He says any kind of addiction. Thinking about the connection between our spirit and body, which makes a soul, I know that there are many things in my life that effect my body and spirit negatively in a similar way.
Eight years ago I began to exercise. I had never exercised for the purpose of exercising of my own free will before then. (I'd move to be social, have fun, or because the weather beckoned.) Before that time I was taking anti-depressants. It wasn't an exact correlation, I didn't start exercising and walk in the door and exclaim that my meds were going in the trash. It just happened and it wasn't until recently in looking back that I made the connection.
Physical activity keeps my brain firing, my spirit light, and my body functional. It could be about dopamine or getting more blood to my brain and body, I don't know for sure. But I do know it works. It works so well that if I feel horrid when I wake up in the morning it's a sure sign that it's a workout day. I might still feel horrid as I step onto the treadmill, but 35 minutes later I'll feel much better. Barring real illness, it happens every time. Even when my knees burned and I thought my hips were being held together with scotch tape, I kept exercising because it felt good to my spirit and most of my body.
I know that the spirit(mind)-body connection is real. When my body felt better I progressed in spiritual things as well. I was more patient and had the physical capacity to serve others. My productivity went up. I felt more adventurous because I was in tune with my body. Oh, and losing a few pounds was great too.
You might have noticed that recently I've jokingly mentioned being addicted to sugar. Now when I say that I realize that "addicted" is really a poor word choice. I'm not addicted to sugar like meth addicts are addicted. There are, however, some similarities.
Sugar effects my body. Sugar substitutes do too. So does caffeine. I know sugar effects me because of how much I want it after each meal. I want it in the afternoon when Baby's gone down for her nap and I have a chance to relax. I want it in my drinks, I want it when I go out. When I don't want to give in to my sugar craving I have something with artificial sweetener. That is not good for me - headaches begin their rampage. Caffeine, well caffeine hypes me up and crashes me back down worse than sugar ever does. It also adds to those headaches and starts a daily craving/headache cycle that is difficult to stop.
So after joking about it for a while, now I'm getting serious about being healthy so I can feel my best. I've decided to back away from sugar for two weeks. It's not that I'm "off sugar", I'm still eating fruits and carbohydrates that some see as types of sugars. I'm off added sugar. No soda, not even diet, it's horrid for my body and is another aspect of the sugar addition with the added caffeine addiction. This also means I won't have chocolate for 14 days. I have eaten some amount of chocolate everyday for at least the last month (OK, really more like 3, I keep a chocolate chip stash in the freezer).
What I won't do is limit how much I eat or be overly concerned with fat. It would be too overwhelming to dissect my food that much and I would give up. Besides, how many things can you think of with horrible amounts of fat that don't also include sugar?Even movie theater popcorn is no good without a soda.
What will I have? Nuts and dried blueberries, broccoli, asparagus, ham, bagel chips, apples, oranges, water with lemon or lime, cereal with low sugar, fish, tomatoes, grilled pizza, swiss chard, juice (limit to a glass a day), pretzels, carrot sticks, Cheetos, pineapple, strawberries, grapes, prunes (yes, I actually like them), steak, baked potato, sweet potato fries, Chinese food (not sweet and sour), salad, and more.
A few things pushed me to try this- A friend's older mother was at a birthday party and she said no thank you to the cake. In asking her why she said that certain foods make her stomach upset, then she can't sleep and it all goes downhill from there. Hhhhmmmm...
I also read about food, the history of our diets. Sugar didn't exist in the human diet until the last 150 years or so - none. Hhhhmmmm.....
There was a chart in National Geographic showing soda consumption by country, the US is number one by a large margin. Hhhhmmmm...
And I can never decide what type of soda to have. Do I choose to be afflicted by sugar, sugar sweetener, or caffeine today? So I'll have water.
I hope by the end of these two weeks the way I feel will convince me to eat sweets less often. This should also break the addiction cycle. Even when it's over I need to watch myself carefully or I'll slip back into the sugar trap.
I did think about going off sugar long term, and quickly came to my senses. It is hard to resist and everywhere. That could tell me something about it's addictive qualities. Really, the thought of going off of it for the rest of my life is enough to make me cry. You've got to have something to live for!
Ad from Women's Day 1971