It's Tea Time!
I got out of drinking tea when I first cut back on sugar. It was so hard to give it up but I knew I had to cut back on it and a lot. I'm not as good about it as I used to be when I originally did this in October 2007. But in many ways I'm so much better with sugar. I have my bad moments, like with Smarties, although I don't normally go nuts with those. And I cannot pass chocolate covered strawberries (sometimes there are some left over from an event and the kitchen staff put them out for us to polish off. It works! The food is excellent there and chocolate covered strawberries - what more can I say?!
But then Splenda came out as a powdered sugar for baking. Shortly after, it came out as granular sugar for coffee or tea. I tried it and hated it. So for a while I didn't touch tea. I used WAY too much sugar in it. Around six months later the Splenda folks came out with something new: sugar and Splenda mixed together. I tried it and found it was okay. I'd started using Splenda-sweetened products for flavouring water and was getting more adjusted to the side effects (it gave me the worst runs at times but I did adjust to it and don't have that problem anymore). I had tea that way for a while and then last February (well, in 2008, not this year), Luis passed a kidney stone. It was quite an experience.
One night I was up watching the telly at 0200. I'd been out of work for about five or six days with an unbelievable version of the flu, one that escaped the protection of the shot. I'd also been up for way too long, as medication for the flu and sleeping medication cancel out the sleeping pills. Luis was playing and kept coming in to the loo, but would stand there uncomfortably with nothing happening. After ten fruitless trips to the loo and my asking if he was okay a few times, he came out and calmly said, "You need to take me to the hospital."
When a guy who never wants to go to the doctor and took 15 years to get a physical and 10 years to finally go to the dentist, hearing this statement was the most galvanising thing - I was up, dressed and driving him to Motown before I got into EMT mode and asked all kinds of questions. I finally said he either has a first class kidney infection or he's passing a stone. Any family history? Not that he knew of - not that he talks to his family enough to know, but not on his father's side. His father would've said something. We got to that hospital and they loaded him up with pain meds. He was loopy and funny. I was there with him until 0500, when he chased me out because I was falling asleep there in the fishbowl.
I went home and he would call when he was released for me to come pick him up. (I feel badly about this...) I took two Ambien and crashed. I did not hear the phone ring AT ALL the 15 times he called. He finally got a cab and crashed with me. I woke up around noon and there he was, sleeping next to me. I was so confused! How'd he get there?
He has never held that against me. I love that man.
Anyway, they confimed that there was a stone about 5mm that was in the tube leading from the kidney to the bladder. He could pass it, or he could have it removed. They referred him to a urologist and while I wasn't allowed to stay for the physical exam (I wanted to but Luis wasn't feeling warm and fuzzy about that), I was there for the meeting and discussion about what causes and prevents stones. It was a great conversation with a lot of information. What stuck was that the items that can promote stones are tannins (found in tea primarily), collared greens and spinach. What can help to cut them down or prevent them is citrus. So my reaction? I stopped drinking tea again.
I found myself missing it and last winter, just a few times, I had hot tea (I have never liked iced tea), using only Splenda and skim milk. I've always taken my tea with skim milk and I must say that it has gotten a lot easier than when I was a teenager to get skim milk - almost every place carries it. But the sugar addiction was so much that I loaded my tea with it. Luis would watch me make tea and said, "Do you want some tea with your sugar?" A few years later he then asked me if I really do like tea, because the sugar level is outrageous. I tried tea without sugar but it is entirely too bitter. I am not a fan of any bitter flavours.
I'll be back - I have a call. A vomiting 2-year-old. Yuck.
But then Splenda came out as a powdered sugar for baking. Shortly after, it came out as granular sugar for coffee or tea. I tried it and hated it. So for a while I didn't touch tea. I used WAY too much sugar in it. Around six months later the Splenda folks came out with something new: sugar and Splenda mixed together. I tried it and found it was okay. I'd started using Splenda-sweetened products for flavouring water and was getting more adjusted to the side effects (it gave me the worst runs at times but I did adjust to it and don't have that problem anymore). I had tea that way for a while and then last February (well, in 2008, not this year), Luis passed a kidney stone. It was quite an experience.
One night I was up watching the telly at 0200. I'd been out of work for about five or six days with an unbelievable version of the flu, one that escaped the protection of the shot. I'd also been up for way too long, as medication for the flu and sleeping medication cancel out the sleeping pills. Luis was playing and kept coming in to the loo, but would stand there uncomfortably with nothing happening. After ten fruitless trips to the loo and my asking if he was okay a few times, he came out and calmly said, "You need to take me to the hospital."
When a guy who never wants to go to the doctor and took 15 years to get a physical and 10 years to finally go to the dentist, hearing this statement was the most galvanising thing - I was up, dressed and driving him to Motown before I got into EMT mode and asked all kinds of questions. I finally said he either has a first class kidney infection or he's passing a stone. Any family history? Not that he knew of - not that he talks to his family enough to know, but not on his father's side. His father would've said something. We got to that hospital and they loaded him up with pain meds. He was loopy and funny. I was there with him until 0500, when he chased me out because I was falling asleep there in the fishbowl.
I went home and he would call when he was released for me to come pick him up. (I feel badly about this...) I took two Ambien and crashed. I did not hear the phone ring AT ALL the 15 times he called. He finally got a cab and crashed with me. I woke up around noon and there he was, sleeping next to me. I was so confused! How'd he get there?
He has never held that against me. I love that man.
Anyway, they confimed that there was a stone about 5mm that was in the tube leading from the kidney to the bladder. He could pass it, or he could have it removed. They referred him to a urologist and while I wasn't allowed to stay for the physical exam (I wanted to but Luis wasn't feeling warm and fuzzy about that), I was there for the meeting and discussion about what causes and prevents stones. It was a great conversation with a lot of information. What stuck was that the items that can promote stones are tannins (found in tea primarily), collared greens and spinach. What can help to cut them down or prevent them is citrus. So my reaction? I stopped drinking tea again.
I found myself missing it and last winter, just a few times, I had hot tea (I have never liked iced tea), using only Splenda and skim milk. I've always taken my tea with skim milk and I must say that it has gotten a lot easier than when I was a teenager to get skim milk - almost every place carries it. But the sugar addiction was so much that I loaded my tea with it. Luis would watch me make tea and said, "Do you want some tea with your sugar?" A few years later he then asked me if I really do like tea, because the sugar level is outrageous. I tried tea without sugar but it is entirely too bitter. I am not a fan of any bitter flavours.
I'll be back - I have a call. A vomiting 2-year-old. Yuck.
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