Shauna J. She's a friend of a friend. Well actually now she is just a regular friend. But she used to be a friend of a friend.
Back when I had a grasp on my life, when I felt I was in control, I started to consider homeschooling Gwen. Meleah told me to contact Shauna. A friend who used to live in Texas but moved away.
So I did contact Shauna. And Shauna sent me the most wonderful e-mail about why she homeschools. It was awesome.
Before long Shauna and I got to chatting about other things. Important things, not important things.
Soon we realized that when she lived in Texas she had had the same floor plan that I currently had. Weird.
Weirder still? When I found out I was unexpectedly expecting, we realized that Shauna's kids were the same gender and spacing as mine.
It was almost creepy.
I like baking bread. Shauna likes baking bread.
I get horrendous morning sickness. Shauna gets horrendously even more morning sick than me.
She's afraid of heights. I'm afraid of planes.
I had to meet her. It wasn't like meeting a totally random, crazy Internet friend. One who really could be some fifty year old creep. Right? I mean, she was Meleah's friend! It was totally different than just meeting some random friend from the internet. Totally. I am anti random internet friend meeting (ahem, Mom) (MOM!).
So when we were here last year going to Disneyland I went and met Shauna.
Loved her. From the get go. She let me sit on her couch and vomit occasionally (as I had morning sickness) while she entertained my children.
So, I was pretty excited that moving to Utah I had a built in friend. One who misses Texas as much as I do. One who can reminisce how awesome Meleah is, how sweet Betsy is, how awesome the Millett's are. One who could lament that Utah doesn't have access roads on the freeways, that there are no gecko's on the side of the house at night, etc. etc.
It's been great! Shauna and I have been tearing Utah apart. We've gone to a cabin, to a farm, to Cabella's.
But the thing is...Shauna J. doesn't eat sugar. As in...ever. Not even in jam. Or peanut butter.
So I had to try it, right? I mean, if Shauna J. thinks it wise to not eat sugar, it has to be wise, right?
Plus she lost twenty pounds by simply taking sugar out of her diet.
Simply. Ha.
So, I pose to you this question. If you had to do without sweets or savories, for the rest of your life, which would you choose? Think carefully.
Because I am much more of a sweet person than a savory one. I mean, I am not opposed to either but the savories just aren't cutting it.
But I trust Shauna J.
Though she does enjoy running, something that I will probably never understand.
(It's okay though, she says I can ride my bike alongside).
17 comments:
Would totally go without sweets rather than savories. Mmm, salt.
I would totally give up savories before sweets. I can keep a bag of chips in my pantry indefinitely. In fact I think I have one in there right now from like 2007 that M doesn't know about (or else he'd have eaten them).
I've often contemplated the interesting dynamics of being the sugar fiend half of a marriage where the other person doesn't eat sugar (though not as strictly as Shauna it sounds like). I mean, despite all the other actually important things, I seriously questioned marrying M just because I love sweets so much. How addict-y sounding is that?!?!? In some ways his avoiding sugar has made me so much better and in some ways it's made me so much worse. You'll have to let me know how it goes and though I may never give it up entirely, maybe I'll try to eat at least a little more like M.
On second thought, if I give up too much salt, I might die. What with my blood pressure being something like 80 over "almost dead." I need my salt to keep my blood pressure up ;)
i just like food and ice cream, i can't give up anything, well i think i could be vegetarian and be fine, so i will choose that, is that an option? oh well
I'd give up sugar. In fact, I have given it up, many times in my life and it was for the better. Once I was away from it for a while I didn't even crave it, it wasn't a temptation either when at social gatherings where there were sweets. In my opinion, sugar is the mormon "drug" of choice. We'd all do better without it. It causes more illness and disease than any other consumable.
I'm curious whether your friend eats sweet things at all. There is a big difference between say, raw honey and....high fructose corn syrup.
Giving up sugar would be hard but really, as much as I love it, I love it in smaller amounts and I think it would be easier to give up than savories.
All I know is, my mom doesn't eat sugar. She gave it up for health reasons, and she's a LOT healthier now.
