Quit Sugar for Good — How Ava Finally Broke Her Sugar Addiction (Slimpod Story)

So hello everybody, um, Charlotte Roycroft-Davis here, and I am speaking to Charlotte Roycroft-Davis, a lovely, lovely lady who is a wonderful member of our SlimPod community, and she has— she's gone totally sugar-free, and it's absolutely changed her life, and she just wanted to talk about it, to inspire and help other people. And obviously, people don't have to go— with the SlimPod program, and, you know, our SugarPod that's included in the program, you don't— it enables you to cut, lose the desire for sugar so that you're cutting right down. But Eva wanted to go that step further after she did a load of research on the effects that sugar have on you, has on you. So I'm going to shut up now and I'm going to hand it over to Eva because she's got the most amazing story to tell. So Eva, thank you so much and it's It's just really lovely to have you here, and yeah, let us hear all about it.

Right, well, I joined SlimPod in February of this year, and I think the reason, the real reason I joined was to find out, well, obviously I wanted to lose weight, that was one of my issues, but also I wanted to be comfortable around food. And the main food for me was, like most of us, was sugar. And I just love— I love sugar, love sugar. And so I wanted to get to the bottom of why I just crave sugar. I could eat sugar for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and tea with no problem. And it started at an early age when I just always ate sugar, always ate sugar. Coming from a big family, it wasn't allowed. We couldn't afford to give us loads of sugar, so when I got to an age of like 16 and I could buy my own sugar, sweets, cakes, biscuits, you name it, I bought it. And I've never been massively overweight, I've always been pretty active, but I got to around about 30 and started to fill out. And again, it was more or less the sugar and the sweet foods that I was eating. I've had loads of fillings because of the effects of sugar. And going through the years, I've never really bothered. I've just thought, "Oh, I'm not bad. It's just a little bit here and there." And so when I started Slimpod, I wanted to— I like the idea of the thinking behind SlimPod and listening to the pods, how it made you relax and just go within, go deep within. Previous years I did a course on hypnotherapy, right? And I liked that because that was— again, I did a 12-month diploma in that. And I thought that might have helped me get through, you know, through the sugar, but it never did. I did a 12-month course, and that was about 3 years ago. And so when I joined Slimpod, I didn't know what to expect, really didn't know what to expect, but I was shocked how it— how it— the effects, what effect it had on me, and I think during the first few weeks I was just listening and writing my wins down, and I just— something just hit about week 6. And as I said to Sandra before, a lot of us think it was said, the sugar pod, you know, don't listen to it, or there was a lot of negative sides to it saying that people that listened to it, they went off and ate loads of sugar, wanted cravings for sweets and sugar. So I was a bit scared, but honestly, I think it was a mindset because I was determined that I wanted to get to the bottom of why I wanted to eat so much sugar. And I listened to it morning— excuse me— morning and at night, And about the second week, I thought, right, I can do this, I really can do this. And so I just thought, I've got to go into this, I've got to just stop. There was no sort of every other day, or a bag here, or a chocolate bar here, or a biscuit here, because I'm the sort of person that if I open a packet of biscuits, chocolate especially, I would eat the whole packet believe you me. And, you know, when I bought sweets, bags of sweets, it wasn't a little bag, it was always a family-sized bag, and I could eat the whole lot and crave more. And that really worried me. So, as I say, the second week of listening to Sugar Pod, something just hit, and I just thought, I'm getting up tomorrow morning, 14th of June, this year, 2020, and I'm not eating sugar again. And day 1 went by and it was great. I just, I was always thinking that little niggle's going to come on my shoulder and say, no, you can just have a little bit, a little bit. So what I did within the first couple of weeks, I introduced, I had dates, I had a couple of dates, right, Dates are really high in sugar, but it's better than having a bar of chocolate. So I was having a couple of dates, a couple of handfuls of currants, and a couple of handfuls of apricots. But then I found going from 2 dates, I wanted to have— next day I wanted to have 4., and I thought, oh, here we go, I'm going back up again. So after a week, I cut the lot, just said no, and I did a lot of research, reading up on the sugar, and it's frightening. And I really urge everyone, any one of you that wants to reduce your sugar, cut it out, whatever, you've got to do your research because there's a big sugar debate. It's huge. And there's so much stuff about it. When you read it, it really shocked me. It really shocked me into really wanting to do this, you know, permanently. So I introduced berries— raspberries, blueberries, strawberries. All I used to eat was low-fat, low-fat yogurts, low-fat milk. Could you believe in Skim milk, there's more sugar in skim milk than there is in full-fat milk. Gosh, it's incredible. So before, before you used to—

that was your kind of regime, wasn't it? The low-fat stuff?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd have, I'd have 2 or 3 yogurts a day thinking, "Yogurt's really great, it's healthy." In a Mullah-like, for instance, yogurt low-fat, there's about 4 teaspoons of sugar. Yeah, yeah, you know, so it's ridiculous. So I stopped all the low-fat, I have nothing low-fat. I introduced healthy fats in my diet, olive oil, and now gone from having low-fat spread to full butter, and I love butter, and I have a lot of protein in my day. So the morning would be scrambled eggs with a bit of rye bread and a tomato. Lunch would be just a chicken salad or some vegetables, you know, as we're doing the challenge, the broccoli, spinach, and avocado. I include them in my daily food. So it's really just looking at You've got to read everything because sugar is in everything.

