The Big Sugar Experiment

first published Easter 2009

Sugar!

Why on earth does sugary stuff have to taste so good? Even when meat is roasted it’s the sugars that are built in the brown crust making it so damn tasty. And it smells so good! It’s not the sugar itself, but everything that is made with sugar smells irresistibly yummy.

Unfortunately to a lot of us sugary things are addictive. One starts with a single biscuit one day, and ends up of having eaten a whole bar of chocolates by lunchtime the other. Once I reach that phase almost everything is lost and I am out for a kill if somebody would dare taking my sweets from me.

Sugar is meant to give the body energy and one is supposed to feel up and running, but unfortunately – again – that is just not the case for me. Periods during one is on the ‘up’ are getting shorter and the sugar crash becomes harder and harder to endure. Hence the need for having the chocolate bar close at all times. Handbags, cars, sport bags, next to the computer, in my drawer at work, everywhere is a stock of sweets.

And sugar seems to have some direct impact on the guts. I have no scientific proof, but I can eat a pound of onions and not getting as bloated as after one week of constant sugar intake. I guess it has to do with some chemical reaction, like the one that happens when you mix warm water with yeast. It makes nice bubbles. And when sugar is added the bubbles go bonkers.

This feeling of hovering through life alongside with nipping waist bands results in a profound grumpiness. Unfortunately grumpiness makes me act like an insubordinate child, refusing any sensible action and making me sink into lazy arm chair hugging, subsequently leading to padding around all sorts of body parts, and the need for more sugar…

So this is not just about weight loss: this is about getting balance into wonky mood levels caused by sugar hype and crash, and to get rid of the veil of numbness that is caused by a metabolism going berserk. Vicious circles are a sure sign of addiction and hence I thought of a scheme to help me come off it:

The Big Sugar Experiment!

Preparation!

Step 1: During a weekend eat everything sweet in the house. Hopefully that will make you feel really bad, bloated and nauseous, but happy in a way that nothing goes to waste.

C’mon, it’s just ONE week!

Step 2: Reduce sugar intake as much as possible for one week. Skip sweets, chocolates and biscuits altogether. For the rest of the sugars reduce them as much as possible. Some dishes only become palatable if they have sugar in it: sugar in coffee or tea? Try to use a little less and drink a cup less. If you like ketchup or other dishes containing sugar, again: try to use less sugar or eat less of the dish. Just be aware where there are sugars in and how much you eat or drink of it.

The rest of the food and drinks stay untouched. This is about sugar - only deal with one nuisance at a time.

Well done!
You did one week – You surely can do another!

Step 3: After each week you get to decide whether or not you want to go ahead with the experiment. You either can stop and stuff your head with sweets again, or you can skip sugar for another week – c’mon, it’s just ONE week!

Sh.. happens – what if you slip?

You just ignore it. However, your penalty is that you will have lost the option of choice at the end of the week, and that you will have to stick with the experiment for one more week.

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It is getting easier with every week, believe me! Are you with me? Join me in the:

The Big Sugar Experiment

... and let me know how you are getting on.

Quirky Cough Syrup

This cough syrup is my own concoction and the recipe is derived from the ingredients in the basic honey lemon cough remedies from the supermarket and ... a chicken soup that has a hell of an effect on colds. All the ingredients are for loosening up a chesty cough and to get rid of the phlegm. You need: 2 jars of honey 400g each 3 medium sized onions Ginger (the size of a big thumb) fresh Thyme & Sage (small handful) 2-3 tbs lemon juice 1 tsp Glycerine a small to medium sized cooking pot a sieve

Keeps well in fridge. Preparation time: 1 1/2 hour download PDF

Fill one jar of honey into the pot add peeled and thinly sliced onions peeled and thinly sliced ginger and bring to boil. Careful it bubbles and boils over easily!

Let it simmer on lowest heat for about 45 minutes to an hour. Check on it once in a while so it doesn't get too dark or bubbles too much. On a gas cooker a heat diffuser can be useful. Wash the Thyme and Sage, but dry it off as well as possible. Sage is very strong, so if you don't particularly like it go easy on it. Otherwise use about 2/3 Thyme and 1/3 Sage or even 1/2 and 1/2.

