22 In Substance/ Wellness

How I Beat My Sugar Addiction

 

Cupcake Queen

I am a sugar addict.  I have never admitted it to myself until very recently, although I’ve always known.  Other close family members have struggled with alcohol addiction, and I’ve always felt relief that that particular addiction missed me.  “Oh thank goodness I don’t have the addiction gene,” I smugly reassured myself.  What I didn’t see was so obvious; sugar ruled my life.  I can do anything I put my mind to (I’m part terrier) and I’ve been successful at lots of things, but I could never control myself around sugar.  There are people who can do things in moderation.  I’m not one of them.  If I buy a cupcake, I will eat a cupcake. If I buy 10 cupcakes, I will eat 10 cupcakes.  I do not trust myself with sugar anymore than an alcoholic or a drug addict trusts themselves to behave around their own ‘poison.’  To me, sugar is a poison.  I obsess about it, I plan around it, I regret it, I obsess more, I have more, I regret it even more… on and on it goes.  Thinking about sugar takes up far too much real estate in my brain.

I am a girl who eats organic chocolate ice cream for breakfast, and then goes for a run.  I even did this when I ran track at University, as any of my roommates will remember. They will also remember my Peppermint Patty and Little Debbie Swiss Cake Roll habit!

I am a girl who looks at the dessert menu first, and then decides what to eat for dinner in a restaurant.  In fact, I sometimes order dessert as my main course.

I am a girl who came home from school and made cookie dough to eat, drank maple syrup straight from the bottle, or ate spoonfuls of jam straight from the jar.

I am a girl with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the desserts on offer in every country.  I’m almost more interested interested in the sweets than the architecture when I travel.

Ottolenghi

When I met my best friend Lisa for the first time in an Amsterdam coffee shop 16 years ago, we sat down, introduced ourselves to each other, and ordered cappuccinos.  She said, “Shall we have a look at the desserts?” I said, “I am a sugar whore. OF COURSE we’re having a dessert!”  She has never let me forget this was my second sentence to her, right after “Hi, my name is Lisa; nice to meet you.”  Sugar has always been such a big part of my identity.  In fact, I feel like I lost my bearings for a little while when I gave it up four months ago.  If I’m not the More Is More woman who thinks the best part of being a grown-up is that you can have dessert any time you like, then who am I?  I have always been THE sugar specialist; I know where to get the best madeleines in Paris, the best banana pudding in New York, the best pancakes in Atlanta, or the most authentic pastel de nata in London.  Saying a permanent goodbye to sugar brought up a LOT for me to deal with… especially anxiety.  I’ve never considered myself an anxious person at all.  Take away my sugar though, and I become one fast!

sugar hearts

You may remember I wrote about using the Indian herbs Ashwaganda and Rhodiola Rosea to try and address my sugar cravings in this post last summer.  Those two herbs loosened sugar’s grip on my throat just enough to make me want to go further.  I felt so much better without as much sugar, but I still had it every day.  I honestly didn’t think I could, or would even want to give up sugar entirely (carrot cake! dark chocolate! anzac biscuits! pancakes! coconut cake! lemon drizzle cake! ANY cake!).  Then, I went on holiday this summer and saw my sister in law, Jeanne.  We have always had very similar body types, and we are both obsessed with health and nutrition, but we also both have a real sweet tooth (which is French for a serious sugar addiction).  Mine is much worse than hers.  When I saw her, she literally glowed with health.  Glowed.  She was so lean and gorgeous.  I had lost a few pounds from the Ashwaganda and Rhodiola Rosea curbing my sugar cravings, but nothing like her.  We went on a hike together and she talked about this new eating regime (I never ever use the word ‘diet’; it makes me want to go and eat an entire cake out of sheer rebellion) she had discovered called Bright Line Eating.  She had cut out sugar and flour entirely.  Just like cocaine and heroin, sugar and flour are highly refined, addictive, plant-based substances that provide a hit to the dopamine receptors in our brains.  If you are genetically wired for addiction (like I am) once you are hooked, you cannot ‘unhook’ unless you create new neural pathways… and the way to create new neural pathways is repetition and routine. Bright Line Eating gives you the tools to create new neural pathways through routines that literally heal your brain from food addiction. I waited until I’d been Bright Line Eating for over 100 days before I posted here about it.  I wanted to test it out for myself, to see if it worked over time.  And it did.