I think that that is a really important thing actually because it helps you to believe that what you're doing is with foundation and there's a reason bigger than you, you know, that wants it. But it wasn't without its challenges, was it, Eva? You did have a few withdrawal symptoms, so it wasn't all roses in the garden.

No, oh gosh, no, no, it wasn't. Fortunately, sadly no, because I think because I, as I say, I call myself a sugar— was a sugarholic, because I'd been having lots and lots of sugar, my body had a lot of insulin. It's called high insulin resistance, and I had a load of insulin. So the day, about day 2, I started having a really bad headache, I was achy, I came out, I never have spots, and I started to get spots around my chin, on my forehead. So I knew that it was the sugar toxins, because sugar is poison. It is poison. So I started to feel lethargic, it affected my sleep, my mood. Oh, I was really moody. I'm really quite a bubbly, upbeat person. So it took about 10 days to go through all these symptoms, and after about day 10, I found that I was sleeping better, right? And my headaches subsided. The first couple of days, I did have to take a couple of paracetamol Right. Just because it was getting— it was really bad. And now we understand why, because of the amount of sugar that I was eating on a daily basis.

And now, do you actually— I know that you've given up your packets of, you know, sweets and all that stuff, but do you scrutinize the sugar within kind of everyday foods as well? Do you look at the glucose? Well, yes, anything with an -ose at the end of it. Obviously, there's so much of it.

Yeah, yeah. I've never actually— I don't really drink coffee and tea. I have one coffee a day, decaf, frothy coffee that I make myself. But I've never ever put sugar in anything.

Right.

I've never bought the white, you know, the packets of sugar. But I've always used sweeteners. Canderel.

Right.

That was my favourite. And Up until last year, I was having sweeteners, but I stopped the sweeteners because I read up on those. That was really bad. So I stopped having the Canderel that I was having, but I could never drink coffee or tea because I'd always used to have it. I put 3 or 4 Canderel in a cup of coffee.

Wow.

And that's how much, you know, my sweet tooth was then. So out went the sweeteners and out went the coffee and the tea. I've never been a tea drinker, so now I'll just have— I'll have her— I make my own tea. I buy fresh ginger, lemon, simmer it on the cooker, and then I just put into a teapot and I have that throughout the day.

Right.

And that's— it's just— it's good. I've got used to it. It's taken a while, because I'm used to sweet, I'm used to very, very sweet stuff. So I do look at the packaging of things. Bread, bread is— there's loads of sugar in bread.

Yeah, I know. I mean, there was a court case literally this week about a very— I'm not going to say the name of the brand because I might get myself into trouble, but it's a famous high street brand that there's so much sugar in their bread that they can't even call it bread anymore.

No, no, it's like cereals, cereals that we give to our children. Oh my gosh, yeah, so much sugar. I think the lowest, the lowest I found in cereals is Weetabix. Yeah, and there's still 2 or 3 grams of sugar in Weetabix. There's some things that you, you just wouldn't believe that had sugar in it, has got it in, and there's no need.

So how much, if we were just to compare, have you any idea how much sugar you were consuming like before this all happened and how much sugar you're consuming now? Have you gone totally sugar-free?

Yes, totally. As I said, I believe that if you love sugar and it is holding you back from freeing of the mind, from losing the weight, then you— I believe you have to do it cold turkey, right? Because I haven't measured the amount of sugar, but I probably was having— oh, I don't know, I don't know before how I can't estimate how much I was having before.

A lot.

But I was having a lot every day. I was having bags and bags of sweets, biscuits, cakes every day.

And then that reduced considerably when you started the SlimPod, but, and you lost weight, didn't you? How much weight did you lose before you, how much weight did you lose in the first stage before you decided, right, I need to go and do this other thing?

The first few, 6-7 weeks, I lost 10 pounds.

Right.

And that was just really, I wasn't picking, I wasn't snacking, I was just having my main meals. Okay. So when I then cut the sugar, I mean, I've lost to date 36 pounds.

Wow.

Over 2 stone. And majority of that has come from— I've lost 5.5 inches off my waist.

That's amazing.

Because when you lose sugar, when you have a lot of sugar, your middle, you don't have a waist. If you're 2 or 3 stone overweight, it just congregates all around your waist. I've actually lost from my midriff, I've lost 3.5 inches.

Yeah, oh my goodness. And that's— you started February 2020 and now we're in just at the beginning of October 2020, literally. So that's really good going.

Yeah, I've gone from a size 14, I'm now a size 8.

My word!

Yeah, a size 8, because I'm not only losing the actual weight, the inches, the inches. I do a lot of walking, I do, I go to the gym, I've just started weight training.

I know, I know, it's just fantastic.

