Forgive me.
Not just for failing to update since mid-March, but for sitting here at my desk munching some Snyder's of Hanover pretzels that have dextrose (a.k.a. sugar) in them.
Clearly starving, my foggy brain convinced me that I'd gotten the pretzels before and all was well in my sugar free year. But upon donating $.50 to the vending machine, I realized I was wrong.
But today, hunger outweighed wrongness.
And I won't let this happen again.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
My sugarless brain does it again!
Forgive me for taking far too long to write! Let's just say my Spring Break felt a lot like finals week. But while I work toward repressing that (I kid.), let's move on to the matter at hand.
You might remember that a few weeks ago, I took a test in my human growth and development class. While I studied for it, and when the time to take the test arrived, my brain recalled what I needed to know with a rapidity I'd never before experienced. (In case anyone wondered how I did on the test, I got a 98. Go on. Celebrate with an air guitar solo. I did!) Immediately, I became convinced my elimination of added sugar played a part in that.
I am still convinced.
Two nights ago, I took a mid-term in my legal, ethical and professional standards of counseling class. Because of a few scheduling snafus (and a slight lack of diligence on my part), fate left me with Thursday, Friday and Sunday for making my flash cards. That left me with Monday -- until the exam at 6:20 p.m. -- to quiz myself with them.
Would you believe my brain did it again? One card after another. And my professor posted grades last night. How did I do, you ask?
I got a 60.
Out of 60.
[Insert celebratory air guitar solo.]
You might remember that a few weeks ago, I took a test in my human growth and development class. While I studied for it, and when the time to take the test arrived, my brain recalled what I needed to know with a rapidity I'd never before experienced. (In case anyone wondered how I did on the test, I got a 98. Go on. Celebrate with an air guitar solo. I did!) Immediately, I became convinced my elimination of added sugar played a part in that.
I am still convinced.
Two nights ago, I took a mid-term in my legal, ethical and professional standards of counseling class. Because of a few scheduling snafus (and a slight lack of diligence on my part), fate left me with Thursday, Friday and Sunday for making my flash cards. That left me with Monday -- until the exam at 6:20 p.m. -- to quiz myself with them.
Would you believe my brain did it again? One card after another. And my professor posted grades last night. How did I do, you ask?
I got a 60.
Out of 60.
[Insert celebratory air guitar solo.]
Sunday, March 7, 2010
the whole person
I'm off to study shortly, but something hit me this morning and I'd like to share it!
Last semester, a professor of mine expressed her qualms with the fact that there's always been this great divide between mental health professionals and medical doctors. So many mental health professionals are solely concerned with the mind and so many medical doctors are solely concerned with the body. But what happens to one affects the other since they are, in fact, connected. No matter the setting, we need to look at the whole person.
That's why I think it's time to take my sugar free year up another notch.
So I've got this sugar thing down. Thanks to sugar's many names and perpetual need to show up in the most surprising of products, I've really cut back on eating anything that comes in cans, bags or boxes. If I do, I read the entire ingredients list and I don't go for it if I'm not completely sure it has no sugar. But as I ultimately head toward taking care of my body the way a body really needs to be taken care of, there are a few more steps I'll need to take.
1. Prayer. I pray -- but I need to be more consistent. If I could only get my sleep schedule on track, I'd be up early enough to go to daily morning mass. Which brings us to...
2. Sleep. Oh, how I enjoy sleeping. But I a) need to get to bed earlier so that b) I can get at least eight hours but still arise early enough in the morning so I won't need to rush to get to work.
3. Exercise. I do -- but I need to be more consistent.
I figure if I'm taking this year to eliminate my dependence on the excessive sugar the food industry says we should all be ok eating, I may as well work on some of the rest of what's necessary as part of a healthy life.
Last semester, a professor of mine expressed her qualms with the fact that there's always been this great divide between mental health professionals and medical doctors. So many mental health professionals are solely concerned with the mind and so many medical doctors are solely concerned with the body. But what happens to one affects the other since they are, in fact, connected. No matter the setting, we need to look at the whole person.
That's why I think it's time to take my sugar free year up another notch.
So I've got this sugar thing down. Thanks to sugar's many names and perpetual need to show up in the most surprising of products, I've really cut back on eating anything that comes in cans, bags or boxes. If I do, I read the entire ingredients list and I don't go for it if I'm not completely sure it has no sugar. But as I ultimately head toward taking care of my body the way a body really needs to be taken care of, there are a few more steps I'll need to take.
