Your health: Rehab treatment for sugar addiction

Rehab: Treatment for sugar addiction

Sandie Leonard couldn't wait to get her next fix. She would wake up with cravings and search her hiding spots when she felt low — in her kitchen, her car, her desk at school, reports NBC Today Show.

“Little Debbie was my best friend,” she said, adding that she ate at least box a day of Swiss rolls, fudge rounds or cupcakes. “She was always in my car with me. She was in my dressing room as I was getting ready in the morning. She was, you know, everywhere.”

So the teacher from Tennessee went to Malibu Vista, one of the first treatment centers for people hooked on sugar.

While “food addiction” is still a controversial label, recent research estimates that more than 8 percent of women ages 45 to 64 could be considered food addicts. Sugar may play on the reward centers of the brain and cause the same highs and withdrawal as illegal drugs.

“The effect of the sugar on the reward center is to cause changes that literally keep you addicted,” said Dr. Pam Peeke, author of “The Hunger Fix” and senior science adviser at Elements Behavioral Health Centers.

But there's hope for people like Leonard. Early studies suggest it's possible to retrain your brain to stop craving junk food.

After a month of therapy, Leonard can pass on Little Debbie, and says she uses exercise to soothe herself.