Sweet Poison ~ October 26, 2010

I want to love you, but I better not touch

I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop

I want to kiss you but I want it too much

I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison

You're poison runnin'thru my veins

You're poison, I don't want to break these chains

~alice cooper~

A milestone today. Six months ago today I decided to stop drinking all colas and carbonated beverages. It was a bit scary at first. I was after all raised in the Coca-Cola Generation.

"It's the real thing" ~ "Grab a Coke and a smile" and the Dr. Pepper company with their 10-2-4 slogan. Those companies pulled off every trick in the book to get you hooked and they certainly got me.

The strange thing is that after stopping the colas I googled for side effects of going cold turkey of stopping them. I didn't get any results for that but I sure got results for drinking diet colas. Scary results. It turns out artificial sweeteners are not good for you at all. There was one website called 'Sweet Poison' that listed the side effects of using them. The FDA recognizes 92 side effects. I had about 30. I had been slowly poisoning myself since the mid 1980's. So two days after quiting diet colas I stopped artificial sweeteners. Do you have any idea where that stuff hides? Sugar-free gum, sugar-free syrups, low fat yogurt, just about any low calorie food has some form of it in there.

Luckily, I found the Stevia plant. You may have heard of Stevia as a brand powdered sweetener such as Truvia. There are others. We have found the most effective and pure method of using Stevia is the liquid form. NOW products makes a stevia Glycerite that is very strong and only takes a few drops. Stevia liquid is made from the Stevia plant so it is all natural. Organic yogurts are using Stevia. A good organic yogurt is Nancy's, another is Stoneyfield. They do have a Stevia cola called Zevia, but alas, I don't drink carbonated beverages. Crystal Lite is using Stevia in their product Pure Fitness. I have found a gum called GLEE made from a tree in Africa that is all natural, yipee!

It's a bit harder to carry a dropper bottle of Stevia everywhere we go but well worth the benefits I've received. I think if we can travel three weeks cross country on a motorcycle with it with no problems it has passed the test.

This whole thing started with Ruby Gettinger. She is the star of Reality Show Ruby. She once weighed 700 pounds and is now down to around 380. She hit a platuea and her therapist told her to change your life you have to change ten habits. She was addicted to colas. Hummmm...was I addicted to colas? Yes, I thought so. Hell, if Ruby could take the challenge so could I! So, in a way a stupid reality show put me on a path to better health. I never thought I could live life without a diet Dr. Pepper or a Diet Root Beer. The fact is I don't miss them one single bit.

Thanks Ruby!

Six months and counting.....