Episode 027—Susan Keays: Giving Up Sugar
Susan Keays, a school bus driver, wife, mother and grandmother is my guest on this week’s podcast. She is a member of Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy who has lost 80 pounds by owning the fact that she is a sugar addict, surrendering sugar to God and learning how to walk out her journey.
Giving up sugar for good isn’t an easy process for anyone. It was 20 years ago when God showed Susan that she needed to do just that. At the time she told some people in her Bible study that she felt like that was what she was supposed to do. They said, ‘That’s crazy! How would you do that?’” Susan said, “I don’t know, but it’s like an addiction to me.”
Susan shares that when they said that to her, she actually thought she might be slightly crazy. “So, when I came into your Overcomers Academy and you shared that sugar is addictive,” Susan said, “this peace came over me and I thought, I’m not trying to manufacture something to excuse my behavior.”
That was the start of owning her sugar addiction, she explains. “I knew that circumstances from my past helped cultivate my seeking food for comfort and even making food my god,” she said. “But I needed to take ownership of my issue. I am a grown woman. Regardless of what went on before, God is calling me to not eat sugar now. I got peace in hearing that you understood and that it was a real thing.”
In the three years Susan has been in the group, she has learned how to rid herself of sugar through a process we teach in the group. It’s the way to stop a bad habit and start a good one. The basic premise is to put firm boundaries around the bad habit a person wants to stop and focus on the good habit they want to start.
Susan said, “When you introduced that tool I was fascinated. Instead of doing what I’d done before and saying to myself over and over, ‘I’m not eating sugar. I’m not eating sugar. I’m not eating sugar.’ Instead my start was fixing three healthy meals each day that did not include sugar. This gave me a doable plan to focus on.
“I prayed as I was planning my menus and asked God what I should do. It kept me from eating sugar. Instead I was finding ways to have a healthier taste of sweetness like putting fruit in every meal. It gave me such encouragement and thankfulness that God was walking me through this and was using you to show me.”
Susan says she hasn’t eaten sugar since she began her journey. She adds, “But I’ve had days when my meals weren’t as healthy. You keep encouraging us to tweak those things. Learn from them and not beat ourselves up about them.”
One of the things that really helped her, Susan says, is seeing what hope looks like. “When I came into this group, I saw women who had victory. God showed me that’s what hope looks like. I didn’t have any hope. Coming into this group and seeing women who had victory, were fully engaged and going forward helped me see your hope wasn’t in you, but in God taking you on your journey.”
There is hope for anyone wanting to step out of a bad habit and into a lifestyle change. Join me and Susan as we learn together. Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy doors are open now. Go to https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-Weight-Loss-Academy/.
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