Listen to Jessica's experience with this programme:

If giving up sweet foods is a battle between your ever-decreasing willpower and those seemingly immoveable cravings, then it might because of the sugar rollercoaster.

You know the glorious high you get when you take the first few bites of your favourite dessert or that sugary snack you eat in secret? The relief that floods your system. It's the ultimate in comfort. It's pure bliss. It's a complete escape from all your troubles.

This is the high point of the sugar rollercoaster.

You know what happens next, don't you?

The rollercoaster plunges down.

And down.

You've been there too many times to count.

Within 10 minutes you get the sugar crash: low energy. Mood swings. Irritability. Brain fog. Just plain feeling bad.

And that is not to mention how guilty you feel for riding the rollercoaster in the first place. What about the long term effects? Weight gain. Health worries. The example you are setting your kids.

All this is a huge price to pay for that temporary ten minute life anaesthetic that the sugar high gave you. And the worst thing is you knew it would happen. Why do you keep doing this to yourself? Why does your willpower keep deserting you?

The answer is more interesting and liberating than you might realise.

Imagine A Life Without Sugar Owning You...

What Could You Do If You Were Sugar-Free?

*Rewriting your future health predictions from diabetes to low blood pressure

*Instead of depriving your sweet tooth, having enjoyable 'good enough' healthy sugar replacements that actually prevented your mid-afternoon cravings.

*Instead of enduring awkward social situations, knowing exactly how to manage parties and meals out - confidently, and without offending anyone.

*Instead of a constant battle with your weight, shedding it in a way that actually empowers you and gets easier.

*Instead of feeling like an out-of-control addict, being able to walk past the dessert aisle - or have occasional treats (and know which is the right path for you).

*Instead of using sugar as a comfort blanket, discovering tried-and-tested ways to feel better without food.

*Instead of riding the rollercoaster of sugar highs and energy crashes, balancing your hormones, energy and moods through mental rescue foods

*Channeling your guilt energy into your bigger goals: running a marathon, starting a business, making a difference to the world.

*Swap giving your power away for becoming the role model for your children around health.

Yes, But Can I Really Have All This?

That's what I used to think. For 30 years I was a sugar addict. The price I paid for those 10 minute-long chocolate highs was:

- weight gain

- mood swings

- brain fog

- irritability

- PMS to rival Attila The Hun

- a mouthful of fillings

...and a deep sense of shame and inadequacy. Even mild stress would send me straight to the nearest supermarket, into the arms of a family sized dessert I would devour in a matter of minutes.

The price was my quality of life.

A price I wasn’t prepared to pay, but like a gambler in debt to a loan shark, I had no idea how to stop paying.

Diets, detoxes, willpower. All failed. Supplements. Failed. Self-help books. The law of attraction. Hypnotherapy. Fail, fail, fail.

So what changed for me? In short, things got so bad that I just HAD to make a change.

Within 8 weeks I knew I had won.

How so?

I remember the day. I was standing in the supermarket. I had spent the previous few weeks coming up with a range of crafty and creative ways to overcome the resistance inside me. Sometimes they were questions that took me out of my compulsion and self-loathing by turning on my curiosity. Sometimes they were mindtricks - ways to fool my inner sugar addict that if I just did this one thing, I could get my fix in five minutes.

And I felt like a different person. Energy levels through the roof. Mood swings levelled out, and PMT - well, it had completely disappeared. People commented on my improved skin. I felt lighter. But the most shocking revelation of all was the following thought that kept popping into my head: I actually like myself now.

But on that day, the pull of the dirty brown junk was just too strong. In that moment, the chocolate-coloured mist came down over my eyes and I just didn't care about any of that.

I stood there, mounting a mini-rebellion in my head.

I'm having some I vowed, throwing not just the towel, but my entire laundry basket in.

I was just reaching for the junk when an entirely unexpected thing happened.

My feet turned and walked away from the dessert aisle.

And because I am attached to my feet, I had no choice but to follow.

What was going on?

I had started to retrain my brain's reward centre, which is notable for two reasons: it is much more powerful than conscious thought (because it is set up to ensure survival), and it operates separately from conscious thought.

