One that doesn't so much require me to change my diet, but to start deleting one very evil ingredient !! The one thing that children can't get enough of, and sadly for many, that's too true, they get too much.
Without it, Krispy Kreme lovers would cry without it, men around the world bbq'ing their ribs, would scream for justice ... the one ingredient that would put the Cup Cake Girls OUT of business.. ( which might not be such a bad idea )... yes... you know who I speak off... he who shall be named on all package labels...
SUGAR !!!! and not just that evil master we know as "processed cane sugar", but also his cousins, brown sugar, maple syrup & honey, and his off springs , glucose AND fructose.
After the pursuit of many diets or "life style changes" , I have come to the conclusion that anyone really trying to change who they are, will have a very difficult time.
Many experts say you have to replace a bad habit with a good habit. But is that really true? Why not just stop the bad habit and just carry on with the other things we do in our lives?
Before we get into that, lets start at the beginning of this journey I call my life. Back when I was just a baby, I was addicted to bottles and diapers. Yes, I could not live without them, as so many other children around the world.
But sure enough, my mother weened me off both , and I went from being addicted to bottles to cups. I find trying to have a beverage with any meal almost impossible without one.
As I got older, out came my latest and greatest addiction. SUGAR! ...I'm sure given to me as a tasty treat to get me to do or not do something my parents disapproved of. My mother once admitted to me that if she bit into a chocolate candy she didn't like, she would pass it to me. Like the family pet under the table, waiting for candy scraps.
But my biggest obsession with sugar, came in a form , that even had parents thinking... wow, breakfast time is so fast and easy. The all important meal of the day, supplied to us in an easy to open cardboard box with a not so easy to open inner bag to keep that sugary goodness fresh and tasty. That meal that is "fortified" (there's that word again), with so many vitamins and minerals... that hard stale ball of sugar and wheat we call "Cereal",
Of course cereal... you knew who I was talking about. Yes, I was addicted to cereal. And why not, when you had to feed your kids something for breakfast before school. Cereal was so popular and still is today. Its like a green light to eating shit and all you had to do is get up in the morning. I'm pretty sure that the only true vitamins and minerals we got came from the milk you had to pour on it to make it soft enough to be more edible.
There were and still are so many kinds and flavors. Grocery stores have entire isles dedicated to this delight. In our current local Wally Mart, they even have their isle split into " Kids " cereals and " Adult " cereals. which basically means, " hey mothers, here are all the shit , all sugar crap for your kids" , and "here is the shit, with added sugar, disguised as healthy goodness because we added fruit and nuts for you adults". !! Read the label people... a majority of all cereals have Fructose and Glucose, corn syrup or some other form of the sweetener. I don't care how many damn berries, sticks or nuts you stick in it. OH, but then there is the " organic " type, that just stick to processed healthy sugars, like honey and a cane sugar juice or concentrated fruit juices. Even cereals that don't taste like they have sugar in them , have sugar... like Cheerios and Rice Krispies, which is the 2nd ingredient on the box. There are some out there, mostly the whole wheat , like Shreddies that don't... which doesn't help anyone with a wheat allergy.
Anyways, I'm going off topic here... this is about ME , not cereal. (its always about me)
I was just a kid and addicted. To this day, Peanut Butter Capt Crunch is my favorite of all time. There were so many to choose from. Count Chocula wasn't good enough, they had to come out with Boo Berry and Frankin berry... any company that thought they were losing their market , upped the game by adding marsh mellows ...yep, I was hooked and addicted. This addiction has lasted years.
By the time I was 16 yrs , I found a new addiction... Cigarettes. It had nothing to do with them being yummy, but more about their cool factor.... they would remain a staple in my life for the next 28 years. Along with the sugar addiction, and a few other addictions that basically went away once I became a responsible adult.
