How I Broke My Addiction To Sweets

(Need to catch up or not sure what this whole Food Freedom concept is about? Click here for all of my previous posts!)

For most of my adult life, I thought I was one of those people who was legitimately addicted to sweets. I dreamt of towers of cupcakes with frosting that floweth over. A stack of chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast sounded like my version of heaven. “Just one cookie” was a foreign concept. Simply the thought of foods like that had this magical, almost euphoric feeling attached to them.

But the truth is, that’s not because I was addicted to those foods. It’s because I was forbidding myself from eating them.

Browse the internet, scan Pinterest, or open Instagram and you can find hundreds of articles or influencers telling you how cutting sugar out of your life is the only way to break the addiction. There are even entire diets based around cutting out this most “evil” of food groups.

But for me, I found literally the exact opposite to be true. The more I allowed myself to eat sugar and sweets, the LESS I found myself feeling addicted to them.

Before I go on, please note that I am NOT a health/medical/mental expert, and this is just my own experience/opinions. Please seek a professional before making any changes to your health routine.

So, how exactly did I do it? Well for starters, I was heavily inspired by what I learned from the book Intuitive Eating (which, if you’ve read my other posts on Food Freedom you know I basically beat you over the head with ;)).

But even before then – and I wish I had some sort of big secret tip for how I did this – but I basically just came to a breaking point where I decided I was completely done with any and all food restrictions. I looked back at my years of dieting, all which demonized these high sugar/high calorie sweets, only to realize that I was a) then always overeating sweets b) actually gaining weight and c) feeling more and more in bondage. I figured, what I’m doing right now clearly isn’t working, so what do I have to lose?

So then it was time to embark on a very exciting (but terrifying) journey of re-implementing all of the “bad” foods that I used to forbid myself from having, and of course the majority of them were those sweets I always dreamt of. I literally made a list of these foods and was determined to check them off one at a time until they no longer had any sort of guilt or “magic power” attached to them. I wish I could take credit for this plan of action, but for the most part I followed what I found in the book Intuitive Eating.

There were some weeks I had a cupcake after lunch every single day. Dessert after dinner when dining out was an obvious yes. I made sure to always have some sort of sugary, gluten-filled treat in my apartment that I allowed myself to have whenever I wanted to.

And guess what? Not once did I overeat those sweets. I also didn’t gain weight, suddenly break out in acne, or even feel all that different physically. But even if I did, I was determined to at least see the process through. I’m not saying this is necessarily the healthiest lifestyle and certainly not one I maintain now, but it effectively removed the fear I had of sweets, as well as this addiction I thought I had to them.

These days, I definitely still have treats/dessert every single day, but that’s just because I enjoy it and have embraced my sweet tooth in a balanced way. I’m also satisfied with things like dark chocolate, nut butter, or my Cookie Dough Balls (which are my go-to lately – I always keep them on hand in the freezer!). I actually didn’t used to believe people when they said they were satisfied with dark chocolate as a dessert (I was like, come on), but now I actually get it.

I’ve also made it a point to make sure I’m getting adequate nutrition and nourishing my body with all of the vitamins & nutrients it desires to properly function, rather than “saving up” calories or carbs so I could have more treats. I’ve found that when my body is fully nourished, it also helps cut back on cravings.

With that being said, I still enjoy treats like frosting-laden cupcakes whenever I feel like it. A big principle I follow that has allowed me to maintain my version of Food Freedom is giving in to cravings as soon as I experience them, so if I find myself craving a particular sweet I make a beeline for it and (surprise) the craving goes away.

I’d love to learn more of your thoughts on this. If you haven’t yet, be sure to join my Facebook Group where we’re building an amazing community of likeminded gals discussing all sorts of topics!

You might also like:
What Food Freedom Looks Like In My Life
Practicing Food Freedom During The Holidays & Special Occasions
What I Learned When I Stopped Dieting
Maintaining Your Food Freedom When You Want To Give Up
How I Lost Weight Practicing Food Freedom
How You’re Probably Sabotaging Your Own Food Freedom