During September and October this year I have avoided almost all sucrose and fructose. I certainly haven't had any candy or desserts, but sugar is found in the most amazing places these days and so through oversight and willing lack of rigor I have allowed some to slip in. Very little though, especially compared with my former self.
I don't mean to say that I was ever a rampaging sugar-holic, but looking back I find that I consumed sugar in nearly every meal I've had for years. Whether it is the after-lunch mint, the sweet-and-sour pork, the spoonful of honey in my oatmeal...whatever, sugar was a constant presence.
Now, two months in to my "sugar-avoidance-diet", eating as much food as I want, whenever I want, provided it contains no sucrose or fructose, I've lost approximately 16 pounds.
I only have about another 16 pounds between me and my "known healthy weight" of 190 lbs. This is the weight I was when I was 19 years old, playing basketball 4 hours per day and lifting weights. I have no overriding ambition to achieve that weight. I would consider it completely OK to be that weight again. If I were to go below that weight by more than 10 lbs, I would begin to worry.
Now that I think of it, I was once (also at 19 yo) 175 lbs...after 9 days of hiking in the mountains, living on rations of dehydrated and flavorless food, while hiking 8 miles per day with a heavy pack. At that time, my bones were jutting angularly in a way that brings to mind victims of famine or anorexia. That is the absolute "weight-floor" for me. If I were to get that light, I'm fairly sure it would be due to some form of disease & would certainly avail myself of medical attention.
However, at this point, that is all very tangential...I feel good. I rarely crave candy or dessert. This may be due to the fact I've come to consider sugar to be poison & my desire not to be poisoned turns my appetite away from those "treats". It also may be because I don't let myself get hungry. I'm filling up on foods with fiber, protein and glucose.
I should also give some credit to Heidi, whose Channa Masala, Moroccan Stew and other delights make it enjoyable to eat healthfully.
2 comments :
You were invited to eat some of those fish you caught, but you and your brother preferred to eat another meal of the dehydrated stuff.
Yeah, and also you got to eat Grandpa's share of what food we brought!
Although I have to admit that you probably carried the heaviest pack of any of us -- possibly excepting your big brother, especially when he carried both his and your pack, downhill to the shores of Joe Lake.
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