I've got so much energy, you know. I think from when I started to stop eating the sugar, about when I got through all the lethargic and the tiredness and the headaches, I started doing a bit more walking just to clear my head, and it just— the energy is amazing, you know. The fog, it's like the fog just lifts from you, and it's amazing. I just I feel like I'm a changed person by giving up sugar. I'm already planning to make a sugar-free Christmas cake.

Oh my goodness! So what would be the one message that you would say to somebody who is, you know, who's got that kind of little bit of fear that they've reduced considerably, but they've got that little bit of fear of giving up completely? Because it is like a love affair, isn't it? Oh, it is, absolutely.

And As I say, it's an addiction. Yeah, you know, someone who's on cocaine can go to the GP and get referred, you know, to a clinic that will help them, that they're going to rehab. There's no rehab for you to come off sugar.

No, absolutely. I guess it is a drug that does even— it is, you know, and it does the same kind of damage actually, because people don't actually realize, you know, there's also So many, so many health problems are sugar-related.

Yeah.

And now with the whole COVID thing, you are 75% more likely to be hospitalized, hospitalized, if you are obese, you know, and with diabetes. And it's just— you weren't diabetic, were you?

No, no. I've got high blood pressure.

Right.

And that's come right down.

Yeah.

When I started SlimPod, my BMI was 29.5, now 23.5.

Wow. So you were literally— yeah, oh my goodness, that's amazing.

Yeah, I was on the high end of my BMI.

So now you're not even overweight?

No, no, absolutely fantastic. It is. I would really say that the last sort of— since I stopped giving up sugar— sorry, since I gave up sugar, the inches, the weight has come, the weight and the health benefits are tremendous.

Right. Amazing.

And the sugar is all— because it's carbs, carbohydrates. If you look at— if you're looking to come off sugar, I would urge you to look at your carbs, right? You know, if all the carbs that you're eating will be loaded— potatoes, pasta, rice, bread— they're all loaded with sugar. Yeah, it's not the natural sugar.

Yeah.

But if you cut down on them, on the pasta, the rice, the bread, your weight will drop. If you cut the sugar out, your weight will just— you will just lose your weight. And it takes a while because depends on how much sugar you was actually eating, because I was eating loads.

Yeah, yeah.

So it took me sort of from 14th of July to now to really see the benefits, right, with my insulin.

Yeah, that's amazing. And the lovely Michelle, Michelle, um, who is, yeah, who's doing our study. Yeah, she's fantastic, and she's doing it, and she's, she's seeing all that as well.

Yeah, yeah, it's incredible. Once you get— once you can get rid of the sugar, you'll start to see and reap the rewards. The rewards are far better than putting a bar of chocolate in your mouth. Yeah, you know, it is. And a lot of people are frightened to stop, they're frightened to give it up because it's comfort.

Yeah, it is, absolutely. And it is, it is It is a comfort, and it's also, as I said, as I said earlier, it's like having a soulmate that is always there to rely on and give you comfort and, you know, be your best friend and make you feel happy when, you know, when you're down or when you're stressed or when you're bored or whatever. And that is actually hard to give up. It's like, it is like, you know, it's like losing them. It is like a bereavement almost, and that's why the cravings come in. So it really does— I mean, you were very brave. That's— it's a bit— it's about having courage, isn't it? That's really what it boils down to. Have you got the courage to do that? And yeah, but the other side is like walking through the wardrobe door, I'm sure, in Narnia.

Yeah. Yes, yeah, definitely.

Totally different world.

I think, I mean, I'm 62 now, so getting towards sort of into that, if I would have continued with the sugar, I probably would end up being diabetic. And, you know, I definitely would because the amount of sugar that I was having. And I didn't want to, I didn't want to, to cause my own illness.

Amazing.

So by researching and looking into sugar. I've read so many books, I've read so much, it's all out there. You don't need to sort of just, you know, think, well, how do I do it? Obviously with SlimPod, that's for me, that's a key. And again, I urge people who are not listening to SugarPod, why? Because I don't understand how you can listen to that and then go off and want to eat sugar, because that was for me, that hit my nerve, and I was like, oh my word, it was me, you know. It just sort of really, really got me, and I thought, I can do this. And if I can go from eating bags and bags and bags of sweets and cakes and sugar all my life, more or less, from a very young age to the age now I'm 62, and I've never ever sort of, you know, not looked at before. If I could do that from June to now, yeah, then I'm sure that anyone, anyone can do it. Most definitely.

Absolutely fabulous. You're going to inspire so many people, and thank you so much for joining me, Eva, because, you know, I just, I've just been seeing your story going on in SlimPod Club and, you know, in our private group, and I just thought, I need to have the story told. We need to tell this story.

Oh gosh, yes, definitely. It's, you know, if I can help one person to give up sugar, then, you know, I will be more than happy. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to, you know, with the platform that you've given me, to be able to to reach out. And I say with anybody, if you need help, you need advice, I'm no expert, but, you know, I'll give you any advice you need and guidance and help to guide you through it. There's so much, there's so much that I've done throughout this last 3 months of giving up sugar. I could talk about it all day.

Ah, fantastic. Thank you so much, and I'm sure you'll have an awful lot of people asking you for help. Thank you, Ava, it's really sweet of you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks, Andrea.