Last week I discussed the reasoning behind my decision to stop looking for the Solution, the big cure-all. I’ve come to believe that there isn’t one. Here’s what I know:
- Any food restriction plan will cause weight loss. The less we eat, the more we will lose—up to a point. It’s best if it’s a healthy diet with a lot of fruit and vegetables and some protein and a little fat, but almost any way you restrict your food will work to some extent.
- No food restriction plan will cure or even treat the emotional difficulties of sugar and food addiction. We eat too much or the wrong things or both because we are angry or sad or lonely or bored or stressed or restless. Dieting doesn’t fix this; in fact, for many of us, food restriction makes it worse.
- Weight loss alone will not cure our emotional difficulties or our addictive habits. Yes, we may look better and physically feel better and that’s no small matter. But if weight loss “cured” us, we wouldn’t go back to overeating.
- Sugar and its counterpart, white flour, is as addictive as alcohol and heroin for some of us. Abstinence is the only real treatment for the physical part of the addiction (the allergy that we have to it).
- Healing our emotions is a slow process but it can be done. Eliminating triggers and stressors is a great first step.
Are you still under the illusion that diets will cure your addiction? What supports that belief?