sugar, HAH!

I laughed in the face of sugar. And it laughed right back at me.

My friend Natalie has, of late, been giving up things (foods) (vices, if you will) on a monthly basis for the past few months. First she went thirty days without chips, then sugar, then I don't know what the current one is, but it's all pretty impressive.

The sugar one I first heard about when we girls went to a chick flick on Valentine's Eve; I was in the midst of rifling through one of the two individual grab bags of chocolate/Valentine's candy I had been given for movie treats as she explained that she would just be taking her bags home and not eat them, and thinking-- WHAT?! Seriously? Not ONE piece? Man. And then... I wonder if I could even do that?

Okay, so a little background first: I'd say I'm a pretty healthy cat already.

-no real diseases (but plenty of imagined ones-- I have at one time or another been self-diagnosed with elephantitis, peripheral neuropathy, possible leprosy, walking pneumonia, SARS, and the pleurisy);

-in general adore vegetables and abhor fast food;

-am not just sitting on my butt all day, happen to be in excellent cardiovascular condition;

-have beyond-perfect vision (I have pretty much determined that I see at a greater "zoom" than everyone else, perhaps due to a slight superhero genetic),

-dang good hearing (to the annoyance of my students muttering curse words in the far reaches of the room);

-and I have learned how to function as a left-eye-dominant-being in a right-handed body. (Tricky!)

In fact, if it weren't for the diseases/conditions referenced above and the constant back and shoulder stress tension which in turn gives me frequent headaches, I'd say I'm a model of good health and just a little bit bionic.

Despite all that, though, in recent years, my already- (inherently) lackadaisical metabolism has decided to be at COMPLETE odds with my 30's. In fact, they seem to be in a constant fight. No, it's more like my metabolism doesn't like confrontation, so it has decided to sit back in a La-Z-Boy instead and just kick it for a while. Thanks, Metab!

SO-- I took the challenge (given by me, to me) and GAVE UP SUGAR for 30 days!!! Not natural sugar like in fruit, that's just stupid... but any and all desserts, treats, candy, refined sugar, etc. (Sugar-free fudge bars and jello/pudding okay). Didn't think I'd get super-skinny by doing so, but figured it had to do SOMETHING.

I mean, look at all the candy and treats I DIDN'T eat:

Valentine's chocolates from my aunt? into a Ziplock. Girl Scout cookies? Straight to the freezer (where they go every year, anyway). Cadbury Mini-Eggs? Purchased, but not opened (I knew I'd want them SOMEday...)

My willpower and resistance didn't end there. I also had to NOT eat the bevvy of delicious desserts that I baked for various events in the past 30 days.

A-- Key Lime Pie for KJ's Bday;

B -- White Chocolate Buttermilk Lemon Cake with mascarpone and

lemon whipped cream, topped with strawberries and raspberries and

drizzled with a raspberry jam glaze... also for KJ's Bday

C-- chocolate chip cookies for my students (celebration/consolation

cookies for when I gave out semester grades)

D-- Coconut-Pecan Blondies... why? Why NOT

E--S'mores Cupcakes for the class period that paid the highest percentage of lab fees

Didn't eat ANY of those. Not a bite. Wait, I take that back; I took a tiny bite of each, tasted it, and then spit it out. (Great trick, did it more than once this last month.) Oh, and the photo above? It's of the slices/pieces/bits I stuck in the freezer to save for later, so I could REALLY taste them in the future... that's why they look a little worse for the wear. Here were some of them in all their fresh and tasty glory:



And it was HARD. Well, at first, that is-- mainly the first 24 hours were the hardest, I was pretty much going through drug-type withdrawals or the like. Lots of shaking and babbling and screaming sugar-obscenities. After that, it just became a matter of habit and willpower and determination, and since I like to compete with myself, it was a challenge I wasn't going to back down on! But not eating something like this sitting in front of me... I'll admit was just a little bit of torture. I mean come on, LOOK at it! LOOK AT IT!!

And so, thirty days later... I made it!! I did it! Not so hard after all, though I did decide I definitely don't want to be a diabetic. Yay me!

But what did it do for me?



NOTHING.

NADA.

ZILCH.



In terms of my outward physical appearance, that is. Not one pound. My insides? I guess... I mean, sure, I bet my teeth are happy and all, but cutting out sugar didn't seem to make me any healthier or even affect my overall energy level.

NICE.

What it DID do, though, is give me a Kick-A (sorry, the lack of sugar is making me partially swear) WILLPOWER. My 30 days were up as of last night, and did I go to the freezer? Only to display the stashed and saved goodies for the photo shoot. I did take a tiny nibble of the corner of one of the cookies, I'm only human. But that was it. And I'm sure I'll eat a little bit here and there, sometime. But I am NOT going to have a binge-fest as reward...

...Because I found that I really really love fruit, and now that I've kicked the habit (30 days to break one!), and the aftertaste of sugar really kind of grosses me out, and though-- I'm not going to lie, I'd like to go eat three chocolate chip cookies right now-- I would like to end my Lent-ish abstinence, ... unfortunately, since the no-sugar thing didn't do anything, it's time to take drastic measures. So the sugar fast continues... Hand-in-hand with my kick-A willpower, and the gym.

That metabolism of mine is going to get KICKED to the CURB! Along with its precious La-Z-Boy. HAH!