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Okay, I won't send this to my sister....
...or anyone else whom I know is struggling with being unable to drop below a certain weight. But I wrote it for myself, too -- after ten days without diet candies (I used them to try and moisten my mouth from RX side effect) food craving has mysteriously disappeared. Only for those who would like to meander behind the cut....
It turns out that I can "talk" to WORD. But it is as slow as molasses in January. Plus, I have a small cat making noises in my ear and insisting that I put him on my shoulder.
This is your love note for this afternoon. It’s been ten days since I stopped eating diet candies. Today I saw an article that made me suspicious of diet anything. The Framingham Heart Study followed 6000 people and found that drinking -- once a day – a regular or diet soda boosts by 48% the risk of developing metabolic conditions, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar and excess abdominal fat, which can cause diabetes and heart disease.
The researchers, in the August 24 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, said it’s not clear why diet soda has this effect. California cardiologist and nutrition expert Dean Ornish M.D. wants the scientists “to demonstrate this [link], which clearly they have not done.”
The AHA notes that diet soda doesn’t actually cause heart disease and is preferable to sugar sweetened soda.
Now, are we all confused yet? I have seen other articles that talk about whether diet sugar confuses the signals of our bodies. The idea, of course, is that we can have the treat without the sugar/carbohydrate. But what if what we are doing is promising the body a carbohydrate, and then not giving the body what it thinks it should have? What if the body signals that it wants more carbohydrates because we lied to it about a quick sugar fix? What if part of the reason we are so hungry when we start dieting is because we have cut off our bodies’ mechanism for asking for what it needs?
I have always been a big believer in watching out for extra calories that sneak in where they’re not wanted. That includes sodas. I had a bad reaction to aspartame once, and I stopped using it. I don’t really like any other artificial sweetener I’ve tried, other than Splenda, and I keep tasting the chlorine. I have a new one that is made from overripe fruit, but it doesn’t really work for me, either. The only thing I’ve found that gives me a little sweet kick with fewer calories is agave nectar. A bonus to agave nectar is that it does not cause the high glycemic kick of sugar, bread and potatoes.
What I’m suggesting here is that perhaps we should run a test. It takes two weeks for our bodies to remake taste cells. If we want ourselves to be satisfied with fewer sweets, we must stop lying to ourselves about sweetness. We can’t give it diet sweet and think it won’t say “Wrong!” and demand SUGAR. We have to remind our systems that fruit is sweet. Most of our bodies have forgotten that.
The one thing I don’t think we have actually removed from our “diet” is diet sweeteners. So -- what do you think? Is this worth trying? It requires us to keep on hand real/decaf tea or herbal tea to offset the diet we don’t drink. I have found that an ounce of pomegranate juice in a large glass of water or even in fizzy water keeps me from grumping at water. But I think this might be worth a try. (In my case, I gave up most diet drinks long ago. Now, even the sucralose(sp?) root beer has to go. Only real ones, as a treat.)
When I'm off the meds, I think I'll drink champagne instead!
Let me know what you think. And now, I need to go back and eliminate all the extra words Dragon Recognition thinks I needed!
It turns out that I can "talk" to WORD. But it is as slow as molasses in January. Plus, I have a small cat making noises in my ear and insisting that I put him on my shoulder.
This is your love note for this afternoon. It’s been ten days since I stopped eating diet candies. Today I saw an article that made me suspicious of diet anything. The Framingham Heart Study followed 6000 people and found that drinking -- once a day – a regular or diet soda boosts by 48% the risk of developing metabolic conditions, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar and excess abdominal fat, which can cause diabetes and heart disease.
The researchers, in the August 24 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, said it’s not clear why diet soda has this effect. California cardiologist and nutrition expert Dean Ornish M.D. wants the scientists “to demonstrate this [link], which clearly they have not done.”
The AHA notes that diet soda doesn’t actually cause heart disease and is preferable to sugar sweetened soda.
Now, are we all confused yet? I have seen other articles that talk about whether diet sugar confuses the signals of our bodies. The idea, of course, is that we can have the treat without the sugar/carbohydrate. But what if what we are doing is promising the body a carbohydrate, and then not giving the body what it thinks it should have? What if the body signals that it wants more carbohydrates because we lied to it about a quick sugar fix? What if part of the reason we are so hungry when we start dieting is because we have cut off our bodies’ mechanism for asking for what it needs?
I have always been a big believer in watching out for extra calories that sneak in where they’re not wanted. That includes sodas. I had a bad reaction to aspartame once, and I stopped using it. I don’t really like any other artificial sweetener I’ve tried, other than Splenda, and I keep tasting the chlorine. I have a new one that is made from overripe fruit, but it doesn’t really work for me, either. The only thing I’ve found that gives me a little sweet kick with fewer calories is agave nectar. A bonus to agave nectar is that it does not cause the high glycemic kick of sugar, bread and potatoes.
What I’m suggesting here is that perhaps we should run a test. It takes two weeks for our bodies to remake taste cells. If we want ourselves to be satisfied with fewer sweets, we must stop lying to ourselves about sweetness. We can’t give it diet sweet and think it won’t say “Wrong!” and demand SUGAR. We have to remind our systems that fruit is sweet. Most of our bodies have forgotten that.
The one thing I don’t think we have actually removed from our “diet” is diet sweeteners. So -- what do you think? Is this worth trying? It requires us to keep on hand real/decaf tea or herbal tea to offset the diet we don’t drink. I have found that an ounce of pomegranate juice in a large glass of water or even in fizzy water keeps me from grumping at water. But I think this might be worth a try. (In my case, I gave up most diet drinks long ago. Now, even the sucralose(sp?) root beer has to go. Only real ones, as a treat.)
