Freedom from the Best Choice
Since beginning this 2 Week Sugar Challenge we have gotten oodles of questions about white sugar vs. pure cane sugar, stevia vs. Truvia, the glycemic index, and so on. Folks – you are making my head spin! At first I thought maybe I would put together a list of what we know about the various sweeteners on the market; I thought I’d try to provide some answers. And then it occurred to me, you need another expert opinion like I need more snow right now (I live in Baltimore, we DON”T need any more snow!).
You can Google all of the above key phrases and gather all sorts of information on sweeteners, and I won’t discourage that. Being an educated eater is great. However, when all the information, expert opinions and conflicting data starts to make you dizzy and confused, it may be high time to stop researching.
It’s called analysis paralysis. I can think of at least a dozen instances when I did not make any decision or did not make a change simply because I was not clear about which direction to go. I was frozen at the buffet of choices. I wanted to pick the right way, the “best” thing and could not sort it out, so I did nothing.
In this case, when designing this 2 Week Challenge for myself I decided I just needed to decide upon some direction, based on what felt best and then just begin. I did not throw a dart, I gave some thoughtfulness to why I was letting go of white sugar but keeping the maple syrup (the real stuff by the way), and the agave nectar and the honey. That is not to say it’s perfect or even “the best” way. It was the way I decided to get started. I could have eliminated all sugars. Heck I don’t know the “best” way. And the beauty is, I don’t care. Well, no I care; I just don’t believe there is a “best,” no best diet, no best food.
Gandhi says, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.” Well put Gandhi. Feeling confident that you can decide for yourself, AND that you can change and alter that decision at any point – that is freedom. Enjoy the freedom from what is best, or right and wrong, and just start.
