Does the sight of biscuits in the bakery section of your local grocery store make your mouth water? For me, those biscuits and other sugary ‘treats’ have been my arch nemesis for years, my Achille’s heel to true health and healing. My desire for the sugar-hit and soft, chocolatey doughy flavour in my mouth after a stressful day, or any day really, was so overwhelmingly strong it felt impossible for me to stop at just one or two biscuits. I would binge on the whole packet if possible and I became a hangry wife-zilla if I didn’t get that habitual sugar-hit in the afternoons. I was addicted to sugar and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has felt this way… I hope that my story will give you hope because there is a way out! What seemed impossible to me then (freedom from food addiction) is now my new reality!
My Story
A few years back I got very severe eczema that was all over my legs, arms, scalp and face. This meant I couldn’t sleep at night or focus very well during the day because of the itchiness and pain. I remember asking my husband many times to hold my hands tightly in bed so that I couldn’t itch my skin because the pain and itchiness were unbearable. I felt embarrassed going out because my skin looked like a red, bubbling volcano. One morning, I couldn’t open one of my eyes properly because it was so swollen and inflamed with eczema.
I tried steroid creams and tablets and they worked for a while and then the eczema would return. I tried eating healthy and cutting out certain foods to alleviate the symptoms but I would inevitably binge out when I was feeling absolutely lousy and discouraged with my skin. I tried wearing cotton clothes, slathering my skin with ointments and wrapping my skin in Glad Wrap to reduce the pain temporarily. Safe to say, I was constantly unhappy, teary and irritable and my husband took the brunt of it. The more I struggled, the lower I sank and my addictions became stronger. When I felt like I had failed, I indulged more to make myself feel better, so the vicious cycle continued…
I felt hopeless and miserable like Paul in Romans 7:
“I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate… I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong…Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” (Verses 15, 21 and 24, emphasis added)
I knew I needed to do something differently. So, I took it to God in prayer and through God’s intervention He led me to a nutritionist who had the answers I was looking for. She had a keen interest in helping people with allergies and skin conditions like mine. She explained to me that sugar, unhealthy eating and stress are detrimental to gut health and that poor gut health was likely the underlying cause of my eczema. So, my journey towards gut-healing began.
My nutritionist shared with me the plan:
• Eliminate ALL sugar from my diet for 3 months (including honey and high-sugar fruit) to starve the bad bacteria.
• Give my good bacteria a feast of their favourite foods – veggies and fibre.
Easy, right? When I first heard this plan, it sounded like an impossible task. Was she crazy? High-sugar fruit was always my ‘healthy’ choice when I had tried cutting out sugar in the past. How would I survive without any sweet option when the cravings started?
I went home from that first appointment in mild shock. I knew I really wanted to stick with it this time. I really wanted that itch-freeness that everyone else enjoyed. I really wanted to be able to sleep at night. I really wanted to be happier. I really wanted to kick this addiction.
At that moment, the decision was made… cautiously, prayerfully, fearfully…to say goodbye to sugar addiction once and for all. As the three months passed by, I started to see God changing me. Each day, I was calling out to God for help and strength to do ‘the impossible’. God was changing my desires. My desire to be healthy grew stronger than my desire for sugar. The more benefits I felt, the more committed I was to staying away from sugar. But there were moments, a lot of moments actually, where I fell for temptation or had thoughts of wanting to give up.
It wasn’t just my gut that was healing, my mind and thinking were also being healed. God needed to heal deep inside of me, and as He did, a lasting change in my outward behaviours became inevitable. My cravings became less and less intense. My energy levels and happiness increased. My skin healed. My moods were much improved. I was a new person!
Now I don’t claim to be perfect but I can tell you this: God is good and He has given me greater freedom from the snare of my sugar addiction than I ever thought possible.
Don’t let yourself get trapped in thinking you are a failure because you fall again and again. That’s how Satan wants us to feel. That’s how Satan chains us and enslaves us to an addiction. But God’s truth is waiting to set us free from this failure mentality.
The truth is:
“The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.”
Proverbs 24:16a
Why can we get up again? Because we remember we have Jesus. We don’t let our failures and mistakes blind our eyes to Jesus’ hand reaching down to help us up.
Like Paul, I discovered the answer to the question – Who will free me?
“Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 7:25a
Before, when I fell to temptation, I stayed down and chained to it. But now when I fall, I can stand up strong and enjoy the freedom-filled life God has intended for me.
WRITER: Rachel Kenealy, attends Glenvale Seventh Day Adventist Church