Don't Dew it!

Sitting here taking a little break from bookkeeping for my business, you know that end of year drudgery. I was just think back on the past year and thought I would share a personal story. I usually write opinion posts but this one is a little more personal.

A year ago I was sitting in this same chair when I suddenly became dizzy and fell to the floor. It was late a night and no one else was awake so I laid there until the dizziness went away then carefully got myself up and went to bed. I felt much better the next morning and went back to what I was doing the night before. By mid-afternoon I was light-head again, went and got a glass of water and laid down for awhile. I started to feeling better, so I had some more water and went back to work. An hour later I was dizzy again, then I realized I was on my third Mountain Dew Big Slam of the day. I started to wonder if that could have something to do with my dizziness.

Since 1996 when I bought my first computer, I have had either a Mountain Dew or Pepsi bottle sitting right beside it. Getting all ramped-up on sugar and caffeine seemed to help me stay focused on what I was doing on the computer. In 2000 I started to have burning and tingling in my feet, so I went to the doctor. I was told that I have neuropathy caused by the large amount of sugar I was consuming from 3 to 4 big slams a day. I was also informed that if I didn't stop drinking the soda I would eventually get diabetes. So I limited my soda to some extent but by 2006 I was back to 3 to 4 big slams a day.

On the second day after I passed out I tried a little experiment, no sugar for 24 hours, just water and ice tea with no sugar. I was amazed at how good I felt, other than my cravings for that citrus tang of Mountain Dew. I started putting some lemon juice in my tea and that did the trick no more cravings.

I went to the doctor to make sure I was alright and didn't have diabetes, and had a complete physical. I told him about the passing out and was informed that it was probably hypoglycemic shock. If it ever happens again to call the ambulance. My tests all came back good, I didn't have diabetes, or any other ailments. So I resolved to start taking better care of myself.

One thing I realized when I stopped drinking soda was that I was hungry. I was consuming 1700 calories per day in soda alone, with the high caffeine and sugar, I just didn't feel hungry. So I started to make myself eat real food. Since my family has started shrinking, I just don't feel like cooking anymore. So I decided to try another experiment, a diet if you want to call it that.

For breakfast I would drink one Odwalla juice, like Superfood, or Mo' Beta. For lunch I would have a Lean Cuisine Spa Meal or one of the smaller Lean Cuisine frozen dinners. For Dinner I would have one of the large Lean Cuisine Meals, that have a dessert. My number one rule for the first 4 months was, NO high fructose corn syrup in anything I consumed. When summer rolled around I did allow myself 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia per week. I did this from January on until September. By September I had lost 35 pounds, going from 205 to 170. Now that may sound like I am still fat, but unlike most women I am almost 6 feet tall. So 170 is still a little on the heavy side for me, 150 being ideal. I am definitely in a much better shape than I was a year ago.

In September, I had to travel out of state for the funeral of my uncle, that is when I had my first relapse, and started drinking Mountain Dew. By Thanksgiving I was back on track, then another family emergency and I had to travel out of state again. Again I had another relapse, then the whole christmas holiday season with family coming in from out of state, and this time they brought the Mountain Dew into my house. It has been two weeks since they left and I am still drinking the Dew. Sometimes it just seems easier to drink it than to fight it.

First thing tomorrow I will go back to my diet and hopefully kick the habit one more time. I have to kick it because I don't want to get diabetes. One thing I fear the most is becoming a human pincushion, with all those sugar tests and insulin shots. No thank you!

Just a word to anybody out there reading this, especially young people, don't Dew it! Don't get hooked on the sugar from soda. It can kill you just like tabacco, alcohol or drugs. So I challenge you, try it for a week, no soda, no high fructose corn syrup. It is a tricky game, because when you start reading the labels you will be amazed and how much sugar is hidden in the food we buy.