Читать книгу Sugar Addicts’ Diet - Nicki Waterman - Страница 31

‘For me, sugar is associated with wonderful thoughts and happy memories. When I used to think of it, I felt contented. And looking back on my idyllic childhood, I understand why. Food – especially sweet food – was given to me with unconditional love and care. Each week, my grandmother would bring me freshly made fudge or toffee and it’d be handed to me with a big kiss and a hug.

‘My other grandmother also baked the most wonderful cakes – apple cake, marble cake, cheesecake – and the family would all sit down to enjoy them together. I remember going to the funfair with my parents and always having pink candyfloss and pink and white nougat. But perhaps most significant was what I did every Saturday morning, without fail, with my best mate, Tania. We’d pool our pocket money which we’d be given as a reward if we’d behaved and done all our homework that week. We’d then cycle down to the corner shop to spend the lot on pick ’n’ mix. We’d put it all on the bedroom floor and spend the entire morning playing with our dolls and working our way through our stash of sweets. We were both in heaven!

‘Also, every day after school, we took it in turns to go back to each other’s homes for tea and there would always be buttered toast with jam, French fancies, jam tarts and Wagon Wheels on the menu. Sugary foods were what I ate on happy family gatherings, fun times with my best friend and as a reward for being a good girl. How could sugar be a bad thing when it had so many good associations?

‘As a result, sugar became a sure-fire way of making me feel happy. Even if things were going wrong in my life, I knew I could always get a high – however temporary – from eating sugar. It took me back to those “happy places” of my childhood. But as all sugar addicts know, this love of sugar – wherever it stems from – comes at a price.

‘In many ways, my overwhelming desire to eat sweet foods felt physical – I’d experience the sugar highs and lows throughout the day as a matter of course, and would reach for sugary foods to keep me feeling balanced. But there’s no doubt in my mind that my sugar addiction had extremely strong emotional roots, too, stemming from positive childhood messages about sweet foods. I also know I have an addictive personality, which doesn’t help in my fight to do things in moderation – including cutting back on sugar. In my experience, beating sugar addiction needs a two-pronged approach. You need to work at the physical side, through nutrition and exercise, but understand when, where and why the emotional side starts kicking in, too.’