Um, have you considered that you might be diabetic, or borderline diabetic, or something like that?

For me, it's not sugar. It's very specific -- Chocolate and Caffeine. The chocolate thing runs in my family (I got it from my mom, who got it from her dad). Caffeine I did to myself, in college. Five forty-two ounce mugs of pepsi a day will do that. Funny, I had trouble sleeping for some reason! :/

Aside from those, my brother and his wife, who are notoriously thin and pretty much never snack, have decided that mom and I both crave salt, after witnessing our selections of snack-foods this last summer.

Ah, food! I should probably go eat some right now, seeing as how I haven't had anything since lunch yesterday.

I have considered that I might be diabetic, or border-line diabetic. I worry about it all the time.

About ten years ago, Todd Landis, who is diabetic, did a blood-sugar test on me, and I was normal. All of my blood tests from the doctor come back normal. (I've never been tested specifically with diabetes in mind, but I had a whole battery of tests around the time of my surgery.) The latest issue of Time Magazine has a feature story on diabetes, with a little self-quiz, and thought I have one or two of the symptoms, that's about it.

I just think I've eaten so much frickin' sugar in my life that I've become addicted, and that it has a soporific effect on me.

Having done an Atkins type diet I can tell you it will not help with the sugar craving. I would suggest finding a non sugar substitute.

As for the groggy and needing a nap, I think that has something to do with the body converting the sugar, if not needed for energy the body converts it to fat for storage.

Having done an Atkins type diet I can tell you it will not help with the sugar craving. I would suggest finding a non sugar substitute.

As for the groggy and needing a nap, I think that has something to do with the body converting the sugar, if not needed for energy the body converts it to fat for storage.

I wasn't sure sugar addiction was literally possible, so I went to google.

Perhaps I was wrong?

What that sugar craving means is that you should join me at the gym in the morning...

Jd should also disclose that he also got the M&Ms and the marshmallows. I was only 50% successful. However, he did not devour them when we got home at 10pm, unlike the grapefruit.

The other action-figure options included: Moses, Cleopatra, Sigmund Freud, Jesus and Benjamin Franklin! What, no Ayn Rand?

If people realized how damaging processed sugar really is, they'd stop eating it altogether.

(Said with Coke in hand.)

Oh, Kris, things are far weirder than you think...

It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's Objectivist Man!

Oh, look! It's the Objectivism Store! I particularly like their tagline. "Your principal source for materials on Objectivism"! I can't decide if I need the hat or the t-shirt, though.

Villain Supply has an entry for a Robotic Ayn Rand (scroll down) under their Miscellaneous Evil section...

For example... (I particularly like the Rosie the Riveter action figure)

Kibo's gallery of dumb action figures

Biblical Action Figures! (I think Job is the best... =) )

Don't forget the talking Ann Coulter!

And of course, who could forget Jesus Christ, Superstore? (Allah is my favorite, here)

Last, but not least, it's the Star Wars Action Figure Webcam!!!

JD, come the new year Chris and I are going to be giving The South Beach Diet a try. It's sort of a middle ground between the way we eat now and the Atkins diet, and starts off with a two-week "sugar fast" where you cut out carbs, fruit, and straight sugar in order to reset how your body reacts to the foods you eat.

Agatston, the guy who created the diet, is a cardiologist who designed it in an effort to help his patients who had heart disease. With Chris's family history of heart disease, a heart-healthy diet is important, and that the diet was designed by a heart-specialist really gave me the motivation to look at it more closely.

Here's one of the premises he puts forward in the book:

Highly processed carbohydrates cause a cycle of overeating, says Agatston. White bread, for example, is digested quickly, resulting in a spike in insulin levels. Once the carbohydrates are used up, he says, you're left with too much circulating insulin, which causes your body to crave more food. Eating simple carbohydrates makes you want to eat more simple carbohydrates, and in the process, you gain weight, disrupt your lipid levels, and expose your cardiovascular system to unnecessary stress.

I've read the book and looked over the recipes included therein. Neither of us were eager to try to impose a diet like this during the holidays, so we're waiting until after the first of the year when things calm down a little. Meanwhile, I've tried a few of the recipes, and started substituting some of the suggested snacks (celery stuffed with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, or ricotta cheese with cocoa and a packet of sugar substitute, Kate BEGS for "chocolate cheese" now) where I would normally be eating half a box of Wheat Thins. The diet involves more cooking than a lot of people want to do, but since I love cooking for fun I'm not put off by it. The recipes are also well in line with the sorts of things I can find in Cooking Light if I want to substitute. Since I already make many meals a month from Cooking Light, I'm hoping this is something we can do to modify our habits with ease.

Sorry to go on like a devotee! It just seemed like all the research I'd done for my own benefit might now be of some use to you. :)

Dana, if you can find me a set of Proust action figures, I'll get you a gift certificate to Victoria's Secret. Seriously.

