Manic Monday

The word this week, Mo tells us on Manic Monday homepage, is:
Pop.


I had several good ideas, then Reba stole them on me, so I must start with something 'fresh'... or maybe not so fresh.

Maybe I could talk about Pop getting a tie or one of those pressure washers for Father's Day, though I don't have a Pop/Dad anymore. Hmmm, Oh! I know:

In Canada, or at least the area where I live, we say 'pop' for what I believe people in the US say 'soda'. So, Coke is 'pop'. I am proud to say I have not had any in a fairly long time. No, I don't remember exactly when it was though I do know it was on a Thursday this spring.

I used to drink a LOT of pop, mainly Coke. For awhile I drank Diet Coke, thinking it better than drinking too much sugar, then upon learning of the extreme dangers of Aspertame, I switched back to 'real' Coke and drank it for many years. At one point, I drank at least 6 liters every day. Yes, you read that right... at least 6 liters. (1 liter = just a smidgen over a quart, 1.057 quarts to be exact). I also craved to chew ice!! It was so bad that I had a real hard time not chewing the dirty ice in the rabbit dishes in winter while doing my chores (at that time I was raising show rabbits). I broke several teeth and my dentist told me to stop chewing ice though I could not do so, and I even totally froze my tounge different times. I still have some occasional pain in the tounge that I think is related to the damage done back then. I was having 'health issues' that turned out to be severe chronic iron deficiency, and when this was discovered I was put on mega doses of iron suppliments as well as some treatments that didn't work, eventually leading to my having a hysterectomy. I litterally was bleeding to death each month, my body unable to rebuild its iron supplies quickly enough, due to endometriosis and a fybroid.

I did some research on the internet and discovered that if you have severe chronic iron deficiency, there are 2 major signs and you will have one or the other.... cravings for chewing ice or chewing dirt. I'm kinda glad mine was ice, lol.

After getting that under control I dropped right down to drinking a lot less pop... maybe a litre or two of Coke per week. Major improvement!! However, I did continue to drink Coke & other kinds of pop (never Pepsi, thanks) in various amounts over the following years.

In January of this year, very over weight, I decided to join TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), and to cut even further back on the pop. About 3 - 4 weeks after joining TOPS, and having no Coke at all in that time, I was diagnosed as Type 2 Diabetic. Since then, I have pretty much stayed away from all kinds of pop, except for one day.

Our TOPS group meets on Thursday mornings and they always say "Thursday is a free day", so you can have some goodies to eat that day that you don't allow yourself on other days. At one point I was really craving a Coke!! I wanted to kill for a nice ice cold Coke. I managed to not give in, and promised myself that if I held off, I could have one on Thursday. So, I did! It wasn't as cold as I liked them, though it was right out of the cooler at the gas station where I fueled up the truck. It tasted rather good, though not as good as I remembered it. I bought a 591ml bottle (500ml is 2 cups) and only drank about half, then felt I'd had enough. By bed time that night I had drank the whole thing, and felt it was pretty 'big' to have taken that long. That is the last time I drank pop of any kind, and I must say I do feel pretty good about that. I kind of wish I knew now what day that was, so I could say 'my quit date was', like I can say 'the last time I smoked a cigarette was October 3, 1988, so my Quit Day or Smoke Free Day is Oct. 4. Wow, over 20 years smoke free!! I wonder if some day I can look back and say "Wow, over 20 years pop free!"

Check back in 20 years!!

Have a great week!!