Thursday, July 15, 2010

STATUS UPDATE

Tonight I thought I'd bore you all to death with a status update on a few bits and pieces. I'll start with a goal I set myself a few weeks ago.

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER FREE BABY

I've been successful in ditching the ASs. I started by cutting out my daily love affair with sugar free lollies. My how I loved to munch away on them throughout the afternoons while chained to my computer at work. Yes I did miss them terribly at first, often reaching over for the packet which was no longer there. Sob. Sob. But I got past it all and then tackled the AS yogurt and changed over to snacking on almonds and a piece of fruit in the afternoon. Slowly my last bottle of sugar free maple syrup ran out and my breakfast oat/protein pancakes were sweetened up with apple sauce which was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. I felt really sad when I ate my last pancake with maple syrup on it. Apart from that there wasnt really any other AS in my diet. I have a bit of soy protein left and I notice that's artificially sweetened but I havent needed it so it sits on my desk at work. As for the Diet Coke, we are no longer having a casual affair and not a drop has passed my lips for longer than I can remember.

So what is the outcome of this? Its hard to judge because as this was taking shape, my diet ... shall we say  ..... wasnt at the better end of the spectrum erhum erhum. Now that I've cleaned it back up and things are more settled with me I can honestly say that I feel no different. No better. No worse. Not noticing any changes in how my body works or feels.

Did I expect things to change? Well let me put it this way. With all the bad press that ASs get and how we are bombarded with how bad they are for us, I guess I expected to feel somewhat better when I cut them out. In comparison, if I have a few days of crappy eating where I really overdo the sugary, processed, fatty foods I feel worse and of course by cutting them out and going clean there is a noticeable improvement in how I feel. Well the AS changeover had no such effect. I never felt "bad" having them (except for one bout of too many SF lollies giving me a ripper of a stomach ache) and cutting them out didnt make me feel any better.

Lets just say, I'm not convinced that I'll stay AS free from here on. As long as my intake stays low then I'm not going to stress about it.

THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET

We had great intentions with this one but old habits die hard and making a noticeable switch to the principles of this eating plan didnt really come off. We were never going to do it 100% but fell way short of that anyway. Maybe down the track we'll be a bit more committed to giving it a better go but right now we're cruising along in our comfort zones with our normal diet. Peter is more committed to training regularly (not being sick 80% of the time helps) and is maintaining his weight well considering he gains every winter. And for me the challenges come from the emotional side of eating so when I get that right it all works pretty well for me.

THE PSORIASIS SAGA ....

... deserves its own post with a warning that I may include a picture and an honest update. Watch this space (I know you just cant wait for that one!!!).

M

2 comments:

Kristy said...

Great job on cutting out artificial sweetners. I generally don't eat much any more either. The biggest thing I found was drinking pepsi max never made feel good afterwards, nothing major just not good and didn't really enjoy it that muuch either so it has stayed out.

Small amounts of AS I don't think hurt

Magda said...

I must admit that I LOVE a Diet Coke and never feel bad or off afterwards but I stuck to my resolve and havent had any ASs for several weeks.

:-)