Dearest Body of Mine!

It has been almost 3 decades since we are together. I have always talked to the heart and mind but always neglected you. Ignoring the fact that you are the most important among mind, soul and body. You have been taken care with love and healthy food in your early years, but the moment I took control of you things went in super unhealthy direction!  You were fed with the junkiest of oil laden, grimy and cholesterol filled food. You were used like a bad master uses his donkey. After careful thought and consideration, I hereby promise to:

Accept you and be super grateful for you just the way you are. I will always love and appreciate you for the strenuous work you have been doing all those years. I will be more careful to provide you with healthy foods, which will include tons and tons of vegetables and fruits. I cannot promise but I will do my best to avoid highly processed food and the white poison i.e. sugar. I will not hurt you by going overboard with my addiction of desserts.

I have realized that laughter, play and rest make you feel good and rejuvenated. I will use my time wisely and plan things accordingly so that you have your proper me time. I will listen to the messages you are sending e when you are tired or sick. I will push anxiety, stress and jealousy out of my life. I will understand that my unexpressed emotions and thoughts affect you.

I will exercise regularly and appropriately for my body type. I know you must be thinking that this exercise promise is a big lie. But be assured I am going to be a different person now. I should and must take out time to exercise, for our own good. Doing exercise today is going to make us young and energetic for longer. It can always push away the unlikely affects of aging.

I will take care of you equally as I take care of my family. I will eat the same food that I want my son to eat. It’s not okay to eat fast food or other junk after my son has left for school. I am not answerable to anyone but myself. In order to make my son veggies and good stuff I myself have to set a positive example. I assure you that I will try celery, kale, bok choy, broccoli, and all that good stuff and wont run away from them. God has made all these things and He has a rationale and nutritional value behind everything that is growing from this earth.

I will make sure to adorn you with nice and most importantly comfortable clothes. I am extremely sorry for wearing the most uncomfortable shoes and giving you discomfort.

I am sorry that I never heard your SOS call, but I had to as it was getting louder every year.  I will accept that I have the power to heal you. It’s only me who can do well to you and avoid you from suffering and early deterioration. I have realized that you deserve to be healthy and happy. I will honor you as the temple of my soul!

I Love you so much J

Natasha.

Sugar is a sugar is a sugar!

Its 9:46 pm and I am done with my dinner, the house is all cleaned up, son is almost asleep but there is one thing that is bugging me: craving for something sweet.  Unless I eat something eat I simply cannot call it a night. I am born with the sweetest tooth. Its not that I would indulge into tens and twenties of chocolate at one sitting ,but I need to have something sweet with every meal. During my childhood ketchup was a necessary condiment for any and every meal. It wouldn’t be wrong if I say “ I put ketchup on my ketchup.” It’s not only me who has such strong attachment to sweet things but most of us are guilty of the fact.

What actually is sugar craving? It’s simply the body asking for energy. We all know that the body transforms sugar into glucose to provide fuel to the cells. All carbohydrates that we eat contain sugar, which is converted by the body into glucose. Processed food contain refined sugars that is simple carbohydrates, which enters the bloodstream as soon as they are consumed, causing sugar rush. This rush is followed by a sudden crash. “ The body sees the high level of sugar as an emergency state and works hard to burn it up as quickly as possible.”  Fruits on the other hand also have simple sugars and high fiber, which promotes slow digestion and limiting the amount of sugar, that flows into the cells.

Moreover, there is another type of carbohydrate called complex carbohydrates occurring in vegetables and whole grains. Complex carbohydrates are carbohydrates that contain at least three single sugar molecules. The body takes longer to break these sugar molecules hence the process is slow and sugars are absorbed into the blood stream at a stable rate for many hours, providing long lasting satiating energy.

Now the question arises why is Sugar bad? Added sugars have no nutritional value and are considered empty calories and they can crowd healthier foods from a person’s diet, which can lead to weight gain. “ Stripped of fiber and antioxidants, table sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup cause big jumps in blood glucose and insulin that raise levels of triglycerides, various inflammatory markers, and free oxygen radicals. In addition, the fructose found in most types of sugar may damage the liver and cause insulin resistance.

.”(Harvard Health Blog)

Sugar is the most popular ingredient added to foods in the US. Soft drinks and sugary are blamable for most of the added sugar in the average American diet. A person drinking a soda is actually consuming 11 teaspoons of sugar .We all are addicted to sweet things or rather hooked to sugar. Sugar is acting like heroine or any other drug. According to www.dhhs.nh.gov, “Today, the average American consumes almost 152 pounds of sugar in one year. This is equal to 3 pounds (or 6 cups) of sugar consumed in one week! Nutritionists suggest that Americans should get only 10% of their calories from sugar. This equals 13.3 teaspoons of sugar per day (based on 2,000 calories per day). The current average is 42.5 teaspoons of sugar per day! “ This is certainly crazy and have gone out of limit. No matter how much we try to avoid sugar, we cannot. It is over flowing everywhere in processed foods, ready made and packaged foods so and so forth. The food companies cheat us by using a variety of fancy names for sugar. It’s difficult for a common person to decipher all these names. Some of the names are Dextrose, Maltose, Glucose, Fructose, Corn sweetener, Corn syrup, Sucrose, Sorghum syrup, Sorbitol, Brown sugar, Molasses, Fruit juice concentrate, beet sugar and list goes on and on.

We can try to satisfy our desire by swapping the refined sugary desserts with a milder, less sweetened food. You can gradually train your body to be satisfied with fruit consumption. I know its easier said then done .I have realized that unless I don’t have any thing sweet on my plate I don’t enjoy it. I am trying to substitute my ketchup cravings with a fruit. A two ounce chocolate bar has 30 grams of sugar and the same calories as three medium bananas! The bananas are low in fat, high in vitamins and minerals and are fiber-rich. Bananas contain no sugar and will make you feel full longer than a candy bar. Shifting to better, natural and healthier alternative can lead to a healthier, active and disease free body.