SWEET AS SUGAR

Every woman in my husband's side of the family is a good cook. So gatherings such as the one we had for Mother's Day are a gastronomic delight and it's so easy to lose yourself in sugary delights if you are not careful.

The husband is in heaven on these occasions. Born with a seemingly sweet tooth, he dives head first into the table of goodies only to surface eventually with a glazed look of pleasure on his sugary, comatose face.

But even I (his wife of 24 years) was astounded by his achievements on Mothers Day. Obviously celebrating his role as a mother ( or maybe paying homage to his mother and the mother of his children) he took longer than usual to re-enter the stratosphere. He was a guts.

Having been lately bombarded about the dangers of sugar ( wasn't it fat last week?), my concern for his love of all things sweet, the hidden sugar in our food and the associated risk of sugar diabetes was at an all time high. Let's face it, neither of us is getting any younger. I decided an intervention was needed...URGENTLY.

Now don't get me wrong. I like the odd bit of dark chocolate, the odd cupcake, the occasional tim tam or two. But I'm nowhere in my husband's league. He eats dessert every day. He can sniff out lollies and chocolate even when well hidden. If cake is frozen, not a problem, he'll eat it frozen and don't buy cooking chocolate for future projects before going away, because it sure as hell won't be there when you get home. He is a sugar addict, who will even go on late night " trips" to satisfy an icecream craving.

Yes...definitely intervention time. In fact long overdue.

He looked horrified when I told him that there was over a teaspoon of sugar in each muesli bar. Add that to three pieces of fruit and anything else his human shovel mouth devoured and I think I made my point. I threw out the remaining Anzac biscuits and hid the remaining chocolate slice from mother's day at the very back of the freezer. In retrospect I should have thrown that out too. But it cost me so much money, I just couldn't throw it out and just hoped he wouldn't find it!

Now to keep my part of the deal.

A week later I flew to Perth leaving him to his own devices. My mother, ever the cynic said he would cheat at every opportunity without me around. I could only shrug my shoulders and say "probably", because she is more than likely right. But, he's a grown man and I'm his wife not his mother and he could take responsibility or get diabetes. Choice was his. I had my own "lack of sugar" problems to deal with.

Why is it when you deny yourself anything, it suddenly seems so appealing? Biscuits develop a voice ( eat me, eat me). Lollies cry out " buy me, buy me" and icecream...do not mention Ben and Jerry's and Perth and available in one sentence PLEASE.

OF COURSE on the plane to Perth my coffee came with a chocolate fudge cookie. In all the years I've caught that damn flight there have never been chocolate fudge cookies. It's a conspiracy I tell you. I said "no thank you" to the air hostess and she looked perplexed. It's as if she was thinking " but all fat people like chocolate fudge cookies". She asked me if I wanted it for later. I felt quite smug saying "no thank you"again and choosing instead the dry spinach and ricotta something that notaste.com specially made for this flight.

The next few days were easy. I said no to cake with a girlfriend. I made her order hers and watched her eat it, so I could develop my inner strength.She thought I was nuts. I said no to Greek biscuits at my sister's house ( that was hard cos I love them) and I watched my kids eat chocolate, without indulging in it myself. I did however have one small fail. My sisters mother in law made white chocolate slice and cut such a small piece for me it really didn't count. In fact they were so small, I ate two. Besides she has come all the way from the UK. It would have been rude to say no. OK, excuses, excuses -fail!

The following day some germ riddled person passed me their bugs and I was struck down with gastro. Not only was sugar not interesting, neither was any food whatsoever. As I recovered I ate plain food like bananas and toasted sandwiches but I craved lemonade.Gastro needs lemonade for

Lemonade and lemons = no connection

recovery. We all know that...right? So, as I type this I admit to failure number 2. I am sipping lemonade and I'm horrified to find that there are 61g of sugar in my bottle of lemonade. Half way through the bottle a headache strikes. Wow that's a powerful message. I haven't had any headaches since cutting back on sugar. My skin has been blemish free and I've been sleeping like a baby.

