I can’t count how many times I’ve made the New Year’s Resolution to stop eating sugar. Maybe this year I’ll be able to make it and keep it for good? For a year, at least? I am so addicted to sugar that once I eat a small amount, like the pieces of chocolate peppermint bark Lyndy gave me for Christmas, or the cookies that someone made at the party, or the cafe mocha I had the other day when we were downtown visiting with friends we’d just run into, I just keep wanting more and more of it. Alcohol is another bad thing for me, because when I drink it, even if it’s only a couple of ounces of beer or wine, my willpower is greatly reduced and I want sugar even more.
Okay, I know now, after years of making the resolution to stop eating sugar, what’s involved. I know how sugar affects me. I know how bad it is for me. I know that it stays in my system for seven days. And I know, without a doubt, that it feeds an overgrowth of candida in my belly that then is a direct cause of the ringing in my ears. I know this because I have been able to actually stop the ringing in my ears by not eating sugar, and eating whole grains and vegetables and not eating other refined products. I even managed to reduce the size of my belly by half -- until now, after blowing it during the holidays. Sigh.
So I have to start all over again.
• I have to eat a balanced diet of whole grains with alkalyzing vegetables, seaweed, miso soup, and kukicha tea.
• I have to exercise regularly, which for me is going on daily walks.
• I have to keep a balance of rest and physical activity. A balance of consuming and eliminating. A balance of work and play, of mental stimulation and meditation. Etc., etc.
• I need to re-read George Ohsawa’s book, Zen Macrobiotics, Herman Aihara’s book, Acid and Alkaline, and Carl Ferre’s book, Acid Alkaline Companion.
Cup of Hot Water
Today, the first day of the new year, I began by drinking a cup of hot water (about 6 ounces), which I always do now ever since Julia Ferre talked about how it helps to rehydrate you after a night of sleeping and getting dehydrated. I found that it really works, and I feel instantly better and ready to start the day. (I think she talked about it in a magazine issue of "Macrobiotics Today" not that long ago?)
Exercise Before Breakfast
Then I went on a nice long walk (about 1 1/2 hours). Then I had breakfast: Barley Miso soup, short-grain brown rice with ume vinegar and maple syrup on top, and a cup of 2-bag twig tea.
Late New Year’s Day Lunch and a Special Dessert
For lunch, I had grated daikon radish with leftover quinoa browned in sesame seed oil, and 3-bag twig tea. I ate this in two parts, with about an hour and a half in between the parts. (Today, being a holiday, is way off any normal kind of routine for me!)
Then for a special dessert I had a Camel Halvah snack bar, which is basically sesame seeds (pure-milled), malted corn barley syrup, cocoa liquor, molasses powder, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, and egg whites. This candy bar is made in Canada by Noble Foods, Inc. It’s delicious and very yin! But I figure it’s more alkalyzing than granulated white sugar, and therefore not as likely to cause my candida to grow? At any rate, it’s a way to celebrate the new year with a sweet that’s not nearly as bad as sugar. I just don’t plan on having any more of it for a while!
Sugar is Extreme Yin
Because sugar doesn’t leave your body for seven days, it will accumulate if you keep eating it. And if you’re not eating enough yang to counterbalance it (such as meat, which is very yang, and which I do not eat, because I’m a vegetarian) then you can get “Charlie Horses”--muscle cramps that start in the feet and work their way up your legs, all the way to your heart. Looking for a good way to have a heart attack? Keep eating sugar!
I think that because I don’t eat meat (extreme yang), it will be easier for me to avoid sugar. This is because Yin is attracted to Yang and Yang is attracted to Yin, like positive and negative sides of magnets. The more yang (meat) one eats, the more “attractive” sugar can become.
Good Food Challenge
I love food and I love to eat. There are no “buts” about it. And I’m actually looking forward to this challenge of not eating any sugar, because now all I have to look forward to is eating food that’s good for me! It will be fun trying to find good foods to eat while I’m traveling too.
By the way, I am not going on a “diet.” I am still going to eat whatever I want, whenever, and however much I want (as long as it doesn’t have sugar in it). The difference is that it will be me and my brain controlling what I eat -- not the effects of sugar. I am hoping, however, that as a result of not eating any more sugar, I will lose weight and get my candida overgrowth under control.
So here’s a toast to No More Sugar!
Notes:
• Zen Macrobiotics by George Ohsawa, Acid and Alkaline by Herman Aihara, and Acid Alkaline Companion by Carl Ferre are available on the George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation website.