When I'm off the meds, I think I'll drink champagne instead!
Let me know what you think. And now, I need to go back and eliminate all the extra words Dragon Recognition thinks I needed!
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So, two weeks without diet coke? Without anything diet-muddled?
I'm game. I may even remember to keep notes. Remind me to report back in.
I can't believe I'm about to travel this way...
Noting on Palm...
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Eating and drinking in moderation = Good
I'm just no good at the latter. ;)
Have you tried nut milks? Probably adding them to some decaf black tea and putting it over ice would be tastey (for you, not me, obviously). Of course I can drink normal milk. :)
Water is really good for you too.
Re: I can't believe I'm about to travel this way...
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Hey! Great that Dragonspeak seems to be working for you.
I have never found an artificial sweetener I could stand. They all taste like freaky chemicals to me. Friends have amused me by giving me sips of diet drinks and then watching me shiver down to my toes.
I have found that if I have dessert every night, or something sweet every day, I start really wanting and expecting that sweetness. If I want to then back down on sugar, the best way for me is to eat nothing sweet for three days, and then I don't crave it anymore. I wonder if that's related too? That is,you have a diet sweet and your body says, "oh boy, we get sweets every day," so it expect more of the same?
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Lately I've been trying to avoid HFCS as well, which means cutting out most sweet junk food and the vast majority of commercial sodas. There are some sugar-sweetened sodas available, but they tend to be pricey; I keep them around for the sake of convenience when I'm in a hurry. Mostly now I drink iced tea with sugar, plain water, or water with a slug of lemon juice (or a lemon slice squeezed into it, in a restaurant). And most dark chocolate, we've found, does not have HFCS. :-)
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I substituted raisins, apples, peaches, etc.
I fell off the wagon again at Context (SF convention) and now I'm at 10 days and counting. It's easier the longer you go because after a certain point and track how long its been because then you think about having to reset the counter on how long it's been and 3 days doesn't sound nearly as impressive as a year.
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You are correct. Perhaps we should scope out The Cherry Hut or some such -- as I recall, several do ship....
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I think the milk added to the edema/bloat. Bah....
Re: I can't believe I'm about to travel this way...
And one LMT friend can tell if you eat pork -- even organic pork.
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In fact, I quit doing low-fat stuff too (only whole milk and yogurt now!), and that has also helped. I'm sure I'll have to phase it back in to some extent after I stop lactating (which will be what, in the next three years?!) to maintain non-pregnancy weight, but maybe I can stay off the diet stuff. That stuff always made me feel a little wacky, anyway.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
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I still do some sugar -- I'm not ready to give up chocolate -- but I usually wrap it around a strawberry or some blackberries. But the artificial stuff? Great suspicion abounds here. I wasn't having any trouble slowing the creep of weight with the antibiotics until I had ice cream a few times with W. Three months = five pounds. Afraid to guess now, because I was nuts for sugar when I needed the diet candies again.
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Very likely. I just squirted agave nectar on my sweet potato. Normally don't need it, but stair-stepping down, down... 1/6 of a teaspoon on the oatmeal....
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I cut this years ago, and get it only accidentally, now. I do not think we were meant to get corn in that amount -- in everything. Sweet was rare for our ancestors -- it was what helped them pile on for the winter. Now, if I want a soft drink, I have a Blue Sky Lite Ginger Ale. Tasty and only 1/3 the usual amount of sugar. (Raspberry Lite is fine if you like berry soft drinks -- I found the root beer Lite insipid, and won't drink it.)
Dark chocolate is my friend! And you only need a small piece or so -- I can stretch a good candy bar DAYS.
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Actually very true -- when I think about corn, I want corn on the cob, and when people ask me if I miss wheat, I admit that I miss good sourdough bread the most.
I know I will suffer if I have sourdough in San Francisco, but oh, it smells like heaven!
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?
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I like it --
Re: ?
EE claims it builds in the thigh muscles, giving them hard, restrictive places that don't expand as quickly as they should when working the muscle (especially the rectus femoris). He tells everyone the same story when he finds those particular knots, so he clearly believes it!
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Re: I like it --
Oh, totally!
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I am a recovering diet soda junkie. I got off of them, altered my eating habits and worked out like a fiend before I had major surgery two and a half years ago. I wanted to give the surgeons the best canvas with with to work. I have never been healthier than I was then. And then the holidays hit and BOOM! All the old habits came back. At the beginning of this summer I did a two week cleanse and that helped me kick the diet soda habit again. I must admit that I've caved a few times and broken down and gotten one.
Last week I heard a commentator on the radio talking about "trigger foods". I've heard discussions about trigger foods before but this time it really clicked and I realized that extremely salty snack foods - tortilla chips and popcorn especially - and junky sugary snacks - brownies, chocolate chip cookies - will cause me to open up the floodgates of snacking. I can't have just one - I will eat whatever is in front of me and whatever is in front of you, too. It's sometimes embarrassing.
All that to say that I'm with you on the two week experiment. However, since I don't do a whole lot of diet stuff (I prefer unsweetened tea), I'll pledge to give up the salty and/or sweet snacks. I've hit a rather stubborn weight plateau (just four pounds from goal, don't ya know) and maybe this will jump-start me. Not that I'm going completely crazy with the snacking, but I'm snacking enough to realize that it's a trigger and it's doing me harm.
How's that for a long comment?!
Re: I like it --
Re: Oh, totally!
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Remember, I'm a writer.
Words are what we DO!
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I want you to know that after this post I went into the pantry and threw away the half-bag of tortilla chips that we still had. Yay! Step one!
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Oh, and --