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Implement strategies that change how your body talks to you.
Learning to beat food addictions and sugar additions and overeating and emotional eating is a fight- no doubt about that. But you can fight much smarter and actually WIN or win FASTER if you have a logical, practical tactic for doing so.
I have found you can change how your body talks to you as far as what it demands you eat.
I never KNEW this and this is one of the main reasons that I found myself giving in over and over and not being able to break the vicious cycle.
And as a result I struggled and cycled up and down through so many "new efforts" and turning over new leaves all the time with grandiose ideas of making some life change with my eating, and I was never able to make it stick because I didn't know there was a practical way to change how I actually felt on the inside, as far as what foods - what was my body telling me to eat.
Implementing strategies that CHANGE how your body talks to you.
The types of cravings I would get for sugary foods was like an army of 500,000 soldiers with weapons marching up towards me and saying "eat these 8 doughnuts or you're going DOWN."
It felt that drastic, like I literally had now choice and there was no way for little old me to fight that type of power. That's how my cravings would be for me.
Realizing that WOA wait a minute- there's a way for me to remove myself from that situation entirely? #mindblown.
Before that I would just give in because there was no way to fight it, OR once in awhile I would get those grandiose ideas like, "maybe I CAN fight those 500,000 soldiers" so you make this little plan and then it just totally doesn't work.
Realizing that wow, there's a way to just totally CHANGE my cravings, is really what made the difference for me in overcoming my own sugar addiction which had turned into a binge eating disorder.
I want to share with you the contrast between strategies that didn't work and strategies that did. So you know there will likely be a way that works for you and a way that doesn't. And if you are currently trying out the way that's not working, don't give up- look for another strategy.
Example of a strategy I tried that failed me:
At 2:30 in the video/audio I'd love for you to watch/listen as I read from my personal journal about a time I tried to break free from my sugar addiction and you can hear what that was like.
What you'll notice in this failed strategy is that my cravings NEVER. WENT. AWAY.
Strategy That Worked
I realized that something had to be wrong. I decided that I need to really research this and try to get to the bottom to what was going on and come up with a better strategy that would actually involve more than just trying to have more will power. I was missing some tools.
After researching low carb diets and the withdrawal from sugar period that accompanies them all and ideas on how to get past that withdrawal period more quickly, my approach this time was to remove ALL sugar sources, even in whole forms like whole fruits, AND to combine this with eating HIGHER FAT for a period of time. And that each time I felt a withdrawal craving, I would eat something high fat like bacon until the craving passed.
Even IF this initially caused weight gain because of who knows, TOO much bacon, which for me it didn't, it would be worth it initially because it would be giving me the state of being to have control over what I ate for the many months and years to come.
Really and truly this did 2 things:
- Made my withdrawal symptoms much less intense
- Made the withdrawal symptoms actually go away finally and much quicker than without this tactic (we're talking 3-5 days).
My cravings for sugar were truly gone after this.
It was the tweak my body needed to actually change how my body was talking to me.
I had removed myself from that location where those 500,000 soldiers and their threatening donuts were.
A Temporary Transition Tactic
The idea of this could cause you a little panic moment if you think geez can I never eat a fruit again?
This tactic was not something I needed to employ FOREVER - it was needed as temporary measure while my body readjusted and balanced. How long it takes for you will be unique to you. I stayed off ALL sugar sources, even fruits and gluten free grains for several months before using them again.
The initial high fat period that was probably ketogenic in nature I used to manage through my withdrawal period lasted about like 4-5 days.
This can be useful in maintenance in case you find yourself
This goes along with our next discussion which is about trigger foods.
I ate four chocolate covered raisins and every single cell in my gigantic body started screaming for more. I felt a tingle ng sensation through my body right to my skin. I’m on P2 and can’t get a ketone strip to show anything other than trace ketones burning. I am afraid of P3 because the carb and sugar monsters are always GE and well and screaming revolutionninside ny brain.
I hear you- I have totally felt that way. I do think that avoiding trigger foods help a lot, and over time, I find you can eat more foods without that feeling (but so far there are always still a few certain foods for me that cause that feeling, so I avoid those). I think you will be okay.