Coffee: The Insidious Evil
When I went to China the first time, I gave up Diet Mt. Dew. I have, on occasion, fallen off the wagon since then and gone through Dew-drinking phases-mostly at times when I needed more hours in the day and had to find them through massive amounts of caffeine. In most instances, coffee does it for me. It doesn't jack me up the way Diet Dew does, so in those extreme instances, I've had to resort to the ol' magic elixir.
But as my general substitute for Diet Dew, I guzzle a lot of coffee. Ten mugs full in a day isn't especially unusual.
I started using Splenda or Sweet-N-Low or Equal; I've not had much of a preference. My colleague Shelley really got on me-in a well-meaning way, I admit-about pumping those chemicals into my system. As far as Shelley is concerned, artificial sweeteners are helping pave the way for the Apocalypse. She contends that the less processed something is, the closer to its natural state-"The closer to the earth it is"-the better it is. So she convinced me to switch to sugar. It's only ten calories a packet. Sugar-in-the-raw, which is even less processed and thus "closer to the earth," is fifteen calories a packet-just a measly five calories more.
But I don't just like my coffee sweet, I like it creamy, too. So I put in a generous shot of creamer when I mix up a cup-o-Joe. In all honesty, I hate the taste of coffee, so I have to add all kinds of crap to it to try and make it palatable.
This past weekend, I finally looked at the creamer bottle to see how many calories I was adding with each shot of creamer. I figured I was doing okay because I was getting "sugar free." Sometimes, I've bought "fat free." To my chagrin, depending on the flavor, it's anywhere between 20-35 calories a tablespoon.
Holy ker-fuck! That means each cup of coffee has pumped as many as fifty calories into my body. Multiply that by ten cups....
No wonder my weight has been creeping up on me. I couldn't figure out why.
I've switched to fat-free milk instead of creamer, and I've gone back to the Apocalyptic sweeteners. (A pleasant side effect is that I now have a better way of ensuring I get my dairy, which I'm generally horrible about.)
My long-term goal will be to try to wean myself to the taste of coffee-much as I had to do when I switched from regular to Diet Dew about 18 years ago. Realistically, I can't do the best thing for me, which would be to wean myself from coffee completely. With five classes to teach plus a grad class to take (not to mention my commute), I'm going to need caffeine to get me through the term. I need maximum caffeine with minimum calories.
Fortunately, I'm back into my rhythm at the gym, too, so the weight problem should dissolve away in relatively short order. I didn't lose all those pounds only to have fuckin' coffee put any of that weight back on me.
But as my general substitute for Diet Dew, I guzzle a lot of coffee. Ten mugs full in a day isn't especially unusual.
I started using Splenda or Sweet-N-Low or Equal; I've not had much of a preference. My colleague Shelley really got on me-in a well-meaning way, I admit-about pumping those chemicals into my system. As far as Shelley is concerned, artificial sweeteners are helping pave the way for the Apocalypse. She contends that the less processed something is, the closer to its natural state-"The closer to the earth it is"-the better it is. So she convinced me to switch to sugar. It's only ten calories a packet. Sugar-in-the-raw, which is even less processed and thus "closer to the earth," is fifteen calories a packet-just a measly five calories more.
But I don't just like my coffee sweet, I like it creamy, too. So I put in a generous shot of creamer when I mix up a cup-o-Joe. In all honesty, I hate the taste of coffee, so I have to add all kinds of crap to it to try and make it palatable.
This past weekend, I finally looked at the creamer bottle to see how many calories I was adding with each shot of creamer. I figured I was doing okay because I was getting "sugar free." Sometimes, I've bought "fat free." To my chagrin, depending on the flavor, it's anywhere between 20-35 calories a tablespoon.
Holy ker-fuck! That means each cup of coffee has pumped as many as fifty calories into my body. Multiply that by ten cups....
No wonder my weight has been creeping up on me. I couldn't figure out why.
I've switched to fat-free milk instead of creamer, and I've gone back to the Apocalyptic sweeteners. (A pleasant side effect is that I now have a better way of ensuring I get my dairy, which I'm generally horrible about.)
My long-term goal will be to try to wean myself to the taste of coffee-much as I had to do when I switched from regular to Diet Dew about 18 years ago. Realistically, I can't do the best thing for me, which would be to wean myself from coffee completely. With five classes to teach plus a grad class to take (not to mention my commute), I'm going to need caffeine to get me through the term. I need maximum caffeine with minimum calories.
Fortunately, I'm back into my rhythm at the gym, too, so the weight problem should dissolve away in relatively short order. I didn't lose all those pounds only to have fuckin' coffee put any of that weight back on me.