If you feel like your relationship with sugar is less about food and more about something deeper happening inside you… this episode is for you.
In this episode, I open up about something deeply personal — my relationship with sugar.
And I start with a simple question:
What is your relationship with sugar?
Do you feel like you’re addicted?
Do you restrict it, only to find yourself coming back to it later?
Do you notice cravings show up at night?
Or do you feel like sugar is something you’re constantly fighting with?
This episode goes beyond labels like “sugar addiction” and explores what is actually happening underneath the behavior — in the brain, the nervous system, and the pattern of restriction and rebound.
My Story With Sugar
I used to believe I was a sugar addict.
And I don’t say that lightly.
I could eat an entire box of cookies without stopping.
I could go through half a cake in one sitting.
Sugar wasn’t just food for me — it felt like comfort, reward, and compulsion all at once.
I genuinely believed I had no control around it.
At one point, I was the “cookie monster” in my own life.
The Cycle I Kept Repeating
What I later realized was that I wasn’t stuck because of willpower.
I was stuck in a cycle:
- I would restrict sugar
- Feel “in control” for a while
- Eventually break the restriction
- Come back to sugar with even more intensity
And every time this happened, I would think:
“See? I have no control.”
But I was actually strengthening the very pattern I was trying to break.
What Restriction Actually Does
When I removed sugar and told myself I “can’t have it,” something interesting happened.
My brain didn’t feel disciplined.
It felt deprived.
And deprivation creates one thing: increase in desire.
The more I restricted, the more I wanted it.
Not less.
Why Some People Don’t Struggle With Sugar
I used to be fascinated by people who could have sweets in their house, take a bite, and walk away.
No obsession. No mental battle. No guilt.
For them, sugar wasn’t “forbidden.”
It was just food.
And that lack of restriction changed everything.
The Nervous System Response
When I combined restriction with fear — fear of gaining weight, fear of losing control, fear of failure — my body didn’t interpret that as discipline.
It interpreted it as threat.
And when the body feels threat, it shifts into protection.
In that state:
- cravings increase
- urges feel stronger
- high-energy foods become more appealing
- control feels harder, not easier
What looked like a food issue was actually a nervous system response.
The Shift That Changed Everything
I didn’t stop struggling with sugar by becoming more disciplined.
I stopped by changing the pattern underneath it.
I stopped feeding the cycle of:
restriction → rebound → guilt → restriction
And slowly, my relationship with sugar changed.
Not through force.
Through awareness, repetition, and safety in the system.
Struggling with emotional or binge eating? Download my free guide Calm the Craving: 7 Steps to Break Emotional and Binge Eating and finally end the cycle of out-of-control eating. Get Your FREE Guide Here: www.sherryshaban.com
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Book your FREE 30-minute Food Freedom Call and start your journey to lasting change! Schedule your call at www.sherryshabanfitness.com/clarity
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