Day 8

Big M

In 2012, if the amount of sugar produced worldwide were poured over the ground behind a person as if leaving a trail; that person could walk across the entire continent of Europe.

Today really hurt.

After my Chicken Tonight and apple juice combo around 9pm last night, I learnt a cruel lesson about having sugar late in the day.

My head hit the pillow but my brain was still at the party. Apparently glucose is fuel for the brain and as I lay there counting my billionth sheep, I did wonder if I had ‘over-glucosed’ my precious cortex.

As a result I slept horribly and woke up very early, tossing and turning. I even felt a slight twitch in my legs and feet. The term ‘kicking the habit’ comes from heroin withdrawals when a twitching occurs as the drug releases its grip.  I am not comparing the two, yet, but I will ask a food addiction expert about that next week.

It was nothing that a large bowl of Just Right and some low fat yoghurt couldn’t fix though (11 teaspoons).  Pretty much demolished the bowl in record pace and the twitching limbs were a distant memory.

After doing some work I had to head into town. As my lady downed her Greens blend, chia seed smoothie, I grabbed a Big M Egg Flip from the fridge with its 60 grams or 15 teaspoons of sugar and hit the road. After 15 minutes I finally understood that the M in Big M stood for mood swing. One Big Mood Swing please. I was singing out the window like a lost dog, howling a chorus of a late 80’s love ballad. Life was great.

How quickly it changed. I developed a strong red mark in the corner of my left eye and a friend told me I looked like I had been out all night on a bender. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I had been up all night, having a bender, in my own head. Sugar is powerful stuff, much more than I remember. The thought of what it is doing to our children is providing great motivation for making this film.

I had lunch with a great friend and my order looked delicious. A pulled pork sandwich on brioche. What caught my eye was the pineapple and sweet chilli sorbet that came with it. It was an uber trendy savoury/sweet combo for the meat but it racked up a cool 5 teaspoons.  I washed it down with a small 300ml can of Schwepps ginger ale at 5 teaspoons.

My lady then text me and beautifully reminded me to eat my 40 teaspoons before 4pm so I didnt have to continue my sheep calculations later that night.  This was a really tough proposition and so on the drive home I muscled down a small Go Natural Honey Almond and Apricot ripple bar which came in at just under 4 teaspoons. It was ridiculously sweet yet the earthy looking wrapper projected the air of ‘a bar that even Mother Nature herself would eat’. I’m sure some parents would happily throw this into a lunch box without a thought. There is less sugar in a Milky Way.

I am learning that the wrappers with bees, honey, flowers, words like ‘nature’ or ‘natural’ or any shade of green are the sneaky buggers. They profess to be healthy. Henceforth these shall be known as the Sugar Assasins. Tubs of yoghurt are their queen.

Dinner is on and it looks so wonderful. It is some chicken from last night free from the apricot flavoured molestation. I cannot wait to taste its simplicity.

40 teaspoons and 8 days down.

Tomorrow we really are turning it up a notch. Not quite sure how its going to turn out but a point needs to be made.

In terms of the film, we had some incredible people come on board today. There is a huge overseas contingent that are really excited to share their research. It is becoming clear that this story really wants to be told.