“I feel good! So good … like sugar and spice.”

This James Brown song was a six-week rhythm and blues chart topper.

Although we may never sing a song equaling the magnitude of “I Feel Good,” we can experience feeling like sugar and spice.

We can top the charts indefinitely declaring “I Feel Good” with one trip a day to the convenience store for a soda, favorite king-size candy bar, add in some sour gummy worms or a doughnut and you’ll be screaming sugar and spice just like James.

I’m not attacking sugar nearly as much as it’s attacking the body and brain of all who consume and indulge its addictive sweetness.

Sugar is a drug. It basically high jacks the brain’s limbic system. That’s where your will and emotions reside and the area controlling arousal.

Consider this thought from a Web MD archive, “Is sugar worse for you than, say, cocaine? According to a 2012 article in the journal Nature, it’s a toxic substance that should be regulated like tobacco and alcohol.”

Researchers point to studies that show that too much sugar (both in the form of natural sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup) not only makes us fat, it wreaks havoc on our liver, mucks up our metabolism, impairs brain function and may leave us more susceptible to heart disease, diabetes or cancer.

So far, no federal action has been taken. Advocates blame industry lobbyists. Experts say simply raising awareness isn’t enough, especially when 80 percent of our food choices contain sugar.

“It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion,” said coauthor Laura Schmidt, Ph.D., a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.”

A train wreck in slow motion? Maybe she doesn’t have a hyper-sensitivity to sugar.

In first grade, I was told I was A.D.D. After a couple cupcakes and a Coke, I was ready to feel good and sing on top of my desk screaming.

Nothing was like watching anything in slow motion. Everything in my mind moved at warp speed and sometimes there would be literally three scenes playing in my head at once. This struggle continued for many years and unfortunately many misunderstandings along the way.

With years of trial and error under my belt, lots of mistakes and failed efforts to self medicate as well as other compounding concerns, I decided to step out on a faith journey to find the truth.

I was determined to be brutally honest with myself and by God’s grace follow the truth wherever it would take me.

It took me down a long trail of multiple medications none of which offered any long term solutions. Then I received training and certification in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, which helped address cause-and-effect relationships between behaviors and what actually was transpiring in my mental thought processes.

But there was still an internal struggle to turn off or control racing thoughts. Preparing to be honest, settling for the results I had found some comfort in, I found myself facing a painful illness.

Over the course of two years, I began using medicinal fasting to help with pain and healing. Surprisingly not only did it help my recovery, but created measurable differences in my mental state of being.

So I began to connect the dots. While fasting I had no racing thoughts. While eating, racing thoughts and other side effects returned. Could something I’m eating be causing racing thoughts and inability to focus or pay attention?

Testing foods, I found four intolerances. The worst one high-jacking thought processes was sugar. I’ve instituted a sugar threshold I don’t exceed. It feels like heaven on earth.

After 39 years of trial and error, we have a winner. Food intolerances are real. Sugar is a drug and if you have a hyper-sensitivity you’ll feel so good like sugar and spice you’ll want to stand on top of your desk and sing real nice too.

Or you could come to terms with the undisputed truth: 64 percent of all people experiencing A.D.H.D. symptoms have food intolerances. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, but if an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, not drinking a soda and eating two cupcakes may go a long way in empowering you to practice self-control.

Dr. T.J. Kimble of Radcliff is a clinical pastoral counselor. He can be reached attj@yourbestlifenowcounseling.com.