I love maple syrup. Not the Mrs. Butterworth pancake syrup, but real straight from the tree maple syrup. It just tastes better than the others and there is more that you can do with it and it is better for you. The reason I say this is because I did some shopping today at my local market and in the health food section they had a new drink, Maple Water.
There was no question I would buy this. I didn’t want to as 12 ounces was 2.99 and that is expensive, but I found it again in the already chilled section and the compulsive part of me won.
Maple Water is the maple tree sap not boiled down for syrup. When maple syrup is made the trees are tapped with a little spigot and the sap from the trees drips into buckets when the buckets are full they are brought to what I believe is called a sugar house. There it is boiled down into the syrup you find in the market. So Maple Water skips the boiling down part and is bottled and sold. And it’s really good.
I have one small issue and that is the cost. Since the Maple Water skips the boiling down step and goes right to market it should cost less, but it costs more. I guess this is the American way. However if they made the cost less I would buy more, but for now it will be an occasional treat.
In the last column I wrote about exactly what I was going through during a depressive episode. It did pass yesterday, but unfortunately I can feel it trying to come back while I type. It may stay where it is and it may get worse or better, I never know.
One question that was asked in the comment section below the last column was, “where was God in all of this?” I am a Christian so I believe in God and Jesus, but to answer the question, I don’t know. God seems to disappear when I get in to deep depression. Mentally I know he’s is there but emotionally he is not. I pray and ask for help but those prayers seem to bounce off the wall. I believe, however, that this is why God has placed us in community.
Community is not your town, though it can be, it is more the place that you feel you belong. The Amish understand community, they help each other out. A barn needs to be built the whole town goes and builds it. In our world though we then to have look hard for community, it does not come naturally in our culture, but it should.
I think when you are ill mentally emotionally or physically ill you have to be able to rely on the community around you to help you. If you belong to a church, ideally this should be your community, the people you can rely on to help to get you through the hard times whatever they may be, and they can rely on you also. Community is never a one way street; it goes back and forth from every door of the people that belong to it.
I think that is where God should be when I am in a depressive episode, it does not always work out that way, which is why, if you have read my previous columns, you will see me asking emotionally healthy people to reach out to those that are not emotionally healthy on a regular basis. They need, OK, we need your help. God dwells in His people and that is where God has to be when I am in a dark place.
Now for a quick update. Yesterday was the one month anniversary of going off sugar. Because of the multiple issues with my feet and leg I have not been able to exercise much. I never really described the feet/leg issues. Both of my feet have no feeling in them at all on the bottom. The tops are not as bad but are still numb. My right leg goes completely numb when I stand for more than a half an hour. After walking for about a half an hour both of my feet swell up, and before you ask, no I am not diabetic, and yes my sugars are checked regularly
I went to see the neurologist that has been following me yesterday. He is working with my feet and leg as well as my hands, which have slight to violent tremors. I am scheduled for a second EMG this coming Monday to find out what can be done about my feet and leg. An EMG was done about a year ago but the results were not conclusive. The tremors are treated with medication but it does not work all of the time.
While at the Doctors I was weighed. As you may remember my weight at the beginning of this journey was somewhere between 370 and 390, yesterday I was 360. So going sugarless has made a difference. Physically I, in general, feel better. My mind is certainly clearer now. So, on the whole I am better than when we started.