Saturday, September 17, 2011

Skeptic


High Fructose Corn Syrup.  
Are you thinking things like "bad," "obesity," "unhealthy," and other such 'evil' sayings?
Let's try this again...
Fruit.
Ok, you're now probably thinking "natural," "healthy," "God's candy," etc, etc.

Guess what the sugar is in many fruits?  Fructose.  Shocker. 

Now I'm not going to post this trying to convince you that high fructose corn syrup is healthy for you, any more than sugar is "healthy,"  (although our primary energy source allowing us to live comes from carbohydrates, which are broken down into glucose, fructose, sucrose, aka SUGAR) but I do want to help people think for themselves.  Mostly I'm just sick of our society letting other people decide what they should think. 

I stumbled upon this really great article in Time Magazine that answered, or at least addressed, many of my questions about HFCS.  Is it used differently in our bodies than other sugars?  Where did the research originate from?  How is it different than regular sugar?

If you have some time, I'd invite you to take a few minutes and read it here.

Granted, the article is a bit one sided and a few years old, so there might be recent research about HFCS being metabolized differently than sugar and that it inherently posses adverse qualities, but I doubt it. 

I am not a chemist, nutritionist, or researcher, and eating habits and choices is a problem in our country.  We all need to cut out the high fructose corn syrup and the natural sugar in our diets.  But I don't think it's a wise decision to label foods either "bad" or "good" without also expliciting knowing why. 

Thanks for letting me rant a little.  I might be way off the mark, but when I find out I'm wrong at least I'll have discovered it for myself :)  Now I think I'll have a can of soda. 

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Being True


One thing I regret about my time at BYU is not taking advantage of the weekly devotionals.  Granted, that hour on Tuesday was often my only break during the day, especially when I was performing.  I needed that time to fit in some homework and get my head above water.

And though sometimes I feel like I'm haunting campus and need to graduate pronto, I'm secretly thrilled I have one more year to get things right, like truly doing my homework, waking up on time for class, packing lunches and a water bottle, and attending more devotionals.

Now some of you might've noticed (all 5 of you, haha) that I haven't posted in a while.  Let me tell you why, then let me tell you why I love devotionals.

I have been slightly depressed about blogs.  I know it's stupid, but I'm human.  Not only human, but a girl too.  Everyone seems to have such wonderful blogs with beautiful lives.  Mind you, I love those blogs, they are stunning and inspiring!  But too often I found myself comparing others' strengths to my own weaknesses (curse that extra X chromosome). Writing doesn't give me joy like it does others - I don't have awesome fashion and style - my apartment isn't perfectly decorated - and I definitely don't have any recipes to share.

These feelings are part of the reason I have been absent from my blog.  I avoided blogging to stifle my feelings of lameness.

But then I attended Tuesday's devotional.  Elder Anderson gave the most wonderful talk about honesty.  I realized that part of being honest is being completely true to myself.  I had a strong feeling that the only way I was going to become the truest, most complete version of Katie Peacock was to be uncompromisingly honest.

I was then reminded of Pres. Samuelson's devotional address the week before.  He talked about perfectionism and what a downfall it is.

And then it all clicked :)  Get over yourself and just be yourself.  It's pointless to be the fashionista or clever writer or photographer or graphic designer if that's not who you are.  Stop worrying about being perfect and start finding yourself.

I might not be the most creative blogger, but I have a husband who loves me, a family I adore, the best friends in the world, and I get to walk to school everyday.  There is no one else in the world like me. Oh ya, and I just landed my first medical school interview.  Life is good :)