After my hike with Jeanne, I  went straight back to my laptop and signed up to try the 14 Day Challenge provided on the Bright Line Eating website (I’ll provide links below, just finish reading first!).  I also read through parts of the Bright Line Eating book Jeanne brought with her.  It made so much sense to both my head and my guts that I wanted to start immediately.  I knew that this was exactly what I had been looking for, but I was scared to get my hopes up just in case I failed.  I had never been able to trust myself around sugar before, so why now?

Bright Line Eating relies on four bright lines which you do not cross in order to heal your brain from addiction to food (for me, it is only sugar that is a problem).  The first bright line is no sugar.  That means no maple syrup, no stevia, no saccharine, no dried fruits, no coconut nectar, no anything sweet added to your food or drink.  Ever.  The second bright line is no flour.  That means no coconut flour, no rice flour, no stoneground flour, no bread, no batter, no breaded anything.  The third bright line is there is no snacking between meals; you eat exactly 3 meals per day.  No exceptions. There has been a lot of research to show that the six small meals a day advice is nonsense; it just turns us into grazers and keeps food on the brain; fine if you are normal, not fine if you have an addiction-prone brain like I do.  The fourth bright line is that you weigh what you’re eating. This is the one people are the most resistant to, but you know what?  I’ve been on a failed ‘diet’ for my entire life and I’ve always been counting or measuring something (calories, fat grams, protein, carbs, whatever).  If I was any good at listening to my body and eating only what it needs, I wouldn’t need to worry about all of this in the first place!  When it comes to sugar, I don’t have any kind of compass or notion of what is normal.  I eat sugary food until I can’t eat any more, and then I’ll eat it again when I don’t feel sick from it.  That’s addiction. According to the statistics, one third of s are genetically wired for addiction. One third of us have the ability to become addicted under the right circumstances.  The last third of the population is immune to addiction and thinks the other two thirds of us are completely nuts!  If I look at obesity in America, where sugar and flour feature SO heavily in the diet, it certainly seems to support the evidence that at least two thirds of us are overweight because our brains are literally addicted to the sugar and flour found in nearly everything we eat.

sugar on the brain

So, in a nutshell, those are the 4 bright lines that allowed me to lose 30+ pounds in the last 111 days, one day at a time.  Of course in my particular case, it was going cold turkey on sugar that made such a difference.  You might be driven by different foods than I am. I haven’t gone into detail about the specific tools used in Bright Line Eating because it is too much to cover in one introductory post.  I will make this point though– you do have to plan what you are going to eat.  Relying on my own spur of the moment judgement around sugar is what got me here in the first place. I can rationalise just about anything I want to.  My favourite new obnoxious Bright Line Eating mantra is “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!”

If any of what I say in this post rings true with you,  I would really encourage you to try the 14 day challenge (link below).  This is without a doubt, the best $29 I have EVER spent on anything in my entire life.  Choose a time, maybe now before the holidays start, where you know you have 14 days to create solid new habits in your life (and new pathways in your brain).   I chose a time with no birthdays, no holidays, and no houseguests… just a clear stretch of 14 days in my diary where I could focus on maintaining my bright lines with no temptations, no exceptions, and no distractions.  I wanted to set myself up to succeed.  Once you have the momentum from a few days of success, it is so much easier to keep on going.  Just to be clear, I am not getting paid to promote this, I don’t have any affiliation with Bright Line Eating, I am just full of gratitude that I have been able to change my life (and also my brain and my ass!) and that I’ve been given tools to do it that WORK.  I want to share my experience in case it helps you, or someone you know.  Not a day goes by that I do not thank my sister in law (silently or via email) for introducing me to Bright Line Eating to address my sugar, and in turn my weight, issues.

