A Dangerous Hidden Addiction You May Not Know You Have

Fact: The average person eats between 1/4 and 1/2 a pound of sugar a day–mostly without knowing.

It’s alarming, I know. I stumbled across this issue quite by accident. I was mousing over some news articles when one popped up claiming that doctors are arguing that sugar is bad. I’ll admit; I didn’t read the article, but I quickly googled the effects of sugar on the body and the benefits of limiting your sugar intake. That was three days ago. Since then, I’ve wandered through blogs and articles discussing this topic. Nearly every single one of them said the same thing:

Sugar is an addiction and should be considered as serious as drug and alcohol abuse.

Before you roll your eyes and exit out of this post, take this short quiz:

• Have you ever used sugar as a reward for something?
• Have you ever used sugar to change your mood (when you are sad, tired, or when you need a ‘boost’)?
• Have you ever eaten sugar when you weren’t hungry/do you eat sugar when you’re not hungry?
• Have you even had a bite of something sweet and felt compelled to finish the whole thing?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be addicted to sugar. Don’t be ashamed of this, though; I answered yes to all of them! I am a sugar addict, and I didn’t know until yesterday.

But, this is understandable considering that sugar is listed as a main ingredient in most of our foods–even the ones claiming to be healthy (No, seriously. Go look at your Special K brand cereals and snack bars–go look at the NatureValley brands; you’ll be amazed and alarmed.) Don’t even get me started on all of the sugary, fizzy drinks we are all addicted to (see what I did there?) But even though that the world as we know it is laced with sugar, and now that I’m aware of my problem (since sugar addiction is a really big problem that not many people are aware of), I’ve decided to take steps to correct it and prevent any long term side affects.

What long term side effects does sugar give you, you may ask? These:

• Weight Gain. Most of the sugary stuff that we eat and drink are laced with ‘empty calories’ that build up over time (and more rapidly depending on how many empty calories you eat). This produces fat that can build up around your internal organs.
• High Blood Pressure. Let’s face it; people with high blood pressure are always agitated and frustrated, and it’s extremely dangerous to your heart and arteries.
• Higher Chance of Contracting Disease. I’m not talking about just diabetes but heart disease, stroke, and obesity–which is more dangerous than just weight gain. Obesity contributes to you becoming at rist for Type 2 diabetes and cancer. Didn’t know that, did you?

With these looming in my future if I continue to be addicted to sugar, I’ve begun to completely turn around my diet. After scanning blogs, support sites, and dietician websites, I’ve begun to figure out how to limit my sugar intake (and yours if you’re interested.) I’ve compiled my findings into a list:

• PURGE. First of all, you need to get rid of all unnecessary sweets in your living area/work place/car (I used to have a stash in my center console.) It sounds heart-wrenching and emotionally painful, I know, but the results are worth it.
• READ LABELS. Now that you’ve purged yourself of the temptations sitting in your space(s), try not to eat it when offered to you, and be sure you don’t accidentally eat it in your regular meals (remember the statistic at the beginning of the post?) All you have to do is read labels on everything that you buy. Just see where sugar falls in the ingredient list since the lists are made according to the amounts of ingredients from most to least. If sugar isn’t listed, look for honey, syrup, glucose, fructose, maltose, sorbitol, or corn syrup–just because it’s made from corn doesn’t mean that it’s good for you. If sugar (or other listed sweetness) is in the top 5, put it back on the shelf and hunt for something else. The sneakiest places that sugar is lurking are in snack foods (even ‘healthy’ ones) and drinks.
• LAY OFF EXCESSIVE CARBS. Carbohydrates are chemical compositions in food that turn into sugar one you’ve eaten them. I mean stop eating chips just because they are there (since you may not have purged them when you were hunting for sugary things). Stick to a healthy diet (I don’t mean the term that people use now-a-days that limits what you eat. I mean a daily regimen of food that you should eat.)
• EXERCISE! It burns off unneeded calories and the fat you may have gained eating empty calories in the past. It doesn’t even have to be hard–try your hand at yoga, or just go walking every other night (down the street, at the mall or supermarket–you name it!)
• KEEP A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE! Don’t tell yourself that you can’t have sugar. That only makes you want to have it more. And, don’t make a big deal when you do eat sugar. If you make a big deal about eating sugar (like a piece of cake at a party, etc.) you feel guilty and are prone to eat more sugar to feel better (remember the quiz?). All you have to do is be sure that you burn the calories that you ate by walking (or whatever your exercise is). No biggie.
• EAT A PROPER DIET (THAT’S NOT LADEN WITH SUGAR). If you look at labels when you shop and refrain from indulging every time you get the chance, this shouldn’t be hard at all. Recommended serving sizes are as follows:
  Veggies–1 cup raw, 1/2 cup cooked
  Fruit–1 medium fruit (an apple, orange, etc.), 1/2 cup canned/chopped fruit. (if you get the canned, be sure that the fruit is in water and not sugary syrup.)
  Whole grains–1 slice of bread, 2/3 cups of cereal, 1/2 cup cooked pasta/cereal (like oatmeal), 1/2 cup cooked beans or lentils
  Dairy–1 cup of low fat/2% milk

Don’t worry; you aren’t alone in your endeavor to limit the sugar in your life. There are other people out there who are attempting to do the exact same thing as you (for example, here’s a blogger who even has a blog dedicated to her fight for a sugar-free life.)

