Mika Brzezinski reveals ‘lifelong struggle’ with sugar addiction

Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski is talking about her diet in her latest piece for NBC’s Know Your Value, and opening up about her addiction to sugar.

In the piece titled “My lifelong struggle with sugar,” the 51-year-old journalist and liberal political commentator got real about recognizing her disordered eating and the steps she’s taking to address it. As of now, she says that her most successful tactic thus far has been through mindfulness therapy.

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Brzezinski said she was undergoing Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Dr. Gillian Galen from McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.

“I was skeptical at first, because I have tried lots of different therapies and approaches to deal with my relationship with food,” she wrote. “But Dr. Galen has challenged me to think different about the very things that cause complications in my life.”

And although turning to therapy for her diet may seem extreme to some, the journalist was candid in explaining how she struggles with her relationship with food.

“If it has sugar in it, I love it. That includes candy like Butterfinger and Reese’s, icing, cookie dough, ice cream and Cocoa Krispies. I especially love chocolate and crave it after every meal,” Brzezinski revealed. “Alone in my car, I have even been known to eat the icing off six Hostess cupcakes.”

Brzezinski went on to say that the stress of co-hosting Morning Joe exacerbated her reliance on sugar to the point where she called it her “go-to binky.” Still, she noticed that its “negative impacts on my health and productivity.” She even recalled a moment during her current attempt to cut sugar out of her diet where the addiction impacted her relationship.

“On day six, I got really grumpy, and Joe and I got into a huge fight. He went out and bought me a huge caramel sundae and begged me to eat it,” she said. “Half joking, half imploring, he said our marriage depended on that sundae!”

Although she indulged, Brzezinski said that she continues to try to cut sugar out of her diet while she works to understand her emotional reliance on it before healthily reincorporating it in the future.

Some people online have had a negative reaction to the piece and have even poked fun at Brzezinski for talking about the topic so seriously.

Many others, however, have praised her for her admission to a type of disordered eating that feels familiar to so many.

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