"Won't power"

I, like many people, have a fondness for sweets. Chocolate, ice cream, southern sweet tea, cookies, and more. Over the years, I have become about 30 pounds overweight. Lately I have been thinking about that "treat your body like a temple" adage. My temple needs some work on it to look more like God intended, though handsome it will never be.

So I read with interest an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article on sugar overload this week, "Hiding in plain sight". It suggests changing a soda a day to a bottle of water a day. I detest paying for water (Evian backwards is "naive", after all), but since I'm spending money on empty soda calories maybe paying for plain water would be a better decision.

The AJC article linked to another very informative site - NutritionData (ND). It has pages listing the nutrition value of foods commonly searched for (an example is raw bananas) as well as foods from varied commercial eateries such as McDonald's and Blimpie. The nerd in me is especially intrigued by the cool data displays:

• Caloric ratio pyramid
• Nutrition balance indicator
• Nutritional target map, which includes a "fullness factor"and a rating

ND also has a "better choices diet" page.

So will all this great information prompt me to clean up my eating ways instead of my plate and to clean up my temple? I am a sense-oriented person, which is why I so much enjoy music (and pretty pictures ... a nod to John the Methodist) as well as food. Maybe I can replace that bottle of soda with water. And maybe a bit less of those delicious Chocolate peanut butter Treasures. I have plenty of "Will Power" ... as in "I will eat that cookie now". What it takes is "Won't Power."