LINK FOR THE 14 DAY CHALLENGE!

Part of what makes the 14 Day Challenge so effective, is that Susan Pierce Thompson PhD, the founder of Bright Line Eating, emails out a video to you each morning of the challenge.  She is warm, smart, encouraging, and gives you a LOT of science and statistical data to teach you about the changes taking place in your brain and body.  She is the magical key to the program, in my opinion.  She seemed to say exactly what I needed to hear each day that I did the challenge and at each stage of my journey.  I genuinely adore her, her approach, her attitude, her intellect, her refreshing honesty, and the life experience she has to back it up. Watch this short typical video from her to see exactly what I mean.  Susan has been addicted to crack, alcohol, heroin, crystal meth, and sugar/flour; she says sugar and flour were the hardest for her to kick.  After quitting school and sinking into drugs (to replace her food addiction) and then back into food addiction (once she quit the drugs), Susan got her life back on track and became so fascinated by how addiction works in the brain that she got a PhD in Cognitive Science.  She became a psychology professor specialising in food addiction before eventually launching Bright Line Eating. Her personal story will blow your mind; I won’t ruin it for you in case you decide to buy her New York Times bestselling book, which I highly recommend (UK Amazon link here) (US Amazon link here) or do the 14 Day Challenge that I did.  There is a susceptibility quiz on the Challenge link above (see here for how she developed it), to evaluate on a scale of 1 to 10 how susceptible to addiction your brain is.  I, unsurprisingly, am a 10 out of 10, which is why her method works so well for me.  I eat out of addiction to sugar itself… not because stress or depression or boredom drives me to it. After the 14 day challenge, I was so shocked at how much progress I made and how much peace I finally had around my endless sugar cravings, that I decided to do the subsequent 8 week program called Boot Camp.  It is a more in-depth version of the 14-day challenge, but the challenge gives you a very thorough idea of how everything works.  You basically get more online support in the Boot Camp.  The most useful support for me has been a private Facebook page where other people are learning the same thing at the same time, and there are seasoned Bright Line staff on hand to answer all the tricky questions that come up.  Also on the Facebook page, I found three people in my time zone (coincidentally, a doctor, a nurse, and a nurse practitioner) to set up a Mastermind group with.   Any time I am struggling, I text them to tell them what I’m freaking out about; they know me well enough by now to know what to say to get me on track.  They are invaluable to me. Just like any recovery program, you need support from people who understand your struggle, who have some perspective and who probably aren’t having a bad day on exactly the same day that you are.  I introduced Bright Line Eating to one of my best friends in London and she is also having spectacular results.  She and I have been a great source of support for each other, through good days, bad days, vacations, and those few negative moments where you just want to throw in the towel and eat cake (which Susan and the world of psychology refer to as the ‘What The Hell Effect’).  Neither my friend nor Jeanne did the Boot Camp that I did; they simply put into permanent practice what they learned in the 14 day Challenge and in the book.  Their sugar addiction probably isn’t as extreme as mine is either, though.

Image courtesy of Hummingbird Bakery

If you are someone who can do things in moderation, then Bright Line Eating is probably not for you.  If you are someone like me who eats super healthy most of the time (hemp seeds, lentils, quinoa, kale), and then eats an entire coconut cake in two days (raises hand), then this IS for you.   I often say in terms of food, I’m 75% Gwyneth Paltrow and 25% Betty Crocker!  If you spend an unhealthy portion of your life thinking about and subsequently regretting what you eat, I encourage you to try the challenge.  I fully appreciate how crazy I must sound to people who have a normal relationship with sugar (or food).  That’s ok.  We’re all crazy, just not in the same places.  I’m insanely addicted to sugar, and I am weepingly grateful that I have found a way to get peace around it and finally have control over it.  I cannot believe how productive and organised I have become in my day-to-day life now that I don’t waste a disproportionate amount of time obsessing about food with sugar in it.

