You want to be free of the horrible cravings. We all do, and that is the hardest part for most of us. For we can do very well for weeks and weeks, then one cookie can set us off on two days to two months of uncontrolled eating. Many different people from Dr. Wolfgang Lutz, to more recently Michael who was on Abel James’ recent podcast, report it takes a consistent several months to eventually move from pure will power to losing the desire for the junk (whatever “junk” is for a given person).
As I’ve written about before, the old brain, or limbic brain, or some call it lizard brain, has had millions of years evolving long before our big frontal lobes developed and we became these awesome thinking creatures we are now; which is why lizard brain which I termed for myself the Kraken, is huge and powerful and easily overwhelms the wee thinking brain/mousey will power if Kraken gets let loose. So even if you have gone for weeks without exceeding, for example 20 carbs a day, one carby meal lifts the steel door and the Kraken emerges to ravage the self-control we think we have. Will power is mostly myth, real power is learning how to stay in charge, giving the mouse-like thinking brain control over the steel door, as it were. The only way for sugaraholics to do that is to stay away from the sugars-starches-artificial sweets that give power away to the Kraken monster who gets bigger, stronger, and ever more powerful with every bite of high carb food.
BUT, given enough time, at least 5+ months, we one day quit thinking about or wanting the formerly addictive foods. That’s a terrific plus, and reason enough to be faithful to the program.
Yours in faith,
Nan aka Sugarbaby
Sugaraholics 