Are you a sugar addict? I know I am!

Sugar by Uwe Hermann via Flickr, CC license

I had the delight of attending “Stop SUGARCOATING the Truth” a full day workshop, where various expert speakers spoke & discussed “sugar & carb addiction” and “low carb high fat living”.

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing my insights and learnings from this workshop with you.

For me, the most profound and enlightening one, was a talk by Karen Thomson, a co-founder of the first ever in the world sugar & carbohydrate clinic (HELP: Harmony Eating & Lifestyle Program) in Cape Town, South Africa, who gave an raw, openly honest, heartfelt account of her “Finding her True North”.

It started with her saying…”Hi, my name is Karen, and I’m a sugar addict”.

Karen is the granddaughter, of the world-renowned heart surgeon Christian Barnard.  Karen openly discussed how she has battled addiction all her life – as a model she got into cocaine, heroin, then alcohol, and was bulimic.  “I no longer wanted to live but was to scared to die”….this made her take the step to spending 9 months in rehab.

Through these experiences, she also realized how her primary addiction was sugar. However, she was & is unable to stop once she starts; so she now avoids sugar.  A key awakening was the realization that eating sugar, made her feel worse than, when she was taking ‘cocaine’ and ‘heroin’.  This was when she realized how dangerous sugar is!

Karen also came to realize, how sugary foods, were closely related to her key emotions, and sugar was the comfort & calming tool.  Her strongest emotional comfort tools were drinking “Coca-cola” and eating a “Flake” (thinly folded Dairy Milk Cadbury’s chocolate), that were her associations for “love and happiness”.

As she said, the problem is, you comfort yourself with the sugar, however the tolerance to this increases, so you need more to feel “okay”.  Sugar became her pimp.

She began to identity her emotional triggers as well as realize what foods she used to represent which of her feelings, and she had to learn how to sooth these emotions without the comfort of food/sugar.

Her message is, look at the positive of the situation “Choose not to have” sugar & processed foods/high carbs – see the positive impact of what you are choosing!  And don’t use the word “can’t have” which creates deprivation.

Sugar is hidden everywhere. Understand the toxic effects of sugar.  Become aware of what you are eating, what is in your food.  Be more authentic in what you eat, the way you are!

“Fall in love of taking care of yourself.  Mind. Body. Spirit”

To learn more about Karen’s clinic, here’s the HELP| Harmony Eating & Lifestyle Program: Sugar & Carbohydrate Clinic

And ask yourself…

Are you a sugar addict?

• Does your stomach get bloated after eating?
• Does your brain feel foggy?  Or do you often feel unclear?
• Do you get an energy slump in the afternoon?
• Do you need something sweet after lunch or dinner?
• Do you want to lose weight?
• Are you unable to eat just one piece of chocolate?

Did you answer yes to one or a few of these?  Be honest with yourself…..

I can definitely state, that yes, I am a sugar addict as well!!!
I have lapsed twice over the last 5 months in not eating sugar & each time, realized how awful I felt having it, not just emotionally, but the physically impact!

And it’s simply not worth it.