1. Prayer. I pray -- but I need to be more consistent. If I could only get my sleep schedule on track, I'd be up early enough to go to daily morning mass. Which brings us to...
2. Sleep. Oh, how I enjoy sleeping. But I a) need to get to bed earlier so that b) I can get at least eight hours but still arise early enough in the morning so I won't need to rush to get to work.
3. Exercise. I do -- but I need to be more consistent.
I figure if I'm taking this year to eliminate my dependence on the excessive sugar the food industry says we should all be ok eating, I may as well work on some of the rest of what's necessary as part of a healthy life.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Why not now?
To quote a Tobymac song I've heard a lot lately...
"If you gotta start somewhere, why not here? If you gotta start sometime, why not now?"
Every time I hear it, I think of the state of this culture.
I think about the American obsession with all that's quick and easy. I think about the way so little of what goes on here is about preventing problems. I am reminded that this culture's focus is always, always on finding ways to negate problems without actually removing the things that caused them. And so few seem aware that living like that never works out well. Without fail, the quick fixes screw something else up in one way or another and in response, we look for a new quick fix to fix the mess the first one made.
Absurd, no?
What a place. What a place where drugs exist for every symptom. We can't get food except for from an industry that cares more about profit than people. We choose coffee over sleep and we're all right with it. We live for money (think about it. We do.). Will power is obsolete. Toddlers eat Circus Peanuts.
The longer we let it go, the worse it'll get. The longer we participate, the more it gets our vote. It's overwhelming. And it's hard. What are some ways we can make a change? Shop at a farm or a farmer's market instead of a grocery store. Get enough sleep. Make lunch for a homeless person. Simplify your life. Declutter your space. Give it away if you never wear, use, look at it. Don't feed crap to your kids. What are your ideas?
We've gotta start sometime.
Why not now?
"If you gotta start somewhere, why not here? If you gotta start sometime, why not now?"
Every time I hear it, I think of the state of this culture.
I think about the American obsession with all that's quick and easy. I think about the way so little of what goes on here is about preventing problems. I am reminded that this culture's focus is always, always on finding ways to negate problems without actually removing the things that caused them. And so few seem aware that living like that never works out well. Without fail, the quick fixes screw something else up in one way or another and in response, we look for a new quick fix to fix the mess the first one made.
Absurd, no?
What a place. What a place where drugs exist for every symptom. We can't get food except for from an industry that cares more about profit than people. We choose coffee over sleep and we're all right with it. We live for money (think about it. We do.). Will power is obsolete. Toddlers eat Circus Peanuts.
The longer we let it go, the worse it'll get. The longer we participate, the more it gets our vote. It's overwhelming. And it's hard. What are some ways we can make a change? Shop at a farm or a farmer's market instead of a grocery store. Get enough sleep. Make lunch for a homeless person. Simplify your life. Declutter your space. Give it away if you never wear, use, look at it. Don't feed crap to your kids. What are your ideas?
We've gotta start sometime.
Why not now?
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Marie brings up a good point.
A friend and former colleague of mine named Marie sent me a great note in response to my blog. I'd like to take a quick sec to share part of it with you!
"I had some work done on my teeth. I could only eat soft food and my daughter, trying to help me, brought me some baby food. I was horrified at the amount of sugar in baby food. Food companies should be sued for this. Poor babies. I wonder if mothers read labels. I wanted to scream! Needless to say, the baby food is still in my pantry two months later. I do not want to give it to a food bank because I feel it will harm little ones."
Wow she's right! Even among all things food related that cross my mind on a regular basis, since I don't have children, I never really thought about what the youngest of us eat. Marie's baby food experience reminds me of the time I saw a woman walk out of a convenience store with a package of Circus Peanuts. She opened it and gave it to her toddler.
Would you like to know what's in a Circus Peanut? Sugar. Corn syrup. Gelatin. Pectin. Artificial flavor. And colors yellow 6, yellow 5 and red 40. No adult needs that, let alone a toddler!
Sigh. Something's gotta be done. We really do need a food revolution.
