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just mud by Ron's avatar

I'm glad I read that after my bowl of Cap'n Crunch! great, great story, Terry!

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Terry Freedman's avatar

😂

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Donna McArthur's avatar

So good Terry, thank you!!

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Thanks, Donna!

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Tom Pendergast's avatar

Ah, the simplicity! Lovely.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I agree, Tom. Thanks

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Anu Prabhala's avatar

I like most, the humility of the holy man. He did not think he was too holy to change. I

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Exactly, Anu. I think that's what is so lovely about the story.

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

That story was attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. Supposedly. I use agave or brown sugar & I avoid white bread like Dracula avoids crosses, holy water & garlic although I could still stand to lose 30 - 35 pounds.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Was it? I didn't know that. I came across it in a book ages ago

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Jeanne S's avatar

Cannot be done.

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just mud by Ron's avatar

honesty, I like that!

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I gave up sugar in tea!

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Jeanne S's avatar

...but... etc etc etc

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Terry Freedman's avatar

The journey of a thousand miles, etc Jeanne T 🤣

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

" AGAVE MARIAAAAHH ! " They should put agave in soft drinks as a SLIGHTLY HEALTHIER alternative.

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Jackieone's avatar

Maybe monk fruit or stevia, not the kind mixed with erythritol or other fake stuff. But agave syrup is just marketing for another sugar product in my opinion. 😝

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

& not everyone metabolizes everything at the same rate, in the same fashion. I can drink 6 beers with a high ABV & be only mildly mellow, while a small swallow of champagne at a Christmas brunch once had me flying like a kite in a tornado ! 🪁🌪 I felt my soul leave my body.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Can imagine

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I've never had agave and I look forward to NEVER having it! 🤣

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

it's not overly sweet like molasses. But to each their own. The bottles are too small for my needs. My housekeeper can go through over a third of a bottle in a day, but telling her to ease up sometimes falls on deaf ears.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I can empathise, Daniel. My trouble is, I have a real sweet tooth. My doctor said I'm allowed to eat sweet stuff occasionally, by which I presume he meant every day.

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

I tried Red Bull. Then I dropped it like a radioactive cow - pie after hearing that its secret ingredient was TAURINE aka bull semen. DISGUSTING, even by my standards. 🤢 & unkosher.

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

A lovely post, Terry. Made me think of Atticus Finch and climbing into someone else's skin and walking around in it.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Bah! You've made me feel like an illiterate slob, because I still haven't got around to reading To Kill A Mocking Bird. Now I shall have to move it up nearer the top of my TBR list because your comment (thanks!) has fascinated me.

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

Wise man, that Mr Finch. I haven't read TKAMB since I read it for school - I think we did that and Jane Eyre for GCSE English Lit. I'd love to read it again, though. I've seen the film - after I'd read the book - and didn't rate it* as much as I had the book. For a teenager, that's saying something.

*NOTHING, literally NOTHING, against Gregory Peck. #swoon

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Terry Freedman's avatar

swoon? 🤣🤣🤣

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

Yup. Not apologising. 👀

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Terry Freedman's avatar

The equivalent for me was Diana Rigg in The Avengers. <Drool>

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Terry Freedman's avatar

There was a time when women swooned over me

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

I don't doubt it, Lord Terry!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Holy people speak, yes, and they also listen...

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Beautiful Sherman. In fact, one of my favourite sayings is from Lao Tzu: Those who know do not speak, and talkers do not know :-)

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

Those who don't know, teach.

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Jackieone's avatar

Ouch! I was an algebra teacher and I’m sure I knew what I was teaching. I did not, however, discuss politics, gender, personal opinions, or anything else not related to algebra. Except being nice to folks just to be nice.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Definitely the right way IMO

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Well, that's just silly. The popular version here (UK) is: those who know, do; those who can't do, teach; and those who can't teach go into teacher training. I think that's silly too

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Jody J. Sperling's avatar

Almost a year ago, the whole purpose of my podcast changed because of a similar line of reasoning. But, I should quit eating sugar. I'm bordering on obese, and it's sad to have this body. (Only speaking for myself, as I'm no judging anyone else's body. Mine is not supposed to be this size.)

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Jackieone's avatar

I got off a cruise ship recently, where I spend a hedonistic week sofonsifying my sufficiency. When I returned home, I immediately dropped all sugar out of my diet, keeping carbs below 50 grams (now below 40) even excluding ketchup and fruit. In 3 days, there was zero desire for sugar. Zero. It helped that I hid my keto dark chocolate in the back fridge. It’s remarkable how that works for me.

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Jody J. Sperling's avatar

I have to admit, I tried keto, and all that happened was that by the second week the taste fo eggs was so repulsive to me, I couldn't look at them without reflux. But, at times I've been good at water fasting and time-restricted-feeding. I do like the challenge of dietary restriction, most of the time.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Did all that work? I've never tried keto, and fasting gives me a headache

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Jackieone's avatar

Oh! I forgot the BEST PART! Euphoria! It’s mostly mild, barely noticeable, but daily. I thought my meds were off, but no! It’s the low carb! Sheesh. 😻

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Terry Freedman's avatar

And that's the best? What's the worst??