If the thought of living live without sweetness discourages you to even try to live sugar-free, you can always use sugar substitues. But before you go out and buy the most convenient substitute, be sure you read up on the stuff. For example, know that Splenda has potential side effects. For more information specifically about Splenda, see this website. Here’s a quick site I found for the best (and healthiest) sugar substitues.

There are plenty of books and programs you can join that will help you limit your sugar intake. My particular favorite is the 30 Day Sugar-Free Challenge that was designed by a doctor to break the sugar addiction. There are two versions to this–one you can pay for, and one that is free (I use this one). It signs you up for daily, encouraging emails to help you with your journey. The only thing that I don’t agree with in this program is that the creator says to stay away from grains–even whole grains. Since eating whole grains is how I get most of my fiber, I eat my grains in moderation, but I follow everything else.

However, you should know that if you cut your sugar intake cold turkey (especially if you’ve been eating substantial amounts a day), you will have ‘flu like’ symptoms. I’m going through them right now, but they only last for a week or so. Don’t worry; you aren’t really sick. It’s just your body expelling the nasties you’ve begun to stop feeding your body. For more information, see the bottom part of this blog.

I really hope you don’t go into denial and refuse to admit that you are addicted to sugar (if you are, and you know it.) I hope this post has been informative and inspirational to you all. Thanks for reading!

~Love Lindi

It’s Official–I’ve Converted to Mac

Le gasp!!!!

That’s right! I’ve officially given up my beloved Windows for the streamlined perks of Mac (including, but not limited to iCloud and less chance of getting a virus). I will admit, though–the deciding factor on my conversion was the fact that I could put the formatting bar of Pages and Mac Word on the menu bar instead of having to put up with the annoying floating bubble that has everything smushed onto it.

Fear not; there is a point to this post. I know that I am not the only one to be drawn to the Mac side. But one thing that nearly made me turn up my nose and run back to the familiar Windows was that I could only open my documents through Mac Word–I cannot STAND Mac Word! It’s clunky and lacks an alphabetizing button! I wanted to open everything into Pages, but every time I tried, my computer said that I was not authorized to do so. (You should probably know that I have been using a computer that runs both Windows and Mac, but it IS a MacBook [a MacBook6 to be precise], so I can pull doc and pics, etc. from the Windows side to the Mac side–the only problem was that it wouldn’t let me change anything.)

What does anyone who needs an answer but doesn’t know the answer do? That’s right–I went to Google. Specifically, I went here, and it SOLVED EVERYTHING!!!

And, naturally, something ELSE had to go awry once I had begun to settle into the new way of Mac–my iTunes wouldn’t recognize any of the music that I had purchased on my iPhone! I downloaded all of the updates and system updates and restarted my computer. I went to purchased items, and it SHOWED the songs I had purchased, so I eventually stumbled upon the button that allowed me to download all of the songs to the iTunes. Excited that I had finally figured it out, I hit it, but when the bubble popped up for my password, it said Buy instead of download. I had already bought the songs! I wasn’t going to buy them all AGAIN. I was a giant ball of confusion and irritability until I removed my payment info from my account, saved it, reopened iTunes, and tried again. Everything downloaded smoothly, so as of right now, I have no beef with Mac–aside form being angry at iCal because it refuses to let me delete an event I accidentally created, but that’s not really something big.)

I’m excited that now, I can constantly write on my stories and work on different documents with iCloud seamlessly and painlessly. It’s almost like I don’t even need my 8G flash drive anymore! That’s fantastic! I’ll still be sure to keep a copy of my docs on the drive in case iCloud ever freaks out and deletes my stuff (which, hopefully, will never happen). I’m looking forward to getting my own copy of Lion instead of Snow Leopard and figuring out all of the cool things I can now do, but for now, I’m content.

The point of this post is to encourage all of you who have just been converted over and to those who are considering converting that, even if things seem strange and aggravating at first, keep pushing and keep trying–you’ll get the hang of it.

Thanks for reading!

~Love Lindi

DIY Shabby Chic Chandelier

Who wouldn’t want this beauty hanging up in your room/bathroom/closet?

Gorgeous, isn’t it? What would you do if I said that 95% of this is completely DIY? And I’m going to tell you how to recreate this beauty!

All you need is an old metal framed lampshade (you can find all sorts of shapes and sizes in antique shops, and they sell pretty cheap. Try to find one that has a damaged shade so that it will be cheaper and easier to take the shade off), scraps of lace or lace like ribbon, faux crystals, an Edison light bulb, and a light mount if the shade doesn’t come with it.

Once you get the metal framed shade, remove the old shade, but don’t damage the frame. This only takes a few minutes. Next, loop strips of the lace (you can even get the ribbon that looks like lace) around and tie in a double knot. Alternate the knots from top to bottom to give it a fringe-y look. Next, fasten the crystals around the bottom of the shade. Then all you have to do is hang it up and screw in an Edison light bulb (they are the old-fashioned ones that are elongated). And there you have it!

