Ep. 129: Sugar Addiction with Karen Thomson - Author of “The Sugar Free Revolution” and Founder of the Harmony Eating & Lifestyle Program

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On this episode of Health Gig, our guest is the renowned health and wellness industry veteran Karen Thomson, author of “The Sugar Free Revolution,” pioneering work in the field of sugar and complex carb addiction. After battling addiction issues and receiving rehabilitation services, she realized there was a need for a support system for those battling sugar dependencies. In 2013 she started the world's first inpatient sugar and carb addiction program in South Africa. Since then, she has launched Sugar Free Revolution and the Harmony Eating and Lifestyle Program, an online webinar program, and hosted The First International Low Carb High Fat Health Summit. Her philosophy teaches that sugar and carbohydrate addiction is a disease, and participants in her programs are offered guidance and support to help adjust their behaviors and improve their lives.

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Show Notes

[1:44] From a young age, I learned that looks were the most important thing in the world. And I started having this belief that I was not beautiful and that I was not worthwhile and that I would never be good enough. And so, so much of what I did later in life, like fed into these beliefs.
[3:17] I wanted to heal myself through other people.
[4:21] That day I decided to choose life. I decided that I was going to do whatever it took to get my life back on track and to choose to live, to choose to live a life with passion and purpose.
[6:09] When I was four years old, I learned how to soothe myself with sugar and refined carbs. These external substances had different meanings to me. They had emotional meanings to me. Coca-Cola and chocolate would be synonymous with my dad coming home at night, which would mean safety and security for me.
[6:29] I got to this point where I realized that sugar was an addictive substance because even though I'd let go of all the other substances, I was still looking for this external solution to this internal problem, and sugar was a huge problem for me.
[7:07] I started the world's first impatient sugar and carb addiction program in South Africa in 2013. We did inpatient, outpatient and online programs.
[8:22] My favorite definition of addiction is the compulsive pursuit of a substance or behavior despite the negative consequences.
[9:35] We're sitting in a chronic disease crisis right now. And so much of that is driven by what we eat. And it's not caused by the whole foods that we're eating. It's caused by the refined junk food, which is a great combination of sugar, salt and fat to stimulate the bliss point, which one says leads us to eating more and never feeling satisfied.
[12:09] So my interest is more in the psychological component than it is in the physiological component, because I'm not obviously a physician. But just from my own experience of this like jail, this mental jail that we create for ourselves, that's where I was.
[19:13] Fat’s been demonized in such a big way for such a long time that it's so scary to add it back into your diet. And there's actually a term for that. It's like a phobia is the fear of fat, the fear of eating fat.
[22:04] Just take a moment and like take a breath and just like center yourselves and then put your hand on your tummy and you ask yourself: Am I tummy hungry? And that's a real physical hunger like that's - you need to eat. And then put your hand on your heart and ask yourself the question: Am I heart hungry, like, do I need love? Do I need emotion? Do I need support?
[22:46] That was a struggle for me at the beginning to really identify physical hunger because all I'd ever known was to eat emotionally.
[25:22] Never, ever compare your internal world to somebody else's external appearance because you are always going to feel either better than or worse than. [00:25:31]
[26:18] Who am I to judge myself so harshly?
[27:40] There's so much more that we need to investigate than just the number on the scale.
[30:19] If you start trying to find the sweetness in your life emotionally and spiritually within like that's when the real shift happens.
Thank you for joining us on Health Gig. We loved having you with us. We hope you'll tune in again next week. In the meantime, be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast, and follow us on healthgigpod.com.

“From a young age, I learned that looks were the most important thing in the world. And I started having this belief that I was not beautiful and that I was not worthwhile and that I would never be good enough. And so, so much of what I did later in life, like fed into these beliefs.” - Karen Thomson
“We're sitting in a chronic disease crisis right now. And so much of that is driven by what we eat. And it's not caused by the whole foods that we're eating. It's caused by the refined junk food, which is a great combination of sugar, salt and fat to stimulate the bliss point, which one says leads us to eating more and never feeling satisfied.” - Karen Thomson
“We're taught to celebrate by the consumption of sugar, not so much by the human experience or the emotional connection that we so desperately crave.” - Karen Thomsom

Keywords

#KarenThomson #SugarAddiction #SugarFreeRevolution #Addiction #JunkFood #EmotionalEating #Psychology #Weight #SelfImage #Diet #Health #Wellness #HealthGig #Pandemic #COVID19 #TriciaReillyKoch #DoroBushKoch

PodcastadminMay 5, 2021KarenThomson, SugarAddiction, SugarFreeRevolution, Addiction, JunkFood, EmotionalEating, Psychology, Weight, SelfImage, Diet, Health, Wellness, HealthGig, Pandemic, COVID19, TriciaReillyKoch, DoroBushKoch