The Grand Experiment

Today will be three weeks and a day since I stopped all alcohol. Yeah, I know, hurray. 

But what I've been doing, consciously, is replacing the alcohol with other substances, mainly sugary. I drink these non-alcohol (well, .05% is no alcohol as far as I'm concerned — kind of like a spoonful of Nyquil a day) wine coolers all day, graduating to orange juice with 50% sugar and calories plus sparkling mineral water mixed in the rest of the day (I start the day with a large cappuccino). 

I rarely don't have a drink next to me. I've been that way since I was little — I remember one day when I was about 12 when I had 12 cups of instant coffee (I don't know what my mother was thinking — obviously nothing). Only these days, they're never alcoholic. But I always seem to have to have something to drink next to me.

But back to the sugar. Brigitte has an Accu-Check — you know, those machines that prick your finger and measure your blood sugar. Well, I found out that “normal,” meaning, of course, desirable, is around 6. Just like your desirable blood pressure would always be 120 over 80, “normal” blood sugar is around 6.

But I found out that any level consistently above say, 8 or so, is doing damage to your system. And I mean all of it, in very ugly ways. Things especially targeted are your kidneys, your eyes and your peripheral nervous system. It seems in that case that the glucose molecules impede the transport . . . oh, hell, I don’t understand it any more than you probably do.

But whatever it is, it’s bad, real bad. Over time, it gets you. Very, very bad things happen a ways down the line that are pretty much irreversible.

Now in general, I don’t have (and never have had) a sweet tooth. I don’t eat sweets during the day, and up till I quit the booze, rarely had even dessert. I didn’t drink colas (still don’t) or soft drinks in general (even diet and no-cal versions of that stuff is pure poison in your body — might as well smoke a cigarette instead). Clamato juice or mineral water, maybe.

But since I started taking my blood sugar with Brigitte’s machine, I’ve become alarmed. No matter when or under what circumstances, it’s high. It’s been as high as 18. That’s like your blood pressure being 200 over 110. I cannot imagine what it’s been like these past 20 or 30 years since I’ve been drinking alcohol, and frequently sugary alcohol, every day. Through the roof, no doubt.

That has resulted in peripheral, alcohohlic or diabetic neuropathy in my feet — choose what prefix you want. That means that my feet are pretty much numb. But painful at the same time. Can you imagine some part of you being numb and painful at the same time? It’s extremely annoying.

So I’ve decided to conduct a scientific experiment. Starting March 1st, a month to the day of being alcohol-free, I will indulge, for a week, in my usual (or recently usual) behaviour. I’ll drink the coolers all day and graduate to orange juice and Perrier. I’ll eat cake and ice cream with chocolate-shell and whipped-cream toppings after my high-carb dinner (usually rice or pasta of some kind) but for a week I’ll document every drink, every teaspoon of sugar, ever crumb of cake and spoonful of ice cream. I’ll eat at the same time every night (I regrettably only eat one meal a day at present) and eat my normal pasta, potatoes or rice. Then I’ll take my blood sugar twice every day at exactly the same time.

The following week, I’ll stop all sugary drinks including juices (but not counting my one cup of coffee and tea every day), change my choice of dinners to more vegetarian/green-friendly ingredients. I’ll eliminate all deserts altogether. Then I’ll take my blood sugar at exactly the same time twice a day.

I hope one week each is enough time to see results. If not I’ll try the experiment for two weeks, the first two pigging out normally and the second two becoming Gandhi. I will, of course, document everything.

If you’re worried about your eating habits and/or glucose levels, you might try this with me, if you have a blood sugar monitor. If so, we have about a week to get ready!