I thought today about sugar and the meaning of life. Odd combination? Let's see how my mind got there. After I finished reading an article about Stevia as a replacement for sugar https://pyureorganic.com/sweet-talk/health/does-stevia-help-with-weight-loss/, I have found myself mumbling that old song " sugar, oh honey honey". I'm so sure that you know it and it was very hard to get it out of my head, it was "sweet". I'm always pleased when I read about more people realizing the downfalls of consuming high amounts of sugar. I've replaced sugar with honey and other sources which are healthier. I'm a big fan of dark chocolate (over 80%) and I take good care of myself when it comes to what I eat. Rarely I choose to indulge in fried stuff, overly sweet, overly processed. I haven't had soda in months, I never smoked and I don't drink alcohol unless there's some ocassion. I trained my body so well that I don't feel the need. I actually feel discomfort if I have to eat for days french fries and meat or sniff cigarette smoke from others around me, it physically makes me sick. Why pick discomfort just to be comfortable? Why not defending your right to breathe fresh air and smell good?
I have a soft spot for avocado and cashews and my favourite meat is fish. If the food is spicy, then that's for me. I think that our nutrition has a big impact on how we function and the quality of our food will affect our lives. How can we expect to be well if we stuff ourselves with excessive sugar, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco etc.?
Sugar can be like a drug and I've known people addicted to it. Studies revealed that when rats were faced with picking between cocaine and sweetened water, they picked sugar most of the times. Amazing right? I think that the same way it goes with mental nutrition. What you keep on feeding your mind with is what will dictate how you'll act in life and what you'll offer and receive. Having a fast food mental diet will bring the worst results long term, only that it's hard to see on the spot because it's so finger lickin' good to feed the mind with empty calories.
What's poor nutrition when it comes to the mind? The lack of self education, giving up on learning new things, the need to be always right, being stuck in comfort zone, feeding the mind with daily useless information, excessive social media exposure, malice and envy towards other people etc. When we ignore our mind and embellish our ego, we're actually hurting on the inside. We live on empty calories and we crave for nutritious minerals and antioxidants. What our mind needs is stimulation, education, genuine love, connection, quality time with those we love. There are so many people buying fancy cars, luxury homes, fashion brands and they enjoy them just for a while, until the ego gets hungry again. They embellish a life which seems glamorous when in fact they're spiritually lonely. They buy the sympathy of their friends unaware that genuine friends and lovers can't be bought. They're earned. Fast food mental diet never fills you up, it just leaves you high and dry. You always crave for people's validation, seeking for likes and approval, going with what society thinks you should do. I'm sure that behind those smiley faces there are plenty of tears at night, when no one sees how hungry your soul is...
What's the meaning of life if you live it just to please others? If you just give in and be so weak that your bad cravings/habits control you? What's the purpose behind living a life which is no longer yours? When we don't get good things in our mind, nothing good will come out. Unfortunately too many of us were under the pressure of the peers, family, society, to conform. To take in the bad sugar just because everybody does it and this is how it has been done. Why? One way to counteract this poor nutrition is to change. Radically if you have to. Take a mental shovel and bury the old you and be reborn again. Think about your own mortality, it will help if you'll realize you only have today. I thought a lot about the meaning of life after I listened to this podcast, I recommend you giving it a go. It's healthy for the mind, so you'll probably won't like the taste. At first. Keep on eating
Having a sweet tooth is not bad as long as you're in control. Before thinking about what you put on your body, in your house, in front of people and on your social media, you would be happier if you'd spent more time thinking about the kind of food you give to your mind. That's the secret to a finger lickin' good life. A taste so sweet that you'll stop craving society's sugar.
This is my latest article from my personal blog
https://maryhasnolamb.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/pick-your-sugar-honey/
Have a great day and toodle loo!
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Hello Mary!