This is why I could think all the self-sabotaging thoughts in the world, but still walk away from sugar.

Retraining my brain's reward centre is what turned my sugar addiction on its head and allowed me to reclaim my life.

In 2013 I trained in eating psychology, and now I help others liberate themselves from their eating hell.

Sugar Hijacks Your Brain's Reward Centre. Satisfy That Reward Centre, And You Are Free For Life

Most people think you need masses of willpower to give up sugar. The truth is that sugar hijacks the brain’s natural reward system, which is far more powerful than your good intentions. If you can summon just 5 minutes of willpower and find other healthy, natural ways ways to satisfy this reward system (which it was designed to respond to in the first place), you can give up forever.

The 3 and a Half Sugar Myths That Are Keeping You Hooked

Here are the 3 and a half Sugar Myths that have been keeping you from freedom from sugar:

Myth #1: Eliminate Pleasure

Extreme elimination plans (either created by an eminent doctor or your own DIY version) require the discipline of a monk also eliminate pleasure.  Your brain, which is wired by evolution to seek pleasure and avoid pain, will not put up with this nonsense.

There is another reason that neither the quick fix sugar-by-any-other-name scams or the extreme elimination programmes work: They are trying to use an external solution (a recipe book) for what is a fundamentally internal problem: your behaviour around sugar.

Myth #2: If It Sounds Natural, It's OK

The ‘have your cake and eat it’ quick fix programmes fail because they rely on substitutes like maple syrup and honey that are as bad or worse than refined sugar, because of the amount of damaging fructose these ‘health foods’ contain.  I get so angry at the celebs and marketers who have made millions off the back of the general confusion surrounding nutrition, but especially sugar. RESULT: The lies the you’ve been told about how you have given up sugar start to wear a bit thin when you see no change in your weight, energy levels, mood swings and focus. It’s like The Emperor’s New Clothes, except the only pounds you lose are from your bank account.

Myth #3: Recipes Are All You Need

Both the eminent doctors and the peddlars of maple syrup recipe books are completely reliant on the food doing all the work for you. And there is no doubt that healthy, mood-balancing replacements that avoid the sugar rollercoaster are important - but they are NOT the whole story.

You know that your sugar addiction is also an mental and behavioural issue.

And until the day that the contents of the dessert aisle are able to leap off the shelves, ambush you and stuff themselves down your throat, getting off sugar requires new thinking, a new way to manage trigger emotions and behavioural change.

Myth #4: Sugar Is Evil

When is the last time you ever saw a bag of sugar attack anyone? A pack of biscuits wielding a knife? Public policymakers may need to battle food industry giants to reduce junk food advertising, but waging an individual war on your own love of sugar is a backdoor way to give your power away to what is, after all, an inanimate substance. The trouble with labelling any foodstuff  as bad is that if you give in to temptation and eat it (as you will have done, because you just didn't understand your brain's reward system), you then label yourself as bad. Has this ever been empowering for you? Has this this ever given you the confidence to stand up to your cravings?

Don’t feel bad about having fallen for this myth because it is about as acceptable as the idea of a flat earth used to be.

And finally, here is the half-myth:

You need willpower to give up

A long time ago before I gave up sugar, I asked a gym rat with a perfect six pack: “How do you do it? Get yourself to the gym so often?”

He just shrugged, and mumbled “Dunno…you just go, don’t you?”

If I had asked him where his seemingly inexhaustible supplies of willpower came from, he would not have been able to explain.

It wasn’t willpower that made his fitness routine a no-brainer – it was neuroscience. Specifically a ridiculously simple inbuilt ability we are all born with. He clearly didn’t understand it, but he didn’t need to.

And neither do you.

All you need to grasp right now is that while you DO need willpower to give up sugar, you do not need a massive injection that keeps you on a motivational high for the rest of your life.

You see, virtually everyone misunderstands the fundamental nature of willpower: that it is a temporary but renewable resource.

Instead of change being down to being in a constant state of 100% willpower, change is down to using repeated short bursts of sticking to your goals – for very short periods.

This is 5 Minute Willpower.

