Day 45

Sugar Buns

Nerd fact for a dinner party:
Glucose is not just used for animals but also plays a role in the plant kingdom. The chlorophyll in plants synthesizes glucose using carbon dioxide from the air and energy from the sun’s light. The plant then stores it as starch for future energy use. Somehow I don’t think we will ever see a plant with type 2 diabetes.

Much better today, thanks for asking. Had a severe case of the mopey mopes yesterday but sure enough I climbed back up sugar mountain again today and am determined to enjoy the view (after all these may be the last 15 sugary days of my existence).

Breakfast was offered by the hotel and although the gesture was lovely, the food was not. I muscled down 2 styrofoam cups of orange cordial/juice/treacle (12 teaspoons) and some cardboard bran flakes that I ‘enhanced’ with 4 teaspoons of white. They did have a waffle making machine but I considered that not within the rules. The maple syrup looked like nectar compared to my chip bark and milk but I declined.

I then put on the running gear and got the endorphins going. I had to do the cliche and run up some very famous steps where a certain boxer in a certain movie had run before. Patriotism in its purest form lives here and it was a challenge to run and not trip over the flags.
This run certainly helped the mood to lift and it also lifted the appetite. I went into a 711 store, sugar’s answer to a crack den, and found myself a vanilla malt milk drink to destroy. The bottle was emblazoned with NO HIGH FRUCTOSE SYRUP. Thank god I thought, because it already had 14 teaspoons of sugar.

I had a spring in my step and a slight pain in my calf as I hit a very fancy restaurant for lunch. Their designer burger looked delicious and Mr Sugar had clearly hijacked its buns and relish. (5 teaspoons in total).

I had to grab a flight so knocked back a decaf coffee with 2 sugars in the lounge and then hit the skies.

I landed tired as the sugar had worn off so decided on an early dinner and an early night. In this heaving city, things don’t always go to plan though. The dinner plan was great, an Argentinian steak cooked so perfectly and a side of sweet sauces (3) but then in the taxi on the way home, I watched a large man wander through a busy intersection then hurl himself into the oncoming traffic with full force. He missed my car but completely took the force of the cab next to me. It was a horrible sight and an even worse sound. It was a very deliberate act and one that is quite common said the taxi driver. It’s a way of trying to sue the driver and get money apparently. The fact that we live in a world where a man is compelled to do that for money is a far bigger story than any one particular food item. But as I am exploring in the days ahead, foods play a huge role in fulfilling gaping emotional holes in these societies we have created. And sugar is at the top of the list.

45 days. Wow. And another 40 done.