Drugs were doing nothing for her but giving her other horrendous problems, but the whole no-suger thing has improved most of her worst ailments.
I really should stop eating so much dang sugar!
My vote...everything in moderation. Have you heard of intuitive eating? There was a case study done at BYU that researched this exact thing. Listen to what your body wants. You may think that it wants a hamburger right off the get go, but believe me, after that hamburger it will want some fruit, or a veggie...etc. I wouldn't ever cut out any food group...that's why there's that dang food pyramid. Plus, if you're anything like me and all you would think about is eating that cookie over there you're really not doing yourself any favors by lamenting over that scrumptious little treat. The chemicals in your brain won't let you lose weight if you're constantly wishing you could just eat that cookie, or piece of cake, etc. True story.
If you enjoy eating as much I as do, (I look forward to eating all day long :) then do yourself a favor and just stick to this motto: everything in moderation.
Unless of course you are superwoman. in which case, I would cut out the sugar ;)
I have posted and erased three different comments. That is why I don't comment - but I read!! Way to go for giving up sugar. Amazing! How are the headaches?
Awww, Kristi! You are too kind. I'm glad you live in Utah now. :)
Jennifer, I eat fruit when I want something sweet. I don't replace sugar with aspartame or Splenda or anything like that, because the point of giving it up was to be healthier, and those things are not healthy. I don't put honey on toast, but I use it in my homemade bread. I try to avoid refined sugar and sweets, but I do eat ketchup and the occasional barbecue, which I know has sugar in it. I try not to be freakish when I'm out and about and don't ask for every ingredient in everything I eat, I just avoid sweets as much as possible. Hope that makes sense.
I just have to note that I was the biggest sugar addict of them all. I used it like an alcoholic uses alcohol--to celebrate, to console, when I was stressed, when I was relaxing, when I was sad...you get the point. I think for most people moderation is good, but you wouldn't tell an alcoholic to drink alcohol in moderation, right? Same for a sugar addict, in my opinion. My sister tells me I shouldn't go cutting out "whole food groups", but you can't really call sugar part of the food pyramid...there is nothing nutritive or healthful about sugar. I gave it up because of a heart problem that I have--irregular beats and pvc's. Giving up sugar almost completely erased that. To me it's worth the price, but I don't recommend it to everyone I know. And I did not coerce Kristi into this crazy plan of hers. Right, Kristi? Clear my name here. :)
Good luck with your sugar fast, Kristi. You can do it. I think you know already that it would be way easier for me to go without savory than sweet. It's been almost a year and I still crave sugar (mostly emotionally) from time to time. It does get much better, though. You're awesome and I'm glad we're real friends now, not just friends of a friend. :)
She totally MADE me do it.
Just kidding.
Just wanted to try, we've had about six weeks of gluttony preparing to move and actually moving. We ate what we wanted when we wanted, and that's no way to be. It's good to feel hungry once in a while and to not satisfy every craving.
Not sayin' it's as good as chocolate covered pretzels or anything, but still a good feeling.
Shauna- you sound like my kind of girl. I totally agree with everything you said! One of these days I may have to get Kristi to introduce us because I love getting to know other granola-y types of people. And....I wouldn't mind getting pointers on home schooling. This will be my first year at it with my 5 year old.
My vote is to not do something only because it worked for someone you know because everyone reacts to foods/chemicals/environments so differently. As far as sweet vs savory, I'm a savory girl more than a sweet unless it comes to brownies then it's sweets over savory :)
Kristi, you need to set Jennifer and I up, so we can continue the grand tradition of meeting friends of friends. :)
Kristi, have you ever tried Agave Nectar? It doesn't have as high of the glycemic index as sugar. I've heard you can't taste the different in sweets recipes, either. I need to figure out how to get my 13 year old sugar addict to stop eating so much sugar.
You forgot to mention another thing that you and Shauna have in common. I have folded (doing laundry) both of your undies. he he.
I love you both and miss you both still.
Let's plan a girls night out (maybe I could even fly out for it, I'll bring Ralphie along, Shauna would like her a lot :) )
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