Put down the Pom Not-So-Wonderful and step away from the sugar.

Today we go to Sugar School and offend family.  Yes, the front steps are still unstripped and my muscles are still unmuscled, but the discovery of 2/3ds of a bottle of Pom "Wonderful" in my fridge has prompted this post in an attempt to SAVE my sister's sugar-lovin' soul!  My sister and nephew were just here for 4 days.  Apparently unable to make it through as much as 2 days without a sugary drink (Huh?  There's only cold filtered WATER?  WTH!  We'll probably die!  [No, they were way too nice to actually say this, but....]), my sis bought a bottle of Lemonade and some of that Wonderful Pom after only two days.  And at this point, I hear Kathy going, "Well, I don't drink it straight.  I just add a little bit to some sparkling water."  Plus, it's 100% juice, how can it be bad?  Oh, fear not, I will tell you why this is bad.

And, lest I forget, the sugary drinks were not the only purchase -- there were watermelon candies and other sweet stuff that had to be purchased and eaten to sate the sugar addiction.  (And I'm not even gonna count the cotton candy on Saturday night, or the gummi bears and chocolate snacks, because that was my badness, but it was in the mix.)  Four days.  Not able to make it without the sugar.  4.  Not good.

So what up with the "Wonderful" pure and natural Pom?  Here's what up: 62 grams of sugar in one small plastic bottle.  Not kidding.  I thought it was a mistake.  72 carbs, only 1 gram of protein, and 62 grams of sugar.  So if you drink that 16 oz. bottle, which many people undoubtedly do, you would send your blood sugar sky rocketing.  Even half a bottle is 31 grams of sugar.  One fourth of the bottle is 16.5 grams.  And a couple of swigs would give you at least 8 grams.  Indeed, fruit juice has as much, or more sugar, than is found in sodas.  http://www.hookedonjuice.com  (Just one quick link explaining the loads of sugar in fruit juice.)  And if you don't like that site, Google it your own self.  

So what?  Big deal?

Well, 4.2 grams of sugar is the equivalent of eating an entire teaspoon of sugar.  So if you take only a couple of swigs of Pom Wonderful (and no one stops at a couple of swigs), you are eating TWO TEASPOONS of sugar.  That's right, just shovel that sugar right into your mouth.  And how much can the body handle at one time?  Only about two teaspoons or 8 grams.  (Per Suicide by Sugar [a book I sent my sister that she will never read -- written by a 70 yo reformed sugar addict with a PhD in nutrition] and the sources cited therein.)  Now here's where I attempt to summarize and oversimplify and lose my sister, because this stuff cannot be explained in a few sentences, and I don't have the PhD in nutrition.  But basically, sugar injects you with a buttload of glucose and fructose, which temporarily increases your serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine (making you feel all nice -- one reason it's addicting), but also forces your body to draw minerals from the blood stream and secrete insulin in an attempt to bring the body back to homeostasis.  This knocks the blood chemistry all out of whack, causes hypo or hyper glycemia, depletes minerals (and or absorption of minerals you need) like chromium, copper, and magnesium, damages your endocrine system, inhibits your immune system, and causes things like premature aging, cancer, arthritis, leaky gut, inflammation, allergic reaction, asthma, obesity, diabetes, dementia, etc.  (that doesn't begin to cover all the stuff the author says is caused by sugar, but I'm being conservative here).  That's a very short version of a whole book about sugar and nutrition and body function.  There is a reason that cancer patients are told to avoid sugar.  Sugar feeds cancer cells.  That's not really debatable.  So even if you're skeptical about everything else, that alone ought to be enough to make EVERYONE avoid sugar and sweeteners.  And yet....

So that was it.  A very short trip to sugar school, but my attempt to encourage a conscious and determined change in sugar consumption.  Not complete abstinence, but a safe level of sugar consumption of 5 grams or less in any one serving/sitting.  If it has more than that, it will be very tasty and will feel really good, but it is really bad for you.  And if you're trying to lose weight?  Forget about it -- if you can't cut back on the sugar, I don't think it's gonna happen.  Today, I'm passing along advice to eat whole foods and complex carbs like oatmeal (without added sugar), vegetables (ooh, ick!), and for sweetness, WHOLE fruits, not fruit drinks, not even 100% Pom Wonderful fruit juice, but whole frickin' fruit.  Without sugar on it.  (Yes, I've seen a certain sister put table sugar on bananas and strawberries.  WTH?)  Try it, you'll like it.  Okay, maybe you won't like it at first (or even ever, compared to the tasty wonders of modern prepared foods), but it will be SO much better for you.  That gurgling sound is the Pom "Wonderful" going down the sink.

