After hearing the story, it reminded me of the movie, Undercover Brother, when the hero battled against White She-Devil, the Black man's Kryptonite. The premise being that Black men couldn't resist the sultry allure of a White woman. Although a loose connection, it did make me think about how tempting it is to pass an aisle in the grocery store full of candy, sweets donuts, cookies, and any kind of intoxicating warm butter deliciousness my heart, body and mind can conjure up.
If White She-Devil is irresistible, then sugar has to be addictive. However, this was not news to me. Early in my career as a substance abuse technician back in the day, I learned through observation how heroine and cocaine addicts alike along with alcoholics tended to overindulge when putting sugar in the their hot tea or coffee, ice tea, Kool-Aid, and,on very few occasions, lukewarm water.
The article about toxic sugar warned of the addictive effects that leads to chronic or lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The researchers argue that sugar in the form of fructose is processed in the body similarly as alcohol and other toxins. In the high doses consumed by the average consumer, sugar is a poison.
Again, I'm making associations with the BBD (Bell Biv Devoe) song Poison.
For me, it was confirmation or maybe a bit of serendipitous folly and affirmation to take sweets out of my diet for February. Although I did not hear about the toxic sugar story until the end of the day, I noticed that I had done relatively well with very few temptations to eat sweets at work. Instead, I found myself talking about my choice with co-workers throughout the day. I continued drinking my water starting off the day before arriving at work drinking two servings. Then, before noon, I had two more servings of water. One serving equals 16 oz. For others, it could be higher or lower depending on various criteria such as weight, living in a dry climate and other variables. For me, I need to have around 140 oz of water each day.
By the end of the day, I was doing quite well. When I arrived home, I noticed that I was feeling a bit emotionally tired and mindful of getting dinner ready. I had to go to the store to get some items for dinner. While at the store, I felt myself feeling a very strong temptation to go to the sweets. However, the temptation was not a desire for sweets per se. Rather, habitually, I generally went to the sweets on the many aisles I would saunter toward as I walked the aisles in the grocery store, peering at the assortment of cakes, candies, ice cream treats or whatever decadence that appealed to me at a particular time.
On today, I fought against the desire and habit, staying away from certain aisles. If I needed to get something in a particular aisle, I did not fear to go down it. I simply avoided gazing at the sweets sorting through my mind with the various appealing tastes and flavors.
My meal for the evening was not quite as nutritious with plenty of cheese and meat. No vegetables after having a horrible salad for lunch. I feel all right about today, but I am going to stay on track, eat more vegetables tomorrow along with the fruits I've been packing away in my coat pockets.
White She-Devil. I put a hex on you. Nasty bitch.
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