I need some help cleaning up my diet, which I think is my greatest performance limiter.
I have a sugar addition. Seriously, it's a real addition, harder to kick than nicotine for me. Sometimes I'll go a few days and clean things up, but then I'll crack one day (usually under stress) and binge. I feel powerless. It usually just starts with "oh, I'll just treat myself to one square of chocolate" after lunch. Next think you know, I've scarfed two entire candy bars and then eat half a pint of ice cream when I get home in defeat -- if I'm going to." There are many drug addicts and alcoholics in my family... some deceased, some recovered, some somewhere in between. The pattern of behavior is very similar, just substitute sugary foods for alcohol/pills/etc.
I'm blessed with a great metabolism, so I'm lean -- not "ripped" but chiseled enough that my wife gets jealous of the positive attention if we're sitting by the pool. But I know that eating as much sugary crap as I do throughout the day is not healthy. It interferes with my moods, energy levels, and I suspect performance. Since getting into triathlons a couple years ago, it seems like the sugar addition has gotten worse, perhaps because I can get away with eating even more.
Are there other people who have suffered with eating additions here. How did you eventually kick it? I'm open to anything, books, support groups, online CBT programs. I just don't have time to see a therapist face to face -- maybe as a last resort. But I do need help.
It would be easy to say "dude, just toughen up and be disciplined and quit cold turkey" but it's harder than that, as anyone who has struggled with real additions knows.
I have a sugar addition. Seriously, it's a real addition, harder to kick than nicotine for me. Sometimes I'll go a few days and clean things up, but then I'll crack one day (usually under stress) and binge. I feel powerless. It usually just starts with "oh, I'll just treat myself to one square of chocolate" after lunch. Next think you know, I've scarfed two entire candy bars and then eat half a pint of ice cream when I get home in defeat -- if I'm going to." There are many drug addicts and alcoholics in my family... some deceased, some recovered, some somewhere in between. The pattern of behavior is very similar, just substitute sugary foods for alcohol/pills/etc.
I'm blessed with a great metabolism, so I'm lean -- not "ripped" but chiseled enough that my wife gets jealous of the positive attention if we're sitting by the pool. But I know that eating as much sugary crap as I do throughout the day is not healthy. It interferes with my moods, energy levels, and I suspect performance. Since getting into triathlons a couple years ago, it seems like the sugar addition has gotten worse, perhaps because I can get away with eating even more.
Are there other people who have suffered with eating additions here. How did you eventually kick it? I'm open to anything, books, support groups, online CBT programs. I just don't have time to see a therapist face to face -- maybe as a last resort. But I do need help.
It would be easy to say "dude, just toughen up and be disciplined and quit cold turkey" but it's harder than that, as anyone who has struggled with real additions knows.