Is sugar the pacifier you use to calm down when you feel stressed? For many of us, the belief that sugar is a pacifier to calm negative emotions stretches back to childhood.
For me, sugar was not only a reward for good behavior as a child, but it comforted my loneliness. When my mother left me with the sitter to go to work, she would often give me “candy money” so that I could go to the corner store.
Being a child, I did not know how to process feelings of loneliness.
But I had the candy. The candy made me feel better.
As an adult, I know why the candy made me feel better. Dr. Elliot Blass of Cornell University once did a study of newborn babies and their reaction to sugar. When sugar water was given to them, their crying times decreased from 40 percent to 3 percent.
It turns out that sugar hijacks pain-killing receptors in our brains via the Dopamine Reward Pathway (DRP). The scary thing is that drugs like morphine and cocaine use the same pathway.
Even though we know as adults that an addiction to sugar is making us gain weight and ruining our health, we still find ourselves running back to the same childhood coping methods.
But I’m here to tell you that freedom is possible.
To overcome, you must:
- Identify your unique sugar practice pattern
- Eat foods that re-balance your brain
- Learn how to manage your emotions in health-building ways
In Jeremiah 33:6 the Lord promises: “I will bring it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.”
You need a revelation as to what sugar meant in your life and how to change your thinking today.
With small steps, you’ll learn to find stress relief and fulfillment in better ways. You can do this!
With God’s help, I no longer eat my feelings using sugar, refined carbohydrates and junk foods. I created the “Feel Good Meal Plan” as part of the Take Back Your Temple program because I want you to experience the same freedom.
So many of our mood swings and depression occur because the enemy takes advantage of biochemical imbalances in our brains. However, when we eat to maintain emotional stability, we can shut that door in the enemy’s face!
That leaves us free to trust God with our emotions. In that way, we can finally start living the abundant life Jesus came to give us. {eoa}
Once 240 pounds and a size 22, Kimberly Taylor can testify to God’s healing power to end binge-eating. She is an author and the creator of the Christian weight-loss website takebackyourtemple.com. Visit today for inspirational health and weight-loss tips.
This article originally appeared at takebackyourtemple.com.
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