What Is This Episode About…

Just because you’re free from your addiction doesn’t mean it’s out of your life! You might run into the temptation over and over, so how do you handle that?

We’ll take sugar addiction, for example. That’s a very common one. Most of us on the Code Red lifestyle are recovering sugar addicts. It’s so hard because recovering drug addicts don’t keep drugs in their pantry, but as for recovering sugar addicts, the sugar’s everywhere. 

So you might have kicked your sugar habit, but that doesn’t mean that it’s completely out of your life. It’s not out of your life. It might be out of your pantry, your desk drawer at work, your glove box, your little hidden compartments. I have a relative that hide sugar all over the house.

When you’re getting rid of all that, you’re rooting it out of your life, but it, unfortunately, is still in the world and it’s still around us. So you’ve got to find a way to deal with the fact that you’re still going to be bombarded by it.

We put safeguards in place on the Code Red lifestyle to make sure you do not go back to your old ways and you’re able to stay on the straight and narrow. 

Our top three rules in Code Red – The first one is you always drink your water every day, the amount that you need. You always get on that scale every morning. And the third rule is you never, never, never say it with me. You never, never, never allow sugar to stay in your house. 

And we put these safeguards in place to protect you, to protect you from you. Because willpower ain’t enough. 

Stay tuned to know more.

Key Points of Discussion

• You might have kicked your sugar habit, but that doesn’t mean that it’s completely out of your life (2:40)
• We put safeguards in place on the Code Red lifestyle to make sure you do not go back to your old ways; the top three rules in Code Red (3:35)
• We are telling corporates to quit putting sugar-vending machines, soda, and juice, in the break room (6:31)
• It does get easier the longer that you’re in this lifestyle, but it doesn’t go away (7:22)
• You don’t go back to the same hangouts with the same friends that drink, but sugar’s everywhere… (8:59)
• You’re going to have problems. That’s just how life is (10:38)
• You can put measures in place to make sure that you’re not bumping up against that problem quite as much (12:57)
• It’s important that you have a community, a support system, and accountability (13:16)
• The Code Red community is strong. We love you, and we’ll come around you (14:08)
• You clean out your cupboard, your fridge, your glove box, and your desk at work (14:42)
• Don’t get that righteous, that better than thou attitude (16:15)
• Let your testimony speak for itself. Don’t judge people (16:43)
• You keep getting healthy. You keep your “why” in your mind (19:52)

Learn More About The Content Discussed…

Get the Code Red On-The-Go Guide here.

Join the next 10-Pound Takedown Challenge here.

When Was It Released…

This episode was released January 15, 2020

Episode Transcript…

The Transcript Is Auto-Generated And May Contain Spelling And Grammar Errors

00:00          I am so glad that you no longer have your addiction or your situation, your problem, whatever is going on with you. I am so glad, but that is not like the end-all-be-all, like that is not just all. There you go. I tackled my sugar addiction. I tackled my smoking addiction. I’m not addicted to alcohol anymore. I’m not addicted to porn or whatever the heck your problem is anymore. Well, that means it’s just no. See, it’s still in the world. You’re still going to come in contact with it all the time.

00:32          I’m Cristy Code Red and you’re listening to Rebel Weight Loss and Lifestyle, where we believe food holds the power to heal or poison and we believe our society has been misled regarding proper nutrition and weight loss. You’re in the right place if you’re looking for some straight-up truth because I’m here to shed light on the lies and brainwashing that has taken place over the past five decades. Thanks so much for listening.

00:58          Welcome back to Rebel Weight Loss and Lifestyle. I am your host Cristy Code Red, author, entrepreneur, retired professional boxer. I’m happy to be here with you and I’m so happy that you are taking your time to be here with me because that means a lot to me because if you, I am climbing the ranking systems and people are finding hope and healing in this podcast and that’s all that matters to me. It really, it really is all that matters to me that you get value from this, that you glean some sort of support and some sort of encouragement from my podcast. That is exactly what I want. Today, I’ve got a good one for you. Of course, I think they’re all good ones or I wouldn’t be talking about them, but this today, we want to talk about being free from your problems. So just because you’re free from your problem doesn’t mean the problem just disappears from your life.

