Ari vs. Sugar Dragon!

[Ari.]

I finished my Whole30 a couple of days ago, and I was feeling amazing. I was wavering between going for a Whole60 or entering the reintroduction phase. I had decided to go for the Whole60 and the next day I made sure to eat plenty of chocolate.

Wait...what?!

I hadn't even planned on reintroducing sugar! That sneaky little dragon. Alright, so clearly I had underestimated the strength of old habits. How could I forget that I always make it to 30 or 31 days before I regress to old habits for several weeks just to make sure I've undone any progress I've made. Anyway, I don't want this to be a defeated and fatal post- I guess I am creating a paper trail of the "different phases of my journey". Because all I need to do is keep going forward. On my last Whole30 I was pretty good about limiting fruit and did not feel that the little bit I had caused any psychological damage. But maybe my sugar dragon is so evil that it can sustain itself even on trace amounts of unprocessed sugar.

Among several other things I learned on my first Whole30, here is something that I am still trying to process: it's not even about sugar. I have an unhealthy relationship with food. Period. Who wants to sit with their feelings when they can just make them go away by eating something really tasty?! That sounds like a win-win! I do have a tendency toward sweet foods, because that just happens to be my supernaturally stimulating taste of choice. But when the sugar wasn't there, I filled it's void with healthy food. So there it is: I am an emotional eater, and the fastest path to relief is through Sugar Land. I have driven through Sugar Land so many times that I don't even need a map to get there. I can literally go on cruise control and arrive in no time!

But maybe I am giving sugar too much power. If I focus so much on eliminating sugar, I might neglect the fact that I shouldn't be abusing food at all. On my second Whole30, I will eliminate fruit. But I will also spend more time assessing my relationship with food. Why am I eating after my boss gives a negative critique of my project? Why am I also eating after acing my math test? Why am I eating instead of doing my homework? AND WHAT CAN I DO INSTEAD OF EAT?! These are all things I will think about on my second Whole30.

[Tom Denham]

I agree; how you manage your feelings looks like a promising area of effort.