Day 15

Sugar and Love

A lesson in how sugar is made.

Cane is extracted from the fields and taken to the mill. At the mill, machines wash, cut and shred the stalks into a pulpy mass. This pulpy mass is crushed between rollers to squeeze out the sugary juice, called cane juice.

This grayish-green liquid is then heated to its boiling point, and chemicals are added to remove impurities. Next, the juice is placed into huge tanks to evaporate, leaving a thick syrup. This syrup is heated to remove more and more water until crystals form. These crystals must be separated from the syrup, so they are put into a centrifuge machine which spins it around rapidly. (“Put me back in the field” I hear it cry)

It is then dissolved, treated with some more chemicals, filtered, crystalized once more, and allowed to solidify, this time into pure white sugar. It is then lightly sprinkled onto the majority of goods found in the centre aisles of a standard supermarket.

The following items are currently being broken down by hard working acids in my lower half:

1 bowl of ‘Freedom’ muesli (Not a new George Michael brand of cereal who wanted in on the Paul Newman racket). One large scoop of Yoplait 99% fat free, gluten free (new buzz word) Blackberry yoghurt. (6 teaspoons of sugar for muesli, 5 for yoghurt)

2 pieces of white toast (packet said ‘contains vitamins and minerals’ , failed to mention chicken feathers. See this article..  http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/that-fluffy-white-bread-may-have-chicken-in-it/story-fneuz8wn-1226563553755)  I had it with raspberry jam. 7 teaspoons in total.

I bottle of Lucozade 42 grams, 10 teaspoons (My mistake, I didnt look close enough, other flavours of this product have high amounts of fructose. Will make it up with an extra 10 teaspoons tomorrow. That said glucose is 50% of sucrose, our table sugar. Still a large amount in a bottle regularly drunk by children).

I honey soy chicken salad (3 teaspoons)

1 Banana Oat Slice (with organic oats) 5 teaspoons and half a Portuguese tart (delicious and for filming purposes) 4 teaspoons.

1 crumbed lamb (with coconut oil) and salad, made with love by my lady (sugar free joy).

And while we are on the topic of love:

I had a fantastic chat today with a very special lady who lives overseas and we are interviewing for the film. This is a golden nugget of wisdom that she shared with me today:

The chemical that sugar evokes is the same chemical evoked by love so we feel comforted and cared for until we are hooked.  And people who are sugar sensitive are uniquely vulnerable because they feel so deeply and have less buffer for pain. Sugar cuts pain. Take it away, and we feel more deeply – which can be really, really hard for some people.  For me, the whole point is to help people understand that sugar is NOT love, love is, connection is.

She gave me real understanding as to why it is so hard for some people to cut out sugar. These are the deep feeling, beautifully sensitive souls on the planet. Sugar is a companion. I went through a similar experience with cigarettes at one stage and once I stopped,  sugar moved in as the new buddy. It is however, one of the most empowering feelings in the world to not be controlled by a substance. My gut says that sugar has its shifty little mits on a huge chunk of the earth’s population and the majority dont have a clue its there.

15 days down and 40 more curved metallic tools of tiny white granules.