When the onions have become golden/brown, turn the heat off and add the herbs. Let cool add lemon juice Glycerine and put trough a sieve.

Mix well with the second jar of honey and fill back into the honey jars to keep it in the fridge.


Some info regarding the procedure:
By boiling the onions and ginger all the phlegm dissolving bits go into the honey. However, honey contains a lot of good things as well which get destroyed by boiling. So I only use half the honey to heat up and the rest goes into it when cold.


The herbs go into the heat but are not boiled, like brewing a tea to get all the essential oils out without destroying them.


Lemon juice is added to firstly make it more palatable, secondly to liquidise the concoction for easier sieving, and it is soothing on the throat. You can easily add more lemon juice, but you don't want to have the syrup too liquid.


Glycerine is soothing for a sore throat.


How to use it:
I either just take a teaspoon full and let it slowly dissolve in the mouth, like a usual cough syrup, and I do so whenever I feel like it.
Or,
I put a good teaspoon into a cup, add lemon juice to tast and add just enough hot water so that it becomes a hot sweet/sour drink. You will have to try out the amount. If the first sip already feels good, you got it right.

Sudorific Chicken Soup

Variation from the Telly Recipe suitable for: 7 portions Preparation: 1 hour Simmering: 2 hours Calories per bowl 750ml: 400 Shopping 1 whole chicken or 8-9 chicken pieces (thigh/drumstick) 3 pack = 350-400g Shitake mushrooms 6 medium - big onions 2-3 leek 2 decent thumbs of ginger 2-3 medium hot chilli pods chicken stock (cubes) 2l water later 1 whole garlic 150g Goji Berries separately rice download PDF You may want to adjust the amount of ginger and the chilli. The above gives a decent to hot heat. If you don't like hot food then take most of the chilli seeds out.  This is a very simple to cook dish which can be kept in the fridge for several days and heats up in the microwave very well. We usually have it for 3 days with 2 people. Take a big pot (6l or so) and chop: All that should nicely help against coughs and colds! the mushrooms, the leek, the ginger, the onions, the leek and the chilli. I finish with the chilli because I want to avoid touching anything that has chilli on it. This way I don't have to clean the chopping board inbetween. There are no rules regarding the shape, but I like things stripy. So I chop everything lengthwise. For the chillies I use fork and a kitchen knife. Some disposable rubber gloves are a good helper as well - and be careful that no seeds jump on the floor when you have kids or pets around. To prepare the leeks chopp of the bottom bit to get rid of stalky root bits. Then remove the outer layer. To get rid of the dark green leaves, slice round the neck where the outer dark green leaves open. The darker the tougher the material and the very dark bits need removing without losing the brighter bits. From the inner brighter green leaves chust chop off the tip. Then slice the whole stem lengthwise starting from the bottom and hold it neatly together at the bottom bit. Rinse under the tap using the other hand fluffing only the green tips to get the soil out. If it has a stalky middle bit take it out while trying to keep the layers in position. Dry gently on a kitchen towel. Slice into half rings. Then add 2 litres of water and the chicken stock as advised for the 2l on the packaging, but stay a bit on the lesser side. I prefer to add some liquid concetrated stock to the finished soup as needed. Rinse the chicken and add to the pot. It will add some flavour and thus it is better to not overwhelm it with stock granules at the beginning.  Heat the soup to boil and then let simmer for 2 hours Soak the berries, they will be soft by the time the soup is finished Start preparing the rice so that it will be finished by the time the soup is done. 10 minutes before the soup is done take a whole garlic, peel and finely chop. When the soup is done take it off the heat fish out the chicken, add the berries including the water, the garlic and chicken stock (concentrate or granules) to taste Get the meat of the bone, cut to bite size pieces and put it back into the soup. Stir. Then very briefly heat the soup up again, put into bowls, add some rice and... Enjoy! _________________________ PS: found another blog about Chicken Soup and the author found another source of proof for the medicinal use of chicken soup. Ha!

Grandma Martha's Cosmic Coconut Macaroon

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