How to feel and be vibrantly alive

I was recently informed that a company has produced a chewing gum purposed to curb sugar cravings. Like an antabus for sugar addicts. So i decided to write this blog post about it, presenting facts along with ancestral wisdom, food for thought and philosophy.

Firstly. What is sugar addiction?

Sugar addiction is an umbrella term for individuals born with the biochemical predisposition of being sensitive towards sugar, carbs, sweeteners and e-numbers or chemically produced artificial substances, wheat, flour substitutes, grains, processed foods. Having this brain condition – which has been around since ancestral times and was beneficial back then when food was just around intermittently – means you're prone to being addicted to sugar, certain kinds of foods, alcohol, and need to abstain from your brain's drug of choice and anything that triggers it, in order to live a healthy, happy and sober life. The fundamental main medicine? Eating real and unprocessed, for example keto or carnivore, foods. Also worth mentioning: the umbrella term includes all so called "eating disorders", whose real name is process addictions. Whether it's starvation, bulimia, binge eating or other attempts to control your life by negatively controlling and punishing your body. These behaviours are about addiction. Back to the chewing gum. The idea is that if you chew the gum before eating something sweet like chocolate, you're instantly gonna want to spit out the chocolate, due to the gum (quote from their web site) "blocking the sugar receptors on your tongue".

So why am I hesitant about this product?

1. There are no shortcuts to changing your behaviour. If you want to ditch the habit of eating things that you know are not good for you, you have to look to the root cause and investigate your patterns, then take the necessary steps to be able to quit the bad habit and replace it with better ones. It requires being willing to practice self-awareness, and doing the work.
   

2. If you would choose the shortcut, that means you're giving your power away and possibly choosing to be dependent on this gum for life. Because if you quit chewing it, you know you would bounce back to that chocolate, right? Also, who wants to be dependant when you can choose to put in work and then feel free for the rest of your life? Of course, actively supporting that state of freedom through small, active habits one day at a time, is needed to keep it. My point is, it's the initial work that feels hard, the rest is easier once you've formed your new habit.
   

3. Very misleading information on their web site. They promote it as made of: "organic gymnema, a 100% natural plant leaf extract". Clever move, Sweet Victory, since that's how most big food or big pharma moneymaking companies nowadays label their not so great stuff. Plant-based. The problem is that when I took a closer look on the chewing gum label (a really close look, because even with my glasses on it was difficult to figure out what the tiny text read), this is what it said: NUTRITION VALUE PER 100 GRAM Fat 0% Gymnema Sylvestre 5% Carbohydrates 70% Protein 0% Salt 0% Saturates 0% Sugars 0% Polyols 70% INGREDIENTS: Sweeteners Xylitol Sorbitol Malitol syrup Succralose (0,08%) Acesulfame K (0,04%) Gum base (contains soy lecithin) FLAVORS: Humectant, glycerol, thickener, gum arabica color E171, glazing agent, carnauba wax, antioxidant E321 WARNINGS: Pregnant women, lactating women and children should consult their doctor before using Sweet Victory Gum.
   

My conclusion in short: This is a finely wrapped chewed chemical cocktail. Sure, it does contain a natural natural ingredient like the Gymnema Sylvestre, an ayrvedic herb said to have blood sugar balancing effects, but that's only FIVE percent of the whole gum. Also, how much Gymnema Sylvestre can you really get and benefit from a gum sized to 1,4 grams? Of course, another way of looking at it could be "How much can you really hurt from a 1,4 gram gum, no matter what's in it? Well, it's a fact that chemical cocktails are disrupting our delicate innate hormonal environments, in both men and women. Why would you want to knowingly ingest that if you have a choice not to? My advice is to avoid any disruptors as far as possible. Also, I'd like to know how the lesser great ingredients in this gum affects gut health and the microbiome. Not to mention the trigger risk factor for those biochemically sensitive towards additives and sugar (which is disguised in many different names, as exampled on the gum label). Small, but existing components like sweeteners plays a risk of their brains being hijacked since those substances can trigger cravings for sugar and processed foods. Meaning in some individuals, those small yet existing substances, may result in a relapse. And components like unnatural additives, or "flavours", will have negative impact on the microbiome, for anyone. It's also a fact that any addict knows the art of overdoing anything. So even though the gum label says that maximum 5 gums per day is recommended, some people would without doubt either double, triple or simply binge away X number of gums. Healthy results? Not mucho.

There are no quick fixes if you want sustainable, long-term habits

It's easy to fall for products like these, claiming to be some sort of magic bullet. Patience isn't most people's strongest characteristic in our modern time societies, and it is no wonder! We live in challenging times and it's not always easy sticking to healthy habits and going for goals. Also, whichever characteristics we do or do not possess, it's all part of being human.

