Pepsi Free - Final Week

courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/

I imagine it's like addiction. Once you get past that initial 21 days, then you've developed the habit. It's no longer a conscious thought to NOT do it. But even though you are now in the routine of giving it up, there's always that temptation. And you know you can't just do one, you have to do several.

In my lenten fast, giving up Pepsi specifically, and HFCS in general, and also giving up night time snacking, I'm finding myself in that place. Last Saturday, I went to see the Theatre Three One Act festival - my friends Brian, Steve, and Steve were in it, and they performed one of Frank's plays, which was phenomenal. Traditionally, what one does after seeing friends in a show is to go hang out at a diner with them. For me, that means late night cheesy fries and "coke," no ice, with refills. We opted out that night, due to baby sitting, but still, I found myself wanting it. Looking forward to the snacks and the drinking. Now, one might think I should just drink some alcoholic beverage, and make it easy on myself.

Isn't that strange... I've usually been substituting water for Pepsi, but every now and then I want something more substantial, what I get instead is tea, coffee, an occasional Fribble, or wine. Now, tea and coffee MUST have sugar, or else why drink it. (The opinions expressed herein are Mr. Ferrara's opinions.) So, consider this.... drink Pepsi with every meal, or drink a shake, or a glass of wine, or a sweet tea with every meal. Because I don't see the real threat of HFCS, I don't really see a difference.

On a side note, I got sick twice in the past three weeks, and both times went to the doctor, where I was weighed. First time, three weeks ago, I weighed 240ish, and the second time this past week, I weighed 225. I feel fine, but I've been more tired than usual. I'm accumulating a serious sleep debt just like always, but it's effecting me more than usual. I think the dizziness I was so concerned about was due to speepiness and head congestion, not diabetes.

I'll be slowly bringing this stuff back after Easter. I'll try to limit myself to one Pepsi per day, and I'll use plenty of ice. I'll just say, "no" to refills. Also, inspired by this, but also by Jamie Oliver's new show "Food Revolution," which I WILL be blogging about; I vow, whenever possible, to choose making things from scratch rather than buying the premade stuff which often contains HFCS. For example, I found HFCS in one of my favorite quickie dinners, Manwich Sloppy Joes. I can make Super Sloppy Joes from scratch and use a bit of brown sugar instead of HFCS, and probably make it healthier, with tomatoes and peppers and good stuff.

For the record, I still see nothing wrong with HFCS. I see the problem as being too much overall sugar, not choosing HFCS over sugar. Even if I drank an overabundance of Pepsi Throwback, which contains cane sugar instead of corn syrup, I'd still get fat because of the ton of sugar I'm consuming. Moderation is the key, and yes, naysayers, you CAN moderate HFCS. AND I still oppose the proposed beverage tax, a) because it's stupid, and b) because it's meant to discourage HFCS consumption in favor of Aspartame and sucralose consumption, which I see as being worse.

As for snacking after 9pm, I'll probably satiate a craving or two, but I'll try to make it a low calorie snack like popcorn or nuts rather than the double decker grilled cheese sandwich I am craving.

Either way, I'm looking forward to Easter. I'll try not to binge. And once I re-introduce HFCS into my diet I'll see if there's a negative effect.

For the rest of my "journey":
http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/2010/02/hfcs-free-week-1.html
http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/2010/02/hfcs-free-week-15.html
http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/2010/03/pepsi-free-week-2.html
http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/2010/03/pepsi-free-week-3.html
http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/2010/03/pepsi-free-week-4.html