Earlier this year, I had my second partial hysterectomy in three years. Can I be honest about the challenges that come with having surgery?
For me, a comfort complex usually kicks in. Since I wasn’t allowed to exercise this time, it became easy to let things slide and find my comfort in food. A little indulgence here, a bigger snack there.
By the end of my recovery, my scale showed an increase, but more alarming was the fact that my taste buds had no concept of self-control. I decided it was time for a self-intervention.
Over the summer I embarked on a sugar detox, cold turkey. It didn’t involve juicing or fasting…It just involved cutting processed sugar out of my diet and going back to the basic nutrition principles I believe in.
I’ll be honest. I went through several challenges going off sugar — headaches, irritability, a general “foggy” feeling that I couldn’t shake for a week.
But you know what? Two weeks in, my taste buds had been transformed! I suddenly appreciated the sweetness in fruit. I didn’t crave those sugar-filled treats I’d indulged in after surgery. My headaches were gone, and I had energy that stayed steady throughout the day, rather than spiking and dipping.
Now the point of this isn’t to convince you to go on a sugar detox. It’s an extreme step I’d taken before and entered well-informed and prepared this time around.
The point is to encourage you that it IS possible to reset your patterns. You might feel like the foods you eat control you. Maybe you plan your day around them or find yourself eating a snack, only to have your taste buds craving more.
Here’s the deal: If there’s a habit you want to change, you have to take an intentional step toward your goal.
What does that step look like for you?
Start by thinking of a food you can eliminate for the next three weeks (and by eliminate, I mean remove from your house completely). Maybe it’s that extra bag of Halloween candy that’s hiding in your pantry. Maybe it’s a jar of Nutella that calls to you late at night. (And yes, I’m speaking from experience here.)
Give yourself three full weeks without that food. See if you can stretch it to four weeks…or five…or six. Then see if you can eliminate another food next.
The farther you get, you’ll not only start noticing a shift in your taste buds, you’ll redefine what you expect of yourself.
And that’s the true power at work in this process–transforming your body and mind.
ONE SIMPLE STEP: Choose one food to eliminate from your house this week and toss it in the trash. Yep, I’m talking let the food touch that nasty chicken you cooked last night. I guarantee you won’t want to sneak anymore bites. 🙂
ONE STEP FURTHER: For the next three weeks, keep your grocery list free from the food you threw away. Then challenge yourself to keep the same food off your list for three weeks longer…or indefinitely!
*images by Ivory Mix/CreativeMarket.com
