“Why don’t you just stop eating?” my sister shouts from the hall.

Scene: 10.15 am, kitchen in my parents’ home, Ahmedabad. My mother asks whether I want tea. I reply – yes, but without sugar.

She rolls her eyes. Another experiment by her son.

But my sister takes personal affront to the fact that I am trying to reduce sugar. Considering that I am Gujarati (from my mother’s side) and Gujaratis consume more sweet food than any other community on earth, she has a valid reason to be angry!

My mother says – why think about sugar at such a young age?

I hardly bothered about sugar earlier. A root canal surgery last April and high triglycerides in a blood test changed all that.

Also, what my mother or other elders don’t realize is that our generation is slightly different. We are the excess generation. Everything is easily available, at least for those of us in cities. And we will have to take conscious steps to control food intake. (Ironically and sadly, India suffers from among the highest child malnutrition rates too.)

I knew the best way for me to cut down sugar. Tea. Our dear Indian tea. Milky, syrupy sweet. I was consuming 2-4 cups of tea a day.

I began my battle. Gave up hope and gave in to temptation many times. Thought that this was just not my battle to be won.

Took me over a year. And finally, I am on the other side. 🙂

The craving for syrupy stuff has gone down significantly. I do have an occasional Irani tea. But my teeth will definitely thank me now!

Wish I had some secret golden formula to share. Unfortunately not. All I did was try and not have it as many times as possible. Each cup of tea without sugar was a small victory.

Only moral of this story – change is possible. Slow, tough, boring. Yet possible. Don’t agree? Let us discuss over coffee. But no sugar please!