I have had a ‘drug’ addiction most of my life. I’ve been addicted to sugar, and my drug of choice has been refined sugars.
Now you may think this is a bit silly, saying eating refined sugars is a drug addiction, because this brings a comparison between refined sugars and such substances like cocaine or heroin.
But…
There are a crazy amount of studies surfacing through the web and social media that compare refined sugars to cocaine and heroin, and the findings are showing that refined sugars are as addictive as other drugs, in fact sometimes more addictive because refined sugars are so readily available and so widely accepted as part of our everyday existence.
Addicted to Sugar: How it Began…
When I was 8 years old I was diagnosed with hypoglycaemia, which means my body had an intense response to sugar. It was described as an ‘allergy’ to refined sugars which resulted in my body over-producing insulin whenever I consumed refined sugar. My body saw sugar as the enemy and it went about rapidly breaking it down to get it out of my system.
This would happen at a far too rapid pace for me to handle, and after the high experienced from the sugar, I would very quickly become quite lethargic and sometimes fall asleep as my blood glucose levels dropped too quickly.
So I was told by the doctors to eliminate all refined sugars from my diet and eat regularly to maintain an even blood glucose level. I gave this a go and I found it extremely difficult: so much so, that after a while I started to eat refined sugars again.
And so began my addiction to refined sugars – even though I knew it could potentially harm me in ways that could not be reversed, particularly insulin dependent diabetes.
My Drug Addiction Grew…
It started with eating the sugar out of the sugar bowl but I got caught doing this so I had to find another source. I began to steal lollies from the local newsagency: I got caught again… so this time I stole money out of my Mum’s piggy bank and went and bought the lollies instead. Funnily enough, I got caught again! I was really determined to eat sugar!!
Let’s pause for a moment and consider what this type of dedicated behaviour may mean…
Does it sound like how a drug addict would behave?
…It does to me!
The addiction to eating sugar was so strong for me that I played Russian roulette with my health for many years.
I continued to eat sugar regularly and ignored the doctors’ warnings that at any time my pancreas could run out of steam from over-producing insulin, and stop producing insulin altogether. This could have meant living as an insulin dependent diabetic and having to inject myself with insulin daily for the rest of my life.
But there was a part of me that thought I could get away with this type of addictive behaviour, that I was invincible, and that these kinds of health consequences would never happen to me.
My Drug Addiction Continues…
Fast forward to about the year 2009. I was 33 years of age with a 1 year old daughter; as I had stopped eating gluten as a trial and felt a lot better, I decided to fully commit to not eating gluten anymore. I also stopped consuming dairy, and then rice, and through these choices lost a lot of the weight I had gained during pregnancy.
So there I was: I’d stopped eating gluten, dairy and rice – things I knew affected me – and I was feeling like I was starting to take responsibility for the food I was choosing to feed myself… but I was still very much a sugar addict, and had been one for 25 years.
Reaching the Turning Point…
I remember one day standing in my kitchen popping a Mentos lolly into my mouth, one of many that I had consumed that day, and looking in amazement at the near empty packet. I also felt the pull to check whether I had another packet, for when this one finished I would need more, but something inside made me stop in my tracks and look at what I was doing.
In this moment I realised that I was addicted to sugar – heavily addicted. This was my drug of choice. I felt this sick feeling in my stomach with the knowing that I could no longer, in good conscience, keep eating refined sugars. The time had come to really commit to not eating sugar anymore!
And so began the next stage of my journey, learning how to work with my body and my food choices – to start to understand what I chose to consume and why – to break this powerful addiction to sugar.
With thanks to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon for opening my eyes to the possibility that what we eat really does impact our health and wellbeing in a huge way.
By Robyn Jones, 38, B.Sc. (Psych), Counsellor, Goonellabah, Australia
Read Part Two: Exhaustion and the Effects of Sugar Addiction
Read Part Three: From Sugar Addiction to Gluten, Dairy & Sugar Free Yummy Delights
Further Reading:
Are We Consuming Sugar Or Is Sugar Consuming Us?
Why Are Our Service Stations Crack Houses? And What Does Sugar Do To The Brain?
568 Comments
Dear Robyn, I feel that I had the same experience as you did. I first stopped eating lactose, then gluten and alcohol but the hardest of all for me was sugar. As I was working as a chef and doing fruit preparation everyday, I was eating it all the time and finding it very addictive in a similar way to how I used sugar. My body also reacted the with feeling racy and I found it hard to focus. The one solution I found for me personally is to cut it out of my diet. I do eat a lot of green vegetables and salads to compensate.
Robyn this is a great blog at exposing the addictiveness of sugar and to call it out as a drug. So many are addicted and yet do not honestly admit it. I knew I used to be and wouldn’t be able to go a day without consuming it in some form or other. Recently I read that there are 35,000 deaths a year on diseases that are indirectly caused by the consumption of excessive sugar. It is something we need to start talking honestly about so that awareness can be raised over the problems in the body it causes.
Thanks Robyn. Sugar is a real addictive drug, one that I fight on a daily basis. I love my chocolate biscuits, and bars of chocolate. I have started to get tough with myself, and when I get the urge to buy the drug, I have to keep saying to my self YOU DONOT NEED that drug. I will get there.
I always thought, that I did not particularly like sugar. I did not have it in my tea or coffee, I found desserts and puddings too sickly and rich to enjoy and I did not have a particularly sweet tooth (or so I thought), until I explored life without sugar. I could not believe how I reacted. I simply replaced refined sugar with huge quantities of dates and bananas which exposed just how addicted to sweet things I was. Over time and little by little, I have reduced the amount of sugar in my diet and now even a small amount if eaten late would inhibit my sleep.
