Friday, March 13, 2015

Why I gave up Diet Coke and sugar free gelatin

I eat healthy food - with one exception.  I love Diet Coke.  Once I gave it up for six years, only to fall back into my bad habit during the first few months of going low carb.  My doctor, who was supervising my journey into a ketogenic diet to control the effects of bi-polar disorder, pointed out that I couldn't expect myself to be totally without sin in my diet; if Diet Coke helped me to stay the course, then drink a few.

A few?  I know not the meaning of that phrase.  First it was one each market day while I closed out the register.  That meant four a week in the summer, three a week in the winter.  Skip to current consumption, four years later.  I was up to a case (24, not 12) most weeks.  If I was being good, maybe I could get an extra couple of days out of the case.

My friends chided me about it.  They pointed out that it was "poison."  My reaction was to think they needed to butt out - and I would pop open another can.

The other day I saw a list of signs of aspartame poisoning.  I had at least one symptom in EVERY category on that list. Click this link for a list of symptoms of aspartame poisoning.  The worst of it was my body pain.  I blamed it on arthritis, although in a family full of arthritis, I had seemed to be the one who was spared until recently.  I began taking Celebrex and got some relief, also from the bursitis in my hips.  But then I found that I was having to add Tylenol For Arthritis to the mix once a day, then twice a day, and finally getting up in the night because the pain was so severe, to take a third dose, the max allowed in a 24-hour period.

After reading the list of aspartame poisoning symptoms, I poured the remains of a Coke down the drain.  I could no longer deny it - I was poisoning my body, and it's the only one I've got!  The few that were left in the fridge went into an out-of-reach space in a cupboard.  I need them there.  That seems to work better for me than completely purging them from the house.  Maybe later, but not yet.

So how am I feeling?  The pain got better almost immediately.  But it was still there, and I always hobbled for a few steps when getting out of bed, or after a few minutes in my computer chair.  This morning, I got out of bed and started walking gingerly towards the bathroom, and then realized "no hobbling necessary."  Wow!

Okay, so I am confounding this by also beginning yin yoga (See more about yin yoga here.) But there is no way that two days of yin yoga could be responsible for this new freedom of movement.  In fact, I was able to get considerably deeper into my poses this morning and did not have to come out of them due to pain.

I am thankful for friends who nagged me.  They cared more about me than I was caring about myself.  Thanks to all who scolded.  It was a measure of love, not judgment.  :)

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