A beautiful chandelier for just about $15.

I hope this post has been inspiring to you all! Thanks for reading!

~Love Lindi

Down Time and Egg Rolls

Nothing is more awesome than hanging out with your family and eating some good home-made food, am I right? So, hanging out with my little sister and fiancee while making home-made egg rolls was fantastic! We played Wii Golf and Mario Kart until my parents got home from a graduation party, and I made about 40 egg rolls for dinner (and lunch and snacks since we didn’t eat them all). If you are health conscious, you can load up on the veggies and find wrappers that are made for baking instead of frying and still get the same delicious egg-rolly goodness.

I forgot to take pictures of actually making the egg rolls because the process is pretty quick, and it’s risky to step away while either the filling or the roll are cooking. Overall, it probably took me an hour and a half to make 40 rolls, and most of that time was spent cooking the filling.

All you need to make one batch of egg rolls (about 22 rolls, depending on how many wrappers you get in the package) are the following ingredients:

• 1/2 cabbage
• 1 small onion
• 2-5 stalks of celery (you can substitute this for a teaspoon or so of celery salt)
• 2-5 carrots
• 1-3 chicken breasts (how many chicken breasts depends on how chicken-y you want your egg rolls) (also, if you are a vegetarian, you and substitute the chicken for tofu or for more veggies)
• up to 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• up to 2 tablespoons of ground ginger
• salt to season
• one package of wanton wrappers
• vegetable oil (you can use any type of oil–you can also use a Fry Daddy instead of a pot)
• Butter (optional; can be substituted with oil)

Here are the utensils you will need:

• Deep pot to boil the chicken and most of the veggies in.
• Sautee pan to mix/cook the filling in.
• Fry Daddy (optional; you can fry them in the deep pot used to boil the chicken in. All you have to do is wash it out and add an in and a half of oil.
• Slotted spoon
• Wooden spoon
• Standard eating table spoon (not the super round table spoons, but a soup spoon)
• Food processor (if you don’t have one, just shred things by hand/knife/whatever you want)
• Cookie sheet
• Cooling rack
• Paper towels

Here are the steps to delicious egg rolls:

1. Fill a pot with water, season with salt, and add the chicken. Cube the celery, carrots, and onion and add to pot and bring to boil until the chicken is cooked and the veggies are fork-tender. Once everything is cooked, drain the broth. You can drain it with a bowl underneath it to save the homemade broth–that’s what I like to do since it gives you so much, and it’s really tasty.
2. Next, place the sautee pan on the stove (or next to you, whichever is easier for you) and whip out your food processor. Slice the 1/2 head of cabbage into small-ish chunks and shred them. Depending on how coarse you like your filling to be, shred accordingly. Be sure that all pieces are uniform and that you didn’t chop up any of the stem–it’s very bitter tasting. Add a tablespoon or two of butter (or oil) and sautee until the cabbage is soft. Remove from heat.
3. Now shred the cooked veggies and chicken and add to the sauteed cabbage. Stir together and add your spices to flavor. I wound up adding about a 1/4 cup of soy sauce, a tablespoon of ginger, and a tablespoon of salt, but my fiancee loves the taste of soy in his egg rolls. Keep in mind that the juicer the roll, the more chance the roll has of ripping/tearing or falling apart.
4. I like to make all of the rolls before I begin cooking them. That way, my attention isn’t divided, and I don’t have to constantly stop what I’m doing, etc. Fill each wanton square with one soup spoon of filling. Follow the directions on the back of the package on how to roll and seal the egg roll. Some require you to wet the edges with water, some egg. The back also tells you where to place your filling and how to roll it up. This is the other large chunk of the time. Be sure that your rolls don’t touch one another or they will stick together and break when you have to pull them apart. Just place them on a flat surface that is cool, not warm or hot. Before you move on to step 5, place folded paper towels on the cookie sheet and place the cooling rack on top of that. This contraption drains the excess oil, but lets the rolls crisp up since they aren’t just sitting on the damp, oil-filled paper towel.
5. Once they are all made up and the oil is hot enough, begin frying them 4-5 at a time. Make sure that once you set them in, you nudge them with whatever utensil you have so that they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Roll them occasionally, and let them cook until nice and golden brown, about 2 minutes (depending on how hot your oil is, you may cut that time in half.) Always keep you eye on it so that they don’t overcook.
6. Let them cool, and tada! you have delicious, crowd-pleasing egg rolls. You can serve them as a side dish, or you can chow down on them as an entree, but either way, they are a yummy way to get your veggies.

The egg rolls will keep for up to seven days in a Tupperware in the fridge. To heat them up, if you want crispy rolls, you can re-fry them or pop them in the oven. For those of you who can’t wait to continue eating the deliciousness, just pop them in the microwave for about a minute or so. I hope this post has been hunger provoking, and inspiring to you all. It’s always nice to know that just because something looks or seems difficult to make, it doesn’t mean that it really is–most of the time it’s pretty easy!

Thanks for reading!

~Love Lindi