Fiona, I can relate to what you say. I did not think I had a problem with sugar. But I do remember when I was young, always having brown sugar with my porridge or other cereal, and loving it. For many years, if I wanted a snack, I would head for say the Allbran (very high in sugar), then of course with milk. I had forgotten that one. But then later in life, thinking I was eating healthily, I would eat enormous plates of fruit, sometimes 3 times a day as a finish to the meal. Yes, it was still a sugar hit. Now, thank goodness, my fruit intake is largely half a green apple, 2 or maybe 3 times a day. But I can also at times add some red papaya for breakfast, excuse being, for my digestive system, when things not quite going right. Have not really got rid of that one yet, still using the excuse, but I must say, it does seem to help the digestive system.
Thanks Robyn for your honest blog on the perils of sugar addiction. I’ve always had a sweet tooth, (mainly in the form of chocolate and cake) and find its one of the hardest things to quit, it has been kind of a sweet comfort to make up for something emotional, or as a habit. I thought the best way was to go cold turkey and not have any at all, but even though I could do this for several months at a time the same issues of why I eat sugar in the first place slowly resurfaces. Although not at the same level as before. Now if I have something that’s sweet, I can really taste it and if I eat more than 2 squares of dark chocolate, my body feels too stimulated. My diet is refining and evolving, as I appreciate myself more and so don’t have the same need – I can take it or leave it. I wouldn’t say I’ve cracked it completely yet, although I do know I feel a lot clearer in my body and able to focus more without it.
Thanks for this article Robyn, I get my sugar craving after lunch often – put in place by six years at boarding school when we were allowed 4 sweets per day after lunch – when I was really wanting a connection with home. Amazing how that cycle perpetuates. This week in a medical surgery café there was a big board advertising the sale of ice creams! It peaked my interest as I observed the relationship that we have had with sugar to be so deeply ingrained, that even within medicine, it is seen as a normal (everyday) substance to indulge in.
Sugar is ingrained within medicine, I am aware that in Australia the hospital meals often come with desserts, yoghurts, custards, tinned fruits, plain biscuits and they all have quite a bit of sugar added – I would be surprised if these meals even had less than the recommended 6 teaspoons of sugar or less a day as recommended by the WHO. I know that eating sugar in my body lowers my immune system, if I am getting a common cold or virus it can make the difference between getting over it before it starts or how quickly I heal from it. I don’t remember the last time I had a cold actually since taking sugar out of my diet and am convinced my body has a better healing capacity for it.
Yes this is a great point. It does not make sense that our hospitals are serving up meals laden with sugar when we are in a process of healing.
Robyn sugar has been my drug of addiction and it still the thing I go for if I am stressed or not wanting to deal with something in my life. Of course I don’t go for lollies, chocolates or cakes (as these are too obvious) I tend to go for a dates or sweet fruit. I know these don’t feel great in my body anymore (as it screams at me) but it is interesting to observe how strong the pull to a little bit of sweetness in my mouth, instead of addressing why I dont feel there is enough sweetness in me and my life!
Yes, sharon, it is interesting to observe how strong the pull to have a little bit of sweetness in the mouth, especially when feeling tired, the taste lasts for all of 5 or so seconds, but the effects I feel in my body last a lot longer…and as you mentioned, instead of addressing why we don’t feel there is enough sweentess in ourselves…. great blog.
Robyn, I love what you’ve shared. And I can so relate, it’s funny I’ve easily dropped many things I know don’t work for me, alcohol, gluten, caffeine and dairy, yet sugar is the one thing that even now I can struggle with. I eat a lot less, but I can still crave it and often have it, so your article is great as it’s prompted me to look at what is going on here. I feel that I use sugar as a prop to continue exhausting myself and doing too much, a way for me to keep pushing through, a way to reward me. Thank you – I have lots to consider and explore now.
Beautiful Robyn I can completely relate. I too have weaned myself off sugar and the last stage has been quite confronting, but definitely worth it. Sugar is a real poison, it is extremely damaging within the body, not only upsetting our insulin balance but stealing vital vitamins and enzymes as it passes through. The thing that struck me most having given it up is just how much better my teeth and gums are as a consequence. I used to hate having my teeth cleaned at the dentist because it hurt so much, but nowadays its quite pain free – it showed me that sugar doesn’t just rot your teeth, it destroys your gums too. And I know I could not have undertaken such a deeply entrenched addiction if it had not been for the very practical tools offered by Universal Medicine that also helped me “to start to understand what I chose to consume and why”. Thank you for such an honest article.
I agree Rowena, understanding why we choose sugar, what it is giving us is fundamental to stopping this addiction. Universal Medicine offers great support for us to be more loving with ourselves, and this then means it is easier to stop anything that is not truly nurturing and loving.
I agree Rowena and Lorraine. Understanding why we have reached for the food or behaviour that numbs us out or causes a raciness or distraction is the key. Allowing ourselves to feel this and understand where it comes from is where the healing starts.
Thank you for sharing your experience and exposing the impact sugar really can have on ourselves and how it is accepted in society as normal to have a sugar high or low or need or desire and this reliance is not often questioned by ourselves or others. My sugar craving was also exposed as I started looking at my diet, I dropped a lot of what didn’t feel good in my body but sugar hung around for quite awhile, but as I did let go of other things that did not feel good inevitably, I had to have an honest look at sugar and how it made me feel.
Great point. Sugar is a drug and what’s more it seems to be in everything!… From pasta sauce to crackers to breakfast cereals. I have been amazed just how much of the stuff is put in our food. No wonder the WHO says it is going to be the next Tobacco! I also used to be hooked on sugar and I found the only way to break the habit was to look at why I was exhausted and needing the stimulation. It was only when I changed other things in my diet and lifestyle and addressed my exhaustion that it was possible to kick the sugar. Otherwise I would say it is impossible.
