Lemonade Please. No Sugar

I think life gives you lemons, and the thing that I’m working on doing is not watering it down, not putting sugar in it. Just drink it straight. The more you can take life head on… it’s gonna make you a better person, and then you have nothing left to be afraid of. And what an awesome way to live. -Cam

So I managed 8 days in a row without sugar or flour and was feeling so good. Much more positive and quite smug that I’d done it. If you spend any time looking at older posts you’ll see that I’ve started healthy eating plans many times before. I never get much further than day 1 to be totally honest, sometimes 3 or 4.

Almost every day for around the last 3 years has been a ‘final supper’ day – binging on whatever sugary food I can get my hands on! Then I spend hours lying awake feeling uncomfortable and stupid. I promise myself that tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow I’ll get myself together and not eat crap. I last until about 8.30 most mornings!

Anyway, on day 9, I spent the whole day with both kids and husband at home and I just couldn’t cope! I caved in and went into a local store that has a lovely bakery. I’ve been on and off for the last week with a couple of good days and definitely none as out of control as I used to do. Then, on Friday, I really lost it. 3 chocolates (I blame it on 3 for £1.20 – I mean, who’s going to spend 60p on one when you can get 3 for 60p more?) and half a loaf of sourdough bread with avo and cheese. Yum but yuk! Then I had to go training as I’m doing a PT block with the amazing Helen Bennett of Iron Maidens.

I confessed to her and my training partners what a piglet I’d been but I couldn’t explain why. Then, when I got home, after a conversation with my mom, I realised why I went so mental with food. This month will be 3 years since Gumby died. Even though it doesn’t change anything and lots of people might not get it, milestones like that make the pain poke through to the surface so much more ferociously. And my go to when the pain starts poking is food. Always has been really but it’s been a lot worse since all this grief malarkey started.

So why the hell does grief and sadness make comfort eating so much more of a problem? This article is written really well and explains things clearly. It also gives some ideas of ways to help. The bit I find the most interesting though is what ‘comfort’ food actually does to our brains.

Sugary and fatty foods affect the brains chemistry. They trigger ‘feel- good’ hormones that make the brain tell us to keep on going with eating them so that we can get more feel good feelings going on (stupid brain!)

Here’s a neat video from this article explaining what happens when we eat these foods and also how we get hooked on them.