‘I WAS A TAKEAWAY ADDICT’
Growing up, Megan Shaylor suffered from low self-esteem and, as a result, she turned to sugar to cope.
‘I was fat, and when you feel really bad about yourself the one thing that there is, is sugar,’ the 35-year-old mother-of-two from NSW says.
‘I remember having the urge to eat sugar all the time.’
As she got older, this led her down a spiral of emotional eating and yo-yo dieting. But after she saw a colleague’s transformation on the keto diet, Megan decided she had to do it. ‘I woke up and was like: “I’m doing it today.” And that was it,’ she says. Of course, this meant a huge overhaul to her diet. ‘I was addicted to takeaway, so the first thing that had to go was all those takeaway foods,’ Megan reveals. Initially, she started keto to lose a few kilos, but it quickly became about much more than just the weight loss.
Megan suffers from complex post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety and, after starting the diet, Megan discovered that her episodes began to stop.
The diet has also changed the way that Megan thinks about food and she is free of the food cravings that previously consumed her every thought.
‘I ate for pleasure and I ate to heal my emotions, and then all of a sudden that part of me stopped,’ she reveals.
‘For me it’s helped amazingly with my emotional wellbeing, with my anxiety. I’m happy and I’m not ruled by food anymore.’
While keto has seen Megan lose 8kg and has changed her life, she still admits that on special occasions she will have a cheat meal.
‘I’ll just go and enjoy the food and I’m back on track the next day,’ she says.
‘IT’S HELPED AMAZINGLY WITH MY EMOTIONAL WELLBEING... I’M NOT RULED BY FOOD ANYMORE’