"I had some work done on my teeth. I could only eat soft food and my daughter, trying to help me, brought me some baby food. I was horrified at the amount of sugar in baby food. Food companies should be sued for this. Poor babies. I wonder if mothers read labels. I wanted to scream! Needless to say, the baby food is still in my pantry two months later. I do not want to give it to a food bank because I feel it will harm little ones."
Wow she's right! Even among all things food related that cross my mind on a regular basis, since I don't have children, I never really thought about what the youngest of us eat. Marie's baby food experience reminds me of the time I saw a woman walk out of a convenience store with a package of Circus Peanuts. She opened it and gave it to her toddler.
Would you like to know what's in a Circus Peanut? Sugar. Corn syrup. Gelatin. Pectin. Artificial flavor. And colors yellow 6, yellow 5 and red 40. No adult needs that, let alone a toddler!
Sigh. Something's gotta be done. We really do need a food revolution.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Aspartame.
History lesson: in a lab years ago, some guy sought to create a drug for treating ulcers. While he worked, some of the substance must have stuck to his fingers because later -- rumor has it while he flipped through the pages of a book -- he licked a finger and discovered that what he hoped would become an ulcer drug tasted really sweet.
Today, we know it as aspartame.
Aspartame is the ingredient in NutraSweet and Equal that inspires so many people to pour it into coffee without reservation. It's also in a newer artificial sweetener called AminoSweet. I did a little digging this morning and on AminoSweet's website, I found a press release posted by its maker, Ajinomoto, about its defense of aspartame. In part, it read as follows:
"Products sweetened with aspartame help people to control their weight. At a time when the health profession and the government are seeking ways to combat overweight and obesity, it is unconscionable that ASDA should try to villify a safe and beneficial food ingredient."
To ASDA (a European grocery store), villify on! There has been lots of controversy over aspartame for years, and lots of people who speak out against it: like DORway, and a documentary called Sweet Misery and a list of 92 side effects reported to the FDA by the countless who swear the sweetener has hurt them. Personally, I'm a believer. But beyond the complaints about the synthetic sweetener causing health problems, the real reason I encourage ASDA (and the rest of the world) to put up a fight against aspartame is Ajimoto's defense of it.
It basically says products sweetened with aspartame help people control their weight, and at a time when ways are sought to combat obesity, how dare the world trash talk aspartame.
Bull. How dare aspartame (and the people behind it) sleep at night? Yeah, there may be some truth to its ability to help a person control his or her weight, but that means squat to me. Aspartame is an enabler. It's another excuse humans can use to live one way and look like they live another. It's nutritional narcissism. It's another step away from behavior modification and another step toward a weak and helpless human race. And that, friends, is what is unconscionable.
I find it funny that when somebody has diabetes (it runs in my family) or wants to lose weight, so many are quick to cut out sugar and even quicker to replace it with artificial sweeteners. They give up soda, but drink diet soda daily. They don't put sugar in their coffee anymore -- instead, they use Equal.
It's typically American that we'd convince ourselves we need soda so much that to give it up altogether is absurd, and to replace it with drinks that are laced with what should have been an ulcer drug makes sense.
If you want to control your weight, you have to control yourself. And aspartame doesn't promote that ability.
Today, we know it as aspartame.
Aspartame is the ingredient in NutraSweet and Equal that inspires so many people to pour it into coffee without reservation. It's also in a newer artificial sweetener called AminoSweet. I did a little digging this morning and on AminoSweet's website, I found a press release posted by its maker, Ajinomoto, about its defense of aspartame. In part, it read as follows:
"Products sweetened with aspartame help people to control their weight. At a time when the health profession and the government are seeking ways to combat overweight and obesity, it is unconscionable that ASDA should try to villify a safe and beneficial food ingredient."
To ASDA (a European grocery store), villify on! There has been lots of controversy over aspartame for years, and lots of people who speak out against it: like DORway, and a documentary called Sweet Misery and a list of 92 side effects reported to the FDA by the countless who swear the sweetener has hurt them. Personally, I'm a believer. But beyond the complaints about the synthetic sweetener causing health problems, the real reason I encourage ASDA (and the rest of the world) to put up a fight against aspartame is Ajimoto's defense of it.
It basically says products sweetened with aspartame help people control their weight, and at a time when ways are sought to combat obesity, how dare the world trash talk aspartame.