When I see people who haven’t seen me since I lost the 30+ pounds, do you know what they notice first?  My skin.  They all say, ‘OMG your skin is glowing, you look amazing”.  After we talk about that, then they notice I have lost weight.  That was what I noticed first about my sister in law too; her skin was glowing.   Then I noticed how lean and healthy she looked.   That’s what you’ll see in Susan’s videos  too.  She’s in her forties; LOOK at her SKIN!  Her YouTube channel is here (these videos are different from the ones you get in the 14 Day Challenge or the Boot Camp).  I love watching her videos because they keep my head in the game, which is important if you’re doing this for the long haul.

One thing I’d be wondering right now if I were you is, what do you eat?  Here is what I had today:

Breakfast: oatmeal, a banana, almond milk, ground flax seeds, and cinnamon

Lunch: spiralised zucchini/courgette noodles, parmesan cheese, garlic olive oil, and a piece of fruit

Dinner: Ratatouille, a piece of fish, a gigantic salad with homemade dressing

Sticking to only my Bright Line meals creates routine in my life (just like brushing my teeth) so that my mind doesn’t have to worry about what I have/have not/will/might/shouldn’t have/should have eaten.  The motto of Bright Line Eating is Happy, Thin, and Free.  I rolled my eyes when I first read it on the book cover; I thought the marketing people should go back to the drawing board on that strap line.  Now that I’ve been doing this for a few months, I think it is apt.  I AM happy.  I AM free.  And I’m working on the thin part.  I’m not where I want to be yet, but I know how to get there.  I have the tools to do it.  I’m not on a “diet.”  I’m not in a rush.  This is how I eat now.  It isn’t going to change; I’ll get there when I get there.  I genuinely have peace.  I have some days where I fall off the wagon, but I just get right back up and resume my journey.  I take it one day at a time.  I don’t worry about the future– what I may or may not eat at Christmas, if I’ll ever eat ice cream again, or what could happen if someone brings me a plate of brownies.  I can only focus on getting today right, and sticking to my four bright lines TODAY.

I’m going to stop now, but I promise to address some of the topics here that deserve their own future posts.  If there is anything you want comment on or ask, please do in the comments below or email me lisa@thesequinist(dot)com if you’d rather have a private chat.  I’m very happy to help you if I can, because I myself have been helped.  Also, have a look at the Bright Line Eating website if you want to snoop a little more.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, once again to my sister in law, Jeanne, for introducing me to Bright Line Eating.  And thank you, thank you, thank you, to Susan Pierce Thompson and the Bright Line Eating team for the amazing work that you do.   Every cell of my body feels gratitude to all of you.

BLE sugar photo

 

Linking to: notdressedaslamb,

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22 Comments

  • Reply
    Marlena
    November 11, 2017 at 3:15 PM

    Lisa, thank you for this!!! I have always thought you were an extremely stylish and chic lady…..but over the last few months I noticed that you were looking sleeker in photos!!! Also your skin looks even brighter than before!!! This explains it!!! I am someone who I think who also suffers from this…what really spoke to me was the flour thing, as I find myself craving those kinds of carbs, the ones with the hidden sugars. Not so much actual sweets, but at the end I think it all metabolizes the same. I am going to look into this immediately!!!

    • Reply
      Lisa
      November 11, 2017 at 5:26 PM

      You’re so welcome, Marlena! Please keep me posted if you try the Challenge or read the book. I don’t suffer from the flour thing, but now that I have quit sugar, flour looks more appealing than it used to. I mean, I don’t eat flour either on this, but I’m more interested in it now that I don’t have the distraction of sugar. Thank you for your compliments; I really appreciate them 🙂 xx

  • Reply
    Ann
    November 11, 2017 at 3:36 PM

    Lisa, what a great recommendation for this approach to eating and regaining health! I am so very happy for you. And thanks for making such a detailed post about this program.

