Emotional Eating: My Story Of Winning Sugar Addiction

Sugar addiction and emotional eating are perhaps the most common problems in modern society. Maryana Selezneva knows how to beat it.

Emotional Eating: My Story Of Winning Sugar Addiction

Excess sugar consumption is one of the main causes of obesity and diabetes. Emotional eating may cause psychological problems. Here is a personal story that can inspire you on your way to a healthier lifestyle.

There are a lot of tips and advice you can find on the Internet but if it quite hard to follow rules if you do not empathize stories behind them. I would like to share my personal story and I hope that it can help someone who wants to change lifestyle but does not know how to start.

Of course, everyone knows that there are scientifically proven methods that can help reduce or get rid of sugar cravings such as taking vitamins with chromium, eating foods containing magnesium, increasing the consumption of fiber, switching to natural sugars, using spices, and so on. However, all these hacks will not work without changing your way of thinking. This is what I dedicate my story to.

To tell the truth, it is hard to refresh old memories and talk about hard periods in life. All of us experience challenging times regularly. For me, the most difficult time was in secondary school when my weight reached the highest point ever. At that time, I acquired a huge bag of complexes. Self-doubt has become my main characteristic. I did not know how to deal with it in the right way. The only cure for the problems I found was sugar. I looked around and all the girls in my class ate a lot of sweets and chocolate. They drank cola of sweet tea instead of a fulfilling meal. I thought it was fun and started doing the same but then it was the moment when I lost control. I did not notice when started using Alpen Gold bars as a way to relax and forget about a bad grade or dissatisfaction with my reflection in the mirror.

You may ask what the main point of this article is. The answer is simple. Changing my way of thinking and as a result – refusing sugar made my life happier!

This may sound like exaggeration or hypocrisy.

In fact, the only thing you should understand and, in this way, the insight of my story is that when you feel lonely, empty, angry, or sad – express it somehow. You should not use sugar to make yourself feel better. That does not mean that you must stop eating sweet food and enjoying it. It will not make you feel better and maybe even provoke an eating disorder.

You have two ways to deal with emotional eating:

  1. The first one is just finding a way to express feelings. Do something and change your mood in a different way but eating something sweet. It can be anything – working or studying, hobby, or just walking in a park breathing in the fresh air.
  2. The second way is talking to someone. You should not be scared or ashamed to tell family and friends about what worries you. You might think that your problem is not so important or people can consider it meaningless. However, it's a very significant step not only for dealing with emotional eating but also for learning how to accept help accept someone else's empathy that can be a healing experience.

I also want to share my personal results. After excepting that I have a problem at first I told my close friend about my feelings and admitted that at that moment the craving for sweets disappeared.

My friend advised me to talk with family members and share everything with them. It was a hard task but I did it and now do not regret it. We gathered a «family council» and decided that I was too obsessed with my grades, so my mother suggested finding a new hobby that I had been putting off for a long time. I started creating colorful knitted bracelets and helping my mom. She is a designer of accessories and is working at school with children teaching them how to make different things. I gave her some new inspiration and ideas.

As a result of changing the way of problem-solving I got an opportunity to transform a bad habit into a new hobby and in addition to this, learned how to share feelings or ask for advice and help.

I hope that my story will make you feel better and instead of searching biscuit after finding a pimple on your face you will go and tell your best friend. I assure you that he or she can sincerely empathize with your big problem.

Text by
Maryana Selezneva