Nicole, I think the South Beach diet is one that Andrew Parker mentioned to me earlier in the year. I'll give it a closer look. I've got to do something. And if you and Chris are doing it, we can be like a long-distance support group! :)

Tiredness after eating sugar is called hypoglocemia. It runs in the family.

Do you recall what your triglyercides (sp?) level was the last time you had a blood test? Something to look into . . .

AJ

You have not craved sugar until you have been a 8-month-pregnant-woman looking at a tray of iced brownies.

I had no control when I was in my late stages of pregnancy and one time ate four brownies at one sitting (and of course gained 50 pounds by the time it was all said and done). I may have gotten tired after that, but I was always tired by then.

After three months of having sausage-ankles you don't really care about much more than finding a place to elevate your feet. But I digress...

"...AN 8-month..."

I had already pushed post. My apologies.

I have done both the South Beach Diet and the Atkins. I've also done the Zone, Protien Power, Be Lean,and Sugar Busters. They are all very similar diets. None of them have worked for me! After two months on Sugar Busters without one cheat, I had lost 0 pounds! After 2 months on Atkins, with one cheat of a peanut butter cup, I had lost 4 pounds. The other diets were similar but I don't remember the exact amounts. I can talk Ketosis and Keto sticks, insulin resistance, protein vs carbs till I'm blue in the face, There's precious little I don't know about it.Being an avid cook I have tried almost all the
recipes in every book. I have done the diets via the books and the websites. I have talked directly to one of the creators of the Sugar Busters Diet. I have been to message boards and beyond and not even the experts know why I can't lose on those diets,other than the fact that I am highly insulin resistant. Now having said all that let me add that my girlfriend lost 50 pounds the summer of 2002 on the Atkins and has since gained it all back. Atkins himself says if you go off his diet it's the "kiss of death". Once you start eating carbs again the weight gain is rapid! I had another girlfriend go from 200 pounds to 135 on Atkins. She now weighs around 230 again. Two years ago 7 people in our church went on Atkins together. They lost an average of about 20 pounds a peice. Today they too have all gained it back. My dietician, who is a strong locarb hi protein advocate, says there is no way anybody can keep the weight off for life going on the Atkins diet. The South Beach Diet is a little better because it does not restrict carbs as severly.

Anyway here's hoping it works for all of you! ~The fat diet Queen!~

The South Beach Diet is a little better because it does not restrict carbs as severly.

Exactly. You can't stay on Atkins, it's just not a reasonable way of life. In our case, I'm willing going on South Beach with my husband because heart disease runs in his family and this diet is heart-healthy. I consider any weight-loss an additional benefit, but primarily I'm just looking to change our eating habits. Chris's in particular, since the only man in his family that didn't die of heart disease by age 50 is his dad (who suffered two serious heart attacks, but thankfully recovered both times).

Nothing like your mortality staring you in the face to get your butt in gear.

Livinig in Idaho and watching the sugar beet trucks go past by the dozens to the White Satin sugar plant has made me courious. A sugar beet is quite an ugly thing and dirty as it comes from the ground like any beet does.

I asked a native Idahoian, "What makes the sugar so white" First they tumble it with rocks to get the dirt off and then in the prosess they use formaldehyde and sulfer, etc.

I think if I'm going to indulge in sugar, it will be "pure cane sugar from Hawaii"

A year or two ago, JD loaned me a book that was rather eye-opening. One of the things it said was that a pound of body fat was an extra 3,000 calories that the body had stored. I also learned that despite what the government says on every single candy bar wrapper, you probably have such a sedentary life that you really only need 1,500 calories, not 2,000, each day.

For a long time I did not take this to heart, but since July (when my dr. said my cholesterol was so high that I needed to change my ways or go on Lipitor) I have had some success with the following:

-Eat half as much at dinner and lunch as I used to
-Drink as much water as I possibly can, and certainly at least 2 sixteen ounce glasses at each meal.
-Cut my alcohol consumption in half
-Work out at least 3 times each week for at least an hour each time with both aerobic and non-aerobic exercise.

The first two weeks were tough, and even now I ocassionally find myself prowling around searching for snack foods (which Karen wisely "forgets" to purchase when she shops). After the first two weeks, however, I found that it was harder to eat the amount I used to eat. Although I'm hoping that this post doesn't jinx it, since July I've dropped from 228# to 202# and I've been stuck there for a little while. I'm aiming for another 20# to get to my ideal weight. I'm not sure if I can make it, but I'm damned well going to try.

For anyone who's interested, the gym in Canby is fairly laid back and at 5:30 in the morning it's not generally crowded. JD, if I can get my lazy ass out of bed in time to drive from Portland to get to Canby by 5:30, you can damn well get your sorry carcass out there to.

Er, I mean, "...out there too."

I had Indian food that night also. Did you eat it Indian style (with your fingers) or like an American? I traveled a little farther for the food because I wanted authentic and not the Americanized version of Indian food. I ate in a town (population approx. 2,000,000) called Tirunelvili in the state of Tamil Nadu.