How Sweet it is: Building Your Sugar Support System

Once you reduce or eliminate sugar from your life, you’ll probably begin to feel healthier, more energetic, and more consistent than you have in years. Congrats!

But beware: temptations lurk around every corner. There are family gatherings, work parties, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and a host of other saccharine occasions where there may be trouble if you don’t have a plan.

The key is to acknowledge these temptations – and build a support network to help you get through them.

Here are four crucial steps to help you on your way.

Don’t go it alone
One of the best things I did was tell people I was a sugar junkie. By doing this, I could no longer hide behind excuses or lie to myself. Before that, I often kept my food behaviors to myself and tried to figure it out on my own. Ha! No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t understand, manage, or solve my sugar problem. It wasn’t until I told others about it and asked for help that I actually saw positive change.

Here’s what coming clean like that can look like:

• Talk to a friend or pastor at church or join a prayer group
• Commit with a few friends that have similar weaknesses and support one another
• See a counselor once a week to work through your feelings rather than eat through them
• Consider joining a twelve step program

Bottom line, we heal in the company of others. Seek out a healthy support system that will help you when the going gets rough.

Deal with your demons
There’s a reason why many of us hit the sugar a little too hard – and it’s not just about our sweet tooth. There’s often something underneath that needs to be addressed.

Looking back, I see that there was usually something that triggered my big sugar pig outs. Perhaps I made a mistake at work, or maybe I was nervous about a blind date. Maybe I was just in a crabby mood and everyone made my skin crawl.

Sugar became a way for me to ease my emotions. I’d eat the sweets instead of feel my sadness, frustration, anxiety or even happiness.

So, when I first gave up sugar, for about a year, I had to re-learn how to deal with my feelings. I had to learn how to sit through the uncomfortable ones and celebrate the good ones. I looked into some of my old patterns from childhood and got to the root of my real issues, which had nothing to do with sugar.

All of this soul searching takes a lot of work… it wasn’t always fun and it certainly wasn’t pretty. Many times, it would have been much easier to pick up a ding dong rather than deal with my anger. But I knew that if I wanted to live well, I had to do it. And I am so grateful to God that I did.

Today, my life is infinitely better than I could have ever imagined. And I really owe it all to sugar. If it wasn’t for the utter despair I had around this substance, I wouldn’t have worked so hard to heal.

Find other ways to treat yourself
For me, sugar was a dysfunctional way to bring “sweetness” into my life. We all need pampering and tenderness, and this was something I wasn’t naturally good at. When I was feeling blue, sugar gave me an instant endorphin rush that made me feel good inside, albeit temporary.

Then I found new ways to treat myself.

I started with small actions like taking morning walks in the outdoors, regardless of the weather. Something about the fresh air, the changing of the seasons, and the quiet fed my insides in a way sugar couldn’t.

I also began to journal about anything and everything… It didn’t have to be sophisticated, grammatically correct or even coherent. It was just something I did between me and me (and God was in there too). I wrote my dreams, goals, disappointments, sadness, whatever in notebook after notebook. Of course, it’s fun to go back and read through my biography this way, but more importantly it gave me a channel for my feelings.

And now for some fun.

I’m convinced that manicures are miracles! And don’t forget the pedis. All toes deserve one every now and again. Facials, massages, even acupuncture and Reiki can be healing modalities to keep you feeling nourished.

It’s also fun to go shopping… Not to be confused with shopping sprees, but I found “treating” myself to the occasional new blouse or a cute pair of earrings could do wonders if I needed some luxury.

The point is to indulge in other ways. Exotic bubble baths, thick shea butter lotions, the fuzziest robe you can find and 600 thread count sheets! Can you think of anything better? These are all wonderful ways to feel good when sugar is no longer an option.

Be patient
The longer you’re at it, the easier it becomes. Before I decided to go sugar free, I couldn’t imagine life without my Mike & Ikes or Captain Crunch. But today, I can’t imagine life with it and I actually shudder at the thought of it.

New habits take time, prayer, and patience to become deeply rooted into our being. Be easy with yourself as you go through the process and you’ll reap the rewards.

How about you?

• Have you ever used sugar as a substitute for dealing with emotions?
• Do you have a good support system in your life?
• What’s your special way to “treat” yourself?

Tagged as: demons, how-to, indulge, patience, series, sugar, support