Baby steps.  Really.

Caution: stripper at work.

RRRRR.  Round three.  Or is it four?  I know I'm on my fourth container of paint stripper.  First I scraped.  Then I tried regular stripper.  Then I hit it with "heavy duty" stripper.  But I succeeded in peeling off more of my own skin than the paint on my front steps.  I don't know what someone used on them 80 or so years ago, but it's on there good.  So last night I decided to stop playin' with it and get serious.  (Yes, I have just revealed how exciting my Saturday nights usually are.)  After lots of Googling and two more trips to the hardware store (so far, it's a 4-trip, 2-day job, and it's early yet), I have settled on soy.  Yes, they have done something really unnatural with the soy bean and turned it into a non-toxic stripper.  It supposedly works well, but you have to wait.  Wait?  I suck at waiting.  I'm the definition of haste and impatience.  I can barely wait the 15 minutes for the heavy duty stripper.  So this waiting for HOURS is gonna be tough.

Stripper break.

Okay, I just did a little scrape test and the soy appears to be working.  But, like all good strippers, it only takes off one little layer at a time.  (Look, I just made a stripper joke!!!)  So I have redistributed the soy goo (it's a gel, so think really thick clear snot), and I'm going to sit down with a movie.  Maybe a movie outside with some champagne.  Because life is short. 

Give me patience.

Update:

Well, it's been about 30 minutes since I posted, and, of course, I could not just go sit with a movie.  I immediately went out and scrubbed the soy stripper with a brass brush.  And I think it's working!!!!  And working better than the toxic heavy duty stuff.  Or maybe it's just the wire brush and my greasy elbows.  Either way, I'm thinking I may get this job done in a week or so.  (I love that my original naive estimation was that this could be done in one weekend!  Snort!) 

Plus I didn't have any champagne in the fridge.

Tentaholics is waiting for me.

Okay, I have purchased another tent.  Yes, my apologies, but I have.  You may start the tentervention and report me to tentaholics anonymous.  In my quest for the perfect tent, I have located one that I can set up SOLO in under 2 minutes (staking not included) with minimal effort and it is large (an "8-person," i.e., me and the doggies) and tall enough to walk around in, supposedly water tight (it is either very watertight, or leaks like a sieve, depending on who you believe), but with large mesh windows in the front room, etc.,  so that I can use it as a screen room, and I can put it up quickly enough that I should not need the separate doggie shelter, which is good -- one shelter, not three.

The Coleman Instant 8.

The only downside to this, was the lack of a veranda/vestibule/rain fly -- tent supposedly does not need a rain fly, so it doesn't have one.  But necessary or not, I would prefer to have a fly over the tent door, if not the whole tent  (in case those Instant-8 haters are right).  Plus I want a veranda for sitting, cooking, yoga, whatev.

 

So last night, about 11-2 am, I'm laying there pondering the solution (because that stupid Texidor I was drinking must have sulfites or something in it, because it makes me itchy, and the two cans of pork and beans I ate were working their magic) and it came to me:  I will make my own rain fly.  Yes, I will.  And it will solve all my problems.

Now, I could just use a plain old tarp for this rain fly.  That would be adequate.  Or I could use the 4-pole Coleman rain fly that I already own.  (And I will use the poles from that, anyway.)  But I'm thinkin' -- what a great opportunity for some stripes!  So, I have given it a lot of thought (because I had nothing else going on from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.) and I am going to make something magical for my new tent.  Something worthy of "Diva camping."  I envision something grand.  (It will probably be more like, WTF?)  And this should be the last of my tents and screen rooms.  I could even send a couple of those things back.  Maybe.  If this works out, I promise to CONSIDER returning the enormous Swiss Gear 8 -man tent and the large Wenzel screen room with a floor and 8 fiberglass poles, both of which I like quite a lot.  (BTW, check out the Sierra Designs Wu Hu  tents -- sweet.)

So that's what I have been doing instead of working out or blogging.  I will keep you posted.