I’m Divorcing……..Sugar

I am day 5 into my current separation with Sugar. No, it is not a dog or stripper, but rather that sweet substance that gave me diabetes 2. We have lived together for years. Kinky? No. (Wait does honey in 1984 count?) Complicated? Yes. The reality is that I’m always struggling with maintaining my sugars. I have plateaued in my health gains and I needed to make a change. Along came a nutritionist named Dawn. Someone who is a perfect to the Jimmy fitness team, not formulaic, laidback, funny, focused, horizon seeing and most important, passionate. These are the same qualities as most of my friends, even the ones that don’t claim me.

Dawn is passionate about nutrition. She explained how my diet needs to get closer to the ground. At first I thought she meant I needed a smaller chair, which was strange because I only have 26” inseam, I can’t get much lower. My feet rarely touch the ground when I’m sitting. I digress. She explained that I needed to get things that had roots, roots that contained all the nutrients of the earth. Carrots are good. Beets were very good. Ummmm no, I’ve had Uncle Gene’s Borscht and I’m not having beets. I will have beats, preferably those of Charlie Parker…Crap I digress again. The further away from the earth, the more processed, the worse that food is. She said this with such passion and conviction I was inclined to have a cigarette at the end.

Sugar is not bad, but it is sort of addicting. Sugar is the gateway drug to Bundt Cake, which is the gateway drug to Petits fours, which is the gateway drug to Tiramisu with a DiSarno aperitif. It’s easy to see how I got to this place. We all have put a sugar cube on our tongue and felt it dissolve. Sugar, that bastard, has been leading me down a horrible path.

Dawn said I needed a divorce and I knew she was right. Plus, this would not be as ugly as 1984, post-honey. Sticky? Maybe. Per my nutritionist’s instruction, no bread unless it’s artisanal right out of the oven. Salads. Have salads all the time and add protein. This is a genetic challenge. I’m an American of Greek descent, bread is hemoglobin to my tribe. A Greek with no bread is like a hairless Greek. You just don’t see this. It is a simple genetic misfire. However, I have been challenged!

Oh yeah. 90 ounces of water too. I need to bring a bowl to put under my chair. I push on.

I’ve made two major changes this week. 1^st is that I have recalibrated myfitnesspal to diabetic recommended sugars, which is 6 tablespoons or about 60 grams. The second is that I have not had bread all week. Discoveries are that salads are okay, sometimes really good. Pistachios come from the ground and a great source of energy, much healthier, and longer lasting, than Skittles.

I have also found some great food alternatives. Today I had Brussel Sprouts, Pearl Onions, Chevre, Bacon, Sweet Potato, another Green Thing and Scallops in a cast iron skillet. It was awesome! Never would I have even thought about it had it not been for Dawn. I would have had the bread & cheese plate with wine. (I have included a picture for your pleasure.)

At the end of 5 days, I’m okay. I’m sure sugar and I will still hook-up. I am planning a macaron safari in Chicago, Thanksgiving and our Christmas Party too. I also know, even before my talk with Dawn, that if my sugars get too far out of whack because of abuse, it will take 3 to 5 days to normalize. It sucks too when it happens. I’ll keep you posted how this goes.

PS: If Jill ever puts sweet whip cream on wedding cake again…I’ll be confused. What a decadent delicious surprise. Of course, it took 3 days for my sugars to normalize. I should have drank! lol