This weekend my icegrandesoychai from the ubiquitous Starbucks didn't taste right. It was too sweet. It used to be my regular order, but I hadn't had it in a while, opting instead for the greentealemonade—unsweet. I guess my taste-buds knew better than I—it's time to cut out the sweet stuff.
I completely cut out sugar for a few months a few years back and the pounds just fell off. I wasn't exactly trying to lose weight at the time—it was more of a "health deal" I had made with my acupuncturist to try and ease my allergies and tummy issues, but it was a perq. Between that regimen and regular acupuncture sessions I seemed to discover my ideal weight. Over the past year or so, daily desserts have been creeping back into our routine, most recently evidenced by my eating a few cookies after the kid went to bed last night. So I have been gaining, bit by bit, and my allergies, etc. haven't been getting any better. Reading all over the internets about the evidence piling on top of already-known evidence about the evils of high fructose corn syrup and things just got too sticky-sweet. The truth is, for us all, that if you have it in the house, you'll eat it. So no more cookies at home. Dessert, if we have it at all, will be distinctly in the form of a special treat, rather than a dietary staple. Sorry, kid. You may hate this now, but you'll thank me in the long run.
Not sure how long I can keep this up, or when I will slip off the wagon, but I am going to attempt a thirty-day no-extra-sugar-added self-challenge. I'm not a maniac. I know there are sugars in bread and sauces if we happen to eat out. And I am not going to become a label lunatic and exorcise the Wheat Thins or the pretzel sticks. But no dessert, no cookies, no soda, no candy, no icegrandesoychai is completely doable for thirty days for me if I stay strong, stay disciplined.
I'd also like to note that I will not "cheat" with that abomination known as diet soda. I have never consumed it (really, never), and I sure as hell won't be starting now. I have always been leery of the so-called sugar alternatives—saccharine, nutrasweet (the devil), etc. I know they are a boon for some who can't consume real sugar, but not for me. I'm doubtful of television commercials that claim that their soda has zero calories, citing its pseudoscience with bold, bright and skinny colors. The possibility of zero calories may, although remote, be true. But your (read my) body is going to react to the soda just as if it was made the good old fashioned way, with cocaine and cane sugar—and it won't taste anywhere near as good as that, so why bother? The only way to wean oneself from needing the sugary jolt is to stop partaking of the sugary jolt. At least that's how it works for me. I'm not saying I'll not miss it, or won't go through withdrawal, or wish I chose a different thirty days, but c'est la vie. I'll look better, feel better—at least I hope so. I'll keep you posted. But for now, make mine unsweet.
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