So, as I sit in the airport waiting to fly home, I hang my head in shame at my second lack of personal strength but then raise it in pride as I throw a half drunk bottle of lemonade in the bin. I feel like yelling, " did you all see what I just did! I threw the sugar drink out. It doesn't even taste good."

The flight home is another conspiracy this time involving choc chip cookies. Ok God you can stop testing me. Recovered from my lemonade slip up I don't even react or touch the pack. Even when they asked nicely for me to open them I pretended not to hear. Who needs those little round pieces of chocolatey goodness in their lives?

Home and time to compare notes. Mum was right. He did well for a couple of days and then discovered the left over chocolate slice. I knew I should have chucked it in the bin. It just seemed such a waste of money. He did have one victory though. He realised that he felt a lot better the first week than the second, so as of today we are back on deck

Just before signing off here are excellent articles on sugar you may wish to read. It makes perfect sense when written like this. Off to put the remaining chocolate slice in the bin

Till next time...xxx

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-17122/the-7-deadly-truths-of-sugar.html


http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/motivate-me/68691969/21-reasons-to-eat-less-sugar-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-losing-weight

KEEP DREAMING

I feel like I've neglected my blog in the last week but there has been so much going on I just haven't had the time. But, I'm back!

I can't believe that Ashton's 21 st party has come and gone. What a night it was! One hundred friends and family gathered together to celebrate my daughter's birthday. It was amazing.

First I have to show you the cake! Oh my goodness this was more than what we expected - stunning to look at , tasty ( caramel and chocolate layers) and those flowers were works of art. I am showing you the photo from the business page to give them a free plug! Thank you +Sugarplum Sweets . I couldn't think of anyone better than Flavia and her staff for all my cake needs. Don't even try arguing with me about cake not being a need until you've tasted their lemon meringue cupcakes. It's a need!

Now, I have to show you the birthday girl. It's hard to believe that two days before the party, she woke up on her actual birthday in hospital. It's hard to believe that she endured a six hour procedure three days before the party. Why is it hard to believe? Because she looked like this...

I love my gorgeous girl and I was so delighted to see how happy she was all evening. After everything she has been through ( and unfortunately will continue to go through), she thoroughly deserved her night and to be made a fuss of.

Here's a few more happy snaps for you to enjoy!

Ciara and boyfriend Joel

Ashton, me, Ciara and Mark

Pride and Joy

Heaven on a stand

Oh yeah! Did I forget to tell you we also had a macaron centrepiece also made by +SugarplumSweets - flavours were redskin, blueberry and white chocolate. My eight year old niece kept asking all night if it was time to have one yet?

 Finally got home to a Geraldton two days after the party, after having been away from home for almost three weeks. I thought the weekend had been great but one more good thing was about happen!

When I started this blog back in October 2013, it was all about me and my condition. It was a way of coping with a diagnosis which nobody had ever heard of. I never realised how much I had missed writing until I started blogging. 

Then it seemed that others enjoyed my writing despite the story line being sad at times. People started telling me to write a book and slowly I warmed to the idea. It took a while because the subject matter is so painful and so tender, but I eventually put a collection of my best blogs together and sent them off. Nobody was interested!

Around New Year, Ciara took me to task. She told me that if JK Rowling could get turned down
many times, who was I to give up after a couple. My interest re-ignited, but this time I spent ages writing the blogs in a story format. This is how I coped waiting for Ashton's February 6 appointment.

The first two replies where rejections - again! Then I received a letter from a publisher in the UK. They wanted to see more!

Its been a long time since I have been this excited about anything! This letter does not mean they will publish the book. It just means they want to see more. It means that a group of editors across the world in the UK, think I might have a story to tell and that I CAN WRITE! WOW!

Even if it doesn't get published I will always have this moment. If it does get published, seeing my name on a book will be a childhood dream come true!

Till next time....xxx