Andrew that makes a lot of sense. It seems sugar is the staple behind everything – the tea breaks at the office are more about the sugar than the tea. There are very few processed foods without sugar. I find that my need for a sugar fix (including fruits etc..) changes depending on how I’ve been living my day. Your point about addressing the exhaustion, lifestyle and diet first is very valid. By looking at these areas I can start to see why I depend on sugar to pick me up.
Andrew, it is encouraging that WHO is recognising the negative health implications of sugar consumption and is likening it to tobacco. WHO has recently changed their dietary guidelines around sugar and reduced it from 10% of daily calorie intake to 5%. As you noted Andrew sugar is added to most packaged and processed foods, it’s addictive, has a negative cycle that leaves us craving for more, it is used to mask and pep up tiredness and it is a quick mood pick me up that we go to so we do not have to admit we are miserable. A sugar craving can be great distraction from feeling miserable and once the craving is satisfied the chemistry in our body changes to give an artificial elation or pacification until of course blood sugar levels drop and the next hit is sought out but sugar is so easy to access it is even possible to avoid the drop or we fall into bed exhausted. In my experience sweet foods are something I can go to if tired, miserable, anxious, and for numbing but these are all symptoms of a spiritual illness and this is what Universal Medicine is helping me to understand so that the deeper underlying cause is addressed.
One month on from my previous post on this blog I can say that discarding sugar from my life is making a difference. I am finding I am a lot steadier in my life and realised today that I feel less exhausted than I did previously.
Thank you Robyn for your honesty and Susan for commenting that sugar sneaks in when we are not feeling steady and strong. I have avoided refined sugars for years because of issues with candida but am aware that I still get caught out when I am feeling over-tired etc. I have found that appreciating myself rather than beating myself up has supported me to start making different choices but it is definitely a work in progress.
Yes, I have found this is also true, Helen, Janet and Susan. When I have felt a reaction to something the wanting of sugar is strong and then of course in the eating of it compounds the feeling of being less solid and more in my nervous system. As you said Susan, “looking at the way in which I live that supports a steadiness within so I have no need to look any further than that” is a true way to go.
I agree Rachel, we need to look at what we don´t want to feel, what is happening when we have that craving, of sugar in this case. I have been having those cravings for sugar, and it is obviously exhaustion, overwhelm, and sometimes wanting to belong (as people in my work buy chocolates and things I cannot have, so that springs up the attitude in me of not wanting to be left out, especially with food). So that is what I am now looking at, and I agree with Robyn, sugar is no small addiction. I have given up so many things and did not think sugar would be difficult, but it is, as it is everywhere and so encouraged nowadays.
This is a great blog about the addictive effects of sugar. It’s the only thing I have found difficult to completely let go of. It’s like it has always been there in the background of my mind as the ‘fall back guy’ if I’m feeling tired or racy or just a bit down. But I also notice more and more, it directly relates to the way in which I live. If I am feeling steady and strong, I don’t even give sugar a thought but if I have racy thoughts or reacting to something, in comes a sneaky piece of something sweet! So for me it’s not so much as looking at giving up sugar, but looking at the way in which I live that supports a steadiness within so I have no need to look any further than that. Feeling that being me is enough.
Well said, Susan. If that steadiness is there, sugar is not even a consideration, but when we are tired or upset it becomes an attractive option to avoid feeling what is really going on. Thank you Robyn for your honesty.
Well said Susan, looking behind why I reach for the sugar in the first place as the cravings can re-surface so easily.
Susan I love how you express that when we build a steadiness within, what we used to choose that takes us away from that no longer has appeal .
I agree with you Susan, no way I consider sugar when I am living consistently and making loving choices. But if I feel tired and don’t want to feel what I feel there is the option of something sweet again. And once I eat something sweet my body starts screaming for it again and that makes it more difficult to say no. But boy oh boy the feeling of sugar in my body is so not supportive for feeling truly vital, clear and still, at all.
I love the attention to detail in this blog Robyn, thank you. Sugar can be such a glaringly obvious addiction it’s frightening to think the dots are not joined often enough. It is only now am I truly in touch with my body can I feel the result of even the lightest taste It’s great to be reminded of the impact of such a product.
Robin thank you a really great perspective on sugar and the ability to be addicted to it. I certainly have found sugar the hardest thing to let go of in my diet. I know I don’t feel so great after it, so try to avoid the obvious types – yet I find anything that can act as a substitute.
Thank you Robyn for a great blog and I am sure everyone can relate to the addictiveness of sugar. I also can recall visiting the shops before and after school to get my sugar fix. Treats and cakes were part of my daily meals at home and it was very rare to not have a pudding or cake after a meal. Wanting to eat something sweet after a meal has been hard for me these past 8 years, even though I do not eat sugary treats anymore. I have found that these days the slightest bit of sugar gives me a headache – it now makes me wonder how I ate all of the sweets, chocolate, puddings and cakes without feeling ill; how numb must I have been.
I can so relate to this Robyn, sugar has been my choice of addiction, I too took money from my parents for a while so that I could buy sweets, I never got caught but it showed the lengths I was willing to go to to get sugar. Later in life I was always eating sweets and because I didn’t put wight on I was able to eat as much as I wanted. I knew sugar was bad for me and I would sometimes cut down, but mostly I would consume what ever was in front of me until it was finished. The trouble is like any addiction once I started eating something sweet it encourages you to want to eat more. I knew I was addicted but I felt I was in control of the addiction and this is the illusion that you think you are ok and it is not really harming me, or others and it is better than being addicted to alcohol or drugs. The truth is it is still an addiction and just because I could not see any signs that it was affecting my body I saw no harm in it. Through attending Universal Medicine presentations I have got to understand how sugar affects the body and then I began to feel for myself the raceyness and the need to pep me up, or to give myself a reward and how I used sugar to numb myself, no different to alcohol or drugs.
