Harnessing the sugar dragon

[AllyB]

I wrote this in reply to another thread, but it got off on a tangent, so I thought I would just start a new topic.

 

I believe that some people (like me) will never tame the sugar dragon or make it go away.  I don't know why, but I still have regular cravings and I doubt they will ever go away. I made it through my whole30 with terrible cravings and now two months post whole30, I still have some cravings.  I've been sticking mostly to whole 30 eating with a few non-compliant meals out for special occasions during that two months.  So it's not like I've gone back to eating a lot of sugar.

 

I have decided to try to harness the feeling of the sugar cravings in a way that energizes me.  It's hard to explain, so I'll give you an example.  Yesterday after I ate my lunch (grassfed chuck roast rubbed in paprika and slow cooked in a bunch of sliced onions, roasted sweet potato rounds drizzled with coconut oil and salt and nom nom paleo's sautéed cabbage), I had a sugar craving.  Certainly, it was a  very filling and delicious lunch.  So there was no need for me to be wanting more.  

 

I work in an office environment where there is a junk food machine (I no longer call it a snack machine) and kitchen.  In the kitchen, someone left a big sugary cake from publix.  I was irritated by the temptation of this.  So I sat at my desk and thought about my craving.  I knew if I ate some oreos from the junk food machine, I would get all sleepy an hour later.  I knew if I ate some nasty cake, I would be mad at myself later.  So not worth it.  So I sat there annoyed, staring inwardly at my craving.  

 

It stared back.  Poke poke poke.  Get up, go get something.  Poke poke poke.  Get up, feed me.  I want sugar.  Poke poke poke.  I resisted because I knew the sugar would just drain my energy.  Then it hit me....the sugar craving was actually 'energy'.  Maybe a negative energy at that particular moment, but it was still energy spurring me on to do something.  What an epiphany!

 

So that's when I decided to turn things around and try to harness the feeling of the sugar cravings in a way that energizes me.  I want to use that uncomfortable feeling of the sugar craving to give me the energy to go do something else.  It's like I'm telling the sugar dragon, 'It's not my problem, it's yours.'

 

So I got up and walked across the building to talk to someone I needed to discuss some things with but had been putting it off.  The sugar dragon motivated me (in a not so nice way) to get up and stop procrastinating. 

 

I don't think I will ever get rid of cravings, but I think now, I'm going to have them work for me instead of against me.

[LadyM]

I love this! You may have to live with your sugar dragon, but it's not in charge. What a great way to reinvision energy, regardless of its source, as a neutral force you can use at will. Brilliant.

[LisaLulu]

My sugar dragon is telling me I'm tired. Because I can't feed it anymore I grab a cup of herbal tea and relax for a few minutes which solves things. Now when I feel tired my first thought is that I want some hot tea. 

[LadyM]

I use the same trick, LisaLulu. But then I realized I was using coconut milk in that tea as a sugar crutch, so now I'm weaning myself from that. Tweaking our habits is the name of the game!

[LisaLulu]

I don't put anything in my tea anymore (I used to put a lot of sugar or have hot chocolate or an actual chocolate bar), it's just the act of sitting down and relaxing that my body is actually craving, not the sugar in the drink so now that i've removed that I am giving my body what it needs without the harm. I think the hot drink signals me to relax but without the sugar it's not doing me any harm. Actually I suddenly want a tea right now!

[GlennR]

Nice jujitsu moves, everyone! I think these are great ways to handle sugar cravings.

[Noelle]

This technique is genius, Ally! I've mostly been treating the "poking" like other people's chatter at the movies: annoying, but best just to ignore and focus on the movie (i.e. the task at hand, my environment, etc.). But I like your harnessing idea so much better: using the cravings to actually DO something! Awesome.