A health coach presents a Sugar Dependency Scale from 0 to 10 to help you identify where you stand. If you're at 7 or higher, try a five-day visualization exercise that pairs your favorite sweet with something disgusting to rewire your brain's reward response.
Is sugar your friend or foe? Do you have a good relationship with it, or does it have you under its spell? Are you hypnotized by it? People regularly ask me to explain the difference between having a sugar habit and having an addiction, so I invented a Sugar Dependency Scale which really breaks it down and helps you to understand where you're at. So zero is when sugar is not important in your life at all. You can take it or leave it. You enjoy the occasional cake or bar of chocolate, but it really has no hold over you. Next up, at about 3 or 4 on the scale, is when sugar is a habit. You like the taste, but if you don't have it for a few days, it's just not the end of the world. You don't have cravings, and you could give it up fairly easily. Then we have a mild addiction, which is around 7 on the scale. When you like having sweet stuff in the house and you probably have something sweet every day, but you might have mild cravings if you decide to stop eating anything sweet, but it will only last for a few days. And lastly, there at number 9 or 10 is the full-on addiction, when you're totally at the mercy of sugar. It's your emotional crutch and it's hijacked your brain. You've tried giving it up, but the white stuff is firmly in control and it's taken over your life. So where are you on the scale? Are you in control of sugar, or is it in control of you? And what can you do about it if it's got the upper hand? SlimPod should be helping you to take back control without cravings, but if it's more than a habit, Here are 3 suggestions if you're still having some problems. Number 1, do a bit of soul-searching and work out if you really, really want to give it up. Has sugar become your best friend? Is it a toxic love affair? A lot of people say that they want to give up, but really deep down in their hearts, they don't want to give up at all. So that's the first one. The desire to give up needs to be there. You see, right now your brain's reward centre is getting a lot of pleasure from sugar. You have to turn that around. Our brains go towards pleasure and away from pain, so make sure the relationship with sugar is painful. That brings me to my second suggestion. Do lots of research on sugar and you'll see how much damage it's actually doing to you. This works really well and has been done by lots of people within the community with great success. Ava Brody is one of these people who's just kicked their addiction out of their lives, and you can read about her story on my blog. There's a link below. Otherwise, you can do something different and try my third suggestion. Put something sweet in your mouth, maybe the thing that you like most, and while it's in your mouth, imagine putting the worst thing you you can possibly think of in your mouth too. Focus on how disgusting that is, and I mean really feel it. Taste how awful it is. Do this for 5 days and your brain will feel the pain and your love of sugar will just dramatically change. But please remember, if you need any help at all, we're here for you. Just hit the blue button. Keep listening to your pods, and I'll see you next time.
