Sugar High-Jinx: Moving Past & Moving Forward by Joan Kent, PhD
A couple of years ago, a mentor of mine recommended a TED talk by a woman who called herself a sugar addict. I checked out the talk and was profoundly disappointed.
The speaker had been warned by her father that she’d probably inherited his sugar addiction. She learned this at a time when everyone already knew how addictive sugar is. She revealed no discoveries, no insights as she spoke. In fact, I couldn’t see a single reason for her talk – except maybe to complain that she couldn’t eat all the sugar she wanted.
Back in the Bad Old Days
Things were different when I discovered my sugar addiction. Nobody knew about it then.
No one in my family had it (I was adopted), and they mocked my reaction to sugar mercilessly. If I mentioned it to other people, they smirked and scrutinized my body. Believe it or not, fitness professionals did the same thing to me. (Appalling, but true.)
When I started giving talks about health consequences of sugar, audience members would stand and yell, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” and worse. Such hostile audience reactions prompted a client of mine to attend my talk one day and tell me how interesting it was to watch what went on from the back of the room.
“You should see it from up here,” I told him. The topic of sugar inspired anger and fear.
Where Things Stand Now
I’ve had plenty of time to contemplate this and finally realize my best course is to celebrate my sugar addiction.
I used to resist my pain and suffering around sugar because no one understood or had any sympathy. Yet it’s a big part of who I am and helps me relate to the suffering of others.
Make no mistake: many people are driven by this addiction. Some can’t even admit to themselves that they’re dealing with it – despite their health problems. Those problems can include serious ones, such as hypertension, heart disease, respiratory conditions, headaches, or others.
I can now approach this issue with empathy and compassion. I accept and embrace my sugar addiction – especially the way I’ve moved past it! – so I can be of service to others and help them reach liberation.
My sugar addiction has become a point of connection that allows me to be available to other addicts and help them. It’s the avenue through which I get to deliver loving care to the world.
Somewhere I ran into this quote: “Toughen your skin and soften your heart.” It no longer matters to me what people think or say about my sugar addiction. I love having gone through it for the compassion I feel and deliver.
For help in conquering sugar, just visit LastResortNutrition and grab your free Stronger Than Sugar® consult. Discover how easy it is to make a few tweaks, blast your energy, and reclaim your health. It works, and you can do this!
Brought to you by Dr. Joan Kent, best-selling author of Stronger Than Sugar: 7 Simple Steps to Defeat Sugar Addiction, Lift Your Mood, and Transform Your Health.