    One of my sisters is struggling with a sugar addiction like yours and is very aware of its power over her. I’m going to send her a link to your post describing the Bright Line Eating links, book and other resources. I think this could help her. She’s ready for help. And as we all know, that’s the necessary first condition for getting better.

    • Reply
      Lisa
      November 11, 2017 at 5:32 PM

      Thank you, Ann. I’m so happy to share anything I’ve learned on my ‘journey’ because it has made such a difference to my life, and hopefully to someone else’s too. If your sister is ready for help, the 14 Day Challenge is a godsend. I think anyone can do anything for a two week period, and once you see the improvement in two weeks, you can’t really go back. There are lots of small routine things you do in the program, like make a big black X on your calendar for every day that you stick to it perfectly. The ‘reward’ in your brain switches from being a sugary one to being the sense of accomplishment at earning that big fat X at the end of every day. It is a simple thing, but a clever thing that works to re-wire us. Keep me posted, and let me know if I can help. xx

  • Reply
    Michelle
    November 11, 2017 at 6:27 PM

    Well you know, I couldn’t be any more proud of you my wise & strong friend. Not only have you achieved this wonderful feat against your nature but you have managed to change that natural response you had & turn it around altogether. I’m not a sugar addict but I still found this a fascinating read. I think everyone can get something from reading your story. The information you share here is actually quite enlightening on every level. And yes it confirms my belief that we’re never too old to be better people.
    Absolutely bloody marvellous post, bravo! xx

    • Reply
      Lisa
      November 12, 2017 at 9:09 PM

      Oh, Michelle, that is so lovely of you… thank you my friend. I agree that we’re never too old to learn and change and discover more about ourselves. xx

  • Reply
    Abby@Midlifecrisisnut
    November 11, 2017 at 9:18 PM

    This is such a beautiful post! Inspirational, heart felt and passionate! I feel so close to you right now Lisa, I would give you a big hug if you were near ❤️. Your story hits home as I struggle/d with similar issues. As you know, me too, I gave up sugar, gluten etc because it impacted my health big time. Luckily, you woke up before it would extend into a disease, I didn’t. And to be honest I think there’s a addiction gene in everybody, without exception. For some it will be sugar, sex, drugs, sleeping pills or booze, for others food in general or lack of it. Apparently our relationship to food is the most prime one, where we reward or punish ourselves based on the emotions we struggle to resolve. Often we compensate with food for the love we don’t have. I’ve been reading a lot about that sort of stuff as I have struggled with it most of my adult life. But I’m so happy to see you are resolving your issues and the effect is absolutely stunning. You look radiant, beautiful and happy! And I think that’s the most important part of this journey, that it makes you happy. Sending you lots and lots of love and hugs! ? xx Abby

    • Reply
      Lisa
      November 12, 2017 at 9:08 PM

      Thank you so much, Abby. I’m so glad this was interesting for you; I DO know that you’ve had your own issues with food and health. I agree that most people have an addiction gene; they simply haven’t had the situation or the ‘perfect storm’ to bring it out. I wouldn’t have believed that a few years ago, but after looking at all the information that Susan provides in her book and videos, I think it is the case. Thank you for your love and support, gorgeous. xx

  • Reply
    No Fear of Fashion
    November 12, 2017 at 7:41 AM

    It is a fascinating read this post of yours. I am not a food addict although I also look at deserts on the menu first before decidingon any other food. But my husband has a food addiction. He knows it, he wants to address it and I think Bright Line Eating would be the answer for him. Only it is in English and he doesn’t speak English well enough to follow the programme. Heck, I don’t even speak English well enough to do that. Let alone measuring ingredients. We are both terrible cooks too. We have to find an equivalent for it in Dutch.
    You my darling, have always been an extraordinary beauty. Now with this glowing skin and lean body I am afraid I have to start hating you hahaha. No, just kidding, I know you are a wonderful person inside as well (aaaaggghh). Now I get it why looked so good arriving in Paris after being on the road for two days.
    So applause for you for you backbone, your willpower. You deserve everything you got.
    My addiction is shopping. I wonder whether there is a programme for that too.
    And maybe, just maybe, I will go off sugar myself. Which I now know, also means sugar replacement products.
    Love you.
    Greetje

