An Odyssey ... of a sort - Part 4 of 6 by KimB

The following is 100% unscientific.
It's my own personal rationalization of the effects of the FAT cycle.

the FAT cycle FAT => SALT => SWEET
FAT	SALT	SWEET
cheeseburger	fries	coke
pizza	bread sticks	coke
ribs	loaded baked potato	coke
sandwich	chips	coke

I like cheeseburgers, I like pizza, I like ribs and I eat a lot of sandwiches.

I like fries, bread sticks, bakers and chips too.

Coke? Hmmm... Coke?

A few rounds of regular coke or maybe a lemon-lime drink that's OK isn't it? I don't always drink the whole thing so there's not that many calories. They all have that High Fructose Corn Syrup stuff. That's OK isn't it?

STOP

LIGHTBULB

INSIGHT

It's not the coke... it's the HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.

The cycle should really be this:

the SWEET TO FAT cycle SWEET => SALT => FAT
SWEET	SALT	FAT

High Fructose Corn Syrup is sweeter than previous sweeteners like sugar and honey. It's way sweeter. It's in everything. It's claimed that HFCS are just like sugars. Many health professionals claim that sugar, regardless of origin, is just plain bad for your health.

So, I focused on the common denominator of High Fructose Corn Syrup. I banished anything with HFCS in it. Out went the ketchup, the BBQ sauces and a whole pile of other things which had this in the ingredient list. It was surprising how much of this is used in everyday foods. Into the bin it went.

I dropped all the artificial sweeteners too. If SWEET is part of the cycle then the artificial sweeteners are part of this trigger. They may have fewer calories but they interact with the rest of the body's metabolism.

I stopped buying any drinks with HFCS or artificial sweeteners in them. If I wanted a coke I bought the kind made with regular sugar without any additives. I put my own sugar in drinks, not because the sugar has fewer calories or is better for you but because I could SEE how much I was putting in.

The first few days were a bit odd. Mostly from not running down to Mac's Drive Thru to buy the $1 ginormous sized sweetened drink but after a few days I didn't miss it.

It didn't take long for other things to begin to fall away too.

I stopped craving potato chips/french fries. There are bags of Olive Oil Chips in my pantry and I really have no desire to eat them. There's no prohibition to eating them, I just don't want to.

After the SWEET and SALT began to recede I found I had a lot less interest in eating big portions of FAT. Especially those served at Fast Food Joints. I like cheeseburgers but I can make a better burger at home and I put all the trimmings on it too: cheese, dressing, pickles, mustard, ketchup, tomatoes, lettuce ... the works. The ribs and pizza are OK but I just don't find them as tempting as before.

I can eat any of these items; I just don't have any desire to eat them.

I began to lose weight too. Just a little bit.

It took less than a month to go from nearly immobile with pain and dying from FAT, to seeing something positive happen in my life.

A pound less is a pound less.

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB and is part 4 of a 6 part series.]