Going back into the body is the way The thing is, your body knows what is good for you and what's not. But you have to tune in and really listen. The only way to do so is to take away all those things that dim your senses. It's not easy when you're in a society built to get you hooked on more or less anything. Shopping, spending, scrolling, drinking, over-achieving, performing, being busy, posting on instagram and tik tok for showoff or likes, fake or superficial validation and instant gratification, "success" and money making... The list of process addiction behaviours is long, and it's now considered the new normal. It's easy to numb yourself with the modern process-behaviours, or processed or sugary foods, sweet drinks or "no-sugar added-but--chemical-shitstorm-cocktail" beverages that are so common today, or the old classic alcohol, or dairies and grains even.

Yes, grains. The modern kinds differ a lot from the grains us humans ate 12 000 years ago. Most modern breakfast foods that are labeled as "healthy" or "natural", are actually not. And having what's called a grain brain, is 100% real.

It can be hard to quit whichever foods or habits that are no good for you, and of course an antabus chewing gum to stay off sweets might feel intriguing. But as we all know – or will learn sooner or later in life – there are no quick fixes!

The bigger picture and lessons learned

A reason that I'm bringing up these topics is that maybe, just maybe, I can inspire and prevent somebody from entering the downwards-spiraling rabbit hole of going from one quick fix disguised as "solution", to the next. Because speaking from both personal experience and from my work as a researcher, counselor and coach, I know it's a trap. One which can easily develop into a whole pattern of searching for solutions in all the wrong places.

Why do many get stuck in these patterns? Because we live in a sickened society, where the unnatural has become "normal". Most modern lifestyle habits, foods, products, pharmaceuticals or "solutions" that surround us today, are encouraged, produced, marketed and integrated into our systems and minds by companies investing billions spreading fake messages in media and other channels, to make us...

Buy more Get inflamed, sick and addicted Buy more Stay inflamed, sick and addicted

Buy more... and keep being inflamed, sick and addicted.

The further downhill into the rabbit hole, the higher you have to climb upwards to get back on track.

If I can help anybody to avoid that trap, and to instead route into another direction to find any key or ingredient needed on their own way to real, authentic, sustainable solutions and a life in full health, I will happily do so. It will possibly lead to a hell of a lot less suffering for that somebody who tunes in. I know, because I've been there myself. This is one of the reasons I found my love for holistic health, and started educating myself within nutrition, the triune brain, metabolic health, functional medicine, the power of breath and many other things, many years ago.

The key – going back to basics, over and over again

It's not complicated, and it's not expensive (in fact most of these things are free and in front of us). It's all about tuning in with and applying a natural, ancestral-based way of life in regard to food, nutrients, movement, sleep, human connection, breathing functionally and simply repeating on a day-to-day basis. We need to go back to basics, over and over again. There are no shortcuts, there is no other way. And truthfully, there is a whole lot of beauty and simplicity to be found in doing so. The challenge is to not get distracted or hijacked by the products of modern money-makers, or the unnatural, hectic and most often also digital environments that have our sympathetic nervous system branches* light up like Christmas trees. *The sympathetic response is related to fight and flight or the panic and stress of being attacked by ancestral lions Put in your effort and win The solution is this: we need to put in real f***ing effort to be able to connect and stay aligned with our own calm and our center, and the true Self, who doesn't allow letting the years pass by while being ruled by adapting to somebody else's idea of how life "should" be or who you "should" be like. To be able to hear your body's needs or aches or warning signals and create the change needed, to be able to choose and stick to what's good for you, to stay emotionally or biochemically sober and present, and to be able to feel and be vibrantly alive. This once was our normal way of being, but most don't get to experience it, even though we're still genetically blueprinted and built for this state of feeling and thriving. Because modern lifestyle (and other dysfunctional factors) makes you numb. But that's not what your built for. You are biologically still meant to be feeling and experiencing life in technicolor (meaning having mentally healthy, happy and balanced brains) along with all the other juicy benefits of how our ancestors lived, loved and breathed. It's 100% possible. No matter how far down the rabbit hole you may be. All it takes is the right navigation, time and repetition. Sometimes, support (and asking for help or coaching is not a weakness but most often a human and also connection-inducing necessity). Then it will be like a second nature to you. It's all about re-wiring your brain, through habit. One step, one choice, one day at a time. With love/Hanna

P.S. Good choices work like ripples on water too. The more you choose to take good care of you, the more you are able to do for, and be of service to, others. So love yourself, and love it forward. the world needs you. D.S