Category Archives: will power

Losing the Taste for Sweet

Posted on February 1, 2014 | Leave a comment

I would have said at one time that it was impossible I would lose my taste for sweets, but to my surprise, after the last few years of very low carb eating, my taste for sweet has vastly diminished. Last night I was out to dinner with friends, I didn’t give the bread basket a second thought, then a dessert sampler was ordered for the table by one of my friends. I would have declined dessert if we had ordered individually. But, my friends are not on my low sugar-starch diet, and I don’t make a big deal when out with others.

So this big dessert platter with four desserts was put in the middle of the table. At one time I would have dived in and had my fair share, but instead I nabbed the strawberry settled on some whipped cream, had one tiny bite each of two of the desserts, an apple tart and a sticky pudding, and had no desire for more, indeed it was a ‘ho-hum’ experience. I just had no desire for any more. At the time I was not thinking much about it, but when I got home I realized what a different experience I just had from the years when I had to have my very own dessert in order to enjoy the meal.

So, take heart if you are still struggling with avoiding sweets. By maintaining good habits at home–no sweets live here–and avoiding most situations that are personal triggers, like convenience stores were for me, then given enough time, months to a couple years, we do gradually lose our super-sweetened palates and find pleasure in much healthier options. I make pumpkin custards, almond flour cup cakes, mousses, etc.,  sweetened only with a little bit of liquid stevia, and enjoy such treats as much or more than the old heavy sugar desserts.

All the negative issues with weight, inflammation in the cells, brain fog, and other such bad reactions to sugars-starches-artificial sweeteners, are enough to keep me on the path of good health which for me is anti-sugar.

Even when you fall off the wagon, and we all have, in the early days especially, take heart–it will get easier.

When you no longer feel deprived, you no longer want what is bad for you. To get to that point requires both habit changes and a change of mindset, but the good news is that it can be done.

Yours in learning,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Posted in behaviors, cravings, determination, eating out, sugar, sugar addiction, sweets, will power

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Never Give Up

Posted on September 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

Let’s remember what sugar is. Sugar is not just the white granulated stuff in the sugar bowl, but it comes in many forms like corn syrup that is put into virtually all foods not purely raw vegetables; it is even injected into meats, especially deli meats. Sugar is also, as far as your body is concerned, anything made with grain, anything that has a carb count, such as the so-called starchy vegetables and fruits–squash, corn, bananas are the highest. So you might be eating what looks like a pretty good diet but still be getting more sugar than your body can handle.  To further make a mockery of our efforts, if one is already over weight, even eating very low carb, if you eat too much protein your liver can convert it to sugars which then will get stored as fat.

Happily, most people who eliminate the basic sugars will see good results in health and in weight loss, but there are some of us who will have to bird dog those sugars and get nearly all of them out of our diets if we want to lose excess fat. I happen to be one of those people, and recently decided to go on a ketogenic diet, for me less than 20 carbs per day, and I am glad to report I am once more losing the stubborn weight.  I also exercise, especially walking, several times a week, and this combination is working for me.

I don’t claim many virtues, but one I hang on to is I have determination, I don’t give up on things that matter to me; I just keep on trying expecting I will find an answer eventually.

If you are interested in the keto diet check out these sites I think are best for more information:

http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/1/1/2

http://aaron.emascc.com/diet/ebooks/Lyle_McDonald_-_The_Ketogenic_Diet.pdf

http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/best-weight-loss-program.html

Bonus: Watch this great time lapse of girl who used keto diet to lose 88 pounds in a year:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1010&sid=26734370

Yours in never giving up,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Posted in determination, diet, sugar, will power

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Patience is Important if not a Virtue

Posted on August 16, 2013 | Leave a comment

We always want to fix our issues now, even though the problems may have taken years to develop. Patience is hard for western people who are driven to achieve, to succeed, to perform, to make it in whatever way we think is important. Patience is not our strong suite; excepting those in the minority who do have patience. We often don’t have the ability to try to new things, to stick with it,  to wait and see how they work. So it goes with changing habits, foods, and all behaviors. Part of us doesn’t really want to change, another part does. It is something of a contest to see which part will win.

I have gotten more patience with age, but it is not easy to wait, even if the time is going to pass regardless; there is that part of us that wants the reward now.  We would likely all be doing great if we got the rewards first, then just had to manage the success. (I know this would not be true in all cases.) Part of the work of change is just waiting for time to pass.

My mother used to tell me I was “wishing my life away”; for, in summers particularly, I would be whining about not getting to do this or that, and would be anxious for time to pass since I lived out in the country away from friends and the fun things that were part of the school year.  I think many of us never quit wishing our lives away.

Now when you stop sugars-starch-artificial sweeteners, there is reward immediately in terms of health, but we have to stick with it for several months before it becomes natural, and we stop thinking longingly about those treat-type foods we gave up.

There are those few lucky souls who don’t struggle as much as most of us, and that’s good for them, but the majority will need to develop patience. We know that the rewards of avoiding these foods that have made us ill, over weight, addicted, are worthwhile, so if we have faith in the process, we too will become one of that lucky bunch who just don’t care that much about sweets. That’s be a reward truly worth the wait.

Yours in patience,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

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Posted in cravings, emotions, experiment, patience, sugar, sugar addiction, will power

Want to Be Free of Cravings: Give it 5-6 Months

Posted on March 22, 2013 | Leave a comment

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

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Posted in cravings, will power