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Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of March 28, 2011

March 28, 2011 • Comments (3)

This week, pretend sugar will kill you. Imagine it’s poison developed by a world-wide mind control organization that’s out to destroy life as we know it. This evil group runs huge companies and they have developed a product so addictive that consumers everywhere want to eat it. The more they eat the more their minds become soft and mind control becomes easier for the corporate conglomerates.

If you eat sugar laden junk food, know that those companies will soon be taking your money in other ways. Sure, they’ve got you hooked on chocolate cookies and sparkly sodas, but that’s just the start. Then they sell you gym memberships to supposedly counteract the effects of their horrendous chemicals.

You walk on a treadmill like a rat in a cage while sipping on sugary energy drinks and chomping on “health” bars made from genetically modified sweeteners. While there, you watch television sets that tell you, “BUY MORE JUNK.”

Before you know it you’re working more than 40 hours per week and spending all of your hard earned income on junk food and crap products that you don’t need. The treadmill speeds up and you have to jog to keep up. The faster it goes the more junk you need to eat in order to stay energized.

Meanwhile you’re credit cards are being sucked dry and so you get another one. But the bills keep stacking up. Purchasing the latest widget promises to solve the problems created by the failures of the last gizmo. Then another comes out and it’s supposed to be better still. You believe it and throw out what you have in favor of something new simply because it’s shinier and they told you do so.

Soon your home is filled with gadgets that are designed to help you open jars of sugar sauce and machines that chill your sugar drinks. You even buy a powdered mix to whip up your own sugary snack that bakes in minutes in your microwave oven at work. All of this so you can spend less time thinking and more time being busy.

You’re hooked! Your mind is mush, you’re energy is depleted, and you can’t keep up—all because you ate sugar.

So pretend this week that you’re going to break free. Whenever someone offers you sugary junk food, know that they’re part of the evil system. If you’ve never seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I recommend you watch it this week while sipping water and eating a natural snack.

Remember, this is just for pretend.

Posted on Mar 28, 2011 • Comments (3)

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of March 21, 2011

March 21, 2011 • Comments (0)

Pick a number between 1 and 5.

Next, calculate how many days away from today that is.

Now, avoid all sweets for that many days.

If you’re already off sugar, cut out another thing that you’ve been eating that you feel is questionable (flour, rice, fruit juice) and see how you feel.

Try it for a few days. One-to-five days to be exact.

Good luck!

Posted on Mar 21, 2011 • Comments (0)

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of March 7, 2011

March 07, 2011 • Comments (5)

Victory! (Cropped from an
image taken by Jason Kaplan)

This week’s challenge is posting a day late because I was away at graduation! Yes!

At dinner, after the ceremony, I was tempted to celebrate by eating sweets. Luckily the desserts did not look appetizing. Had there been a rich chocolate layer cake or a fluffy chocolate mousse, I might have caved. Instead they had some kind of cream filled flaky stuff. Not my thing.

Which leads me to this week’s sugar challenge….

Every time you’re tempted to eat something sweet, do something different. Do something else. Change your behavior pattern. Make something different. If watching TV makes you want to eat junk food, go for a walk instead. If working on something at the computer makes you want to have sugar, replace the sugar with something else.

You’ll be amazed at how much more interesting and alive life can be if you just switch up your routine even the slightest bit.

Posted on Mar 07, 2011 • Comments (5)

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of February 28, 2011

February 28, 2011 • Comments (0)

Can you believe it’s already March tomorrow? Time marches on.

It doesn’t matter if you eat meat or are a vegetarian. Time marches on.

If you sleep well or lay awake all night, time keeps going.

Drive fast or go slow, time just keeps on rolling.

Time Did you know that, on average, people spend four years of their life doing housework? Imagine that. Now consider your weekly routine and think about how much of your life will be spent participating in various activities. How will they add up?

This week, know that time is passing no matter how much you attempt to speed it up, slow it down, or try to stop it. Each second is a moment that will add up to be your life.

Will your history be made up of eating sugary junk? How many years will you spend feeling sick and guilty as a result of years of eating unhealthy food?

It’s your choice. Right now. This week. This year. Your whole life.

Posted on Feb 28, 2011 • Comments (0)

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of February 21, 2011

February 21, 2011 • Comments (2)

Conformity

Conformity happens slowly over time. One day you wake up and you look and act just like everyone else. Maybe you like to conform.

