The Willpower Myth

When I think about eating sugar and flour, I admit openly and willingly that I'm torn.

On the one hand, I know WHY I need to remove them from my life and keep them removed. I know why I made this decision. I've read a lot about how awful these substances are for my body, my brain, my longevity and my overall quality of life.

And yet. And yet on the other hand, there's still a part of me, two years into this journey, that feels like I'm giving something up. That by not eating sugar and flour, life is somehow … less. It has less pleasure, less joy. I have less ability to cope.

It's a pull, no question. Are you telling me I am going to have to spend the rest of my life resisting the urge to eat sugar and flour? It makes me exhausted just thinking about how much willpower that'll take. And sad, to think of all the joy I'm missing.

What I really need is to help my brain understand, deep down, on a no-questions-about-it level, that sugar and flour as a solution to anything is just a myth and an illusion.

It's hard. Because everywhere we go, every time we turn on the TV or pass a billboard or shop for groceries, we see sugar and flour presented as a way to alter or enhance your mood.

It's absolutely expected we will use it at birthdays and graduations and weddings and job promotions to celebrate. It is essential to holidays and family get-togethers. Want to bond with a child? Bake something with them. Feeling sad or stressed out? Pop down on the couch and have some goodies. No wonder we think sugar and flour have such mood enhancing properties!

But exactly are we thinking flour and sugar will do? If it's a birthday party, we think it'll uplift us, make the occasion more joyful and fun. If it's been a stressful day, we think it'll calm us down, soothe our moods, help us relax. The exact same substances that are supposed to make a celebratory occasion more upbeat, are also expected to make a stressful day feel calmer? What is that all about? Are we really expecting one substance to create one impact on one occasion and completely the opposite impact on another?

Clearly, it doesn't. Sugar and flour aren't Willy Wonka substances that specifically adapt to whatever you are feeling. They don't adapt to alter that particular feeling. They're just chemicals. They work the same way every time.

The only thing that changes from the birthday party to the sad night on the couch is what we think sugar and flour are doing for us. It's our beliefs about what they do for us that change.

So my goal is to change my beliefs -- come to believe that deep down, no question, sugar and flour do nothing for me. They add nothing to me life. They don't add joy, they don't bring calm, they don't alter my mood.

Goals for this week: (1) start paying attention to my beliefs. What is, really, the point of eating sugar and flour? (2) Challenge any thought that pops up suggesting these substances have any point.

[Thanks to Kate Bee for inspiring this post, with a post of her own about her feelings about the myths around alcohol.]