For those who struggle with emotional eating or feel trapped in a cycle of sugar addiction, Crave by Raphael E. Cuomo, Ph.D., offers an illuminating and science-backed perspective. Far more than just a book about conquering cravings, Crave uncovers the hidden biological links between addictive behaviors and long-term health risks—particularly cancer. By explaining how our brain’s reward system has been hijacked by modern temptations like sugar, stress, and screen time, Cuomo reveals why it’s so hard to resist that second helping or late-night snack. His book doesn’t point fingers—it empowers readers with practical, compassionate strategies to reclaim control, improve well-being, and disrupt the quiet biological patterns that can lead to chronic disease.
Crave explores often-overlooked links between addictive behaviors and cancer, two health issues often viewed as entirely separate. This book reveals how cravings shape everyday behaviors, influencing biological processes that quietly accumulate risk over time.
Addiction and cancer share common roots in biology, stemming from deeply
ingrained survival systems designed to seek rewards such as food, comfort, and connection. These primal urges, beneficial in our evolutionary past, are now frequently hijacked by modern life, encouraging harmful habits that set the stage for chronic disease.
The book first examines the biology of craving. At the core is dopamine, a neurotransmitter critical to motivation and reward. Natural pleasures like eating or social bonding cause dopamine release, reinforcing beneficial behaviors. However, modern lifestyles filled with processed foods, alcohol, nicotine, stress, and overstimulating media create constant surges in dopamine. Over time, these surges reset the brain’s reward threshold, leading to compulsive behaviors that feel impossible to control. Such behaviors can include overeating, excessive drinking, sedentary habits, or endless scrolling on digital devices.
Next, Crave explores how these habitual behaviors contribute directly to cancer risk. Research shows that nearly half of all cancers are preventable through lifestyle choices. Beyond smoking and alcohol consumption, everyday decisions around diet, physical activity, sleep, and stress significantly influence cancer development:
- Diets high in sugar and refined carbohydrates increase insulin levels and inflammation, both strongly linked to cancer progression.
- Sedentary lifestyles also boost cancer risk, partly by disrupting hormone regulation and immune function.
- Inadequate sleep impairs the body’s cellular repair processes, making cells more vulnerable to mutations that can lead to cancer.
Moreover, Crave illustrates how low-grade, persistent addictions, such as excessive sugar consumption or chronic screen time, foster biological environments that favor cancer growth:
- Excess body fat, especially around the abdomen, acts as an endocrine organ, releasing hormones and inflammatory substances that drive tumor growth.
- High insulin and blood glucose, common consequences of poor dietary habits, create conditions favorable for cancer cell survival and proliferation.
- Chronic stress associated with addictive behaviors suppresses immunity and promotes inflammation, further enhancing cancer risks.
Cuomo’s book also emphasizes how subtle, repeated exposures to addictive substances or behaviors gradually cause lasting biological changes. These changes include altered hormone production, impaired DNA repair mechanisms, and shifts in the gut microbiome composition. Each of these factors contributes incrementally to cancer risk, underscoring how minor, daily habits can quietly escalate into significant health threats over years or decades.
You’re not broken because you have sugar cravings! The book is careful not to place blame on individuals. Rather, it highlights how societal and environmental influences strongly shape these addictive behaviors. Advertising, convenience-driven food industries, urban designs discouraging physical activity, and work cultures promoting chronic stress are all major contributors. Such environmental pressures make it exceedingly difficult to maintain healthy choices consistently. Recognizing these external factors shifts the conversation away from personal blame and toward collective responsibility, calling for broader social change.
In offering solutions, Crave advocates for small, consistent changes rather than drastic, short-lived interventions. It outlines practical strategies for disrupting craving cycles, such as choosing nutrient-rich whole foods, engaging regularly in physical activity, prioritizing restorative sleep, and developing mindful practices that reduce stress. Even modest lifestyle improvements can significantly reduce biological vulnerabilities linked to cancer. The book underscores that genuine, lasting change involves recalibrating our relationship to pleasure and reward.
For cancer survivors, the book provides particular relevance. While no single behavior guarantees cancer prevention or recurrence, maintaining stable blood sugar, reducing inflammation, preserving lean muscle mass, and engaging in regular physical activity all appear to bolster long-term health outcomes. By adopting these behaviors, survivors can actively shape their biology to minimize future risk.
Finally, Crave argues for a societal rethinking of addiction beyond just substance use. By acknowledging addiction as a spectrum of compulsive behaviors driven by biological urges, society can better address the subtle yet profound ways modern life increases disease risk. This perspective encourages a collective approach, one that combines personal awareness with societal interventions designed to support healthier lifestyles and environments.
In a world overflowing with quick fixes and guilt-driven diets, Crave stands out as a compassionate, insightful guide to understanding the deeper forces behind emotional eating and sugar addiction. Dr. Cuomo invites us to look beyond willpower and see the biological, psychological, and societal factors that shape our cravings—and our health. By connecting everyday habits to long-term outcomes like cancer risk, Crave empowers readers to make small, sustainable changes that honor both body and mind. It’s not about perfection—it’s about awareness, progress, and choosing a path that nourishes rather than punishes. For anyone looking to break free from the cycle of craving, this book is a must-read.
You can follow Dr. Cuomo’s work here.