Everyday Systems

One of the big mental obstacles I faced when I started No S Diet was the idea that I was "addicted to sugar" ... i have been "sober" for over 20 years from alcohol and for over 20 years had been trying to make Overeatears Anonymous work for me the way Alcoholics Anonymous did. I was completely convinced that I was addicted to sugar and the only solution would be 100% sugar abstinence. (note: have not gone to AA meetings for years, although I personally choose to stay sober because I like it)

Anyway, I could never go more than that dreaded one year without sugar. When I first picked up the No S Diet book at Barnes and Nobles and read the cover I loved the No Sweets, No Seconds, No Sugar ... [what hardcore dieter wouldn't?] but when I got to the except on days that start with "S" I got a little wiggy.

But after purchasing and reading the entire book that day I had a huge mental paradigm shift ...

WHAT IF ... I am NOT addicted to sugar?

WHAT IF ... I just have a really bad habit?

When I picked up the book I was not going to "do" the S days, that was just going to be for you wimps out there who needed them but by the time I finished the book I was like ... OKAY ... how liberating if I JUST HAVE A REALLY BAD HABIT and I became willing to do the S days ... Of course I wasn't going to have ANY NWS days but that shifted pretty quickly too,

DID I OVER DO SUGAR/SWEETS on my S DAYS AND NWS DAYS?
absolutely?
Did the first time we make homemade blueberry pie I eat half the gosh darn pie in one day?
absolutely
DID I PANIC and try to TELL MYSELF ...
Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeee YOU REALLY ARE A SUGAR ADDICT, of course, but fortunately I came to beleive Reinhard's insistence that I just had a really bad habit rather than an addiction and now ... hmmmmmmm.... just don't see my self as a sugar addict .... I am pretty sure, I JUST HAD A REALLY BAD HABIT

Anybody else struggle with these same issues?

Blueskighs

This is exactly what I'm going through right now! Sugar has been the bane of my existence for a long time and it's only now that I'm getting a grip on it. Snacks and seconds rules were the first ones I followed to the letter and still do. That was easy!

I made sure not to change the amount of sugar I use in my only cup of proper filtered coffee for the day that I have in the morning. The no snacks rule takes care of any other extra sugar or salt I might have had otherwise.

But the weekends! "Don't be an idiot" rung in my ears even as I worked my way through my beloved Polo every Saturday and Sunday. But I couldn't keep away. It's only now, over the past three or so weekends that I am noticing that I don't really enjoy it that much and am ready to cut back to smaller quantities - but not really to give up entirely, yet! That's a huge step forward for me and am really kicked about it. Already, my Fridays don't pass by in anticipation of indulging my sweet tooth in the next two days. I admit I even cheated by having a few on Friday (late) night being unable to wait any longer. I compensated by treating Sunday post-noon as the start of the official NoS.

My behaviour about sweets had been pathetic for a while now but sticking to NoS come hell or high water has done me a lot of good. I can feel the craving easing away and hopefully I'll have a few normal S weekends to report before too long.

I think part of the problem is that sugar really is addictive. If I have a NWS day in conjunction with my weekend S days, I crave sugar the days after. Two S days doesn't really do this, but three days with sweets definitely gets me programmed for more.

But... it's also a habit. For me, the hardest thing is to go to a film and not eat something sweet. It's not that I need the sugar, but oh how "right"it feels.

My "weigh-in" on this topic...

I have tweaked No-S (as Blue knows) so that on N days I eat no sugar and no flour products. I also have changed my definition of the S days. Basically, an S day for me is a special day. It can be (and usually is) on the weekend, but it doesn't have to be, and this way not all Saturdays and Sundays are free reign. I went through this past weekend without any sugar or flour products. It was easy. There was nothing special going on and no tempting sweets around. Why go looking for it, if it's not calling me?

I do believe that when I put sugar and/or flour into my system it sets me up for cravings. My body wants more of it. This is different for me, though, than saying I have an addiction to it. Because, for me, it is controllable with willpower and honesty to myself. An addiction is beyond my control. When I have binged, I think that's what an addiction must feel like - I just can't seem to stop, even though I want to. And when I eat this way, I don't binge. I'm satisfied. I still follow the no snacks and no seconds rules, pretty much, even on S-days to avoid turning eating into a binge, mostly because they can also set me up to binge.

So, for me, I think that it mostly is about habit, but I think once I start eating lots of sugar and flour, it becomes physical and then feels like an addiction.

Savita,

COOL! sounds like you are doing great! it is a tuff habit to break but i beleive it really is absolutely breakable, part of the thing i think is really BELEIVING we can, that is where Reinhard's book really helped me, it really made me open up my mind and see it is possible,


Betty and Jill,

I have certainly found that if i eat too much sugar i do want more, that is where just continuing on has helped ... you know just letting myself have what i want on S days and then back to those good N days, I also find when I string NWS and S days together I get kind of wiggy, but sometimes i think it is just the lack of structure, truthfully i don't think we were ever meant to eat sugar in the quantities that i have indulged in for most of my life, but then again, as i said, i had a REALLY BAD SUGAR HABIT

Blueskighs