- Do you have an addiction to sugar?
- Has food become unmanageable?
- Is your weight out of control?
- Are you out of control with your eating?
- Do you suffer insatiable cravings?
If you can answer yes to any of these questions, it just may be that this is an addiction issue (a brain disease) and not about the food, at all.
And if it is an addiction issue, moderation will never work.
How I wish someone had told me this all those years ago when I embarked upon my first diet.
Forty years later and with a life time of weight loss and weight gain stories, my weight is finally stable.
My sugar addiction story happened without the help of Weight Watchers, Cambridge Diet, One to One Diet, Lighter Life, Sure Slim, Jane Plan or any other number of diet clubs where moderation and will power are king. And without the help of therapy – on which I also wasted a huge amount of money. What a crazy thing asking an addict to trust their feelings to guide them to the answer. I don’t know about you but I found myself so adrift from reality in the depth of my sugar addiction experiences, that to ask me to feel anything in all that pain was impossible.
What changed for me was a full diagnosis of addiction through a SUGAR® Evaluation and a full commitment to recovery in every facet of my life: emotional, physical, spiritual and social.
Two years after that initial diagnosis, my life has transformed – now recovered from my addiction to sugar, but more about that later!
Let’s take a look at some criteria for a substance use disorder as defined by the American Psychiatric Association and apply this to our sugar intake and consumption of “junk” or ultra processed food – an addiction to sugar, or substance use disorder is defined as:
- Having more than you intended
- Wanting to quit or cut down and not being able to
- Spending a lot of time thinking about and getting it
- Having cravings or strong desires for sugar/carbs
- Struggling with work, school, or home activities
- Continued consumption despite it causing problems at work or socially.
- Continued consumption despite acknowledged physical or psychological difficulties.
- A need for increased amounts to get the same desired effect.
- Cravings and physical symptoms of withdrawal if sugar/carbs are unavailable, which are relieved on consumption.
Anything above two positive answers indicates a likelihood of addiction and a recommendation for further investigation. How did you do?
Next steps: if you would like to take the first step and be screened for possible addiction, take the assessment and submit your answers for the results.
Keep going!
With love, K. xx
