January 4th, 2025
I don’t know if it is the lack of sugar in my system but I am definitely feeling great today. Ashley and I took a 5.5 mile walk through the Woodlands Conservancy yesterday and then I was able to play some light tennis in the evening. It is clear that am the least fit I have been in my life. I had a year of chronic plantar fasciitis and tarsal tunnel in my left foot which culminated in surgery in November. Needless to say, this was the least active I have been in my life. At points, taking the dog for a walk was a painful struggle. Anyway, I slowly trying to get my body back together and in shape so yesterday was a step in the right direction.
Post walk, Ashley and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, Barracuda. It is a trendy gourmet taco spot with outdoor seating only and yesterday we couldn’t have asked for better weather. We partly chose it because they have no sugar anywhere on the menu. No dessert. No cookies. Good clean eating without the temptations. Of course, later in the evening my dessert craving did kick in but rather than grabbing more food like I did the previous night, I grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it down, which surprisingly did the trick.
I had a good friend, Suni, who was on the crew team with me in college. He was slightly overweight and decided to do a water diet. What’s that you ask? His strategy was simple. Before every meal, he would drink down an entire glass or two of water. By preemptively filling his stomach before eating, he would consume less food and, particularly, less junk food. The strategy worked brilliantly and soon he was as fit and healthy looking as anyone else on the team. So right now, I am thinking drinking lots of water is going to be key to surviving the no sugar year.
I am relatively fortunate that I don’t consume a lot of soda. The simple reason for that is we just don’t buy it. That battle is won at the grocery store because I can assure you if there were soda in the house, it would call my name until I succumbed to the temptation. Sprite is my absolute favorite and I know drinking one would set off a chain reaction of sugar-filled consumption. I rationalize deep down that it is a healthier soda choice because it is clear. My Secret Santa gave me a miniature six-pack right before the holidays. Like an idiot, I put it on my desk with plans to bring it home that afternoon. There it was staring me in the face all day until I finally caved and decided to have one…why not- it was the holidays and this was my gift. Well that turned into a second 30 minutes later and I decided to put the remaining in the work fridge, too embarrassed to bring home half a pack of Sprite. The next morning, I grabbed another. Sprite for breakfast- could I have any less self-control?
Next in line would be root beer. Back in early 2020, Saja and I went on a quest to find the best root beet. We were pretty much snobs about the whole thing and tried to only limit our selection to brands with cane sugar. Anytime we would see a new brand, we would go for it. My dad loved root beer too. Root beer seemed like that special drink that you only got on a trip or used it make an ice cream float- a nice clean scoop of vanilla with the root beer foaming all around it. So root beer has all sorts of nostalgia and I am always tempted to grab one, especially if it is one I have not tried. Here is the order. From left to right is worst to best with Virgil’s coming out on top.
