~from Ami

Today I complete a six and a half week-long journey into the land of sugarfree living. For Lent, I gave up sugar, a seemingly innocuous sweetener that had a stronger hold on my emotions than I ever could have guessed. The absolute worst was three weeks into my missive, when I felt like I could kill anyone, easily. I could have hit my coworkers over the head with my stapler or punched my husband in the nose. I did none of those things, but I shook and cried and felt like I was—literally—snapping in half. I don't think I've ever felt that short-tempered, except when I was in the transition stage of natural childbirth. :-) Is this the way smokers feel when they quit? I thought I was going out of my mind. Then I got sick!

FYI, sugar, and its many forms thereof, is found in the following: ketchup, worcestershire sauce, A-1, hamburger buns, croutons, every cereal known to man, cough syrup, salad dressing, peanut butter, Pringles, and coffee creamer. Sigh.

Here is the only thing that satisfied my sweet tooth during this time, it’s a divine milkshake, which my sixteen year-old even liked, by the way.

Ami’s Stevia Shake

1 cup milk (or soymilk or ricemilk), 1 frozen banana (MUST be frozen!), 1 spoonful natural peanut butter, 1 heaping tablespoon cocoa powder, 1 packet Stevia herbal sweetener, 3 ice cubes

Blend until thick and frothy.

Sometimes I also add a teaspoon of scary green powder from the health food store.

When I got sick, I decided to just let myself be sick, but I found a wonderful tea from Traditional Medicinals, which not only tasted fantastic, but healed my throat ache in a matter of hours. I always add Stevia powder to my teas, of course.

I’ve been trying to eat healthier since 2003, after several years of eating anything I wanted- including lots and lots of sweets! You have to realize I have an on-again, off-again relationship with food; I was a strict vegan from the age of twenty-one to twenty-five and once dropped to ninety-three pounds. Think I very nearly landed myself in the hospital with my un-eating. Un-eating is where you are so freaked out by calories, dairy products, meat, hormones, pesticides, and the general decline of mankind that you subsist on very little. Tofu. Sunflower seeds. At one point, I also wouldn’t eat any fat at all. Anyway, that is not a place I want to be in again.

I am forty-five miles from the nearest health food store, and trying to eat organically.

Maybe someday.

Will I be eating an entire package of Peeps on Easter Sunday? I’m not so sure I will. I kind of like things the way they are, besides, after going through that week of withdrawal from the Great White Death, is it really worth it to go back? Next up? I might try giving up wheat, just for the fun of it.

So just watch out, everybody!