Great blog Robyn. You are so right sugar is hugely addictive and pretty much all pervasive in the modern diet. I have given up refined sugars and now feel if I eat a piece of fruit or even nuts that I will always want another carb or sweet food again and again in the day. It’s an instant hook and distraction. Its like there is no escape, such a slippery slope. The days when I go without fruit or nuts I feel so much more steady and at ease in my body and mind.
Great insight Anne-Marie and something I can feel during my day also. If I start the day with eggs on toast, I will be craving sweet or more carbs for the whole day. So GF toast is no longer an option. I can feel this happening for nuts too! Which I am a little hooked on as a protein snack, but they are paving the way for more sugar cravings in my day.
Taking sugar out of our diets really opens up the door to us looking at other foods that may not be so beneficial for our bodies. It really is an ongoing process to feed our body the food that will sustain it and keep it on an even keel.
Such a great exposing. Your clarity clearly exposes that the addiction is similar to that of a drug addiction, yet how often do we fool ourselves pretending that it does no harm? I loved the recollections of the past and your childhood foibles of sugar searching, only to be stopped in one way or another, but still the urge was so strong to push on further. I look forward to reading what happened next…
I loved this, how you have written it – I didn’t want to stop reading. I feel there should definitely be a part 2 to this article. I would love to know what happened after you stopped eating sugar, was it easy to stop just like that? Did you make changes in your diet to support this, etc. You are right sugar is a drug and yet it is found in nearly everything!
Yes Vicky. There are 2 more blogs that follow this one that are waiting to be published. Stay tuned.
I look forward to part two and three as well!
Yes, I do too Rachel.
Oh Good, I want to hear more as well.
Thanks Robyn for your honest article about your addiction to sugar. I can relate to what you have written, although I didn’t have hypoglycaemia, I was addicted to sugar growing up, for many of my teenage years I was overweight and feeling heavy, miserable and dull, but I was just eating what was at home, like biscuits and cakes from the kitchen cupboard and then going to the shop for sweets with my pocket money, this was seen as normal. But I looked and felt awful. In my 20’s I wasn’t consuming as much sugar but it was still part of my diet, I became aware that something needed to change in my early 30’s, I had digestive issues and went to see a nutritionist, she suggested cutting out sugar along with some other harmful foods, this was nearly 10 years ago and I now feel consistently well, with no health complaints, the few times that I have had sugar in this time I have suffered with headaches, energy crashes after eating the sugar and feeling miserable, so it’s been an easy choice to not consume sugar and to choose feeling well and vital instead.
Well written, I’m sure we can all relate to being addicted to sugar, When I was little it seemed that was all I ate! In the form of cakes biscuits, sweets etc. I have come this weekend to another level of understanding of how I use sugar to take my self away from connecting to myself, this new awareness is a direct result from attending a healing course run by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. The course I’m attending has given me the space to look at my behaviors and patterns I seem to have been stuck in for years. To re assess if I actually need these old behaviors, or can I let them go as they are not truly who I am. I have decided to let go the old ways, I can now see them as a self harm. And I don’t feel to harm my self any more.
Thank you Robyn for helping to bring sugar out of the closet fro what it is! I have felt passionately that sugar is a drug for over 20 years. Even though the consequences where dire for me, also having an over reactive pancreas, it was my drug addiction from age 9 to 39. Despite the devastating consequences of mood swings, depression, agitation, yeast infections, agonizing drops in self esteem, extreme lethargy {inability to move or 3 hour catatonic style naps}, etc. I could not stop myself from eating sugar!!! …Until I began the work of re-connecting to myself, learning to self love and choosing more awareness around my patterns and behaviors as inspired by Serge Benhayon and deeply supported by Esoteric Healing practitioners…and my need for sugar has been steadily dropping away. At this point, my nemesis sugar, has no true hold over me anymore and as a result my entire life has changed and that list of side effects is 95% cleared!
Great blog Robyn. I love how you describe how you got your sugar fix as it reminded me of some of the naughty things I would do so I could buy some sweets. And you are right , sugar is an addiction and the fact that it is so entrenched in our everyday foods makes it harder to bring that awareness to people.
You describe addiction really well, I can feel the cunning determination in the girl looking for her next hit! Crazy that sugar has been allowed to be so freely available and put into everything pretty much!!! Especially when it causes such raciness in the body. Taking responsibility for what we eat is an amazingly freeing experience. I love it and have given sugar a good boot, yet for me personally it sneaks in as a date or dash of jam on a pikelet!! Its the one drug that I have found to be the most difficult to let go of.
I agree Vanessa, it is crazy the amount of foods that sugar has been put into! Low fat foods often have extra sugar added to make up for removing the fat thereby negating any health benefits, so bonkers!
Yes sugar is both harmful and addictive. I spent many of my younger years addicted to sugar and the fact it is considered normal shows how very lost we are as a society. Sugar addiction is a roller coster into mental health problems with ups and downs, its very chemistry means it is a direct poison to our body. Thank you for sharing this with us Robyn, it is time to show the word what sugar really is.
Thank you for writing this Robyn. It’s great to see how you have turned this around and that by making the other food choices to stop eating gluten and dairy it opened your eyes to seeing what else needed to be looked at in your diet. A great way of approaching any changes we want to make – start small and with something manageable and then we’ll feel more equipped to deal with the more entrenched patterns. Awesome work!
