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LIFESTYLE
HEALTHY HABITS By Lisa Conway. The Zing Project
It seems the older I get the more attention I require to maintain a standard of good health. I have always been very in tune with my body and the connection of mind and body fascinates me. My highest personal value is health so it makes sense that I would be a serial searcher to find and maintain the best version of self. Recently I decided to eliminate alcohol completely, I was a few glasses of red on the weekend’s kind of gal and although that might not seem like a lot to some that next day, I found it was seriously slowing me down. Six months in, I must say I don’t miss the sluggishness of the way the wine left me feeling, however I did miss the ritual of setting time aside at the end of the day. The making time to stop, to unwind and reflect left a void. The act of holding a long stem wine glass in hand had a lot more to do with the ritual than what was in the glass. I decided to find an alcohol-free wine, it took a few tries, but I found one that I really enjoyed so I was back having an evening red on the balcony. Then a few nights of alcohol-free wine I found myself back experiencing all of the yukky puffiness, the sludge that I thought
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Beauty Biz Year 15 Issue 2
was the alcohol, it has to be the sugar? My conclusion is that drinking non-alcoholic wine was just as bad. I was shocked to find that the puffiness along with all of the heavy sluggishness I was feeling had returned. I felt as bad from drinking the alcohol free one as I did the real one. The penny dropped! It’s the sugar, it must be that and probably the preservatives too. I was blaming the wrong thing. I had suspected sugar wasn’t helping but I had no idea just how much it was affecting my moods. The transformation I felt without sugar really had to be experienced to be believed. “I think the worst type of sugar is liquid sugar loaded with preservatives too as it finds its way into your system even faster. Soft drink is at the top of the list. Our bodies are incredible machines and mine
was screaming ‘DON’T DO THAT “I can’t process that, anymore. I could years ago but now it’s almost impossible. The body’s ability to heal, stay alive is remarkable but like all things struggle with age. Anyone who has watched a loved one suffer through palliative care to their final death would understand a saying my mother often used” you got to be very sick to die” What you got away with once will change as it did for me. The standard seventies breakfast of a tablespoon of white sugar on your Weetbix is unheard of today. However, I think the product companies are just way better at hiding sugar from us. Many fancy titles such as dextrose, fructose, glucose, and lactose! Sugar has been described as addictive as cocaine. A rather large statement however one worth exploring.
