Sugar is such a devious little thing.
It wreaks havoc on our health while simultaneously providing huge amounts of pleasure and stimulation so that our brains quickly and easily become addicted to it.
It provides false energy highs that can wear away at our adrenals.
It is also incredibly ageing, bad for your teeth and inhibits the absorbtion of crucial vitamins and minerals that we need.
Some people (like me) seem to be particularly sensitive to sugar.
Sugar can turn me into different person. Like a wild-eyed sugar monster who has absolutely no control over her emotions and can literally down buckets of icecream in seconds.
It’s kinda weird.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that I would eat one biscuit and then transform into some kind of terrifying monster.
No.
Sugar is more insidious than that.
My sugar addiction really just grew in the background without me realising, until I was well and truly under its thumb.
And I only really started to understand the effect that sugar had been having on me, my life and even my relationships after I started eating keto.
When You’re Keto Adapting
During the process of keto-adaptation, your body is getting used to fueling itself with fats and not sugars.
This takes a while as it’s a pretty big change.
And during the process, your brain and body is going to try and trick you into eating carbs and sugars.
Sometimes this will feel like an intense urge or desire to eat some sugar or carbs.
Other times you will find that you are having a kind of debate in your head, where one side is arguing the logical upsides of digging into some carbs right now and the other side is trying to get you to stick to your keto diet plan.
Whichever way you experience those sugar and carb cravings, here’s a little process that can really help:
1. Say it out loud
Say to yourself out loud, “I am experiencing an intense desire to eat sugar right now.”
Why?
Well, it will probably make you laugh. But more importantly this brings the desire into your conscious awareness, specifically into the front lobe of your brain.
It is this area of the brain that is able to make higher, reasoned and logical choices, so by becoming fully aware and conscious of what you are experiencing, you will be better able to deal with it and make the right choice.
2. Understand your current choices
Be aware of what is really going on here.
A desire/craving for sugar doesn’t think beyond getting that sugar into your mouth.
You, however, are able to follow this through to what would happen afterwards.
Your choice is to eat the sugar and ALSO deal with the consequences. Or, to not eat the sugar and continue feeling great and in control. Get really conscious of the REAL choice you are making.
Become truly aware of your power to choose the outcome of the situation, and you will immeditaely feel more in control.
3. Always accept yourself and keep moving forwards.
No matter what your choice, be happy with it. Whether you decide to stick to your guns and refuse to let sugar rule your life, or if you decide to eat whatever it is you’re craving.
What I’m saying is, don’t choose to stick to keto but then bemoan the fact that you can’t eat sugar. And similarly, don’t give into your sugar craving and then beat yourself up about what you’ve done.
Because that’s crazy behaviour!
Be your own best friend no matter what happens and accept yourself and your choices.
Why is this so important?
Because the more you accept yourself without judgement, the more you increase your self esteem.
And the more you increase your self esteem, the easier and easier it gets to make the right choices for your health.
So even though this time, you might have chosen to give in to a sugar craving, by accepting yourself unconditionally you have immediately increased the chances that next time you’ll have that extra strength to make a healthier choice.
The bottom line is, eating keto is not just a diet.
At least it hasn’t been for me.
Eating keto has been a journey of self discovery, a journey of healing, and a journey of facing my fears, my addctions and my short-comings.
Which is exactly why keto has been the greatest gift for me, and I hope it can be for you too. 🙂
