As those of you who read my blog know I am slowly becoming more and more obsessed with what goes into my mouth and the mouth of my family. I figured I was alone amoungst my friends in this and that I was sort of going off the deep end here. However I just came accross the blog of my friend Erin who has a similar obsession. Her blog is exceptionally written and I have really enjoyed reading it.
Her comment on her medication in particular reminded me of why I don't like vitamins. Most of the sources are derived from petroleum and they are made in China. China, the country that made baby formula that killed babies and dog food that killed dogs. I am supposed to take vitamins made out of gas which is lethal if ingested made in a country with a history of making lethal food products?! I think my hesitance is not unfounded.
So what's the big deal? Why don't I just not take the vitamins? Well for three reasons: 1. Because Tom likes to take them and he likes to insist that I take them. 2. Because my Dr. told me to take vitamin D because I am supposedly very deficient. Not that it is a huge shock, seeing as I live in Seattle where there is no sun. 3. and this is the most important one, IT'S IN EVERYTHING!! From bread to granola to milk to cheese you name it it's in there. Every food that has any sort of process, including something as simple as artisinal bread, has vitamins in it. Even buying flour to make your bread at home is down right impossible as even in the grinding of the flour they manage to somehow "enrich" it.
But I digress, as I often do, when what I really wanted to call to attention was that I find it ironic that both Erin and Myself where so distrustful of some of the food/vitamins we ingest and where it came from. I wanted to draw attention to the fact that we both have food allergies/stomach problems. I often wonder how I survived before now? How did I eat fruit loops as a kid and not get sick? How did I ingest too much Diet Coke and not get sick until now. Are we possibly bringing this upon ourselves and these food allergies/stomach problems aren't really a problem we where born with but rather something we have gotten ourselves into with all this enriching and processing? I lean toward this answer as it's the only thing that makes sense.
So basically if food that has all these "great vitamins and nutrients" added are making me sick when I eat them, but food that doesn't have all these wonderful things in it don't make me sick then I don't think that I am unfounded in my sentiments.
So here is Erin's Awesome Blog! go check it out.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The end of the road for Diet Coke
Since I was a little girl I have drunk Diet Coke. I was given it as a fat child instead of juice because it was better for me. It had no calories and as such would help me lose weight. Back then we didn't know it made you fatter and messed with blood sugar levels in ways unseen in regular products. So I drank it happily. Sometime in the late 90s I started hearing how bad it was but I figured what the hell, it has no calories so what's the big deal. I don't care about the potential risk so long as I don't get fatter. But I did get fatter.
In college the pivot point came when a roommate of mine said, I bet you can't give up diet coke. I took the bet and come to find she was right. Shockingly so actually. My first attempt played out like this, I tried not drinking soda for a few days and had such an excruciating headache that I was confined to my bed for days. Finally I gave in and drank some. It literally felt like I had come to life again. Now I was scared. VERY scared. How could it be that a beverage held this much power over my ability to function? What did this mean?
I tried multiple times to give it up, swearing that I would do it and while some of my other trials where more successful, they all left me drinking diet pop of some kind. The really odd revelation came when I started drinking caffeine free pop and found that it kept me from having a headache but coffee, with a much higher caffeine level, did not keep me from headaches. This lead me to believe that what I was so addicted to was not the caffeine and as such that was why the headaches never went away. I tried everything and anything and lived in both shame and enslavement. I had to have the Diet Coke every morning or I couldn't function.
The worse came when I was diagnosed with IBS and GERD. I had to try and give it up again and the doctors request and found that I was actually not able to digest my food properly without the Diet Coke. Here I was beyond scared. I had actually started to use this beverage to digest my food. Was that even possible? I had heard rumors of cola companies cleaning their trucks and engines with the stuff but thought it was just a joke. I now started to think that maybe they were right.
I tried as I always did and had much the same results. I was off the diet coke but was drinking just as much Fresca really any better? I didn't feel better and my doctor didn't like it any more. So she finally told me some people just can't change their habits and so I gave up and figured I would live a life dependant on that stupid beverage and suffer stomach pains forever.
So I placed my usual order of 10-2 liter bottles of Diet Coke at Amazon fresh and lo and behold I accidently ordered caffeine free. So I asked if I could exchange them and they said they would just credit me the money and I could order a new round. But they were out and so I would have to go to the store and get some. I was super busy that week and it turns out I ran out of Diet Coke before I could get more. The caffeine free stuff was there when I ran out and so I drank it. Oddly enough I felt a lot better after a day of drinking that instead of the caffeine stuff. My stomach was better and my IBS was a lot better. I thought ok well hey no more caffeine for this monkey. At least one habit was kicked and I felt so much better.
