11/19/2025
—Why Carnivore ‘Replacement’ Recipes Do Not Fuel Sugar Addiction—
A quick clarification for anyone confused about “food addiction” and carnivore recipes that resemble standard American diet foods, like my waffle cones, pizza crusts, crackers, etc.:
Sugar addiction is triggered by sugar — not by shapes, memories, or by foods that look like something you used to eat.
That’s not an opinion. That’s physiology.
Here are the facts:
1. Sugar addiction is biochemical, not visual.
Addiction pathways involve dopamine surges from specific substances that hit the brain’s reward system — mainly sugar and rapidly-digesting starches.
• Sweet taste + glucose/fructose → dopamine spike
• Dopamine spike → reinforcement loop
• Reinforcement loop → craving → “addiction-like” behavior
If the food doesn’t contain sugar or starch, then the addiction pathway is not activated in the same biochemical way.
There is no scientific mechanism by which a carnivore waffle cone made of eggs, cream, collagen, cheese, and gelatin can stimulate a sugar addiction pathway.
You cannot fuel an addiction with something the addictive pathway cannot use.
2. “Looks like” is not the same thing as “acts like.”
This is where the severe misunderstanding and ignorance it breeds comes in.
People see the form and assume it triggers the same addictive response as the substance. But the brain doesn’t get addicted to shapes, textures, or appearances like they’re sugar. If that were true, none of us could drink sparkling water because it “looks like soda,” or eat a good steak because it’s “rewarding”.
Addiction requires pharmacology, not aesthetics.
3. For many people, these recipes are actually a harm-reduction tool.
One of the most successful strategies in addiction treatment (documented across alcohol, ci******es, and behavioral addiction) is substitution with safer alternatives that remove the harmful substance while satisfying the ritual or enjoyment.
Examples:
• Ni****ne gum for smokers
• NA beer for alcoholics
• Low-carb replacements for binge eaters
For many people, enjoying a carnivore waffle cone:
• prevents relapse
• makes the diet sustainable
• reduces cravings
• keeps them away from sugar entirely
In other words: these recipes often reduce addiction behaviors, not increase them. Everyone is different and should make informed decisions for themselves.
4. Psychological attachment is real — but it’s individual, not universal.
Some people do struggle with behavioral or emotional eating patterns, even when carbs are removed. This is absolutely real and totally valid.
But that is a personal psychological pattern, not a universal biological truth that needs to be forced on everyone in the world.
For people who struggle with that pattern, they may need to avoid “recreation-style” foods for a season or a lifetime — and that’s okay.
But projecting a personal tendency onto the entire community is not science, and it’s not helpful to those seeking options.
It’s the difference between:
• “I tend to binge on anything that resembles my old trigger foods.”
vs
• “Everyone who eats a carnivore waffle cone is fueling sugar addiction.”
One is personal insight. The other is severe misinformation.
5. If anything, refusing to use safe alternatives is what can hurt long-term adherence for some or even many people.
The biggest reason people fail what many today consider restrictive eating patterns is not biology — it’s sustainability.
If creating a fun, carnivore waffle cone keeps someone:
• off sugar
• on plan
• excited to stay on the diet
• out of the drive-thru
• compliant for months or years
…then that recipe is serving the exact purpose it should.
That is success, not sabotage.
—THE BOTTOM LINE—
You cannot fuel a sugar addiction with something that contains no sugar just like you cannot fuel alchoholism with non-alcoholic beverages.
Despite what some loud people want to believe, that’s not how addiction works.
You can make a diet sustainable by giving people satisfying, enjoyable options that replace the harmful substances they’re trying to escape.
And for those with emotional eating patterns, that’s something to navigate personally — not something to weaponize against others out of judgment or jealousy.
If you don’t want replacement recipes, don’t use them. But calling them “fuel for addiction” is scientifically inaccurate and misses the entire purpose: helping real people succeed long-term.
Let’s focus on helping and healing people, not proving how perfect of a carnivore we can be by diminishing the hope of others.
