Day 29

Sickly Sweet

When looking at the sugar family, there is actually a very distinct order of the most sweet to the least when it comes to taste. The order is fructose at the top, then a fair jump to sucrose (table sugar) then high fructose corn syrup, honey, glucose, a few others and then lactose (milk), down the bottom. Given our brains are wired for sweet things due to how rare they were in nature, is it any wonder the world is currently in the throws of a fructose party? I feel like the DJ is about to get the wind up though and the bright, revealing and uncomfortable lights are about to come on.

Another travel day today and it is so nice to finally be at home and to have a shower and watch the last of the red dust spiral its way to the city drains.

This morning I went downstairs to the hotel continental breakfast and again was struck by what we deem as the ‘healthy’ breakfasts. People reluctantly and longingly peered into the poached eggs and beans tray before heading to the trusty cereal, low fat yoghurt, canned fruit pieces or those nutty, berry parfait cups that should be served after dinner, not at 6am. “Look I better not” was written across the revelers furrowed brows. No doubt their doctor’s nutritional advice ringing in their ears.

I sat down with my old friend Mr Just Right and covered him in some canned, syrupy peaches and apricots. I figured about 12 teaspoons of sugar. As I reflected on what has been an incredible few days, I realized how much liquid I had drunk on the community. It was hot, there was little water, so I drank far more sweet drinks than I have during the whole experiment. It is little wonder obesity is such a problem in the communities, a huge proportion is coming in through beverages.

I want to add here that the experiment I am currently conducting is only a small part about weight. It is clearly an obvious physical symptom at this point but equally important to me is to see what is happening to my blood, my kidneys, my precious liver, my hypothalamus, my pancreas, my lipids, my memory and any other lovely part that wants to put its hand up and show some effects. We get very caught up in calories in this society and I understand that. But I don’t think humans should have to count calories, we aren’t born with an abacus strapped to us. We are supposed to have a balanced food system, labels that actually tell the truth and honest food companies that care about health over profit. That sounds like a joke in a stand up comedy routine now but I hope my child’s child can at least entertain that reality.

Mid morning snack was an Ancient Grains gluten free, wheat free muesli bar. It did a lot of things right but guys, its that syrupy stuff that binds those elderly grains together. It wasn’t fructose free. (2 teaspoons). I had that with a chai latte (6 teaspoons). Warm cinnamon milkshake is what it should be named.

Lunch was a very intense lemon chicken dish with sweet chilli sauce and a couple of prawns. It was really lemon marmalade chicken with sweet chill jam (there was 9 teaspoons in it). It was saying something that my Iced Tea with 8 teaspoons actually tasted quite plain.

Apologies, but I just noticed that am quite ratty tonight. Its just that after seeing the people of the aboriginal communities, I’m actually a bit pissed off. It really is a great big bloody joke our food supply and we are getting fatter and sicker because of it and hospitals are overflowing and people aren’t having the joyous life they are supposed to be having. This is their one tiny moment in all the history of cosmic space and time. It is not supposed to be spent 5 hours, 3 times a week sitting in a chair, hooked up to a machine that takes out your blood, cleans it and puts it back in. After all the things we have done to the indigenous culture, we could at the VERY LEAST make sure they are eating correctly. But I guess parents give their kids sweets to shut them up sometimes, or out of guilt.

I just finished a dinner of semi refreshing salad. It had pear in it and was covered in some kind of sweet glaze. It got me my final 3 for the day.

I cannot believe that tomorrow will be day 30. I can believe even less that I have another 30 to go. But the last 30 will be the most exciting for reasons that will be revealed. Tomorrow I have my second weigh in and get my next lot of blood test results back from the chemical pathologist. I am really looking forward to seeing whats been happening in my body’s microscopic realm.

But for now, I am so excited about sleep.

Day 29 down and yep, another 40 granules