Have you ever taken your car to a convenience store in the middle of the night, and upon purchasing a box of cookies, sat in that car and voraciously consumed the contents of said box... alone... in the dark?
I have. For a while, I was able to keep my better logic and guilt on the matter buried away beneath all the goodness that was hoarded in my belly. This was all because of a cleverly placed label on the front of my cookie box: organic.
That wild Friday night was certainly a low point in my diet, and maybe even my life in general, but it wasn’t the last time I would commit such atrocities to my health via the deliciousness of baked goods. My appetite for sweets was insatiable, and the high I would get from sugar was comparative to illicit drugs.
This over-indulgent lifestyle continued for quite some time, but there came a point when I accepted the fact that organic, gluten-free cocaine sprinkled on salad is still cocaine. More specifically, just because sugars are labeled as organic, does not mean they are recommended for human over-consumption.
Ingredients like organic cane juice, organic agave nectar and organic coconut sugar can be found in your favorite organic cereals, health bars and Greek yogurts. But this does not mean they are good for you.
Sure, they aren’t as bad as refined sugars as they haven’t received any pesticides, but at the end of the day, they are all still sugars.
Once broken down in your body, your liver recognizes it as the same and it will provide your body with everyone’s favorite negative consequences, such as liver disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol and an impressive addiction.
Said addiction might result in a sugar bender similar to the one I experienced and shared in the beginning of this article.
I’m not a scientist, and I don’t want to turn this article into a scientific paper or trouble myself with providing a long list of sources. However, I will warn you not to be deceived by Machiavellian ingredient lists found on grocery-bought foods today.
This goes beyond just sugar; through clever wording and legal loopholes, companies are able to sell refined sh*t labeled as all-natural oxygen.
For instance, did you know food manufacturers sometimes add an insignificant drop of something healthy, in order to have the ability to list it in the ingredients? On the flipside, companies don’t even have to list chemical contaminants such as heavy metals and pesticides.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the tactics corporations use, and it clearly outlines the relationship food manufacturers have with the public. It is evident that they think very little of us.
It’s a struggle out there. Sometimes the products that are the healthiest for you can be the most expensive, and many people don't have the time to grow their own natural ingredients and build their own meals.
However, it’s important to be aware of what it is you are actually eating --a t least then you have the chance to make the best choices to fit your lifestyle. You will know when you are eating figurative sh*t, so you have the choice to decide whether or not this is something you willingly want to ingest.
As for my recently highlighted bout with the evil temptress in life known as sugar, it is still very much prevalent, but is provided from a new source. It is consumed in moderation via whole, organic fruits.
Not only do these little edible gems that miraculously grow naturally right out of the earth taste good, they are also incredibly good for you. I can tell everyone from personal experience, life has been infinitely better ever since.
In fact, before I stopped binging on halves of cakes, buckets of ice cream and entire boxes of chocolate chip cookies, I was a terrible writer. So, if anyone feels this article as at least half decent, well, this diet must be doing something right.
Oh, and I guess I should mention I am more fit, have more energy, encounter less headaches and I'll probably also live longer.
Photo Courtesy: We Heart It