I understand what you mean and I agree. But in some countries, This processed food is simply cheaper. And I don't mean junk food, but processed flours, sugar, and red meat. Precisely due to the type of mass production of these foods, not organic and industrialized, they are cheaper. Even when some of us have notions of what is best for our body and what we should consume, some of us live in developing countries, countries with severe economic crises like mine, or whose minimum salaries are less than $ 5 a month (the case from my country) it is difficult to try to maintain a healthy pattern of food consumption.
From vegan I had to go vegetarian; and as a vegetarian I just had to go back to a diet that included chicken and fish. Although for me it was not that difficult (after 2 years of veganism and 6 of vegetarianism), for my 7-year-old daughter, a vegetarian by birth, it was. But the most difficult thing for both of them was to stop consuming local handcrafted foods (such as casabe, a kind of very thin and firm cassava bread, and cachapas, a kind of pancake made with ground sweet corn) and increase the flour in our diet. of processed corn, with which we prepare our traditional arepas.
Although we have never consumed sugar in abundance, processed flours do their job, perhaps not as aggressive as sugar, but just as harmful.
I loved your article.
Regards
Hey Alejandra! I appreciate that you took the time to read my article! 6 years of being vegetarian, congrats to you! 2 years of vegan? Even more congrats! I understand what you're saying and I can't imagine living on 5 dollars a month. It must be so harsh on so many people. I agree that the more demand for fast food, the cheaper it's going to get. I have a lot of respect for parents who take care of their children's nutrition and stay informed about what is healthy. You are one of those parents. I smile knowing that you will do your best to give the best food for your child. I surely hope the situation in your country will improve and I admire your strenght😊
Have a great week ahead Alejandra!
That is why people have to try always grow their own food and buy from local farms on top of that.
Mary! It's very true what you say about nutrition impacting our lives. There are foods that contribute to a better mood, for example, bananas and carrots which are antidepressant foods. In turn, I love how you connect this with mental nutrition. Wonderful reflection.
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Hey! Thank you for making time to read my article! Actually a lot of doctors have found that some types of depression can be treated with the help of proper nutrition.
Have a lovely week!
Hi I'm mamali, a sweet toother (@tarakp knows about this! :D ). lolll!!
too much honey can kill for sure. Plus you won't appreciate the honey if you eat it all the time.
There is a song by Billie Marten called '' Milk & Honey ''. It's one of my most favorite songs ever!
Check it out!
What a beautiful song, I listened it through, such a lovely angelic voice, it reminds me of Norah Jones. And the landscapes and all of that nature. Thank you!
I used to have a sweet tooth as a teen. My grandmother in the morning always prepared me breakfast and she knew I liked dark chocolate coated biscuts and she made sure I have them every day. I learned discipline and character from her. Gradually I started to progress towards a healthier lifestyle. I tried to be vegetarian, vegan. I had a "drink your smoothie" time. You name it, I tried them all. Now I have a balanced lifestyle, I am more preocupied on health than on cravings. And you know, once I saw the benefits on my skin and my mood of healthy eating, I would never go back to anything else.
I appreciate that you took the time to read me, thanks! Have a great weekend Mamali!
My habits were very bad before! But I have managed to control them. The sweet tooth life has been under control thankfully! :D
Hey Mamali! I'm so happy to hear that you're in control! Having an uncontrollable sweet tooth can lead to your teeth falling off from too many sweets hahah. I admire self control a lot, I think it comes down to discipline and maturity to realize the importance of taking good care of your health, starting with eating habits.
Have a lovely week ahead!
No doubt about that! :)
You too dear! <3
Thank you!
No problemoooww! ;)
Back in the day I went very low carb and felt great, but wasn't able to maintain it, because my addiction to sugar kept on creeping back in. I have willpower in some things - but not everything and am yet to find a solution that I can stick with. It is worse when I am not exercising, which I haven't been doing much of lately.
Oh I understand what you're saying. Exercising is a great way to lose all the bad calories. I'm sure it feels frustrating not to be able to do it as before. I miss swimming for example. A lot. I compensate with long walks, but indeed it's not the same.
