Fighting the Sugar Demon

Coke

Sugar... such an innocuous word. But sooo dangerous.

I've known for a while that sugar is my kryptonite, my nemesis... the thing that is, for me, the hardest to kick to the curb. And whenever I think I've vanquished sugar, it simply shape shifts and morphs into some other form that sneaks in under the radar. Kind of like whack-a-mole.

For years, I drank quite a bit of Coke. I started in university (back in the 80s) and only really overcame that addiction on 7 July 2009, when I drank my last can. Twenty-five years of addiction done! Hooray!!!

Wait... not so fast. Because sugar wasn't done with me yet... my new friend was now Starbucks hot chocolate. I mean... if you're going to go to Starbucks and sit there and use their wifi for hours, you need to buy something, right? And for me, it was hot chocolate... 

Starbucks hot chocolate

That started in the fall of 2009 and continued until the spring of 2019 when I drank my last hot chocolate (from Starbucks or anywhere). Hooray!!

I've now been hot chocolate free for over 850 days. Not that anyone's counting... And the trick, for me, in ending my hot chocolate addiction was to make an agreement with my partner that... if I had a hot chocolate, I would have to pay a $10 penalty to her! Right then... done with hot chocolate!

Wait... not so fast. Last summer, with the pandemic raging and Starbucks closed to visitors... I developed the habit of going for a hike on Saturdays and Sundays (a good thing) and then grabbing a Starbucks Double Fudge Chocolate Brownie to go (warmed up too, please). I'd take it to the park, sit by the pond, and eat it off of my camping plate (and camping fork), which I carried around in my day pack for just such an occasion. It started out as one brownie per weekend and then morphed into two brownies per weekend. And over the winter... it continued... even though I was no longer hiking! My new sugar addiction was born.

Starbucks brownie

On top of that... as this long gloomy winter of pandemic restrictions dragged on, my partner and I went down Junk Food Alley and started consuming copious amounts of chips and chocolate... with the occasional bag of Cheezies thrown in. My weight began to rise and I knew it was not a good idea... but when sugar has its teeth and claws into you... it's a bit of a beast.

Enter my new diagnosis of hypothyroidism... due to Hashimoto's thyroiditis... which is an auto-immune condition that attacks the thyroid. Charming. The auto-immune bit is the tricky part... trying to get a handle on that. There are a whole host of things that contribute to it... let's start with alcohol, caffeine, sugar and gluten. Just to name the Big 4.

Sigh... that includes beer... coffee... (and hot chocolate)... all yummy sugary treats and... things like bread, pizza dough, and... da-da-daaaaa... brownies. Actually... chocolate brownies tick three of those boxes. All I'd need was to add some rum extract to the brownie and it would hit all four.

Starbucks Gold Card

Sooo... caffeine is easy... don't drink coffee. Not really a tea drinker either so... check that one off the list. Done!

Alcohol... I do like a beer on the weekends... but I stopped three weekends ago and haven't looked back. Done!

Sugar... bugger. It's one thing to know, intellectually that sugar causes inflammation in the body and is NOT good for Hashimoto's sufferers... but putting that into practice has been a bit of a problem.

Here's what I've come up with, my latest Go Big or Go Home strategy... I've removed the Starbucks app from my phone so I can't use it to pay for brownies. And... I've given my partner my Starbucks rewards card so I can't get any rewards (or use them) if I pass by a Starbucks. It's kind of a variation on the "put your credit card in ice if you're dealing with credit card debt". Cause the thing is... you get rewards for buying things at Starbucks and I'm such a cheapskate that I won't stop there if I can't use the app or my card. Sooo... we'll see how this goes. So far, so good... as of this writing, I am two days brownie free. Sigh... a long road ahead but I'm hoping that eliminating this form of sugar... and being wary of all other forms... will help me get a handle on this auto immune nightmare.

Wish me luck!