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Jackieone's avatar

Euphoria is so sneaky, but I get suspicious when everything is just great. Lol! The worst? Having to decide which item on the restaurant menu to order before going out. I sometimes find myself agonizing over it, especially at the local Indian restaurant. I’m good so far sticking to salmon or meat; and amazingly the bread holds no interest for me. I don’t quite know how THAT happened but BOOM! There it is!

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Well done. I'm afraid I can't not eat the naans in an Indian restaurant

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Jackieone's avatar

I’m laughing, been there etc... This time, I started by only cutting out sugar. It felt “right” so I cut out other non-essential foods like beans and grains. When I can honestly say a can of sardines makes my mouth water, I think I got it! 😂🤣

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Sounds about right 😂

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Well done!

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I managed to get my weight down a lot, but I'm still overweight. Mind you, a gym trainer I had was training for the Olympics, and he had muscles on his muscles, so his BMI was so high he was officially obese. There wasn't an ounce of fat on him!

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

Technically obese without an ounce of fat. Call Ripley's Believe It or Not. Strange.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Yes, technically obese, that's it. Thanks, Daniel. I hadn't heard of Ripleys.

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

They've got a chain of museums as well as reprints of their panels. Thatt's why God made Google. 😉😆

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Terry Freedman's avatar

🤣

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Jody J. Sperling's avatar

I used to have muscles on my muscles. There is a picture somewhere out there of me at nineteen years old, freshly baptized and religiously higher than a break dancer on Methaqualone, fist raised in holy god power, t-shirt plastered to my skin. I was an hourglass with a washboard attached to the middle and legitimate bicep bulges.

These days, I'd settle for just string bean thin and able to summit stairs without getting winded.

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

When I was a kid through young adulthood I looked like I would blow away in a HIGH WIND. I'm now hovering around 180 - 185 pounds. I want to go back in time.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Me too!

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

I don't have room for a big exercise machine with all the bells & whistles. I tried yoga, it nearly killed me. Tai Ch'i was much easier as well as Qi Gong. Taoism is a great philosophy.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I tried Pilates once. Was the longest hour of my life

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Terry Freedman's avatar

🤣

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Such a wise story Terry. Thanks for sharing it! I wonder if I should share it with my vegan friends who still wear expensive leather boots...?

Nah. I have hypocrisies of my own to sort out.

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Daniel Appleton's avatar

I BREATHE on vegans, after eating a Subway sandwich, then say " you're inhaling meat ! ". They're as fanatical as evangelicals & about as holier - than - thou.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Lol

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I think we all do, Sharron. Thanks for commenting

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May 19, 2023
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Nathan Slake's avatar

Did not know there was a export strength version.

But good work, well done.

I'm currently weaning myself off of coffee. It's actually not been as bad as I thought it was going to be, but the daily ritual of it I miss.

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Jackieone's avatar

I had to quit coffee because of the acid - stomach pain was awful. I drink “pretend“ coffee in the evening, roasted barley/beets/chicory types. Best I’ve found is Kaffree Roma and Caffix. I love Postum, but these other two are much more coffee-like.

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Nathan Slake's avatar

Ah that's a shame.

I'm a big fan of dandelion tea. With milk, it has that kind of darkness that I enjoy with coffee and that regular tea can't cut for me.

But otherwise, green tea has become surprisingly enjoyable.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Never tried dandelion tea, and with a bit 9f luck I'll keep it that way. Green tea 8s supposed to be good for the digestive system. Presumably, if you have green tea and dunk Digestive biscuits in it you get double the benefit

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I used to drink something called Barley cup . Looked like coffees, tasted nothing like it

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Jackieone's avatar

Yeah, I had to try at least 5-6 before I discovered these two. I mean, you can get USED TO anything, but the nearer perfection, the better. Meanwhile, oolong tea...just throwing that out there...

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Terry Freedman's avatar

My lady wife likes oolong 😎

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Nathan Slake's avatar

Heh, yeah, I can imagine.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Barley cup takes getting used to and then some

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Terry Freedman's avatar

That's what I missed after packing in smoking

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Nathan Slake's avatar

Good effort pulling it off, though.

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Terry Freedman's avatar

I did it by tricking myself psychologically.

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Nathan Slake's avatar

Impressive. What was the trick?

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Thanks. I kept telling myself I would have a cigarette later, say after lunch. After lunch I would defer it until after tea, and so on. After a few days of this I thought: I've managed all this time without one, why spoil the run? So I went from 20 a day to zero a day overnight. That was after trying other things which didn't work. For instance, nicotine gum made me die for a proper fag, and herbal cigarettes smelt like you were setting fire to the contents of a dustbin

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Terry Freedman's avatar

Well done, Chris! I managed to reverse borderline Type 2, but it's a battle to keep on going. I've discovered that anything I like is no good for me, which is a bit of a bummer. Can't you ahve a Guinness once a week or something?

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