Friday, December 21, 2007

It Ain't Christmas Until Somebody's Crying ...


I ... am a little disheartened.

As I told you guys back on December 10th, I've been cutting a lot of sweets and junk out of my daily diet lately ... including, most importantly, soda.

I've been drinking lemonade, bottled watter, and decaffinated iced tea. All of which I've made, with the exception of the water, with Splenda. And, honesty, I think I've done pretty well. In the past month, I've had two sodas ... one with dinner over last weekend Mr. ThirtyWhat's office Christmas party ... and one at lunch yesterday. For the record ... I didn't come close to finishing either.

In any case, today I got an e-mail from an old friend chastizing me for my dietary choices. She tore me up one side and down another. She wrote "Splenda is nothing but a chemist's nightmare ... " and "You've chosen to substitute one demon for another ..." and "You're more toxic now than before!"

{Sigh}

I can't win. Yes, I understand that Splenda, strictly speaking, is not natural. I also understand that, in the long run, I should be trying to eliminate the need for that "sweet taste" all together. But, damn ... I feel like I'm trying.

Maybe I'm wrong? Maybe it's the equivalent of an addict switching to methadone ... trading one addiction for another. I guess I just feel like all the effort I've put into this is for nothing. It's as though since I'm not shopping at Food Fantasies and going 100% organic and natural, then I'm still a failure.

It is not enough to make me want to go buy a Snickers out of the vending machine ... it is enough to make me not want to share the details of my life with certain people. And people wonder why I blog anonymously ...

But all I can do, is all I can do
And I keep on tryin
And all I can be is all I can be
And I keep on tryin
There's always a mountain in front of me
Seems I'm always climbin and fallin and climbin
But I keep on tryin

Trace Adkins - I'm Tryin

2 comments:

  1. I think you can find a diet that would keep your sugar normal and not feel deprived.

    I had often wondered what a vegetarian would do, if there kidneys failed and they could not use soy, beans, nuts or dairy as a source of protein.

    Dietary beliefs and health can often be in conflict. Over heard one woman saying adamantly that herbs were keeping her blood pressure under control as the nurse was telling her that her pressure was high and that they were going to have to hospitalize her.

    ------------------------------------

    Merry Christmas to you and your family.

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  2. Thirty-

    You're doing a great job. Cutting things out of your diet that you've grown accustomed to and that you like is a very complicated and difficult issue. I hope your friend realizes that. Yeah, best case is to not be using Splenda, but you've made a step to avoid sugar. That's the first step, and you're succeeding at that. Congratulations.

    I hope you all the best this holiday season. We're pulling for you here.

    John

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