Bull. How dare aspartame (and the people behind it) sleep at night? Yeah, there may be some truth to its ability to help a person control his or her weight, but that means squat to me. Aspartame is an enabler. It's another excuse humans can use to live one way and look like they live another. It's nutritional narcissism. It's another step away from behavior modification and another step toward a weak and helpless human race. And that, friends, is what is unconscionable.
I find it funny that when somebody has diabetes (it runs in my family) or wants to lose weight, so many are quick to cut out sugar and even quicker to replace it with artificial sweeteners. They give up soda, but drink diet soda daily. They don't put sugar in their coffee anymore -- instead, they use Equal.
It's typically American that we'd convince ourselves we need soda so much that to give it up altogether is absurd, and to replace it with drinks that are laced with what should have been an ulcer drug makes sense.
If you want to control your weight, you have to control yourself. And aspartame doesn't promote that ability.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sugar and the brain.
Friends, grad school is hard.
By hard, I mean time consuming. Brain stretching. Challenging. But totally awesome, with the exception of midterms and finals. (Those will always stink.) Yesterday, while I quizzed myself with flash cards for a test in Human Growth and Development, I noticed something interesting.
Apparently, my memory is amazing.
Now, I don't mean to brag. I mean to express the following: WHAT THE CRAP IS HAPPENING TO MY BRAIN? But, you know, in a good way! While I studied, I sincerely, repeatedly surprised myself with how quickly I recalled what I hadn't read about in weeks. I assure you that this has never happened before. I'm not a bad student by any means (3.7ish undergrad GPA, represent!), but studying has never been my strong suit.
Anyway, I almost blogged about it right away, but I didn't want to jump the gun and bomb the test. So tonight, I took the test and -- once again -- I surprised myself.
The test, mostly essays with some matching and multiple choice, was simple until I got to page four, where two essays were worth a combined value of 18 points (out of 100). My heart sank because I hadn't studied either topic. I really had no idea. So, I wung it. I went with answers that seemed feasible and moved ahead. Afterward, unable to take the suspense, I checked the textbook. As I skimmed for something relevant to the second of the two essays I was sure I bombed, I vaguely remembered reading the chapter.
Weeks ago.
And when I found the answer, I surprised myself again because at least 2/3 of what I wrote was exactly what the book advised (and the other third should count as well, according to my mom who already has a master's degree in what I'm studying). How, pray tell, did I pull it out of my brain without a reminder of it between learning it and being tested on it? And how is any of this relevant to my sugar free year?
Well, I can't help but wonder: is there a connection between sugar and memory? Could it be that my breaking up with sugar has given my brain new powers?
Clearly, I haven't done the research. Yet. But so far, I think I'm a believer.
By hard, I mean time consuming. Brain stretching. Challenging. But totally awesome, with the exception of midterms and finals. (Those will always stink.) Yesterday, while I quizzed myself with flash cards for a test in Human Growth and Development, I noticed something interesting.
Apparently, my memory is amazing.
Now, I don't mean to brag. I mean to express the following: WHAT THE CRAP IS HAPPENING TO MY BRAIN? But, you know, in a good way! While I studied, I sincerely, repeatedly surprised myself with how quickly I recalled what I hadn't read about in weeks. I assure you that this has never happened before. I'm not a bad student by any means (3.7ish undergrad GPA, represent!), but studying has never been my strong suit.
Anyway, I almost blogged about it right away, but I didn't want to jump the gun and bomb the test. So tonight, I took the test and -- once again -- I surprised myself.
The test, mostly essays with some matching and multiple choice, was simple until I got to page four, where two essays were worth a combined value of 18 points (out of 100). My heart sank because I hadn't studied either topic. I really had no idea. So, I wung it. I went with answers that seemed feasible and moved ahead. Afterward, unable to take the suspense, I checked the textbook. As I skimmed for something relevant to the second of the two essays I was sure I bombed, I vaguely remembered reading the chapter.
Weeks ago.
And when I found the answer, I surprised myself again because at least 2/3 of what I wrote was exactly what the book advised (and the other third should count as well, according to my mom who already has a master's degree in what I'm studying). How, pray tell, did I pull it out of my brain without a reminder of it between learning it and being tested on it? And how is any of this relevant to my sugar free year?
Well, I can't help but wonder: is there a connection between sugar and memory? Could it be that my breaking up with sugar has given my brain new powers?
Clearly, I haven't done the research. Yet. But so far, I think I'm a believer.
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