For years I tried all sorts of ‘healthy’ diets from books that involved giving up different foods or adding other foods but it never lasted as the diets were theory and did not teach me about listening to my body. When however I gave up gluten my body started to wake up, like the gluten had been keeping my body in a slumber. Then I was able to feel what I wanted to eat, what I could have a little of but not too much of and my body would show me foods that in my head were healthy but my body was saying it did not like or want that food anymore. I know it was taking gluten out of my diet that made it easier to listen to the wisdom of my body.
Sugar has been my drug of choice in the past too. I never smoked, took drugs, drank alcohol or even for that matter coffee, but sugar was the one thing that I craved. All through my childhood and into my thirties I ate copious amounts of biscuits, chocolate, sweet deserts and cereals with added sugar, so much so that like you I developed hypoglycaemia. I had to have my meals on time or watch out I would get miss grumpy, or I felt I would disappear, so no one speak to me because I don’t want to talk to you… just get me to my next piece of food! What an amazing experience and change I have gone through by stopping sugary foods.. (and gluten and dairy free at the same time). No more hypoglycaemia and tons more energy. I don’t even need to eat 3 meals a day anymore and still feel well and vital. There should be warnings on packets, sugar can seriously damage your health!
Absolutely Rachel, sugar should carry a health warning. The medical field are just beginning to make noises about how harmful it is. There is still such an investment in the industry that it will take a long time for our governments to truly recognise it but it is lethal. Sugar is an energy and nutrient thief in the body, it actively strips out vitamins as it passes through us and has zero nutritional value. I too have come from an extreme sugar addiction (and I did all the other things too!). After years of clearing the effects, I now realise I ate sugar because I could not feel my own sweet essence. Thanks to Natalie Benhayon and all her presentations I can feel that now and I no longer need sugar to substitute such an exquisite feeling.
Rachel and Rowena, I completely agree that sugar should carry a health warning and be taken far more seriously. I was reading an article yesterday about the correlation between cocaine usage and sugar usage, in the article images were shown of the brain function and the similarities were frightening. I have taken sugar out of my diet and now my body is used to not having sugar, when I do choose to eat something sweet I feel the raciness on my body immediately and by the end of the day I feel exhausted.
This is incredible, what an amazing transformation Rachel.
I too found sugar an aggressive addiction. The more you eat the more you crave. Having made the choice to cut sugar from my diet I am amazed at the sweetness of so many foods.
I’ve found that too Mary – that things that before didn’t taste so sweet to me do now, it’s like we get de-sensitised to sugar the more of it we consume.
That is so true – I definitely notice now that I do not eat as much sugar that everything is much sweeter, even apples, and interestingly, food I once considered very bland has much more taste.
So agree Mary, Fiona and Meg. I am now finding that even an apple is very sweet. I have noticed that when I’m allowing myself to feel and accept whatever feelings are there in my body that I don’t fancy eating sweet things, because I know they will take me out of touch with my body and to make myself feel better from doing so, I’ll want to eat more sugar which I become numb with anyway = crazy addiction!
Yes I can relate to that Meg its incredible how our palette changes when we eliminate different stimulants.
That is so true, Fiona. I had not eaten beetroot for some time but the other day I had a piece of roasted beetroot and was astonished how sweet it now tasted, while before I had not been aware of its sweetness at all.
I Have a similar experience but with salt the more I have cut it out from my diet the more I notice it in other foods that before didn’t taste salty.
Yes that is very true Mary, all the natural flavours in food return to us when we cut sugar out of our diet. I am quite struck by how beautiful food tastes when cooked very gently and simply, now I have stopped assaulting my taste buds with sugar!
Yes, I agree, a while ago I ordered a bowl of leak and potato soup in a restaurant and complained that it tasted sweet to the waitress. I asked if she could check with the chef whether or not any sugar had been added. The waitress assured me that this would not be the case but went to check. We were both staggered to find that sugar had been added. As a society we are becoming so accustomed to the taste of sugar because almost everything is sweetened (even children’s toothpaste) that we have forgotten what real food taste likes. I am enjoying how by simply giving up sugar I have found a new diversity in my diet.
I absolutely agree Mary, there is an aggressivity in sugar addiction. In fact we would not need sugar at all because many foods we eat are delicious as they are and it is not necessary to add sugar. The less sugar we eat, the less sugar we need.
And, there is enough sweetness in all of us.
And I have found that now I don’t put salt in or on my food, the food tastes even more yummy.
Yes Mary it is amazing how sweet some foods are. I’m not at the stage yet where sugar is completely eliminated from my diet but I feel the reaction more and more and this is a good thing. I’m looking forward to my totally sugar free days.
It’s true that when we stop eating sugar other foods take on a whole new taste. Who knew that coconut could be so sweet!
Only a couple of months ago I was honest enough with myself to admit that I have been using sugar (mainly in the form of cake) to numb myself. I said to myself, sugar is a drug. I have now made a committed effort to dropping it from my life. My experience of it thus far is reminiscent of stopping smoking. Having time where I really hanker and crave it, sometimes I give in and it makes me then abandon all regard for myself and pushes me to overeat. Sugar is definitely a drug, one from which I am glad I am letting go of in my life.
What you have described Michelle is very true about the side effects of sugar, one being overeating. There are so many different ways sugar affects us that we are unaware of as in my experience once sugar is consumed there is a disconnection to being able to feel much of anything other than raciness. This disconnection then allows us to do things that we wouldn’t normally do like over work, over eat, over exercise, stay up later than necessary etc. There is so much involved in the consumption of sugar over and above eating it that is for sure.