01:48          Think about that. Just because you are set free from your situation, your addiction, your problem, your hang-up, whatever’s going on. Does it mean that this just goes away? It’s still going to be there. I got news for ya. It’s still going to be there and I am so glad. Listen, I am so glad that you no longer have your addiction or your situation, your problem, whatever is going on with you. I am so glad, but that is not like the end all be all like that is not just all, all. There you go. I tackled my sugar addiction. I tackled my smoking addiction. I’m not addicted to alcohol anymore. I’m not addicted to porn or whatever the heck your problem is anymore. Well, that means it’s just no. See, it’s still in the world. It’s still out in the world. It’s still, you’re still going to come in contact with it all the time.

02:40          I got news for you, so you need to be prepared for that. You need to be aware of that. You need to know that that’s going to happen and how do you handle it? We’ll take sugar addiction, for example. That’s a very common one. Most of us on the Code Red lifestyle are recovering sugar addicts. It’s so hard because look, recovering drug addicts don’t keep drugs in their pantry, you know, but recovering sugar addicts, it’s just still everywhere. It’s everywhere. So you might have kicked your sugar habit, but that doesn’t mean that it’s completely out of your life. It’s not out of your life. It might be out of your pantry, your desk drawer at work, your glove box, your little hidden compartments. I have a relative that hide sugar all over the house. Yeah, I don’t think she listens to the podcast, so I all, I think I’m all right.

03:35          But I mean, you know, I mean that’s rooting when you’re getting rid of all that, you’re rooting it out of your life, but it, unfortunately, is still in the world and it’s still around us. So you’ve got to find a way to deal with the fact that you’re still going to be bombarded by it. I’m sorry. That’s just the way life works. We put safeguards in place on the Code Red lifestyle to make sure you do not, you’re able to not go back to your old ways. You’re able to stay on the straight and narrow. For example, one of our top three rules in Code Red. Okay? The first one is you always drink your water every day, the amount that you need. You always get on that scale every morning. And the third rule is you never, never, never say it with me. You never, never, never allow sugar to stay in your house.

04:27          And we put these safeguards in place to protect you, to protect you from you. Because willpower ain’t enough. We like to say so if your five-year-old is having a birthday party and you have cupcakes there for your five-year-old and all her friends, when the party is over the cup, creeks leave with the last child, or you take the cupcakes, you put them on a paper plate, you put saran wrap on over him and you walk them over to your neighbor, John, the sugar cannot stay in your house. So Code Red, we teach you how to navigate life with the least amount of problems with regard to your sugar addiction. You’re recovering sugar habit, right? We help you get through holidays, birthdays, vacations, anniversaries, graduation parties, all the things that are going on in life. We help you get through it. Either the seasonal things or the celebrations or the day to day things, but I’m here to tell you, you might as well just get used to the fact that it’s not going to be leaving your life.

05:29          That’s not how life works. Let’s say that you work in the hospitals. Oh my gosh. Hospital break rooms. Oh, to my nurses and my doctors. Can I get an amen? Oh, hospital break rooms are the worst. And why is that? Because the family members of the people who are in the hospital, they cook, they bake and they cook goodies and bring them into the hospital staff as a way to thank them. That’s where their way of them for taking care of their loved one. It’s just them trying to show their appreciation. Problem is, I mean, hospital break rooms are riddled with junk food riddled with cookies and crackers and donuts and muffins and, Oh my gosh, and cupcakes. Oh my goodness. I mean sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar. And when you’re on a night shift, Oh, hello, nice shift workers. Come on, you’re tired, you’re probably dehydrated and you’re going to go in there to get some sugar cause you’re going to get a quick fix, right?

06:31          So if you work in a hospital and you have kicked your sugar addiction, you still have to walk by that hospital break room door 56 times during your shift. You’re walking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, bathroom course. So just because you sure kicked your sugar addiction doesn’t mean that the problem goes away. I’d be, I wish it did. That’s what Code Red corporate is trying to do in our Code Red corporate program. We teach corporations that they cannot do that to their employees anymore. You expect your employees to be healthy and productive. You want to lower the healthcare costs within your company. Quit putting sugar vending machines in the break room and soda and juice come on. Help your employees help themselves, right? So just because you kick your habit doesn’t mean it’s just out of your life completely. I mean, I wish that was the case.