    • Reply
      Lisa
      November 12, 2017 at 9:05 PM

      Thank you, Greetje. Well, the book is published in quite a few languages, I know it was just translated into Norwegian. Surely it will be coming in Dutch soon! You definitely don’t have to be a fabulous cook to do this program; the simpler I keep my food, the better. I can’t have my food be too sexy, or else it starts taking over. My food is delicious, but not so delicious I obsess about it.

      Oh gosh, thank you so much for your compliments. That is REALLY REALLY kind of you! Love back to you xx

  • Reply
    Suzy Turner
    November 13, 2017 at 1:59 PM

    Great post, Lisa! I actually gave up alcohol just over a month ago and I’m starting to feel so much better. I did quit sugar about five years ago (as well as booze, dairy, etc, etc) and I felt amazing. I lost loads of weight too (actually, I think I lost a bit too much weight to be honest) but slowly I started going back to my bad habits. It was only just over a month ago that I made the decision to get healthy again. The first thing to go was the booze. Then the coffee (I treat myself to one coffee a week now), and I’ve cut down on the sugar / cakes / etc and slowly, I’m feeling the benefits but I realise it’s going to take a little longer until my skin starts to look great again and I lose a little weight. All I know is that I don’t want another drink. I’m happy to treat myself to the odd slice of chocolate cake though. Life is pretty short, after all and I wouldn’t want to cut out everything that I enjoy!
    Hugs
    Suzy xx
    http://www.suzyturner.com

    • Reply
      Lisa
      November 14, 2017 at 8:55 PM

      Oh wow, so you’re also going through some changes too, Miss Suzy! I’ve also mostly given up alcohol, but because it doesn’t have a big pull over me and it isn’t triggering, I have a glass here and there. It IS sugar though, in a sense. I’m not drinking much because that is when I find I go “Oh, what the hell” and I eat whatever I like. I can’t have chocolate cake, but I CAN treat myself to the odd drink… sort of the opposite of you! Keep me posted on your progress. xx

  • Reply
    LA CONTESSA
    November 13, 2017 at 2:19 PM

    FANTASTIC!
    YOU LOOK GREAT and obvisouly FEEL GREAT!
    KEEP AT IT But don’t OVER DUE!!!!!!
    XO

    • Reply
      Lisa
      November 14, 2017 at 8:50 PM

      Thank you, Elizabeth! I’m trying to figure out where the right ‘stopping point’ is… I only know I’m not there yet! xx

      • Reply
        LA CONTESSA
        November 17, 2017 at 3:15 PM

        I saw you in PARIS………….someones blog?GREETJE………..maybe and YOU LOOK EVEN SKINNIER THAN HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
        XX

        • Reply
          Lisa
          November 17, 2017 at 9:25 PM

          Yes, I was on Greetje’s blog demonstrating Road Trip Chic (or lack thereof!) after being in a car for 7 hours 🙂 Thank you, Elizabeth. xx

  • Reply
    Fashion Schlub
    November 23, 2017 at 6:17 PM

    Ooh. I hate you. Because I see myself in your words (except for the part about regretting what you ate. i’m so bad I don’t even regret what I eat) and am now thinking uhhh…I should do this. And I don’t wannnnnnt to. But I should. I haven’t even clicked on any of the links in the post yet cuz I KNOW they’ll tell me the same thing – YOU NEED TO DO THIS. And I don’t want to hear that. The tiniest tip of my mind is going “you should do this. just for the 14 days. You can do ANYTHING for 14 days. You went vegan cold turkey 5 years ago. You gave up chocolate milk for a month when you were five. You stayed away from You Know Who for almost a year. You can do this for 14 days.” Ugh.