We use sugar in all its forms for many reasons, one being that we are exhausted and need a lift or boost in energy. Eating sugar because we are tired does in fact give us an artificial boost in physiological energy, that then depletes the body when we “crash”, or when the physiological level of sugar in our body drops.
There are so many foods that the body converts to sugar, (which I learned about from a nutritionist), including many processed carbohydrates, ie bread and pasta. There are many hidden sugars in what is held to be a healthy diet.
Yes Robyn the over-eating and over-doing staying up later than usual is my experience of the sugar effect. Then it has a flow-on effect to the next day where I may wake a bit tired, or become so more quickly, and then, guess what … a sneaky little craving for a sweet pick-me up. Nothing innocent here.
Yes the flow on effect is certainly there, Anne. Eating something sweet for a pick-me-up only depletes us, which keeps us on the merry-go-round of consuming sugar to stay up. It took me years to recover from the exhaustion I was covering up from eating sugar.
Thank you Robyn. Yes, sugar was on my list of anything and everything that can be addictive. I did not want my body to run out of whatever I was numbing it with, so I had back ups in place. As I have slowly purged my list, it is now real easy to feel what my body would have told me then if it had not been over-numbed. It is amazing that as I evolve my sugar intolerance, my body just keeps adding to the list that has too much sugar in it. Anything with too much sugar now gives me a pounding headache, in the past that could have been multi-systematic.
Steve I love how, as you got more in tune with your body, you felt the effects of sugar more. It’s inspiring to hear how, once you let go of numbing out, your body told you loud and clear what it likes and doesn’t like. I am starting to pay more attention and make the links between what my body feels like and what I did to cause it to feel that way, so those links are irrefutable, and I can say that sugar, it ain’t worth it.
Yes! Sugar is TOTALLY addictive, and leaves us always wanting more, and never acknowledges that we are in fact sweet enough without it. 🙂
Lovely comment Meg, yes sugar does always crave more sugar and I agree we are so totally sweet enough without any! I too have given up refined sugars but still find that too much of anything with sugar within it, can have the same effect.
And in that wanting more we can easily overeat, in an attempt to ‘fill us up’.
Thanks, Robyn, for presenting the truth in your blog about this ubiquitous, pervasive substance and its affect on our health and wellbeing.
Hey thank you Robyn, I’ve never felt it to be the same as you, but what I have become more and more aware of, is even though we cut out the obvious sugars, when I ‘need’ it for whatever reasons, be it to not feel, for comfort, to numb or avoid feeling exhaustion, there’s certain foods people think of as healthy that I would go to, that even now for me, those are just to get a rush of sugar and a quick pick me up.
And there are plenty to choose from Gyl! It doesn’t have to come in a lolly wrapper to be high in sugar, natural or processed.
Robyn, I loved reading this as sugar has been my addiction too. You certainly have to appreciate the choices you are making in order to have a healthy life.
Yes sugar has a powerful hold on so many. I thought myself lucky for not liking lollies or soft drinks but I did get my daily dose of sugar via biscuits and fruits. I identified with the baking that I used to offer my family and friends. Now when I am invited I offer to bring a dish of vegetables or salad instead of the dessert everyone expects of me.
Sugar in fruits was a real eye opener for me. Because fruit has always been considered so healthy it is so easy to overlook the sugar factor – in whatever form it comes.
I agree, Vicky, fruit is marketed as the ‘healthy’ option but the last time I had a whole mandarin I almost fell asleep from the high natural sugar content doing a number on me.
Wow – that’s awesome – at the moment I am still ‘getting away with it’ because I don’t always sense the result of eating sugary foods – except at bed time when I can’t sleep. I can’t imagine falling asleep from one mandarin! I used to love the fruit smoothies and since learning about their high sugar content have stopped – there is much still for us to learn about this addiction to sugar and what our bodies truly need by way of rest, recuperation and nourishment.
So true, Carmel, “…there is much still for us to learn about this addiction to sugar and what our bodies truly need by way of rest, recuperation and nourishment.” and we are all at different points in relation to this.
Yes Sally, this reminds me how much I was in the grip of sugar/chocolate addiction through all my growing years; some people still find it hard to believe that I haven’t had any for years now. Nothing would make me go back there though. I enjoy the freedom to not have to have any of it anymore. And the tastebuds do change so much with the choices we make. I can easily taste the gentle sweetness in a green apple or in berries, or in beetroot for example.
Thanks Robyn for sharing your story. This is a very candid and refreshing insight into the evils of sugar. I’ve had chronic fatigue and insulin resistance for years so I know all about finding sneaky ways to get my sweet ‘high’. I used to love bowls of cereal, which I would eat every morning and night before bed. I also stopped at the shop on the way home from work and bought turkish delights, cherry ripes, or whatever I could get my hands on to alleviate the sugar crashes. I am virtually off all refined sugar now, but it took great persistence and patience. I tried sipping chlorophyll whenever I felt the ‘urge’ and it helped to settle the insatiable cravings a little. I’ve also started eating dinner much earlier in the evening, sometimes as early as 5pm, which stops me reaching for sweet pick-me-ups as soon as I get home from work.
So perfect that you have described your past fondness for sugar as an addiction – it is exactly that! What great insight you share re how you went out of your way to get it at any cost, and especially how you eliminated so many other things but still got caught up in sugar chasing. I remember the big fad diets of the 80’s and 90’s were all based around low fat, but sugar was seen as ok because we supposedly burned it off so quickly. Time has shown we were right to question this approach to so called health.
I love my very low sugar diet and how it supports me to feel still and rested and centred in my body. When I have indulged in sugar I have to give up this deeper inner connection and I feel racy and lose focus. How great to be aware of this now and choose differently.
