Dear readers, I love hearing from you. Today, we’ll feature one such letter I’ve received, and I’ll try to compassionately reply and help to move the person forward.
Dear Connie,
I know I am addicted to sugar, and for many years it has ruined my life.
Sugar has me trapped in a life I do not want to lead any more. As a result of this, my strength is at an all-time low and I’m running scared and feel I won’t be able to rid sugar unless I get some support.
Does it mean that I will never be able to have sugar in my diet again? This just scares me so much! And what sort of life will I have after I have got over the sugar ?!!!!!! This might be a silly question, but the fear is keeping where I am and that’s a terrible confused state.
Please help me to understand better,
Kind Regards,
Linda, from Australia (Sorry if the above message is a little messy, but that’s what sugar does to me) (Note from Connie: I corrected some typos.)
Linda, I’m so terribly sorry to learn about your pain. I well know the frustration and annoyance of being trapped in a sugar habit.
First off, let me bring you hope. Life without sugar is absolutely fabulous! Personally, I found more energy, enthusiasm, excitement and a greater sense of well being now that I’m NOT eating sugar. Daily, I hear from other "Sugar Kickers," who happily tell me the same thing happened with them, too.
So, while I understand your fear — change certainly can be scary — but there’s really no need to be scared about what life will be like without sugar. It’s so much better! There’s just no comparison, as I’ve discovered.
At this point, I invite you to start thinking and visualizing about
the wondrous, sugar-free life that lies in store for you. Just feel the
joy of conquering this habit! Relish a life where you can easily pass
by a bakery or ice cream joint.
Also, Linda, I don’t want to trigger fear in you, but do you want to
continue to feel trapped, as you described it? Please think about what
your life would be like if you continue to indulge. Then dwell on the
benefits you’ll get if you confront and conquer your sugar addiction.
As for whether or not you’ll be able to have sugar in your diet
again, that’s entirely your decision. But rest assured, there’s no need to
worry about that just yet. You can make that decision later. Right now,
I’d recommend that you challenge yourself to either cut out sugar
totally right now or cut back on it. You can do it!
I could go on and on to encourage you, but let me just remind you now: Life is much sweeter without refined sweets.
Remember, you can do it! And please let us know how it goes.
Warmly,
Connie
P.S. As for your request for support, you’re in good company! I’ve been inundated with e-mails from folks who don’t want to go it alone. Can’t say I blame them. So, in response to all of you, I’m starting a reasonably priced program in the fall to provide nurturing, ongoing support to people like you.
One thought on “Sugar Addict: Encouragement to a Troubled Reader of the SUGAR SHOCK! Blog”
I have sugar addiction, and this is something that I have known for a long time. I am familiar with what sugar does to me, and what health issues sugar can cause for people. Diabetes runs in my family, and I can list my family members who also have an addiction, even though know one else in my family would describe the situation that way or even admit that they have a problem, which makes the problem more difficult for me to deal with.
I have gotten sugar completely out of my diet 3 different times in my life, and yes, I did feel better, and honestly things like candy and heavily processed sugar items looked really bad to me then. The best way that I can describe my feelings about sugary items, when I didn’t have sugar in my system is that these items looked really “dead” to me.
I distinctly remember one of the times that I fell back into the sugar eating habit. It was Christmas day, and I ate some chocolate fudge that a friend made for our family, as a gift. That’s all it took, I again was hooked.
But herein lies the biggest issue for me, and it is the issue that I feel there is the least amount of information about, and that is the issue of how difficult it is getting sugar out of your system to begin with. To just stop ingesting sugar “cold turkey” is like asking a heroin addict to just stop doing heroin — most people understand the difficulty in that. I think, for me anyway, that cold turkey is the only way I could expect success, but I need some kind of help getting through that period, and that is what I am unable to find.
I have just discovered “sugar stop” gum, that makes sugary things taste bad for a while when chewing it, so I’m going to get some of that. It is expensive, and everyone who knows me knows that I HATE gum. I never allowed my children to chew it, and I always point out the amount of people (mainly women) who chew it with their mouths open! Very unattractive, and just another habit.
I haven’t found doctors (of many different philosophies) very helpful with information on kicking the habit either. I feel that people need not just information on why you should remove sugar from your diet, but people need more tools and help on how to kick the habit, especially when our surroundings are so inundated with it.
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