My Monkey

I have a monkey on my back.  (Insert horrified gasps of righteous readers here)

Not only do I have a monkey on my back, but I'm going to be bold enough to state that I believe a lot of you do too.  (Insert offended, indignant noises of righteous readers here)

You see, that monkey's name is Sugar.  What a sweet sounding name.  Yet, how addicting and bad for us is that sweet little monkey?  (Insert pause for reflection, then slow, knowing nods of righteous readers here)  He causes us to crave empty calories, to have mood swings, to experience mental and physical crashes when our blood sugar nosedives, to carry more weight than we want, to feel bad about ourselves. That's not so sweet now is it?

We Americans love sweets.  It must be so.  Just look how long the candy, cookie, and ice cream aisles are at the grocery store.  The soft drink aisle.  The breakfast cereal aisle, about 90% of which is pre-sweetened.  The bakery department with it's cakes, cupcakes, pies, and doughnuts.  If none of those aisles existed, how big would the grocery store need to be?  3/4 the size?  1/2 the size?  1/3 the size?  Even smaller?

So don't  be ashamed of your sugar monkey.  He has a very big extended family, all clinging to the backs of your neighbors, friends, co-workers and relatives.

Recognize your monkey and tame him.  Be his boss, stop letting him control what you eat, what you weigh, and how you live.  January is a time when many people resolve to lose weight, to start exercising, to start a new diet.  Adds for gyms and weight loss products clog the TV and radio waves.  What about you?  Have you thought "I should exercise more this year?" or "I should lose weight this year?" or "I should eat better this year?"

Let's start with eating better (feel free to add in exercise, and losing weight will undoubtedly follow 'like magic').  That's one of my goals for 2012: to tame my sugar monkey by eating better.  I all ready don't drink soft drinks, eat breakfast cereal (homemade granola is my cereal) and I avoid artificial sweeteners due to the nasty things they do to my body (namely cause sudden and severe headaches as well as the overwhelming urge to eat more).  Sugar, real sugar, has been my holdout because I have a sweet tooth.  But it's time for that little monkey named Sugar to stop having such a big influence on my life.

This year I'll be trying out recipes using more natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup.  I'll be reducing the amount of sweets (even though they are homemade) that I eat.  No need to eat 3 or 4 cookies for a snack, when one provides the taste I'm after.

I'll be learning to satisfy my sweet tooth with fruits and veggies instead of cookies or brownies.  Join me.  Let's read labels on the products we buy and avoid those that have unnecessary sugar added (and artificial sweenteners--I abhor artificial sweeteners for the non-diabetic and could do a whole soapbox post on just them). Let's try homemade sweets using honey and/or maple syrup. Let's swap recipes.  Let's tame those monkeys together.