“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!
Peaceful Restlessness 
Excellent Post!!! The last line “change is possible. Slow, tough, boring. Yet possible” is true and inspirational. Congrats for the 100th post 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks Samir.
LikeLike
Good, Seems we are in same league, Though the root cause is different , but the goal is similar i.e. change your habits from food initially. I play a game with myself ” tongue teaser” I believe that whatever food we eat is because of the taste by tongue, so by control tongue taste , then we can start controlling oneself. A gourmet by nature, I abandon chilled water & beverages, started having Hot water in hot summers, initially it was painful , but later its routine & enjoyable. After success, I ate only fruits & curd/milk without sugar or salt for 9 days, I succeed in it also. The experiments are on . But the crux is to control self
LikeLike
My God! You do a lot more experiments than I thought!
LikeLike
Fine piece and morale boosting. My suggestion is to try slightly sugared cup if you cannot give up easily. I have only half a spoon per cup and maximum intake of tea is 3 cups a day. Sorry Pranav black coffee I tried but now I cannot do without sugar so a regular spoon ful makes it easier. Thanks for sharing your experience. Priti
________________________________
LikeLike
Thanks masi. Yes, I too started with a less sugared cup. Sugar intake is really difficult to control. 🙂
LikeLike