Day 18 of 40 (making up for missing one yesterday)
Yesterday before the no-tv week started, I read a very interesting article in the New York Times called Is Sugar Toxic? Sounds like a very dramatic title, but I thought it was an extremely effectively written and compelling case against processed sugar, including corn syrup. Truly, the desire for sugar is just an artifact of evolution-biased preferences; it's not natural to consume nearly as much sugar as most Americans do, and it's certainly not healthy.
I want to watch this later: Sugar: The Bitter Truth
And I also came across a few commercials created by the corn growers' association. They were absolutely laughable.
But reading Is Sugar Toxic? did get me thinking about how my own dietary patterns have changed over the years. The largest change I've experienced, of course, is the transition to vegetarianism, but along with that, I have also cut out a lot of processed sugars from my diet (although not nearly all of them). The biggest change is that I used to be a regular soda drinker, 1, 2 or 3 sodas a day. Now, I rarely drink it and I don't miss it, either. I love iced tea, hot tea, and have started drinking coffee in recent years. I used to take all of those with a good amount of sugar. Now I never put sugar in my beverages. I normally drink my morning coffee with unsweetened soy milk, and I've started putting cinnamon in the strainer basket; genuine cinnamon flavored coffee tastes heavenly. There's absolutely no need for sugar, and it's not bitter.
The reason I first stopped drinking soda is because it was expensive. When I lived in Florida, I did not have much money for non-essentials, and all flavored drinks count as non essentials, especially pricey ones like soda. I simply didn't buy it for two years...and then when I did have more money, I could live without it. I just learned to like not filling my body with sugar instead. Plus, it's terrible on your teeth. Also, I don't want to get diabetes when I get older. And I also want to keep my waistline. I know that weight gain happens slowly with age, and preventing obesity is much easier than treating it. I still weigh what I did when I was 20 (7 years later). So many great perks to kicking the sugar addiction.
I was able to wean myself off sugar in tea and coffee because of my dentist. I seem to have teeth that are relatively vulnerable to cavities, and the dentist suggested that I try gradually reducing the sugar in my drinks. I was resistant at first, but again, once it was gone, I didn't miss it. Plus, isn't it a drag stirring and stirring your iced tea while you wait for the sugar to dissolve? Get used to the bitter flavor, there's nothing wrong with it. I'm still in the habit of eating some kind of dessert, but that's something I'm working on reducing, and picking options that are better. It helps a lot to have good alternatives - sometimes that craving for sugar can be fulfilled with a cheese stick, or just honey on toast, fruit juice, or a piece of fruit.
My grandmother has always said, "I don't have much of a sweet tooth" when we've offered her candy or baked goods. That's been a blessing in keeping diabetes away from her, and perhaps a reason she's still around now!
Going through a few of these anti-corn syrup videos, I also found psychetruth, a channel which seems to have a lot of interesting health and psychology related stuff on it, and guess what...the creator is based in Austin! Many of the professionals he interviews are Austin based, and one of them was even the owner of a Writers' organization, WriteByNight, that has an office downtown! They have a public writing lounge where anyone can come and write! Maybe I'll check it out sometime just because I can, and I'm looking forward to hopefully finding more opportunities to find neat things in Austin with psychetruth.
I want to watch this later: Sugar: The Bitter Truth
And I also came across a few commercials created by the corn growers' association. They were absolutely laughable.
But reading Is Sugar Toxic? did get me thinking about how my own dietary patterns have changed over the years. The largest change I've experienced, of course, is the transition to vegetarianism, but along with that, I have also cut out a lot of processed sugars from my diet (although not nearly all of them). The biggest change is that I used to be a regular soda drinker, 1, 2 or 3 sodas a day. Now, I rarely drink it and I don't miss it, either. I love iced tea, hot tea, and have started drinking coffee in recent years. I used to take all of those with a good amount of sugar. Now I never put sugar in my beverages. I normally drink my morning coffee with unsweetened soy milk, and I've started putting cinnamon in the strainer basket; genuine cinnamon flavored coffee tastes heavenly. There's absolutely no need for sugar, and it's not bitter.
The reason I first stopped drinking soda is because it was expensive. When I lived in Florida, I did not have much money for non-essentials, and all flavored drinks count as non essentials, especially pricey ones like soda. I simply didn't buy it for two years...and then when I did have more money, I could live without it. I just learned to like not filling my body with sugar instead. Plus, it's terrible on your teeth. Also, I don't want to get diabetes when I get older. And I also want to keep my waistline. I know that weight gain happens slowly with age, and preventing obesity is much easier than treating it. I still weigh what I did when I was 20 (7 years later). So many great perks to kicking the sugar addiction.
I was able to wean myself off sugar in tea and coffee because of my dentist. I seem to have teeth that are relatively vulnerable to cavities, and the dentist suggested that I try gradually reducing the sugar in my drinks. I was resistant at first, but again, once it was gone, I didn't miss it. Plus, isn't it a drag stirring and stirring your iced tea while you wait for the sugar to dissolve? Get used to the bitter flavor, there's nothing wrong with it. I'm still in the habit of eating some kind of dessert, but that's something I'm working on reducing, and picking options that are better. It helps a lot to have good alternatives - sometimes that craving for sugar can be fulfilled with a cheese stick, or just honey on toast, fruit juice, or a piece of fruit.
My grandmother has always said, "I don't have much of a sweet tooth" when we've offered her candy or baked goods. That's been a blessing in keeping diabetes away from her, and perhaps a reason she's still around now!
Going through a few of these anti-corn syrup videos, I also found psychetruth, a channel which seems to have a lot of interesting health and psychology related stuff on it, and guess what...the creator is based in Austin! Many of the professionals he interviews are Austin based, and one of them was even the owner of a Writers' organization, WriteByNight, that has an office downtown! They have a public writing lounge where anyone can come and write! Maybe I'll check it out sometime just because I can, and I'm looking forward to hopefully finding more opportunities to find neat things in Austin with psychetruth.