Forget Willpower – Change your Perspective instead

Between my teens and twenties, I did every diet going; the stanky-breath ones, the stankier-fart ones, the ones that can make a person lose all hope in life…

The only thing I gained was pounds.

And the knowledge that willpower just doesn’t work.

Recently, I read Alan Carr’s, ‘Good Sugar, Bad Sugar,’ because although I’m happy generally with my diet, I’m increasingly aware that I’m still feeding my body a lot of things that are just crap. Because donuts.

Carr has coined his programme the ‘Easy Method,’ essentially because it doesn’t rely on willpower but rather asks you to work on changing your perspective.

Rather than seeing processed sugar as a treat or reward, you learn that in fact, this substance doesn’t have any nutritional value, which is why only humans or animals eating a man-made diet are prone to obesity. You’re tasked to eat sugary foods mindfully, really noticing whether the taste comes from the sugar, or from the natural items the sugar is combined with.

You’re shown a path free from brainwashing and addictive need, whereby cravings are redefined as the dying of that inner-sugar addict, and sugar itself becomes less of a reward and more of a poison.

I’m only three weeks in, so I won’t get on my soap box quite yet…

But I will say that despite the fact that I was incredibly skeptical, this has been the easiest non-diet I’ve ever done.

Despite the fact that my diet appears much more limited than it has been, and that the first fortnight saw me drained of energy; I swear that there hasn’t been a single day when I’ve felt deprived.

Instead, I feel empowered. I feel as if I’m breaking the chains of a life-long addiction. I feel as if I’m increasingly free.

Regardless of what happens along my path to quit sugar, I know that the next time I’m facing a situation which seemingly requires more willpower… I’ll consider a change of perspective instead.