I was reveling in this great news when I ran out of the Caffeine free stuff. I did have another bottle of the regular stuff and so I drank it with dinner and planned to get more of the caffeine free stuff the next day. At around 12:00am I started to feel great pain in my stomach. So much so I thought it was my gallbladder and that I would need emergency surgery. I even made us go to the store and get a thermometer to make sure that I did not have a fever. I ended up taking an alka seltzer and 3 gas pills and after a night of, well quite honestly pain and flatulence, I woke up wanting a glass of water.
That one craving was my win. I have never in all my life craved water upon waking up. Sure I did when I was done at the gym or when I was out in the hot sun occasionally prefer water over Diet Coke. But never in the morning when I needed it to help settle my stomach. It has now been 3 days since the last diet sode and with the exception of an occasionally Zevia or sparkling water I have been drinking mostly water and frankly I have not craved the diet coke. I have thought about maybe having one with lunch and the thought of it makes my stomach hurt.
I didn't write anything about this until now because I worried I might just be a temporary stage, much like Dr. Jekyll was after the slaying of Mr. Carew and that in much the same way, I might wake up with an empty can in my hand. This doesn't seem to be the case though and I am finally free of the pain and the shame of the evilest drink in the world!
I am proud to say that I am now Diet Coke free!!
In college the pivot point came when a roommate of mine said, I bet you can't give up diet coke. I took the bet and come to find she was right. Shockingly so actually. My first attempt played out like this, I tried not drinking soda for a few days and had such an excruciating headache that I was confined to my bed for days. Finally I gave in and drank some. It literally felt like I had come to life again. Now I was scared. VERY scared. How could it be that a beverage held this much power over my ability to function? What did this mean?
I tried multiple times to give it up, swearing that I would do it and while some of my other trials where more successful, they all left me drinking diet pop of some kind. The really odd revelation came when I started drinking caffeine free pop and found that it kept me from having a headache but coffee, with a much higher caffeine level, did not keep me from headaches. This lead me to believe that what I was so addicted to was not the caffeine and as such that was why the headaches never went away. I tried everything and anything and lived in both shame and enslavement. I had to have the Diet Coke every morning or I couldn't function.
The worse came when I was diagnosed with IBS and GERD. I had to try and give it up again and the doctors request and found that I was actually not able to digest my food properly without the Diet Coke. Here I was beyond scared. I had actually started to use this beverage to digest my food. Was that even possible? I had heard rumors of cola companies cleaning their trucks and engines with the stuff but thought it was just a joke. I now started to think that maybe they were right.
I tried as I always did and had much the same results. I was off the diet coke but was drinking just as much Fresca really any better? I didn't feel better and my doctor didn't like it any more. So she finally told me some people just can't change their habits and so I gave up and figured I would live a life dependant on that stupid beverage and suffer stomach pains forever.
So I placed my usual order of 10-2 liter bottles of Diet Coke at Amazon fresh and lo and behold I accidently ordered caffeine free. So I asked if I could exchange them and they said they would just credit me the money and I could order a new round. But they were out and so I would have to go to the store and get some. I was super busy that week and it turns out I ran out of Diet Coke before I could get more. The caffeine free stuff was there when I ran out and so I drank it. Oddly enough I felt a lot better after a day of drinking that instead of the caffeine stuff. My stomach was better and my IBS was a lot better. I thought ok well hey no more caffeine for this monkey. At least one habit was kicked and I felt so much better.
I was reveling in this great news when I ran out of the Caffeine free stuff. I did have another bottle of the regular stuff and so I drank it with dinner and planned to get more of the caffeine free stuff the next day. At around 12:00am I started to feel great pain in my stomach. So much so I thought it was my gallbladder and that I would need emergency surgery. I even made us go to the store and get a thermometer to make sure that I did not have a fever. I ended up taking an alka seltzer and 3 gas pills and after a night of, well quite honestly pain and flatulence, I woke up wanting a glass of water.
That one craving was my win. I have never in all my life craved water upon waking up. Sure I did when I was done at the gym or when I was out in the hot sun occasionally prefer water over Diet Coke. But never in the morning when I needed it to help settle my stomach. It has now been 3 days since the last diet sode and with the exception of an occasionally Zevia or sparkling water I have been drinking mostly water and frankly I have not craved the diet coke. I have thought about maybe having one with lunch and the thought of it makes my stomach hurt.
I didn't write anything about this until now because I worried I might just be a temporary stage, much like Dr. Jekyll was after the slaying of Mr. Carew and that in much the same way, I might wake up with an empty can in my hand. This doesn't seem to be the case though and I am finally free of the pain and the shame of the evilest drink in the world!
I am proud to say that I am now Diet Coke free!!
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