07:22          That’s just not the case. You might be walking by your coworker’s desk over and over and over to get to the water fountain to refill your water jug and your coworkers got Hershey’s kisses on her desk. Yeah, I will tell you, it does get easier the longer that you’re in this lifestyle. It does get easier, but it doesn’t go away. I mean, I kicked my sugar addiction a lot of years ago and many years ago, boy, it’s been 10 years ago now. Trying to think here and it certainly is easier now to just navigate through life and not, I don’t desire like, I mean I could walk into the horseshoe bend Chevron station on my way to my cabin and I’m not like, Oh, when I see the crispy cream case, you know the have crispy cream has a case of donuts in every convenience store. I don’t even notice them now.

08:15          So you know, I can walk by cinnamon in the mall and of course you smell it and you, that does smell good. But I don’t go, I don’t start having thoughts of maybe I should stop who I really want one. Oh, that would taste so good. I mean, I can walk by, see’s candy in the mall and they’re given out those little samples. I don’t even want one. So I, you know, it does get easier. Rebel, it does get easier. Let me tell you, those of you listening, but it’s not eradicated from your life completely. Now I will say that when you’re a recovering alcoholic, and I’m, I’ve never been through AA, but I know just a cup. I think I know that when you’re recovering alcoholic when you’re in the recovery, you don’t go back to your old ways of what got you into trouble in the first place.

08:59          Like you don’t go, you don’t go back to the same Hangouts with the same friends that drink and that get you into trouble. I think eventually, I don’t know. I mean the, my alcoholics can correct me here. We have a few on our program. Maybe eventually you can be around that again, but you don’t put yourself back in that situation. You know, and that’s easy enough to do with maybe, you know, not saying it’s easy, it’s just a little easier than sugar because at least you can just not go back to the bar. At least you can just not go back to the club. At least you can just not go back to certain places where the drinking really occurred and that’s where you got yourself in trouble. At least you can just not go back. Sugar, however, is fricking everywhere. I mean, you go to buy lumber, you go to buy a doorknob or a couple of nails at the Home Depot, you’re still getting bombarded by sugar.

09:48          It is ridiculous. It is everywhere. So it’s a little harder, but you can’t do it. It does get easier. The longer you are Code Red, it gets easier. The more you stay connected to your community, it gets easier. But you need to understand that just because you kicked that habit doesn’t mean it’s just gone from your life. I mean, some of you guys have a, an ex-husband and X, Y I’m laughing because, and that X is your kid’s parent. You know you’re sharing custody here. Hey, you’re going to have to live with that parent because your ex is your baby daddy. And so he had to live with that crazy ex it. They’re not eradicated. It’s a bad example, but you get it. You get it. You needed to not be so shocked and disappointed when you find out. But I mean life is just not like that.

10:38          Life is not going to be perfect. Just because you get rid of a bad habit doesn’t mean it’s never going to bombard you again. I mean even in talks about that in the Bible, the Bible even talks about like, it’s not even, I’m sure I’m going to get this wrong, but something along the lines of the Bible doesn’t promise you a life of no troubles. It just promises you that if you have Christ in your life, then you will have an easier time getting through it because Christ will give you strength and you can rely on his grace and you can lean on him for support and Christ will give you that grace and that strength to get through the problem. But it doesn’t ever say anything in the Bible about you not ever having problems again. Oh, you going to have problems. That’s just how life is.

11:22          The same thing. Just because you kick a habit or you tackle a problem does not mean that you are not going to bump up against it anymore. I mean, you can certainly make your life easier by just not going to Margarita Mondays and just not going to taco Tuesdays or finding a different way to meet your friends. Finding a different place to meet him. Finding a different way. I mean, if you’re Bunco, if Bunco is just riddled with junk food and I used to go to Bunco, I know Bunco I mean it’s just junk food and wine everywhere and soda in just crap food. Everybody brings junk food to Bunco night. Right? And it’s like so much fun. Like you’re all at your, you know, you’re playing Bunco it’s bunko so much fun. Right. Maybe instead you can offer to hosted at your house. That way you can at least control the stuff that you make.

