Last night, I had a dream. I found myself pushing a shopping trolley up and down an endless aisle at a deserted supermarket. I was aware that I was supposed to be sticking to the plan of cutting sugars and grains, opting instead to eat high quality, nutrient dense food. But in this dream, I was gorging on cakes and donuts, buying up all the sugary sweets and candies, stuffing chocolate bars, Haribo and the like into the trolley, until I could push it no further.

In the dream I was conflicted, caught between the right thing to do, and the temptation of going off the rails into this crazy, masacistic binge.

And this morning, I felt a mixture of emotions. When I first woke up, it was relief that greeted me first. I hadn’t cheated. I had stayed the course. It was just a dream.

But something else had stayed behind, a smudge or a stain left by this food orientated wet dream. The realisation that I crave poor quality food on a sub-conscious level. And I think this could be true for many people.

It is terrifying to think that food wields such a power, but it’s true! We have such an intimate, personal relationship with food. There is no escaping it. Whether you are practicing a traditional bodybuilding habit like eating six small meals a day, or turning your hand to intermittent fasting, or even sticking with what your mother taught you and eating three meals a day, you have to eat. Or you die. It’s as simple as that.

So how do we overcome our addiction to sugar-laden, grain-filled, poor-quality foods?

We have to be strong-willed and determined enough to not let our dreams affect our waking life. We have to be mindful of what we want for ourselves in the long term, which is not just to lose weight and look better, but to feel better, to have more energy and to live a longer, fuller life. We should also be mindful of how we perceive foods on a day-to-day basis, like seeing a bag of sweets and thinking about the damage it will do to us, rather than how it will taste. We need to tune in, and listen to what are bodies and minds are trying to tell us with our cravings. The most important thing of all is to relax, and not let this stress you out. We all have moments of weakness and stress, especially when it comes to food. So just try to breathe past the cravings, and grab some healthy, nutrient dense food that tastes even better than fake, harmful foods.

Today, I had a dream. Not the same dream as last night. A daydream after work. I daydreamed that I was running on the beach, with a son and a daughter. We were flying kites, and kicking beach balls. We were in a perfect state of happiness. In this dream, I was healthy enough to play alongside them. And there wasn’t a chocolate in sight. This dream has become a goal.