If you don’t yet know about Stevia - you should! It’s a zero calorie, natural sweetener - sweeter than sugar, actually. It comes from the stevia plant and it’s one of the best kept natural secrets that there…was. The corporation that brought the world (that nasty stuff) called Equal, has seriously bought into stevia. When the competition gets serious - buy in to it.
I get stevia in packets and use it in lemonade and hot chocolate. I first learned about it through Weight Watchers and was thrilled to find it in every good health store. I very rarely drink soda pop, but it’s cool to see that a healthier alternative is going to make it to market from a mega-producer like PepsiCo. (I know, I know, it’s on par with McDonald’s finally serving McSalads, but it’s a step in the right direction.)
PepsiCo Rolls Out Beverage Sweetener Made from Stevia
Recently I overheard a man lamenting the fact that his four-year-old had several cavities. He went on to explain it, almost helplessly, as “Well, he loves his juice, what can you do?”.
Uh…not give him so much damn juice!
There are two aspects of this overheard dirge that frost my giblet:
1. Who’s in charge here?
2. Just because something is “natural” doesn’t mean copious amounts of it are good.
Unless it’s water. My father-in-law has this theory that whenever a kid acts up, it’s because she’s dehydrated and you should give her some water. I like that - could it be my excuse too? (Well, officer, I was thirsty…)
Back to the first frosting: who’s in charge here anyway? You’re the parent! I’m not advocating the brick-wall approach, but my children would eat Twizzlers night and day if there weren’t a benevolent dictator standing over them with a couple of toothbrushes and a glass of water. I’m a dictator, yes - but at least I pretend to be offering a choice: do you want to put on the pink pajamas or the red pajamas? (Either way, those pajamas are going on!)
I am a recovering addict. I was totally addicted to a white crystalline substance. Sometimes I would “cut” it with other substances such as flour, eggs and baking powder to increase volume and reduce purity. It produced an intense, euphoric feeling followed by an equally intense “crash” or depressed feeling.
My dealer was the local Safeway. Sometimes, I would even show up at work with tell-tale white powder smudges near my nose and mouth…betrayed by the powdered-donut.
Then, nine months ago, I gave up sugar.
I am still alive.
So it CAN be done. Put “No Sugar Tonight” by The Guess Who on endless loop and it will distract you from the withdrawal process. I lie. NOTHING can distract you from the withdrawal process. It’s as much fun as having your nose hairs pulled out one by one. But unlike nose hair removal, it’s very much worth it.
Once I got through that (with the help of vitamins, water and incessant whining), I emerged happier, healthier and thinner. I’d heard about this book by Kathleen Desmaisons, which, in spite of its daft title, is brilliant. I read it. Three times. The case for giving up sugar was made.
If you don’t yet know about Stevia - you should! It’s a zero calorie, natural sweetener - sweeter than sugar, actually. It comes from the stevia plant and it’s one of the best kept natural secrets that there…was. The corporation that brought the world (that nasty stuff) called Equal, has seriously bought into stevia. When the competition gets serious - buy in to it.
I am a recovering addict. I was totally addicted to a white crystalline substance. Sometimes I would “cut” it with other substances such as flour, eggs and baking powder to increase volume and reduce purity. It produced an intense, euphoric feeling followed by an equally intense “crash” or depressed feeling.
