As I stood in the queue to pay for my fuel the other day I noticed the sweetie/chocolate shelves beside me and it was a bizarre moment as I consciously saw the rows of chocolate bars and sweets in a different way.
In the past I would have seen comfort, a friendly face, a reward, a celebration. After I stopped eating sugar, for a while I saw temptation, an invitation, a beckoning, a question and then I became neutral, not really noticing at all, that shelf, that food, had no relevance in my life anymore.
This time however I noticed them in a different way, I saw vivid colours, garish and loud, masking a food like substance that was actually poison to my body. I felt quite disgusted and angry at the blatant lies we are being told about our 'food', that it is actually okay within our culture to grab a chocolate bar rather than lunch, for children to stop at the corner shop on the way to school and buy sweets and pop instead of breakfast.
It was fascinating to observe the change in how I now saw these once friendly, colourful shelves. It made me think about how the food industry use colour to draw us in and how we are so programmed from such a young age to associate these brightly wrapped items with all things 'happy', positive and 'right' in our lives.
It was a great moment, it made me realise how much I have healed but also pretty sobering as I was able to float above the common zeitgeist about sugar being completely socially acceptable, despite its profound affect on our health.
Okay I stand down now... are you starting to see sugary foods differently?