So I was walking my dogs this morning. Emily is one of my dogs. She is the funniest dog that I have ever known. One of the reasons that I love her is because she makes me laugh every day. We were walking along when Emily found something interesting in the bushes next to my neighbor’s mailbox. So, even though I couldn’t see what it was, I let her sniff it for a few moments and then told her to “come on.” It was one of those moments when Emily is completely deaf and I might as well not be talking. Even pulling on her leash didn’t budge her. Which is how I knew she had found something either really delicious or really nasty (which to her is especially delicious). So, I reach into the bushes and turn her around so I can see what treasure she has found.
It was a cooked whole boneless porkchop, that she was trying to eat in one very big bite. I managed to get the porkchop out of her mouth without getting bitten (even the sweetest dog might snap at you if you try to steal her porkchop). I was growled at ferociously, but no teeth marks. And she was very disappointed and sulked for a quite a bit when we got home. How dare I take her treasure! After I gave her a few bites of leftover pork tenderloin from the fridge, she seemed to decide that I wasn’t evil.
They say taking candy from a baby is hard? Try taking a whole porkchop from a dog!
Which got me thinking about the candy/baby thing, which made me think about sugar, which made me think about how hard it is for all of us to give up sugar. Did you know that, according to Sugar Blues, sugar is addictive?
We all know that our blood sugar levels go up after we eat sugar and we get a sugar high, but many people don’t recognize the sugar crash and how bad it can really be. We feel happy and energetic for a while and then, apparently unexplainably, we are arguing with our spouse and feeling really cranky. Because of our overindulgence in sugar, we may experience mood swings, anger, headaches, and fatigue.
Many people think of refined sugar as a quick source of energy, but it actually is more draining than sustaining. Not only does refined sugar contain no nutrients, but our bodies actually have to use their own mineral reserves to digest it. In other words, eating refined sugar creates more deficiencies than eating nothing!
Refined sugars are most commonly called sugar, sucrose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, or fructose. They are in almost all processed foods including muffins, breads, cereal, fruit juices, tomato sauce, ketchup, salad dressing, cakes, cookies, desserts, and even canned vegetables.
Try replacing some of these sugars with natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and stevia. (Stevia is an all-natural herb that grows as a small green shrub in its native environment in Paraguay. It has zero calories and can be found at all natural food stores and even in most supermarkets as Truvia.)
You can enjoy the sweet part of life more healthfully! Or maybe you prefer porkchops; apparently you can get them pre-cooked at my neighbor’s mailbox.
[…] Limit that “cheap” source of energy: sugar. Think sugar is a good source of energy? Think again. While sugar may provide a quick burst of energy as it spikes your blood sugar, it ultimately […]