New Year's Resolution

    A new year is approaching. In the blink of an eye, or so it seems, the year 2023 will be here. Geeze, I remember when 1977 became 1978. My New Year's Resolution that year was to get off drugs. Yes, I was only 13, but had tried cigarettes, booze (I would not be able to keep that part of the resolution in the summertime!), marijuana - or pot as it was referred to then (get the pun?), Nitrous Oxide and had been offered LSD already in my young life. My brother was a local drug dealer, so I had easy access. However, that didn't mean I should try all of them. I knew that doing such things would have an impact on my later life and if I wanted to be a brain surgeon, I needed all the brain cells I could muster. (I really wanted to be a brain surgeon. Thing is, I've always struggled in biology.)

    I was at my friend Tom's house that night, playing cards and drinking Kool-Aid. I can't recall what we were discussing, but knew we were going to make a lot of noise at midnight. For you kids out there, we didn't have the Internet and did not have access to professional fireworks like the ones that are certain to be set off, weather depending, at midnight on January 1st. We just made noise by banging on pots and pans. Yeah, we had a sad life...

    I've made resolutions almost every year since I knew what they were. In 1988, I actually came through on mine. I lost close to 70lbs on Nutri-System! Problem was, I wasn't able to stay on it indefinitely and the weight came back. The pounds also brought friends. But that's a post for another day. I got down to 167 pounds. I hadn't been that weight since high school. I'm currently at least twice that amount. Which brings me to Resolution, 2023.

    Gyms are packed from January 2nd through about March when many people tend to give up. I won't be going to a gym any time during that period next year. I will go, but after March. I guess that makes this a two part resolution, but all aiming at one goal: to become healthy. I currently have so many health issues and take so many medications for those health conditions, most of them caused by my poor diet and lack of movement. Like I tell all the kids (people under 30 years of age) I run into: DO NOT BECOME SEDENTARY. I'll say it again: DO NOT BECOME SEDENTARY. DO NOT BECOME LAZY. MOVE AROUND, NO MATTER AS TO WHETHER YOU FEEL LIKE IT OR NOT. I've put them in big, bold letters, hoping to get into the head of people whose families, like mine, are on the fatter side. So many diseases are linked to obesity, which is a controllable condition in most cases, that our doctors should be hammering us every time we see them, which in my case at least once a month (that includes specialists). But in at least my case there's only ONE of my specialists that gets on me about it and I have one last appointment with her as she's taken out my reproductive organs, with my consent - actually I pleaded with her - to do so. The other doctors, including my endocrinologist (he's the one who manages my Type 2 Diabetes, yet another self-inflicted disease), usually don't mention it. If they do, they say, "You know what needs to be done." I've heard that so many times I've run out of digits with which to count! Calories in=calories out, right? Not really. The nutritionists where I go for my healthcare, insist fat of any type is a NO-NO. Which is so sad because the people that take this advice, really need help. They won't lose weight, as we've found out. Fat is needed in small quantities, maybe even medium quantities for someone as big as me. The real culprit of putting on pounds is CARBOHYDRATES. Not just any carbohydrate, but the worst is the simple carbohydrate. They serve ZERO function, but damn, they taste soooo good! Simple carbohydrates are sugars, whether it be cane sugar, beet sugar or high fructose corn syrup, which our bodies DO NOT recognize because it's not natural, so it is automatically stored as FAT. Processed simple carbohydrates are the worst. They're mostly tucked away in processed foods, such as frozen meals and prepared meals that need no refrigeration. As my friend and former boss, Steven Bise, told me, the closer to the ground, the better the food. Meaning that fewer hands that touched the product, the better it is for you. 

    I feel like I've gotten off track here, but wanted to share what I've learned about nutrition in my 58 years on this planet. If i'm wrong on any point, please let me know as I want to help myself as well as helping others.

    Losing weight is a popular New Year's Resolution (NYR). I don't just want to lose weight., I could take a number of pills or concoctions for that. I want to be HEALTHIER. Both of my folks died from preventable diseases, mom from heart disease and dad from complications of stroke. Mom refused to believe she had Type 2 Diabetes and thus did nothing about it. She didn't feel any differently, so she couldn't have the disease that my dad had since the 1970's. That's the thing about Type 2 Diabetes. One doesn't feel differently. One may have to urinate more, or perhaps get thirstier faster, but it's not noticeable. One might gain weight while another might lose weight. The latter happened to a friend of mine. She wasn't eating anything differently, she wasn't more active, yet she lost weight. Although she was pleased, she was also concerned. After a check up with the doctor, she found out she had Type 2 diabetes. If you suspect you might have it, please see your Primary Care Physician (PCP) to find out, especially if it runs in your family, It's nothing to be ashamed of; but it WILL KILL you if not treated. Oftentimes it doesn't come right out and kill you. No, this terrible disease affects your extremities, one at a time. One might lose a toe, then a foot, then a leg, then a hand and on and on it goes until there's nothing left. It also negatively affects one's heart and entire pulmonary system. I have Type 2 diabetes that's finally under control. It affects one's ENTIRE LIFE. Because I was stressed living at my old place, my fasting blood sugar would sometimes be as high as 300! To those who know about blood sugars, know that's way too high. Every 3 months, people with Type 2 diabetes get their blood sugars check for an A1C reading. It's an average blood sugar reading. Normal is below a 7. Just 4 years ago mine was THIRTEEN! I was off the rails because I was allowing stress rule my life. To cope with it, I was stress eating. I'm now down below seven, but I'd like it around 4. I'd like to be able to be off all medications for the self inflicted disease. Every medication I take, harms my liver. I have fatty liver disease, which doesn't surprise me considering how I've treated my body since 1990.

    After all of this, what IS my NYR?

    I plan to be off ALL processed sugar by the end of the year. I'm not going cold turkey because I'd end up in a mental institution. My body has had processed sugar for most of its 58 years of existence. I used to feel bad about kids who were denied candy and sugar laden sodas (back in the 1970's, ALL SODAS had sugar in them, we didn't yet have the killer high fructose corn syrup). I now envy them. Unless an accident has claimed their lives, they're probably living a good life now. Just because they never became addicted to processed sugar.

    I shall go back to reading labels and if sugar in any form appears in the first 5 ingredients, I will not ingest the product. I WILL NOT eat anything with high fructose corn syrup in it. I will probably lose some weight, but that's just a byproduct of my goal. Three hundred and sixty days from now, barring any low sugar episodes, I should be sugar free. I'll need your help. I'll need you to cheer me on from the grandstands. I'll need your suggestions if you've climbed the mountain I'm about to take on. If you have recipes, I'm all eyes. 

    I've tired of feeling crappy, spending loads of money on prescriptions that are harming my body and am just flat out tired. I'm only 58. My mother passed away when she was only 60. My father passed away when he was 76. I want to make it to at least 80. It starts by saying goodbye to my longest relationship. After 58 years, I will say goodbye to processed sugar.

    I just want to live.

(My high school portrait and hanging with the Mayor of Fairfield, Cat Moy, December 2022)