When you make changes in your life, you will experience withdrawal.

I know, this isn’t what you want to hear!

Whether you consciously choose to change or an involuntary life event forces you to change, you will face withdrawal.

The discomfort of leaving your past behind, and evolve into the person you are becoming, produces withdrawal symptoms.

Changing and evolving is an uncomfortable process.

Your brain likes to be efficient and safe, which means staying the same.

This is the opposite of change and growth.

When you are on your way to becoming someone who doesn’t struggle with food, your brain’s efficiency slows as you do the hard work of incorporating new thoughts, feelings, and food habits!

Changing the neuropathways in your brain takes practice and effort.

Your brain will want to default back to the way you have always thought and have done.

Your brain perceives any change as dangerous and unsafe.

New thoughts and a new way of eating will make the brain think it’s heading into dangerous territory, even though it’s positive changes.

Think of the possibility of a new job that could be substantially better than your current one. One with great benefits, a fantastic atmosphere, and higher pay! Of course you want the new job, but it will be very uncomfortable quitting the old job and transitioning into the new position.

Whether you transition into marriage, or parenthood, or whether you change medications, diets, or careers, your body and brain will freak out.

You are adjusting to a new reality. Knowing that even positive choices like marriage or a new path in life will be difficult, it doesn’t stop you from doing them!

You are all in!

Changing your food habits forever is no different. You will create new patterns, and your brain will want to go back to soothing with food. Your lifestyle will shift, and you will for sure face withdrawal! The discomfort of adjusting to someone who doesn’t obsess about food, but instead handles his or her problems, will be an entirely different reality than your current one.

Do you want the healthy body and mind on the other side of change, or are you going to skip it because parts of the journey will be uncomfortable?

“Nah, I stick with this old job, it’s comfortable! No higher pay and better benefits for me! I’d rather stick with the old one.”

The process of embracing food freedom will be the same, very uncomfortable but amazing on the other side.

When you choose not to consistently eat food that support your body you are choosing to stick with the old crappy job just because parts of the transition are uncomfortable.

You will have to go through a short period of adjustment and withdrawal, but on the other side is completely ridding yourself of the obsession with weight or health issues.

Thought and habit withdrawal is one kind of discomfort. Food, medication, or any other chemical substance withdrawal is a different type of misery.

When you are habitually eating processed foods, your body becomes addicted and dependent.

So, when you remove them, your body will go through withdrawal!

The withdrawal symptoms can vary from person to person.

The list above includes some of the symptoms you may experience, but you also may have symptoms that are not listed.

This may freak you out, but the withdrawal period only lasts for a short time.

The withdrawal period may not be pleasant, but it is necessary for growth and healing.

If you never take the steps of removing processed or offending foods out of your everyday diet, you will miss the opportunity to experience how awesome it will feel when you don’t have low-grade misery.

You also won’t be able to incorporate your desire, taste, and habits of healthy foods.

Your brain will never choose lower dopamine producing foods when it can have a bigger rush of dopamine.

Who wants an apple when you can have an apple danish?

Of course, you will choose the food that produces a bigger dopamine rush.

Your brain is programmed to want more dopamine.

Your primal mind seeks pleasure and has been wired to do so.

The challenge of overriding your brains survival neuropathways is the reason most people never change.

When you only eat lame whole foods, you short circuit the “dopamine rush” part of your brain.

Our brain’s programming is precisely the reason we aren’t going to naturally choose whole foods over processed snacks.

This is why most people are becoming more and more unhealthy.

To change this, you must override your natural biology's desire for dopamine and when you do this long enough, new neuropathways develop and the old neuropathways die.

When your old neuropathways die, you will feel extremely uncomfortable.

Withdrawal of old neuropathways can feel briefly like anxiety or depression.

We want to skip over this part, but it's inevitable.

Are you willing to go through it for a better, healthier life?

Or do you want to be comfortable and stay the same?

When you change your thoughts and eating habits, you must plan for your brain to revolt against every move you make. Your brain thinks it is keeping you safe. You must prepare for your brain freak out and to start having physical withdrawal symptoms.

Are you running away as fast as possible? This sounds super fun doesn’t it?!

If you begin any journey with self-care, it will be a much smoother ride.

Plan your journey through the withdrawal period and make sure to pack it full of self-care.

Failure happens when you change the way you eat with diet mentality and willpower.

This mindset will eventually wear you out.

When you approach change with compassion, you plan for all of the possible pitfalls and create a supportive system for success.

You create a step by step care plan and love yourself through the process.

You plan for the fails, mess ups, and learning curves.

You learn that indulging in food for relief doesn't solve the underlying problem.

You realize it is a form of self-abuse.