Food cravings may not be your friend.

So this is the lovely face of the doubting Morgan Plunkett.  I get this skeptical face all the time.  Most of the time I don't mind because we start laughing afterward.  She is a thirty-year-old in the body of a seven-year-old.  She keeps us all honest and good.

She, of anyone in the family, has always asked me to quit drinking diet soda.  She is a perceptive little thing.  For years, I have been hooked on either diet coke or diet dr. pepper....like majorly hooked.  I had lots of energy issues before being diagnosed with cancer.  I believe this is because my body was fighting so hard against this disease.

Regardless of my amateur theories, my body was energy-deprived and I used diet soda to prop me up.  It didn't really work, at all.  It just kept me drinking more soda.  This was really my one and only indulgence so I justified it.  I had cut most sugar out of my idea, have added a lot of vegetarian principles to my eating, bought a juicer, added supplements that help me with alkalinity...yet I did not want to give up diet soda.  It had an undeniable hold on me.

Then, because of Morgan's pushing and my inability to let a topic go without neurotic research, I found the web site: www.sweetpoison.com.  It was alarming information about aspartame, which is a major artificial sweetener put in most diet sodas, gum, candy, etc.  I had read the emails going around about ten years ago about aspartame causing brain tumors, but I did not think it was factual.  I thought it was a bit hokey and there was no medical basis for the email.  

Then I read this extremely professional web site (www.sweetpoison.com) pulled together by a woman who has a PhD in nutrition and has worked with toxic chemicals.  She got a brain tumor several years ago and had enough knowledge to consider removing aspartame from her diet.  So she did and she detoxed and her tumor went away.  She fully attributes her problems with health because of aspartame.

Now, I don't want you all to think that I am a crazy person who just buys into theories about everything now that I have had cancer.  I research every theory, thoroughly.  I try to back up each source with at least tw other references.  I do think that diet soda was an unusual problem for me.  I have never been addicted to anything, did not have my first drink of alcohol until the age of 25, am not a smoker, have never done recreational drugs.  I have tried to adopt clean living all my life, yet I got this disease.

DId I mention that I don't have any risks for the disease or family history?  I am not an ideal candidate for breast cancer, but no one is ideal for any cancer.  It just happens.  All that being said, my only major indulgence in life has been this diet soda problem.  So, I let it go.  The taste of the carbonation is not worth any new tumors or any new growth...even if it isn't a problem.  The truth is there is absolutely no health benefit in soda, period.  

Don't get me wrong, I miss it.  I craved it at first, but that was only my body's way of looking for a false source of energy...so I have replaced soda with other things.  If I need a boost, I drink some tea.  I buy carbonated water that is fruit-flavored to get that carbonation kick.  (I chase down my green vibrance drink with this because the greens drink are not always fun to drink.) I work on my energy through proactive exercise and diet, as opposed to a short-term quick fix.

Sometimes I drink coffee, but I try to limit it because coffee is highly acidic.  My body is so used to being acidic that it takes a lot of effort and monitoring on my part to keep it alkaline.  I can tell you that since my drop of soda, I feel so much better.  I don't expect each of you to quit soda, all the way.  I just think taking this information into consideration is a good thing.  

I also want you to think about the things your body craves and if the cravings aren't healthy, try to replace the cravings with healthy sources of food.  If you crave sugar, your body wants a quick fix of protein so keep some protein around your office that is just as easy as going to the vending machine and getting a Snicker's bar.  Nuts are a great source of protein.  Protein bars aren't always exceptional, yet they are better than eating a candy bar for snack.

I have so much more to say on nutrition.  I am working on getting a detox kit for aspartame so that I can fully get it out of my system.  I will keep you posted on how that goes.  It is a six week process, but I am willing to be a guinea pic for my family and for all of you.  After all, I am the one with all the drama of cancer. :)

I am also looking into taking cooking classes over the summer that would help me better develop menus for our family.  Anything that I learn, I can make available to you...either on the blog...or through other ways...

Will keep you posted!

Lolo