More I learned from Japan ... SUGAR BABY!
When I lived in Japan, it gave me a lot of perspective on things I took for granted growing up. Some had to do with nutrition. I have previously talked about portion size and the speed at which you eat (chopsticks vs. fork), but this story has to do with sugar. (SUGAR BABY! is a reference to a Japanese show my daughter used to watch).
I have always enjoyed sweets. Enjoyed them too much, actually. As a youth, I would eat donuts whenever available and enjoyed it. Are there many things sweeter than a donut? Well, the first time I lived in Japan, I was in college. After being there a couple months, I went to have my first donut in Japan. The town was Kurashiki in southern Japan and they had a real live Dunkin' Donuts! I went and ordered a chocolate covered donut. I sat to eat it and I was utterly shocked. This gorgeous (presentation in Japan is top-notch) chocolate-covered donut tasted like plastic-covered pita bread. The chocolate tasted like plastic and the bread part was really bland. At least that is what I thought at the time. One thing you will notice about Japan is that super-sweet cakes or bread products are almost non-existent. A Japanese person having a donut from the US would be shocked at the level of sweetness. We dump so much sugar into things and it seems completely normal because we grew up with it.
After I lived in Japan for a year, I got used to things not being so sweet. Sometimes I would get a donut from Japan and I could actually taste the subtle sweetness of the chocolate and the donut. And it was a great treat.
Fast-forward to today and I used to think unsweetened applesauce was like water. But I eat some nearly every day in some oatmeal (one of the few meals I almost always fall back on is natural oatmeal and some unsweetened applesauce and cinnamon). Now, unsweetened applesauce tastes perfectly sweet. It is delicious in oatmeal and other recipes.
I understand it is hard to let sweets go, believe me. If you have been eating a lot of sugar, when you try to cut it out it is almost the same as giving up any drug. Your body will want it. It will crave it. These kind of cravings may be intense but they will go away. And once you get over them, you will appreciate the sweetness in things you never thought of as being sweet before. And that is going to be better for your health.
And to make my point, when I got back to the US, one of the first things I wanted was a chocolate cake. So I baked one at my parents' house and had a piece (or two). And you know what? Not only was I blown away with the sweetness, my body absolutely flipped out and I got very sick. My body was not used to spikes in blood sugar like that. That should have been a lesson I took to heart right then ... but I didn't. It took me 15 years or more to finally get it. But the sooner you understand this, the better off you will be.
I have always enjoyed sweets. Enjoyed them too much, actually. As a youth, I would eat donuts whenever available and enjoyed it. Are there many things sweeter than a donut? Well, the first time I lived in Japan, I was in college. After being there a couple months, I went to have my first donut in Japan. The town was Kurashiki in southern Japan and they had a real live Dunkin' Donuts! I went and ordered a chocolate covered donut. I sat to eat it and I was utterly shocked. This gorgeous (presentation in Japan is top-notch) chocolate-covered donut tasted like plastic-covered pita bread. The chocolate tasted like plastic and the bread part was really bland. At least that is what I thought at the time. One thing you will notice about Japan is that super-sweet cakes or bread products are almost non-existent. A Japanese person having a donut from the US would be shocked at the level of sweetness. We dump so much sugar into things and it seems completely normal because we grew up with it.
After I lived in Japan for a year, I got used to things not being so sweet. Sometimes I would get a donut from Japan and I could actually taste the subtle sweetness of the chocolate and the donut. And it was a great treat.
Fast-forward to today and I used to think unsweetened applesauce was like water. But I eat some nearly every day in some oatmeal (one of the few meals I almost always fall back on is natural oatmeal and some unsweetened applesauce and cinnamon). Now, unsweetened applesauce tastes perfectly sweet. It is delicious in oatmeal and other recipes.
I understand it is hard to let sweets go, believe me. If you have been eating a lot of sugar, when you try to cut it out it is almost the same as giving up any drug. Your body will want it. It will crave it. These kind of cravings may be intense but they will go away. And once you get over them, you will appreciate the sweetness in things you never thought of as being sweet before. And that is going to be better for your health.
And to make my point, when I got back to the US, one of the first things I wanted was a chocolate cake. So I baked one at my parents' house and had a piece (or two). And you know what? Not only was I blown away with the sweetness, my body absolutely flipped out and I got very sick. My body was not used to spikes in blood sugar like that. That should have been a lesson I took to heart right then ... but I didn't. It took me 15 years or more to finally get it. But the sooner you understand this, the better off you will be.
posted by George @ 7:48 AM
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