#MindsetMonday
A lot of people struggle with sugar addiction. According to Health Data, some 160 million Americans are overweight or obese, and per the Centers for Disease Control, 2/3 of American adults are overweight or obese.
This is largely because sugar-laden processed foods have infiltrated our grocery stores, and many medical practitioners still preach the Standard American Diet. Let’s be real: those numbers are depressing.
Typically, we attempt to conquer our sugar addiction by giving up sweets cold turkey. This often leads to all-out binges, leaving us feeling sick, defeated, and possibly worse off from where we started. Why?
Because our thoughts and behaviors play a major role in the challenge. There are professionals who work with people in order to make changes to lifestyle, behavior, and mindset. People from all walks of life and all ages seek the assistance of psychologists to aid in their food addiction.
When it comes to food addiction - in this case, sugar - many of us fall into a pattern of yo-yo dieting. We eat clean, lose excess weight, go back to eating processed foods and sugar, gain the weight back, and the cycle repeats itself ad nauseam. In many situations, a primary care physician will refer a patient dealing with a chronic illness or other condition to a psychologist.
However, it’s something that we could all benefit from because we overlook the importance of mindset in our sugar-free journey. A psychologist will discuss your goals, medical history, stress level, your social support, as well as your dieting history.
The point is they want to learn about your attitudes toward food and eating, how you view food, what your habits look like, and even get to know your body image. You might be wondering how that’s helpful. Well, did you grow up being told to clean your plate or you wouldn’t get dessert? Many of us continue to eat even after we feel full, and then reward ourselves with sweets. This is why.
We have an issue with portion control and developing bad habits around food. We end up relying on sweets to provide a certain feeling - such as comfort, reward, happiness, etc. Eating also becomes a hobby; we eat when we are bored.
➼YOUR MINDSET All of these common and unhealthy habits are acts of sabotage, and they all come down to your mindset. A positive mindset - one that is pro sugar freedom - will prompt you to make the right decisions, and fuel your body with the most nutritious foods. You can develop a positive mindset without the help of a psychologist, of course, however, you cannot dismiss the importance of mindset. The diet industry is worth billions of dollars. There are countless diets and supplements to choose from. to choose from. The food industry supports this by slapping labels on all products. It would be great if conquering sugar addiction was only about reading labels, but it’s not.
Overcoming the need for sweets is rooted in our beliefs, our emotions, and our psychology.
Ultimately, there are three major psychological reasons we fail in our attempts to beat our sugar addiction: · Stress · Behavior · Pleasure
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➼STRESS Stress is one of the biggest factors in our failure to conquer our sugar addiction. It has a direct impact on your journey. Life is busy and when you’re trying to cope with a busy schedule, as well as the internal and external stressors of life, it’s easy to fall back into unhealthy eating patterns. There is also the presence of the stress hormone cortisol. Stress causes the presence of this hormone to surge and this triggers survival mode, which means it stores fat, slowing your metabolism down. If you want to lose weight in addition to beating your sugar cravings, but you live a stressful life, you have to learn how to manage stress. That comes down to mindset.
➼PLEASURE Pleasure is also one of the keys to sugar addiction and psychology, all because of its link to stress reduction and management. In order to support sugar freedom, it’s vital that you crea