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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Less Hair, More Waist

That seems to be a natural phenomenon of aging. Hair, teeth, and eyesight flee while the waist seems to be refuge of every fat cell I ever developed.

The waist became a matter of concern when I jumped two trousers sizes in a year’s time. That was something of a bafflement as I hadn’t increased my food intake noticeably.

A few weeks ago I noticed an article that explained what I was experiencing, and what I was experiencing was a prelude to heart problems or a stroke according to the author. Sugar, it seems is the culprit. The advice was to read all the content labels on food to be prepared at home and skip food which lists sugar anywhere in the first five ingredients.

That was problems in River City. My breakfast at that time consisted of granola dressed with a flavored yogurt. You guessed ‘er, Chester. Both had sugar listed as the second ingredient. Further on in my label reading, I discovered that my two favorite snacks, Nature Valley granola bars and Royal Dried Mangos were also heavy in sugar.

It was easy enough to get the sugar out of breakfast. There are a number of high fiber, sugar-free dry cereals. I developed a dressing which has a much better taste than milk. Once a week, I dig out the blender and munch up a couple of bananas, a cup or so of sugar-free diced mangoes and a healthy dollop of regular old yogurt. I refrigerate it and slop it out on the aforementioned cereal.

In about a week, I lost one trousers size, and – wonder of wonders – this morning I was able to stand flat-footed, lock my knees and touch my toes. That’s an event that hasn’t occurred in recent memory. In addition to that, my mood has improved considerably. So much so that I have heard others make positive comments on the matter.

Now days I read the label of everything going into the shopping cart, plus I am looking at how to avoid bread when I eat out. No more cheeseburgers for the kid, it looks like . . . chocolate shakes either. . . dang it!

This all has a monetary reward. If I can get back into the pants I was wearing a couple of years ago and fit into the sports coats from the same period, I will save something on the order of $2,000 dollars in replacement costs. That alone, should be incentive enough, but reducing the risk of health catastrophes are the real plum on the sugar-free cake.

Pass the aspartame, please. This herbal tea needs some punching up.

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