It’s been five days since I’ve adopted in my psuedo-diabetic diet. It’s been rather similar to quitting smoking. I notice my body craving sweets and other high sugar foods even when I’m not hungry or have just eaten a piece of fruit. Today though was a switch, I woke up with a haze much like mild hangover. Stumbling out the door into the gray morning light I noticed that I was noticing more. It was as if someone had turned on a light. With a quickening pace in my step my focus seemed much sharper, the Olympic Mountains more beautiful, and the flowers across the street more vivid. If I didn’t know better I would’ve assumed I was on drugs. I hope that this new found reality isn’t just a passing thing but something that I can continue but we shall see.
Given the nature of this experiment I’ve been reading more about food lately. Good magazine has had a number of interesting articles on food politics and culture that have got me thinking. As I sit in my environmentally controlled cubicle waiting for my lunch break surrounded by restaurants with food from around the world what is it that I’m really hoping to accomplish? I don’t know.
For me pushing my boundaries has always been important. Also knowing where other people are coming from has made me less of a jerk. Having a friend who was recently diagnosed with diabetes has been a wake up call. Although he is doing fine I know a number of other people that aren’t. I particularly remember sitting in the rank overcrowded homeless advocacy office watching my “clients” drink 2-liters of soda for breakfast. While it’s easy to say that they’re responsible for the bad decision they’re making (they are) it’s also helpful and worthwhile to ask what about the culture that allows and even encourages that? I think it’s far more telling that as a society that sugar is a drug but we don’t treat it as one. I think Jamie Oliver makes this point quite well:
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