When it comes to sweets, people complacently conform. What would happen if you didn’t buy or make your spouse a birthday cake? Would they question your love? Imagine if you didn’t eat any cake at someone’s birthday party. Would they be insulted? What if you went to a live event and didn’t buy a huge container of soda, some pop-corn, or candy? Would you still have fun?

If you think you’re battling yourself when it comes to eating sweets, think again. It certainly is your choice as to what you eat but there are many forces working to ensure that the soda and cookies are within your reach at all times. They want you to conform. Sugar is what they want you to eat.

Who are they? They are candy manufacturers, food product makers, gym chains, and medical supply corporations. They are convenience store owners who want to buy cheap food that will live on the shelf for months before going bad. They are unaware sugar addicts who want to see you consume massive quantities of sweets too so that they can feel their addiction is perfectly normal. If everyone was drinking poison would you drink it too? Are you that easy?

This week, challenge yourself not to conform. When everyone else is eating sweets, don’t participate. See what happens. If you’re game, resist conforming in other ways as well. Be who you want to be, or who you truly are. Notice if being truly you and eating sugar have anything to do with one another.

Posted on Feb 21, 2011 • Comments (2)

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of February 14, 2011

February 14, 2011 • Comments (7)

Chocolate

I almost didn’t post a challenge today. Why? Because it’s Valentine’s Day! It’s not that I dislike holidays. It’s that sugar-free people often bend on days like today and have “just a little bit.” The result is that they end up eating sweets all week and I end up feeling really alone in my no-sugar lifestyle. Today is not a good day to feel alone. Thankfully, I have a real-life sweetie who sweetens my days without sugar.

Still, it’s difficult on days like today. Our entire social structure is built around eating sweets. Everyone expects candy, cookies, and cakes. As a sugar addict, I used to look for any excuse to “celebrate” something. There’s always an opportunity to celebrate—someone’s birthday, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, etc. All are great reasons to eat sugar just once more. The most common time to begin to abstain from sugar is after a big sugar day like today. And then after the next. (Easter is coming up.) It’s always gonna happen in the future and always after the big celebration.

Maybe you don’t want to say no. Maybe you’re not ready yet. Maybe you’re worried that you will look bad. Let’s face it, if you didn’t bring home a box of chocolates to your lover on Valentine’s Day they might think you don’t care. That’s what advertising has taught us.

My feeling: Buying a box of chocolates and some flowers is the most conformist and unimaginative/ritualistic way of expressing love. It basically says, “I had enough time to stop at the store today.” Wow. Hot.

This week’s challenge is to figure out a way to celebrate, have fun, and show love that doesn’t involve purchasing and eating a sugar laden product. Do something for your lover, family, or friends. Show love through action, not through a product. If you must exchange confectionery, give something that’s hand made. Put the best ingredients into it. Show that you really care.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted on Feb 14, 2011 • Comments (7)

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of February 7, 2011

February 07, 2011 • Comments (0)

This week’s challenge is really easy.

Whenever you want something sweet, eat something healthy.

You might not be satisfied.

You might eat more than usual.

You might not find it an easy task.

Remember, it’s just one week. Try it. See how you feel.

Hopefully you’ll discover something new about yourself, as well as how and why you eat what you eat.

Posted on Feb 07, 2011 • Comments (0)

Weekly Sugar Challenge: Week of January 31, 2011

January 31, 2011 • Comments (9)

Last night was stressful. I took a walk to decompress and right away the idea of eating sweets came to mind. I imagined going to the store to buy a large bag of M&M’s candy and eating all of them. I told myself it would just be a one time thing. Experience reminded me that I wouldn’t feel any better afterwards. In fact I’d feel worse and so I settled for a large serving of french fries. However, when I got near the fast food place it hit me that I wasn’t really hungry. I asked myself, “Will this build me up or break me down?” The answer was obvious and I didn’t eat anything.

Junk food (or any other vice) doesn’t help matters. We can joke and say sweets make us feel better, but it’s only for the moment. As soon as the bag was empty I’d have been back to my problem and with a pound of chocolate in my stomach. Not so bad, you might say, to have a belly full of chocolate. But then I’d need another bag of chocolate to push coping back a little more. And then a little more. And a little more…

This week’s challenge is about coping. Instead of eating sweets, deal with whatever issue it is that you have at hand. This may not be the case for everyone but chances are that when you are going for a snack you also have something else to do that you are putting off. Try doing that thing and see how you feel. I bet you’ll feel a heck of a lot better if you deal with the issue rather than eating the candy.

Posted on Jan 31, 2011 • Comments (9)