I often write about emotional eating here at Fearless Fat Loss, in addition to writing about sugar addiction. I write about these topics because they have been my experience, and based on my experience, I’ve felt that the whole topic of food and weight are complex issues. I’ve felt that weight loss is a complex issue because I can’t tell you that there is only one reason that I’m overweight. (Update 2013: Read my updated story here.) I’ve felt that it’s a combination of emotional eating, food addiction (not all food, but mainly sugar addiction), negative thinking, and the processed and fast food environment that is considered to be “normal”.
Update 2013: Note the date on this article, 11/8/2007. This is an old article that I wrote 6 years ago. At that time I had the thought that I had a sugar addiction and today it’s not true. Nor am I overweight today, which is all due to my weight loss mindset. Fact: 90% of your problems with food and your weight are due to your Mindset. Only 10% are about how you eat and exercise.
Find out more by grabbing my FREE 5-Day E-course to discover the answer to, “Is Your Mindset Fit or F.A.T.?“. Get it while it’s still available!
Well, what if there really isn’t any such thing as emotional eating, and what if negative thinking can be spurred on by what you eat? What if all of this (overweight, compulsive eating, and what we think is emotional eating), all comes down to the food that we are eating? What if by just eliminating the addictive ingredients from your diet (the 6 Week Body Makeover will do that for you), those ingredients and foods that cause you to overeat, you are able to solve your issues of emotional eating?
Many times I’ve recommended the book Sugar Blues
There’s another book that I also recommend you read, a book that cites Sugar Blues along with many other books I’ve read, and that is Sugar Shock!
A British scientist, Robert Matthews, quoted in Sugar Shock! states, “They officially deny it, but food-industry researchers told me they now fear that they’ve created foods that undermine the body’s natural abilities to control food intake”, which has helped create today’ obesity epidemic. These foods are high in refined sugar, taste great, and bring in billions of dollars each year for their manufacturers.
Additionally, Dr. Neal Barnhard (author of Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings—And 7 Steps to End Them Naturally
There is a great deal of more information in Sugar Shock!, but what I want to impress upon you in this post is this possibility: what if you get off the sugar (which includes not only the many forms of refined sugar, but also simple, refined carbs), and then you can actually release your emotional eating? Actually, this was the outcome of my experiment when I banned all refined sugar from my diet. I can attest to the fact that getting off of sugar leads to a life of peace from the sugar cravings, as well as a release from overeating.
I highly recommend picking up a copy of each of these books. I believe that there are more people who are addicted to refined sugar that aren’t; the human body just isn’t built to be immune to this chemical, the chemical of tasty, refined, sugar. But you know what that means if you’re addicted to sugar and just can’t stop eating? It means that it’s not your fault, it’s just the chemical reaction that your body is having to that addictive chemical, those innocent looking white crystals, and once you get off of the sugar, you’ll see a whole new world open up to you.
JoLynn, I have had the same experience as you describe so well in this post… I “kicked” refined sugar and simultaneously solved my overeating and weight gain problem. A nutritionist/trainer/therapist educated me that the ingredients in the foods I was eating was keeping me going back for more. Even though I was initially fearful that a life without sweets would be boring, nothing could be further from the truth. I still enjoy food very much, especially fruit, which I’m thankful does not set off cravings or hunger in me, and the peace of mind is incredible. I have lost 35 pounds in the past year and I am well on my way to running my first 5K race. I’ve never felt better.
Hi Daphne, your comment is so inspiring to me, thank you so much for leaving it. I Love to hear from other people who can relate to what I’ve experienced, because you are experiencing it, too!
I really do believe that there are more people who are in the same boat (addicted to sugar) than there are those who aren’t – the human body just isn’t designed to handle refined sugar effectively, and when unhealthy fats are included in the ingredients along with that sugar (not to mention added sodium), it makes the food irresistibly tasty – how can you stop with just a little bit of it? I wager that most people cannot, and we can see that in the climbing rate of obesity.
Thanks again Daphne….congratulations on dropping 35 pounds, and training for your first 5K!! 🙂