Sugar can be addictive, I used to eat lots of chocolate as a teen, I can't explain how, probably because I was so studious and my brain needed all those calories lol. But now I prefer the dark one. I think we can change bad habits and slowly progress towards a healthier way. I don't believe in diets, I believe in lifestyle.
And water... Always gotta have my water lol💦😂
We're all dopamine junkies, looking for the next fix and cannot see the destructive nature of our ways, everyone's fixes may come in different forms but if you give control over to these forces you'll always end up worse off
Oooh i love that you're a Lex Freidman podcast listener now :P
Ah yes the fast kick off the brain has from a little bit of sugar lol. I think we can train ourselves to control our impulses. The primitive part of our brain is weak for impulses, but hello neocortex, the centre of decision making lol.
Yup, I am a fan. Thanks to you. I like how he thinks, his mind. I recently listened to his talk about neuroplasticity with David Eagleman. I will get some of his books, I am fascinated about the way our brain functions.
Beautifully written! I like my fast food and sugar like the next person but I can agree with what we feed our minds is extremely important as they become our habits. It takes a lot of will power to accept that within ourselves and do something to change it but like the "mental fast food", good habits are easy to form once we commit to bettering ourselves and our mental health and life becomes so much better and interesting as we take control of our situations and our mindset. Many in our society would benefit from such a mental diet and the world would instantly become a better place. We tend to value the wrong things as a society. I gave up the "but everyone else does it" mentality long ago. I'm me, not everyone else! Thanks for sharing your insight :)
I'm glad that you think this way. If everybody does one thing, then there is a big chance you should not follow the crowds. We are unique and society has a way of reducing people to norms. That's never good. It's the best to stand up for yourself and be what you want to be without causing harm around. Thank you for making time to read this!
That is my exact moto, stand tall even if it's unconventional or against the grain. People that don't follow the crowd end up in places seldom visited... Physically and spiritually. I refuse to turn my individuality for the "norm".
That's very good! I stand behind the same principle. Usually people judge and show malice towards what they can't understand. The underdogs, the weirdos, the black sheeps, you name it, all of these typologies hold the seed of resisting authority and questioning the way things always have been done. It takes a lot of courage to be different, but what do we have to lose? In the end, nobody gets out alive from here, so we might as well live our lives how we feel, not how it's supposed to be done.
"In the end, nobody gets out alive from here" No truer words have ever been spoken! I get judged a lot for being weird but the right people love it and that's all that matters. The normal way of doing things isn't always the best or most organic, I view those people as shackled to the system, I agree it takes courage to stand up to the status quo but so worth it, people like us are pioneers, the wind of change and freedom. (that's why we are all on hive...haha!) Formed our own community of beautiful weirdos. Be the change you want to see in the world!
Hive is a great community, it really had a positive impact in my life to discover Hive at the particular moment in my life.
Leading by example is the best way to help others change
Please tell me you're on YouTube. Not that I endorse YouTube, since they're monsters, but I still use it all the time. Tell me, do you whisper in all your videos? I will have to go look and see. I like it. I love fish and really love cashews. My favorite nut might be almonds. But I'm not totally sure as I tend to love them all. Oh honey, yes, I love honey, pun intended, but I put honey in my oatmeal.
Yes I am on Youtube. I have some channels and I gradually work to get some progress, feel free to check them out.
I congratulate you for eating healthy, it'a a sign of self respect and maturity to be respectful towards your own body.
Yeah, I've been helping people with gardens here. I like your accent or is that just for ASMR?
My accent is due to the fact that english is not my mother language. I guess it is a reminiscence of my native language romanian
I love it.
Great!
How did you get those rings in your eyes?
It is a reflection of my ring light that I use for illuminating the whole scene.
I love it. I'm watching your YouTube right now, Susan Sontag, Mary has no lamb, you're funny and yes, relaxing too. You're quite talented, I'm quite impressed. I'm following you now.
Thank you!
I found your YouTube.
Great!