Here’s The Truth: You don’t need to depend on fake substitutes that are actually as harmful as sugar or miserable, pleasure-free regimes that only a robot would accept.

Because we are all hardwired to seek pleasure, any programme that claims to help you get off sugar MUST honour this. So the challenge is to avoid (A) programmes that rely on substitutes that are either holier-than-thou and taste like cardboard – because the food rebel in you just will not put up with this level of deprivation, while (B) steering clear of unhealthy ingredients like agave nectar and maple syrup that are as bad or worse than refined sugar.

This is what I have created in Freedom from Sugar: The 14 Day Kickstarter, using a combination of ‘good enough’ fruit-based replacements that have anti-craving properties.

But more importantly, I get you to change both your behaviour around sugar and your thinking to turn this struggle into an adventure, through small lifestyle changes and motivational mindshifts such as 5 Minute Willpower that work for even the most dyed-in-the-wool sugar addicts.

Freedom From Sugar: The 14 Day Kickstarter:

The 2 Options

What Is In The Online Programme?

Part #1: The Prep Phase

Failing to plan is preparing to fail, as they say - and they are right. 

 Bruce Springsteen, when asked if he got stage nerves before his gigs, said that he consciously turned his nerves into excitement. In this first phase, you do the same and psyche yourself up in a positive way for the two weeks.

I suggest you take at least 4 days for the prep phase.

Why not get going straightaway? This part is so vital because just starting spontaneously will leave you wide open to self-sabotage.

In the prep phase:

*You will define exactly what you are giving up for the 14 days

 Most people do not eliminate all sugar, just the sugary foodstuffs or single thing they crave the most. The idea is that you gain confidence by first lasering in on the things that trigger the most out of control behaviour. Then you can target more foodstuffs in a few weeks, but feeling more empowered than you have ever felt before.

*Superpower Replacements

Your sugar addiction is hijacking a deeply ingrained, hardwired nutritional need that we have all inherited from our cavedwelling ancestors. Using processed sugar to satisfy that need is akin to giving a gambling addict a free night at the casino to help him pay his debts. The pricetag is just too much: not only obesity and diabetes but mood swings, fatigue, brain fog,and for many women raging, unnecessary PMT.

The solution is to satisfy that need with replacements (clue: none of these relies on ‘have a piece of fruit’) that satisfy that nutritional need but not only have no pricetag, but they actually level out mood swings, increase focus, reduce fatigue and can drastically reduce PMT. This is the equivalent of giving the gambler a budget and coach who checks in on him every day to keep him on track.

These are Superpower Replacements

I will give you 9 sugarholic-proof replacements that are indispensable in the early days when your hand WILL need something sweet to reach for.

When I give talks, I pass round snacks challenging the audience to identify which has processed sugar. At least 50% always identify point to one particular snack that I have named I Can't Believe It's Not Chocolate - because it's not. Don't you want to see if you can fool your friends and kids?

*The choice you don't know you have

This is a fascinating exercise which will sharpen your motivation in just a few minutes.

*Learn key points for success

How you can draw inspiration from Nelson Mandela and the basic principle underlying the whole course: The Pauly Principle.

Part #2: Cravings Busters

When you have completed the prep phase, it's time to begin. The day before your start date follow the link to The Cravings Busters section. Here you will find 8 practical strategies you can use to walk away from any addictive food – however compulsive you feel.

Part #3: Ramp Up Your Motivation

The next day - your first day of freedom - you will start getting the daily Motivational Mindshifts. In video, audio & written form, these mental and emotional boosters that take this experience from just another sugar detox to a powerful way to reclaim your life from food. They will give you that daily kickstarter to really be true to who you really are.

We are very good at reframing our past: it is easy to see – in hindsight - the value of that crappy first job, or selfish boyfriend or cheating girlfriend 10 years later – and the various blessings in disguise they offered. What we all need to do a lot more of is reframing the present, to pivot from passive victim of the evil sugar to imperfect adventurer of our own lives. This is challenging and liberating work that goes beyond your food issues and frees you to reclaim your whole life.

Here's what the Mindshifts will do for you:

What Will You Get Out Of This Programme?

Investment