Saccharum officinarum L.
As a young child growing up, my mother did not allow many sweets in the house. She was a wonderful baker and she would make the most wonderful goodies, but only on occasion.....or for a special occasion. I didn't meet my first Pop Tart until I was about 16 and visiting an aunt's house. If you had asked me who Little Debbie was, I probably would have guessed she was the little neighbor girl down the street. My father would have an occasional bowl of ice cream but it was usually after our bedtime. There was no soda pop, no store bought cookies or any of the usual kiddie temptations. I don't remember feeling deprived of anything at the time. It just was the way it was.
Mother was (and still is) always health concious, well before it was in vogue. She watched her weight and excercised and in thinking back I can see that she didn't cook like typical housewives in the 60's and 70's. I thank her for giving me a good foundation and I use many of her ideas in my own kitchen today.
But something happened about 10 years ago. I've always liked sweets but as I got older, I realized that was craving them more and more. I would buy cookies and candy, cakes and ice cream and I would bake my own creations several times a week. I had to have something sweet every day. I am not saying I have a weight problem, because I am lucky I do not (thank you mom). My family was making fun of me. I was hiding my goodies and eating them late at night. I was quickly garnering a reputation.
And then I watched a certain episode of Dr. Oz
Oh, laugh if you must. What he said was, that sugar was one of the top 5 "agers". One of the TOP FIVE foods that age us. Sugar? That wonderful, sweet, sparkly, grainy goodness? It certainly planted a seed in my head and I began to dwell on what I was doing to my body. While I was pondering, I thought of my father who at 79, is battling the effects of diabetes. I thought of my uncle, and indirectly my aunt, who has been fighting with diabetes for years. I thought of my brother who recently informed me that he is borderline diabetic and will be watching his diet carefully from now on. I thought of my very good friend who was recently diagnosed with diabetes and I see the stress and pain she is going through. I thought of their futures and the futures of the rest of my family and lastly ME. That's when I decided that enough was enough and I made a New Year's resolution to give up sugar.
For those of you that know me well, know that this is no easy task. Certain members of my immediate family laughed when I told them of my plan. Certain members of my family told me that they did not want to live with me when I started said sugar free diet. I steeled myself and counted down the days.
For now, it is January 18th and I am PROUD of myself for coming this far. It has not been easy, make no mistake. I have decided to "reward" myself every two weeks with a cheat day. Homemade pound cake never tasted so good! And yes, I did eat at least half the cake in one day.
Baby steps, my friends, baby steps.
