Miserable? Deprived? Not being able to treat yourself? Or do you imagine it will be like losing a little friend? Maybe you think you’ll suddenly become highly anti-social, by not being a ‘sugar sharer’ with your friends any more? Do you imagine your family will feel rejected when you politely refuse a pudding? Or that you will be desperately jealous when someone eats sugar around you? Or maybe you just can’t imagine life without sugar in it? Maybe you worry it might all become somehow dull and meaningless?
Well, I suppose if you ARE the kind of person who only shares the odd little bit of something with your friends, or the occasional pudding at family mealtimes, and sugar is simply not an issue for you then yes, I would say that you have absolutely no need to imagine a life without sugar in it….
HOWEVER…if you know that’s not you; That no matter how hard you try, you just aren’t that COOL with sugar, and it’s quite frankly, got you in an out-of-control, just-can’t-do-without-it-for-more-than-a-couple-of-days, will-eat-it-till-it’s-all-gone, kind of a situation…. Then I should think it’s crossed your mind more than once to fire the sugar out of your life and get out of that horrible sugar cycle! What will it be like? You can’t imagine because you are looking at it from THIS SIDE….from the view of a sugar addict, from one who feels she just can’t DO without it, and that life won’t be worth living if it’s not a regular feature somehow.
The view on the OTHER SIDE is a very different affair, however. It’s not at all like you might imagine. As a recovering sugar addict myself (I was a 6 bar a day girl, me, some days!), I had to decide to tame the sugar beast a few years ago, just because of how I felt in myself. My weight wasn’t critically bad (Although I AM 4 stone lighter now and the most stable I’ve ever been, so that’s something in itself!), but it was more for my energy levels, which were all over the place, and my concentration too. I just felt rubbish! No other way to describe it.
I used a few clever little tricks I learned along the way as a therapist and ‘switched off’ my desire. The feeling a couple of days later was incredible! My energy was higher than it has ever been…I was buzzing! Friends and family completely understood, (and more than one wanted to know how I’d done it!) Because I’d ‘switched off’ the desire, I simply wasn’t bothered when others ate it around me….and that was the very very best bit…I could take it or leave it! It was the most powerful feeling of being in control for me…just great, and it’s not really worn off now, all these years later to be honest.
The one word I have consistently heard over the years when clients report back how they are feeling…..and this has really stuck with me….is euphoric…. I’m always delighted for them, because I’m completely aware of exactly what they have done for themselves, and just what it means to them to be free of the sugar…you might say it’s my latest addiction…..it’s not a bad one!
So here’s a (by no means exhaustive!) list of experiences reported to me by clients after they have taken sugar out of their diet:
- feelings of euphoria,
- weight loss
- high energy levels
- feeling calmer
- feeling more alert
- higher concentration levels
- more stable mood
- increased feelings of well-being
- feeling pleasantly surprised at yourself
- feeling proud of yourself..
- feeling more in control of your diet and food choices
- feeling more in control in other areas of your life
- sugar-related health issues clearing up
- better skin
- feeling happy in your own skin
- aches and pains disappearing
- enjoying a wider variety of foods
- reduced anxiety
- feeling free
- feeling ‘in charge’
- losing obsessive thinking
And the list really does go on…..
This is 9 years’ worth of feedback now, so the list could easily be a lot longer!! Taking the pain out of the equation, and ‘switching off’ the desire is the absolute key here. Because, and this is the thing….you don’t KNOW what you’re going to feel like till you go through the process, because you WILL feel differently altogether on the other side of it.
If you would like help to switch off the desire, then look at this blog (pause power part 2) I wrote a couple of weeks ago that has a great little technique for turning off the urge for sugar in your nervous system (where it originates in the first place!)…it’s completely safe and very easy to do.
Enjoy yourself and please do let me know how you get on!