    Thanks for ruining Thanksgiving.

    I’ll be back.

    Bettye (you know I don’t really hate you) (much)
    https://fashionschlub.com

    • Reply
      Lisa
      November 23, 2017 at 9:32 PM

      Oh, babe. Sorry sorry sorry, Bettye! All I can say is that I have to agree with your higher self who knows you can do this (or anything for that matter) for 14 days. It is SO worth a try. I couldn’t BELIEVE how much better I felt after the 14 days were over. I think my next post on this topic will be called “I came for the weight loss, I stayed for the skin and sleep benefits.” Keep me posted. And enjoy Thanksgiving! I ate cake with wild abandon for a few days before I started this program 🙂 Keep me posted. xx

      • Reply
        Fashion Schlub
        November 25, 2017 at 4:41 PM

        I guess an issue like this brings up the question – which FEELS better: feeling good PHYSICALLY…or feeling good EMOTIONALLY?? In this case, they do seem mutually exclusive to me. Kicking sugar would, no doubt, make me feel better physically. But if I’m feeling tortured (TORTURED) by having to use my SELF-CONTROL and WILL POWER and abstain from eating my favorite things…then is it really worth it?

        I told a friend about reading your blog yesterday (as we were making sweet potato dutch baby with brown sugar pecan drizzle and whipped cream) and he (ugh) said the expected, “well, you know, sugar *does* feed cancer” (I had cancer this past year but am currently free from any discernible disease) and I was like yeah who cares, which I know probably sounds just HORRIBLE, but really, my odds for recurrence are ALREADY high, I could start eating The Diet of the Gods today and never stray and STILL wind up sick again, odds-wise. So THAT’S not really a deterrent to me. I know I know, I’m a truly horrible person.

        But I WOULD like to be able to move more easily – not that I can’t MOVE but I get tired so quickly and things hurt so much after that I start NOT moving just to avoid all that. And I do think going anti-sugar would help with that.

        Sorry, I’m really just sort of talking out loud here. I *will* read your links today. I WILL need to finish up all the goodies in the apartment before I get started (IF. IF I get started), and I would have to put out a caveat to the world “GOING SUGAR FREE – WATCH OUT” because I’m sure I’ll be a witch-and-a-half while I go through my sugar withdrawal.

        And I really don’t hate you 🙂

        Bettye

  • Reply
    thestylesplash
    November 25, 2017 at 7:47 PM

    Giving up sugar is an amazing achievement and you look fabulous for it…but then you always do! I’ve found sugary treats to be a slippery slope – I have the odd chocolate and within a few weeks I’m eating several every day. Then I have hit the reset button and cut it out completely. This week I decided to try eating vegan to see if I cope with it and so far so good. My husband hates it and thinks it a fad but I feel better for it, and the best thing is it’s really making me think really carefully about what I’m eating.

    Emma xxx
    http://www.style-splash.com

  • Reply
    Sheela Goh
    December 16, 2017 at 10:41 PM

    I’ve always thought of food as nutrition and that has helped in my personal journey. It has not completely eradicated my love affair with Cadbury Milk Chocolates (I recently went through a pack a day for a month and gained 3% of fat all around my abdomen), no. But having a mindset of eating healthy to live longer has gone a long way in keeping me on track for the most part. I don’t succumb to temptation as often. The fat loss is consistent, my complexion is clearing up again, and I generally feel so much better. Less sluggish. Less drained.

    Sugar is something I’ve almost removed completely from my life since 2014 when I was diagnosed with SLE but every now and again, especially this time of the year, I fall back, and I feel it. And I hate that feeling enough to quickly get my shit together again 🙂 props to you, Lisa, it is not an easy task you’ve set out to do xoxo

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    Farewell, My Love -
    September 10, 2019 at 10:01 AM

    […] years ago I read this blog post by The Sequinist about how she gave up sugar. I was intrigued. Of course it’s no secret that Sugar is the […]

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