12:12          I’m, you know, I don’t know. That’s a tough one. Cause you’re talking about, it depends on how big your Bunco team is, your Bunco gathering it. That’s a tough one. Or poker night. I mean you know, guys are just notorious for just sitting around and eating junk food and drinking and smoking cigars and playing poker. I don’t know. I’m not a dude, I don’t know. But I get it that there are polices and things, but there are ways to navigate certain things and in the end, you might just have to go, Hey, either excuse yourself from that or really just be strong, but you have to just accept the fact that it’s still going to be around you. It’s still going to be around you. That problem that you kicked, that habit that you kicked, that is still going to be in your life in some way, shape or form.

12:57          Certainly. Again, certainly, you can put measures in place to make sure that you’re not bumping up against that problem quite as much, but make no mistake Valley is going to rear its ugly head again and it’s going to continue to tempt you. It’s going to continue to be there. That’s why it’s so incredibly important that you have community. It’s so incredibly important that you have a support system. It’s so incredibly important that you have accountability. You have ways of getting people around you to link arms with you and to make sure that you have the strength to make it through. We need each other. We need support. You need to meet with like-minded people, meet with other rebels to go to Code Red events or or whatever. I mean you look, I mean if whatever, it could be your quilting community. It could be a CrossFit community, could be your church group.

13:49          It’s whatever is like-minded to whatever your hobby is or whatever you like. You’ve got to lean on those people for support. That’s your community and you have to have that. Studies have shown that community is the one thing that determines whether you stick with something or not, community. Then the Code Red community is strong and we love you and we’ll come around you and we’ll say, no, you got this. I promise you willpower ain’t enough. And especially not in the beginning. Again, it gets easier as time goes on, but at first, when you are very vulnerable and you just freshly kicked a habit, it is so, so important that you make sure that you are really in a tight-knit group, that you are close with your homeys as you are colors with your tribe because that’s what’s going to determine whether you stick with it or not.

14:42          And of course you know we have our rules and Code Red. You clean out your cupboard, you clean out your fridge, you clean out your glove box and you clean out your desk at work. You cannot have sugar in those areas because you will have a moment of weakness and if you’re a proximity eater, you will reach for it. Okay? We have rules in place like that. You do turn in your weight every Friday morning to your coach when you’re in a coaching group. If you’re doing the 10 pounds take down, you are turning in your way to the beginning and on day 30 at the end. Accountability is huge. You’ve got to put measures in place to protect yourself. I have measures in place to protect me. Yeah. I have an accountability partner as well. Cari is my accountability partner and all of you are my accountability.

15:28          Look, if you see me out in public and I’ve put on a few pounds, hello, I’m going to get called out. Believe me or if you see me in photos and I’d put on some weight or if you see me at the Costco food court, Shevon pizza in my face. Yeah, I need to be called out for that. That’s not walking the straight and narrow, so I have accountability as well. Everybody needs accountability. You have to remember that you don’t just get that problem. Once you tackle that problem, it’s not gone from your life. It’s just not. It all boils down to how you handle it. It all boils down to what are you going to do to make sure that you don’t backslide? What are you going to do? And you know, if you see other people, maybe you’ve given up the tacos and the margaritas, then your job is not to go and lecture.

16:15          Your friends do not do that. Don’t argue. Don’t get that righteous, that better than thou attitude. Don’t pull that bullcrap. Don’t do that. Don’t argue they’re not ready for that. All right? They’re still shoving the tacos in the Margaret is in their face. That just leaves him alone. Look, people, when they’re ready, they will ask you, they will ask you what are you doing? They’re going to ask you one or two things. They’re going to ask you. Why are you doing that? Or they’re going to ask you what are you doing? One of them means they’re not ready and one of them means they are ready to hear. Don’t say anything. Let your testimony speak for itself. Don’t judge people. Our mission statement says, we believe food holds the power to heal our poison. We choose foods that heal. We believe society has been misled regarding proper nutrition and we’re committed to is spreading the truth.