Very true Felicity. When I eat something I never considered as being sweet, like a cherry tomato or beetroot, its amazing how really sweet these foods are. Being so much more aware gives you the opportunity to make different choices that truly support your body.
Felicity so true, sugar is fondness. I am currently going through this awareness about sugar, where I can feel my body get racy and out of focus when I have had sugar to when I haven’t. I am currently exploring,, as some foods are more obvious than others.
Thank you Robyn. It’s been only recently that I have really felt my own addiction to sugar and like any ‘drug’ how difficult this is to acknowledge. It’s an insidious substance that sneaks into our diets by way of ‘celebrations’. Then it becomes something we need to get through our days. My grandfather was a confectioner, so there was always lollies around and both grandmothers were amazing cooks, especially of cakes and sweets. So there was a constant supply. In my 30’s I went off sugar for about 6 weeks – none – it was then that I realised the emotional hold that sugar had on me. It was a real eye opener. It’s only now though through addressing the reasons of why I needed the sugar in the first place that I have been slowly and gradually decreasing the amount of the sweet stuff in my diet. It’s incredible really when you consider the risks we take with our health, and your story is an amazing story of turning that around. A real celebration Robyn. With no sugar required…
Hahaha… A celebration without sugar and instead loads of joy. That is my kind of celebration nowadays!
Yes Jen, the emotional pull of sugar and sweet foods is huge.
Great article Robyn, you are absolutely right, sugar is a drug and has the greatest number of addicts than any other drug on this planet. I gave up refined sugar years ago (2007) and I still crave it when I am tired. But what I am realising is that the control involved in sugar addiction only has the strength that I allow it to have. I can say no. And I do.
Very clearly put, Ariana. To know that we are are more powerful than the sugar changes our whole relationship with it.
I disagree we may be more powerful than the cravings but when they occur then you are fighting yourself if you resist and this seems at odds to me. I would rather have the sugar but ask myself why am I wanting the sugar. I kept asking myself this question recently as out of no where I wanted sugar. Sugar stimulates my body makes it racy so that I don’t get to feel the beautiful stillness that I have been connecting with, by asking myself why don’t I want to stay and enjoy the stillness has allowed me to look at the reasons why. The reasons why I prefer to be racy over being still made no sense to me, this took away the urge to eat sugar. If we only use will power we have not resolved the underlying issue.
I like what you’ve shared Mary as I can see it takes it deeper when we stop and truly feel the impulse for why we choose to resist our stillness, who we naturally are. You have definitely got me pondering on some of the reasons I can still use food (in all it’s forms) to stop feeling what lays within me.
Great point Mary. If we use will power alone then the addiction isn’t healed and it can return when we feel tired – or whatever our particular trigger is. By looking deeper into why we crave sugar, or other substances, we can begin to heal the underlying issue, as you say.
And this power for me and changing my relationship with sugar, has only come from being honest about why I need this sugar in the first place.
Brilliantly put Ariana. No craving is stronger than I am. It’s a question of whether I am willing to look at what’s driving the compulsion/craving and heal whatever is there to be healed.
So true Karin – I love what you say here.
Karin, that is so true, it’s taking that responsibity and going deeper to understand where and why this craving is coming up, how have I been living that is calling for the craving. And as we go deep with this we are supporting our healing.
Yes, thank you Karin, so true. No craving is stronger than me. It is absolutely that question – am I willing to look and heal or continue the addiction/craving? I know when I choose the former, it is so liberating to be free and I feel so much lighter. And when I choose the latter (which is far less often these days), I feel so complicated and heavy.
“No craving is stronger than I am”… I like that, it makes me feel empowered knowing that my food cravings are not going to go away by themselves, I have to commit to working at it and feeling what lies underneath the cravings, and this applies to all food, not just sugar. Although I agree, sugar is hugely addictive and the dangers of sugar are being exposed, but salt has a hold on me too sometimes and that can be equally addictive if I let it. I have given up sugar, apart from the occasional apple and now even my toothpaste can leave a sweet taste in my mouth that I don’t like!
True Karin, make sure you are at the driver’s seat instead of something else driving your actions.
Like your comment Luke, and it is so true, taking control over our own actions and life starts with how we breathe for ourselves and making the loving choices for ourselves and for others.
So true Karin its not until we are willing to see why we seek something out side of our self to drive us as we are not enough , until this is healed we can find sugar and drive in the so called healthiest of foods, such as an apple.
Wow thank you for your comment Karin – it makes so much sense! Of course we are stronger than our cravings but it makes no sense to fight them, the only true option is, as you say, to ‘…look at what’s driving the compulsion/craving and heal whatever is there to be healed.’.
This conversation really changes the relationship that we have with sugar cravings as rather than fighting it and using will power, the more loving approach is to question, explore and understand for ourselves why we are craving it or feel that we need it. Robyn makes a beautiful point when she shares the moment when she knew that her relationship with refined sugars had to change. You can tell from reading her blog that it was an AWAKENING moment, something that she felt in her whole being which enabled her to then take the next steps in healing the issue.
It is interesting Shevon Simon how you have shared about the approach taken when we decide to give up a way of living that does not truly support us. The control of food is often what causes us to return to the behaviour time and time again after making the commitment to give up a food choice in the first place. It is when we approach the decision with a lovingly and consider the effects it has had on our lives that changes can become life long.
I recently had this awareness also Karin – that what I have is far greater than what has been put in place to stop me living it. From this point, the choice and the responsibility to live the love that we are, is much more simple.
Great point Karin, going deeper to the heart of the craving/compulsion makes such sense as it absolutely places us in the drivers seat and not at the beck and call of the craving itself.
