The truth is that I’ve been out of it. Not that I know exactly what it is. Or where it was. Or when I got out of it. Or back in to it. Know what I mean?
Maybe not. I think the summer saps any clarity that I might sometimes possess. The total amount of clarity that I’ve ever possessed is up for debate as well. The point I’m trying to make is that I’ve been out of inspiration or focus or whatever for sometime and that sometime has ended.
There are, of course, a myriad of explanations for my condition ranging from financial worries to a broken arm to long commutes. One of little things I always took for granted though was my caffeine intake.
I’ve never been a regular coffee drinker, but I guzzled probably a half gallon to a gallon of soda a day, every day since I went to college in 1991. Around that time I also began to think that I wasn’t really a morning person, even though I used to wake up on time despite the previous night’s late hours.
On New Year’s of 2000 I quit smoking cold turkey and gained another 10 pounds as a result. I fought in a Judo tournament at 262 pounds that February, and I resolved to make it down to the 220 weight class. So I switched from soda to diet soda, started eating smaller portions, and started running more and I made it by late November and the big fatties don’t get to push me around anymore.
So I’m buying Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper by the boatloads (small boats that only carry 12 or 24 cans, but boats nonetheless) and I keep noticing the warning about Phenylketonurics needing to avoid drinking Diet drinks because of Phenylalanine. Finally after reading this warning a few hundred times I decided to look up what these things were.
It turns out that phenylalanine and aspartic acid are what makes up aspartame or its common brand name: NutraSweet. This in large doses caused holes in the brain of lab rats and caused NutraSweet to not get approved by the FDA for many years. Its alternative saccharin causes cancer so it was OK if saccharin was OK. I read on.
Some types of phenylalanine are used to treat depression, like such drugs as Paxil, while other doctors cite it as a cause of depression when ingested in large quantities. The staggering difference of opinion on the value of this substance made me think that maybe, just maybe, I should just avoid it until a doctor tells me I absolutely must have it. Even then I’ll get a second opinion.
The downside of quitting diet soda, to my mind, was the fact that I’d have to give up caffeine which gave me the energy I lacked from cutting back on sugary drinks. I contemplated drinking coffee regularly but decided against it. So I suffered caffeine withdrawal for a weekend. I started going to bed when I was sleepy.
About a week later I noticed some things. I wake up when my alarm went off. I’m less distracted at work. I feel better. I have the same amount of energy as before and I can keep late hours without needing caffeine.
I also put on ten pounds from my withdrawal coping mechanism. Back to the treadmill.
Afterword: I’ve noticed something else as well. The less I eat or drink sugary stuff, the less I crave it. When I drink a Coke, I want a candy bar or something to go with it. When I’m drinking water, I generally don’t have the craving for something sweet. Maybe America isn’t getting fat because of sugary soda, maybe it’s getting fat because of diet soda. You have the illusion that you can eat more because you are drinking diet soda and you do it. You get depressed because of the phenylalanine and eat more. You’re too distracted to notice because of the caffeine. It’s like a sweet diet soda cardiac death trap slowly destroying America. For that reason you need to buy Dasani or Aquafina. That way your money is still going to the same place. (In other words buy a water filter instead.)