16:57          The Code Red lifestyle brings hope and healing and it’s our job to support, educate, inform, and love our community without judgment. We are Code Red rebels. So I don’t ever want to see any of you rebels lecturing or hounding anybody that you see eBay dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. No, don’t give me that bull crap. You stand back. You love, you support when they’re ready to hear, they’ll ask until then, don’t say a word. Don’t judge them. Guys, it wasn’t so very long ago that you were in that place. I remember when one of our coaches Sheli Fulcher Koontz, she’s been Code Red for over three years now. And I remember the day that I met her in the coffee shop and she was ready and it was like a Thursday and we met at [inaudible] down at 16th in the main street and she sat across me and she had her checkbook in her hand and she had her pen in her hand.

17:52          She’s getting ready to write me a check and she said, I’m ready. And she said, but if you would’ve asked me yesterday, I would not have been ready. And it was just that like that. It was just a change. It was a complete change. She was ready. But if I would have asked her if I would’ve said anything to her yesterday, I would’ve gotten absolutely chewed up one side and down the other. She was not ready yesterday. She was ready today and that’s when she wrote me off the check and she never looked back. Never. And that was over three years ago at the time of this recording. So do not lecture to people. It don’t, don’t say anything to anybody. All right, you do. You or I, you say you take care of you. You got enough to worry about. You got to raise your kids.

18:34          You got to walk your dog. You’ve got to take care of your elderly parent. You got to just work outside the home. You’ve got to clean your house. You’ve got to do your dishes. You got to drop off the dry cleaning. Don’t worry about anybody else. You worry about you. People will come to you and be ready to tell them to send them to a challenge. But I’m telling you right now, just because you kick a habit doesn’t mean that habit has gone from your life. It doesn’t mean that the problem has gone from your life. Be prepared for it to rear its ugly head over and over and over and over, depending on where it is in your life. Just be prepared for it. Just it’s, it all boils down to your attitude. It all boils down to how you’re going to handle it. You’re gonna smile.

19:12          You’re going to say, I got this. I’m fine. I’m okay. I’m drinking my water. I got to turn in my weight tomorrow to my coach anyway. I’m not about to stick anything in my mouth that doesn’t belong there. I don’t want to deal with the headaches anymore. Nope, don’t worry. No, thank you. Would you like a donut? No. Thank you. Would you like a bear claw? Nope. That’s all right. In your mind, you’re saying to yourself, dear God, that would cause the worst headache in the world, but to your friend: No. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. I’m all right. Thank you. Don’t you don’t have to smart off. No, I don’t eat that stuff anymore. I’m drinking my water. Don’t say that. Just you do you. You’re going to be all right. Stay connected. Keep moving forward. Keep your head down. [inaudible] losing your way.

19:52          You keep getting healthy. You keep your why in your mind. That’s what’s going to help you pass it up. That old habit over and over and over as it just hounds on you day after day. Do you remember your why? You’re going to be all right, but you need to be prepared for the fact that it is going to keep coming back around, but you can do this. You can absolutely do this. I believe in you. I love you. I’m here for you. I support you. The Code Red community loves you. We’re going to wrap our loving arms around you and will love you until you can love yourself. We will hold you up and you will slowly gain more and more and more strength. As you go through this process. You can do this. This is not the hardest thing you’ve ever done. You’re going to be all right. I promise you it feels like that right now, but this is the easiest, hard thing that you could do. Thank you for joining Rebel Weight Loss and Lifestyle. I care about you. 10poundtakedown.com also in the show notes, I’ll talk to you guys soon.

20:53          Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Rebel Weight Loss and Lifestyle. Do you have a question that you’d like me to answer raw and uncut on the podcast? Then all you have to do is head over to Apple Podcast on your phone or computer and do three simple things. Leave a rating and review telling me what you think of the podcast and in that review, ask anything you want related to health, weight loss or mindset. And if you want a shout-out, leave your Instagram handle or name. That’s all. Then listen in to hear your question answered, live, raw and uncut on the next Q and A episode. So I’ll see you on the next episode of Rebel Weight Loss and Lifestyle.