’ views on:

• why overeating is emotional, not nutritional

• the problem with too much sugar 

• why he says sugar and carb addictions are more intense than alcohol or nicotine habits 

• reasons Dr Cywes hates the word “diet”

• how obesity is a protective mechanism 

• his response to those who criticize him for demonizing carbs

• how carbs aren’t what they used to be

• why he believes we should stop giving our kids sugary foods as “treats”

• how being slim doesn’t mean you’re not addicted to carbs

• plus, insights into the management of his own carb addiction

‘It is easier to quit alcohol and nicotine than it is to quit carbohydrates’

Obesity surgeon Dr Robert Cywes isn’t like other weight-management experts.

When his patients come to him for help with physical complaints; weight gain, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, metabolic issues or polycystic ovarian syndrome, Dr Cywes sees only one issue. 

To him, that issue, at the root of his patients’ relentless suffering - is carbohydrate addiction.

Carbohydrates are mainly sugars and starches; your ‘sweet treats’, cakes, breads, pasta, potatoes, pizza and so on.

“Sugar is about as addictive as heroin,” he told me in episode 48.

After nearly two decades of performing obesity surgery (over 8000 times), Dr Cywes - who is also known as ‘The Carb Addiction Doc’ - is adamant that effective longterm treatment requires a substance abuse methodology.

“The excess weight is just the consequence of the drug that you happen to be addicted to,” he told me.

At his practice in Palm Beach, Florida - where he specializes in helping adults and teenagers - you’ll never hear him prescribe calorie-controlled diets and endless treadmill running. Instead, he tries to help his patients using a cognitive behavioral approach.

“If a guy comes into my office, and he's had five DUIs [driving under the influence offenses], and he says, ‘Doc, I don't want to go back to jail. I don't want another DUI.’ If I focus on the DUI, we're completely missing the point that he's actually an alcoholic. 

“I have to ignore the problem… which is really the consequence. And I first and foremost have to help them to understand that they are carbohydrate addicts. But the problem is when you remove carbohydrates from your world, you leave two major deficits. You leave a nutritional deficit and you leave an emotion management deficit,” he told me.

“Once they have ownership of the fact that, actually, ‘my problem isn't my obesity, my problem is my use of sugar and starch for my emotional management.’… then we can slowly begin to remove carbohydrates from their way of life,“ he said.

Dr Cywes talks with passion from personal experience. He used to weigh nearly 300 pounds and explained how carbs can ultimately make a person feel “imprisoned.”

“I couldn't exercise, I couldn't do so many things. My self-esteem and my self-confidence was in the toilet.

“I was exclusively dependent on sugar and starch as my entire support system,” he told me.

Empathizing with his patients, he added:

“Then you get diabetes and you get so fat you can't move, you get metabolic syndrome, your blood pressure goes up, you need a sleep apnea mask, and the women can't get pregnant because they’ve got PCOS [polycystic ovary syndrome]. But they love their carbohydrates and it's all they've got.”

The addiction method that Dr Cywes adopts isn’t mainstream. His dietary advice is not in line with guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). I asked how he responds to those in the scientific community who criticize him for demonizing carbs.

“I'm opening myself up to that level of prosecution all the time, but I have tons of evidence to support it,” he said.

“I can help people who are seeking help. But this should not be more important for me than it is for the people I'm trying to help, so it's very difficult.”

It’s his hope that at some point in the future there will be a wider shift in societal thinking, one in which we will no longer see sweets as ‘treats,’ for example.

“Would you buy your child a pack of Marlboro and some Bud Light and say, here's a treat for you?,” he said. A shocking sentence - but when you watch or listen to episode 48 you should expect plenty more.

“More people die of heart attacks and strokes and the direct consequences of chronic excessive sugar consumption in one day in America than die of heroin addiction in a year,” he told me.

“And yet, if you look at the resources and the focus on heroin addiction, it is enormous.”

When he tells me that it’s “easier to quit alcohol and nicotine than it is to quit carbohydrates,” he explains that’s because our “biologic drive to consume sugar is much more intense than the biologic drive to consume nicotine or alcohol,” and added that sugar is also highly concentrated.

Dr Cywes also notes that being slim doesn’t mean you’re not addicted to carbs. 

“You've got athletes out there running marathons, who are carb loading, who are as addicted to carbohydrates as a 300 pound person but they don't know it,” he said.

“Those people are doing damage to their bodies but it's not visible. It only becomes visible when it has an irreconcilable problem; your toes drop off, you have a heart attack, you have a stroke.” 

According to Dr Cywes, carbs aren’t what they used to be. “In the old days, carbohydrates were these little grasses and little seeds, and tiny rudimentary sour little fruits,” but in our modern era they’ve become “hybridized,” he told me.

While he may be a strong advocate of quitting sugars, Dr Cywes doesn’t suggest every one of us needs to forego carbs, only those with a problem. He describes himself as in “remission.”

“By removing carbohydrates from my environment, my muscle memory has faded. It never goes to zero. If I go out and I have a tub of ice cream tonight, it's going to be six months and 30 pounds before I get back on track.

He’s clear about a lack of any quick fixes. For his patients - and him.

“You don't beat this. You learn to live with it,” he told me. 

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Subscribe to the ‘Carb Addiction Doc’ on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk4Mk7vArjSYBa1VKv9-chA

Support him at https://www.patreon.com/carbaddictiondoc

Check out Dr Cywes on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carbaddictiondoc

On FB: https://www.facebook.com/carbaddictiondoc/

His website: Obesityunderstood.com 

Text him on 561 5170642 for a consultation (USA) or email infojsapa@gmail.com 

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Common sense caution: Anything you hear or see within healthHackers content should not be considered personal or medical advice. You’ve heard it before, so you know the score - always talk to your own health provider about your concerns.