Breakthrough in Electric Vehicles

Right, so... we've had our Toyota 4-Runner for 25 years (anniversary date of 19 June). It's been a very good vehicle for a quarter of a century. It's been well-maintained and is only a 4 cylinder, so not ridiculous on gas. I had this idea that, after we reached 25 years, we'd maybe sell the thing and get a new/newer/less old vehicle. Good plan, no?

A few weeks ago, I had to take the 4-Runner into the shop because the "check engine" light had come on. After some diagnostics, the problem was identified as an oxygen sensor. I made an appointment to get that replaced and figured all would be good. Except... the mechanic who worked on replacing the O2 sensor also reported that the frame/undercarriage was being eaten by rust... to the point that it was getting holes in it. It was, theoretically, not really safe to drive anymore. His recommendation was that we retire the vehicle and definitely don't throw more money at it, trying to keep the thing alive.

Noooo... 

I have to admit, I shed a few tears over poor Clifford (The Big Red Truck). Other than my parents and sibling, he's been my longest relationship. Even longer than the previous cats (16 years). I bought Clifford new from Toyota and we've been through a lot together. Lots of adventures and misadventures... But now... the end is in sight.

Clifford's insurance is up for renewal on 22 August so that is now our firm deadline. We aren't going to be renewing the insurance after that. But what to do now? We can't sell the 4-Runner, obviously... but we could trade it in with BC's Scrap-It program... which will give you $6000 if you deliver your old vehicle to the Scrap-It junkyard and then buy a new e-vehicle, or $3000 if you buy a used e-vehicle or $1000 towards an e-bike.

I've been on a bit of a roller coaster trying to figure out what to get... new vehicle vs. used vehicle? Electric vehicle vs. hybrid vehicle vs. gas vehicle? Vehicle at all??? I had done a post a few months back about the possibility of going car-less... So many options and permutations. Part of the hesitation with an e-vehicle is... they are damn expensive ($45,000+) and the batteries only last 6-8 years, at which point you need to buy a new battery ($5000+). Plus... there are some concerns about how the batteries will be recycled/retired. Not the most eco-friendly options apparently.

Then, of course, there is the question of... does one get a charging station installed at home. Yes, you can plug an e-vehicle into a regular wall outlet, but then charging takes 10-12 hours. Even at a super-fast charging station (like the PetroCanada stations), a full charge can take upwards of 30 minutes. It's not quite the same as Gas 'n' Go... it's more like Charge Slow.

I'd also heard stories that anyone thinking of buying an e-vehicle should wait three years because battery technology was going to get waaaayyyyy better. Yeah, right. Except... it's true. And it's almost here... almost.

Batteries of the Future

Today's e-vehicle batteries are Lithium-ion. They are heavy. They are expensive. And they are slow to charge. On top of that, they have a short lifespan (6-8 years) and you can't go very far on a single charge (300-600 km). They are not ideal. For years, battery manufacturers have been chasing the holy grail of batteries... a solid-state Lithium-metal battery. Such a battery charges way faster, holds more energy in a comparable charge, has a longer range, is lighter and cheaper. But... they haven't been stable.

Recently however, the news (if you're a techie) has been touting a breakthrough. Researchers have finally found a way to make a solid state battery that is stable, can be charged upwards of 10,000 times (lifespan of 10-15 years - more in line with gas vehicles) and could fully charge in... 10-20 minutes! Sounds amazing!

Schematic of a conventional Li-ion battery with liquid electrolyte solution
and solid-state Lithium battery with a solid electrolyte
(From ResearchGate)

Now... there are still some logistical challenges... scaling this up to commercial production for one. But... researchers believe that these challenges can be overcome. Basically, we aren't going to be seeing any vehicles with solid-state batteries until the mid to late 2020s.

Sooo... I don't think we'll be buying an e-vehicle anytime soon. Maybe a hybrid. Maybe not. Maybe just a 10 year old gas vehicle that can tide us through until the new future of e-vehicles dawns in a few years.

In the meantime... I think of what these advances in solid-state batteries could mean for things like laptops and smartphones, all of which run on lithium-ion batteries. Maybe we'd get laptops that weigh a a fraction of what they do today. Exciting times!