This is definitely the key to getting over our addictions. To really stop and feel into our bodies the moment we have the craving and see what is there to be felt that we would prefer to numb out by going to our drug of choice. When I am craving food it is usually to numb out a deep sadness inside. The amazing thing is that when I feel it and let it go the craving subsides.
And this is where the responsibility to starts with living a life of vitality or not.
Well put Ariana, yes sugar only has the power we give it.
Powerful comment Ariana. No craving/addiction is greater than the love that we are. If we choose to love ourself fully then there is no space for addiction.
Choosing to love ourselves fully is also allowing to look at what is causing the choice to eat sugar in the 1st place. To look at what causes the exhaustion hence the sugar craving, or what is underneath the emotion we want to numb and don’t want to feel…. with this understanding say no to any addiction wether “sugar” or otherwise becomes easier to say “no” to.
True Rachel, choosing to love ourselves fully is not only learning to say no but unpacking the feelings that are driving us into an addictive behaviour. Not always an easy task but a rewarding one. I am constantly amazed at what I have let go of, usually something which I at one time thought I could not live without.
Well said Josephine, it’s so empowering to be able to say no, from my body; without feeling I’m depriving myself of anything. The way I feel within myself is worth much more than what the short moment of tasting the sugar would be. Also, that intense sweetness does really not taste good anymore once my body is used to not having it.
Great point you make Rachel. This leads us to take full responsibility for what it is that we put in our mouths and not to be leave things as the whim of ‘this is just how it is, I have a craving therefore I will eat sugar’. We all make our own choices and if we are willing to be honest and look at what it is that driving those choices, perhaps we are open to make different more loving choices.
That of course means that every time we choose to eat sugar, we actually say to our body “I don`t love you.”. A big “Ouch!”
This is very true Maryline , the addiction is not the issue but the symptom and evidence of the lack of expression of love.
I agree Ariana, great article that highlighted my own sugar addiction. Oddly enough, I’ve never particularly liked sweet things, always preferring savoury to sweet. Not eating gluten and dairy was fairly easy, and the carbs dropped off naturally, but to stop eating a piece of home baked low sugar cake is so hard, its all or nothing, and I have a tendency to ‘binge’. When I run out and the munchies hit I substitute nuts. But my body knows, and is beginning to reject those, as well as the cake. So every time my taste buds tempt me, I only have to connect to my body to be reminded, and have the strength to say no too.
Spot on Ariana, sugar addiction only has the power we give it and inspiring blogs like these support everyone to say no and rediscover a delectably sweet new life (or livingness) without sugar.
Yes Josephine Bell a life without sugar is possible when we take the time to register how it can be sweet without it!
The fact that we are talking about sugar as a drug is already revolutionary. We need to understand that substance for what it really is in the body, and we need to understand our behaviours in relation to that substance for what they really are. It’s great that this issue is gathering more awareness within society.
Hi Ariana, I find your strength in your choices inspiring – I gave up refined sugar but replaced it with eating more fruit, gave up the fruit then went on to honey, the addiction to sweetness was still there and still is now – I know it’s because I’m tired – the drive to go and buy something is awful and not yet completely under control – I avoid one of my favourite eating places because they now serve gluten free cakes with sugar and I don’t want to be tempted, but then I’ll call in at the supermarket on my way home and buy something sweet anyway. The times when I am ‘strong’ are when I’m feeling good about myself so I know the key is more self appreciation, then the deep disregard for my body will be a thing of the past. And early nights will help, it’s a continuing work-in-progress.
Carmel you have highlighted for me a great point about how sometimes it can feel like a battle of wills, when something no longer feels right in my body but I can’t seem to stop eating it. I wonder how much this is a set up, to prove some hidden belief that I have about who I am and what I am capable of, that is contra to the actual person I am and what I am actually capable of.
I find it easy to say no if I understand why I am craving or wanting something sweet. I may be feeling tired, sad, or rundown. When I recognise the cause I can then make a different choice rather than having something sweet, even if it is refined sugar free. I might have a 10 minute lie down instead or sit for a moment and take a breath or investigate further why I am tired. There are so many ways we can support ourselves to not eat sweets other than sheer will power as this does not work long term. Getting honest is a good start.
Robyn, this is a beautiful and supportive practical addition to your blog. I like that you investigate why you are tired and encourage honesty over will-power here. One of the main ways I don’t eat sweet foods when I crave them is not will-power either, it is because I have become familiar with how I feel afterwards and make a choice to not feel racy and anxious rather than not eat the sweet. I dislike how I feel after eating sweets and the domino effect it has on the rest of my day.
I agree Robyn, ‘I find it easy to say no if I understand why I am craving or wanting something sweet. I may be feeling tired, sad, or rundown.’ I agree, if Iam honest about why I want to eat something sweet and have this understanding around it, I can then feel that eating this food will not help and will in fact make me feel worse and so I can say no to the sweet treat and instead choose to be loving and gentle with myself and not try and squash what I am feeling.
And it takes away ‘will power’, as the understanding is what holds us in our choice, no trying needed.
what you are saying here makes complete sense to me Rebecca, I know I can suddenly get a craving for something sweet and I ask myself where has that come from? The thought just suddenly pops into my mind from seemingly nowhere as I’m working at the computer, or on the phone. Now I feel I understand that there is a part of me that doesn’t like the stillness I’m building in my body and if I do not work in conscious presence that’s when the thought gets in as I have left a space for it to get through to try and sabotage my body.
Getting honest is a great start.. whenever I’m craving something, if I just give myself a bit of patience, go for a walk and allow myself to feel what it is that’s driving the craving, then it lets go of me -instead of me having to force myself to let go of it. By allowing ourselves to feel something, we let it go.