Lets forward the clock to 2005. I had just turned 39 and came to the realization that in one more year, I was going to turn 40. Having spent the last 10 yrs convincing myself that I had to lose weight, then I would quit smoking, so that the quitting wouldn't pack on the added weight , I finally had enough. and on that faithful day , August 1st , 2005 , I smoked my last cigarette , told myself that buying more cigarettes was too much hassle , and never smoked again. Except when choking on that 2nd hand smoke those times sitting outside the Starbucks trying to enjoy my caramel macchiato or eggnog latte, while the rest of the world puffed away..
That was almost 7 years ago to the day. ( probably exactly 7 years by the time I get this damn blog posted).
In those 7 years, I gave up McDonald's ( that lasted 3 yrs ) , I did weight watchers , which was a waste of time and money. I never did gain that added weight from the non-smoking... in fact , by 2007, I started my aqua aerobics and South Beach diet... and took off little over 60 lbs. But sadly, as noted before, trying to " change" into something that you are not, doesn't always last, and the 60lbs found their way back in to my ass, where they have been camping out like squatters for the last 3 yrs and invited a few extra relatives to join in.
Despite my efforts and knowing what is required of me to get the job done, my brain simply doesn't seem to follow through.. I'm sure there are many of you who can totally understand.
Then one day, after posting on Facebook about eating ice cream, someone commented that they love ice cream and was a sweets addict. Wow !! someone like me was out there (I'm not alone).... but they also commented that they don't eat sweets, because then they would never stop !! BINGO ! The light went on in my head and all the spiders scattered back into the corners.
That was it , I'm addicted to sugar, like I was cigarettes... and how did I quit smoking ?? just like the day after thanksgiving "Cold Turkey" !
If I was going to break myself free of eating all the crap in my life making me fat, I'm going to have to give up that one ingredient found in most of it... SUGAR . I don't have to Change who I am or my style or start bungee jumping ... that will come naturally in its own time. I need to just Quit sugar ! Sugar completes me , NO MORE.
Now many of you are ready to jump in and start telling me about all the wonderful diet foods out there or foods for diabetics that have substitute sugars in them... don't bother. I'm giving up fake sugar as well.!
Eating foods with NutraSweet or saccharine (or faux sugar), is like quitting smoking by chewing nicotine gum or fake smokeless cigarettes... you are not really quitting the addiction.. you are just faking it out. Which in most cases leads to going right back to the bad habit you are trying to quit.
A good friend once told me after she quit smoking, that no matter how much she craves to have a cigarette, she will never smoke one, because she reminds herself , that if she has jus one, she would go back and if she went back , she would have to go through the torture of quitting all over again.
I have always remembered that through these last 7 years... and I will take that advice with me going forward in this venture.
I have the added advantage that I already quit drinking diet (and non-diet) pop, however, I was substituting juice instead. I also stopped putting sugar in my coffee for many years now.
I will not be giving up fruit by any means. This will be my one salvation,... now Watermelon & Blueberries Complete me !!and keep me regular. Those little blue scrubbing bubbles.
I'm on day 7 now and I'm able to look a donuts in the eye and tell it to pack its bags and get out of town.
I haven't gotten hung up at this point about worrying if the multi grain bread I'm eating has sugar in it ... as long as it has fiber. Hmmm... 12 grain donuts? no? I still allow myself greasy treats in moderation , I guess down the road , that will be my next challenge.
I had an Aunt, that I'm guessing was also addicted to sugar, she had an entire draw in her kitchen dedicated to nothing but candy bars. (at least that's how I remember it). Guess who's house was our favorite to visit. She passed away when I was 17 yrs old from congestive heart failure. I can't recall how old she was when she passed, but I do know it was too soon and too young.
So many people out there have diabetes due to all the sugar we put in our food. If the companies out there are going to supply it , its only natural that we are going to eat it.
I'm convinces McDonalds food, especially those scrumptious cheese burgers, have hidden sugar. They are addicting like crack cocaine. Which is why they are back on my "no no" list.
All I can do is fight for my own life and resist these temptations and addictions.
So, keep your eyes peeled as I blog about my new journey beyond my comfort zone !!!
.... and maybe the odd other topic .
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