It’s now 11 weeks into my No-Sugar diet and things have settled down in the food area. The breakfast menu varies from Rice or Quinoa Porridge or Spelt Pancakes to boiled eggs. My lunch varies according to the salads in the fridge but is often Rye crackers with humous, tomato, scallion, cucumber and grated carrot. And dinner is easy because there was never any sugar in dinner! (Well… except for cheese, which believe it or not is a kind of sugar in digestion!).

But a funny thing has started to happen: Other stuff has begun to shift!

I got a toothache 3 weeks ago. Very painful but it was possible to relieve it with tapping (EFT). Anyway that led me to a holistic dentist who told me my jaw was out of alignment and I needed to go to a chiropractor. So this week I visited Nolene a chiropractor in Greystones and I am amazed by how flexible I feel. Flexible in my movements but also in my thinking. It’s like a space has opened up around my head.

The x-rays she took showed a twisted spine that “must have caused you to be stiff?”. Oh… but I only know how stiff I was because I am so free and flexible now! I didn’t realise how numb I was to the things that were causing me damage. I couldn’t feel pain until it was really bad. Since going to Nolene if I’m sitting or standing in an awkward position I notice straight away and shift my body to a more comfortable position.

This got me to thinking about being “stiff” in other areas of my life.

When I began the No-Sugar diet back in May, I was very stiff in my thinking about sugar – I had to have the sugar fix after every meal; it was impossible for me to live without biscuits, buns or cakes; a cup of tea only works with a chocolate snack.

I was stiff in my thinking about sugar, but was I also numb to the damage sugar was doing to me? What would it be like if I became aware as I ate of “awkward” eating and then straight away shifted my body to comfortable eating. (By “comfortable eating” I mean eating food that makes my body well, no pain or bloating or blood sugar imbalances like the shakes). That would be miraculous! And I want that. I want to be able to notice straight away that I am uncomfortable or off-balance and stop eating that food.

With the No-Sugar diet I have been re-training my taste buds away from the addictive sugar and towards the vegetables and wholemeal grains. In the past 11 weeks I have not given myself permission to choose one or the other because my sugar craving took the choice. Soon it will be time to allow my body to choose and then it will be as ready to choose comfortable eating as it is to choose a comfortable sitting position.

Another thing is happening: It seems like when I made the decision to give up sugar and gave it up, my requirements began to line up, things began to fall into place, doors began to open. Like the friend who knew a herbalist, the Recipe Book, the toothache (yes, even that!), the holistic dentist (who used tapping), the chiropractor (who lives 3 minutes away and is brilliant!).

As Joseph Campbell said

… follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.

Campbell noticed that some people lived their lives not doing what they wanted (or loved) to do. They worked hard at what they “should” or “must” do. From time to time he used to talk to his students individually about their studies. Whenever a student would start to talk about something that really excited them, Campbell could see the change in them. He would watch as their eyes lit up and they became animated. This was it! This, he guessed, was their rapture – their bliss.

For a long time I wanted to eat healthily, to choose the things I wanted to eat. For the first time it looks like this is possible. I will keep you posted.