The Devil is in the Details

I was listening to a local (crap) radio station this morning on my way to work (I wasn't late – HONEST!!!!!!) and they were discussing proposed taxes on soda and items with high fructose corn syrup. It apparently comes from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposal to tax stores that stock soda.  Hmmmm. An interesting thought.  I don't think a tax on soda and sugar would ever fly in this country.  But heck, what is stopping us from making healthy food cheaper?  And really, maybe a tax like that would be good.  Just like we now shoulder the costs for smokers with high medical bills (by the way, if you are reading this, you know who you are, quit now – because I love you and don't want to watch you waste away with lung cancer!) and have created taxes to help alleviate that burden, why not slap a sin tax on soda to help burden the rising costs of obesity in this country.  For the love of God, my students have chocolate milk, pop tarts and 'whole-wheat' donuts for breakfast here.  Don't you think a good portion of that money could be dumped into teaching kids good nutrition at school by feeding them good food? And since we've cut PE to make more seat time so our kids can pass tests, it's no wonder they are getting fat. Blah….don't get me started!!!!

Anyhoooooo, this discussion got me thinking a lot about what I'm putting in my body.  Do I really pay attention?  Sigh……well, and now I'm blushing, on a superficial level, yes I occasionally pay attention.  I don't scarf down bags of potato chips or liters of soda.  Nor do I tend to eat many super highly processed foods.  But I don't really pay attention to ingredient lists either.  Yet I can find time to read that lovely nutrition label so conveniently located on the back of EVERYTHING I consume.  The ingredient list, however, tends to go unnoticed.  Bad Fat Grl!  So maybe a good resolution for the New Year is to actually start to pay attention to those pesky, hard to read ingredient labels.  Okay, I will admit right now, that I will never, ever give up Velveeta and Rotel…but a little fluorescent orange cheese once a year is NOT going to kill me.  Or will it??? Hmmmmmmmm.  But maybe I really do need to start paying attention to what is going into my body.  I work really hard to be fit and healthy, why screw it up with horrible food? 

Speaking of working hard…..can I just say how dang frustrated I am that I am still 3 pounds away from my mini pre-Christmas goal?  That's what I get for setting goals!  Lol!  Right after I post about how I hate setting goals and time constraints and blah, blah, blahbitty, blah, what do I do? Set myself a time limit to hit a certain weight.  And damned if I haven't lost a pound in the last 4 bloody weeks. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  Serves me right for not putting my money where my mouth is!  I spin, I lunge, I squat, I run, I elliptical, I swim, I get my arse whooped by PT, but I can't lose to save my life.  Part of it has to do with my food consumption – yes, it has been a bit points high – but always within the points I have earned or have to use.  But really.  You'd think I'd get somewhere!  Sigh.  The human body truly is a mystery.  

If it weren't for NSV's, I think I just might have thrown myself under a moving belt of a treadmill by now….

But, you have to keep the faith, right?  And I know that pounds are just one measure of my progress.  The way I look and feel is pretty dang important to.  And those size 16 pants I barely fit into a year ago, now fall off my body.  That is a victory.  It's a victory that I don't feel like a big fat lump any more and that I can actually tell when my body needs to be pushed or needs a break.  I am taking chances and risks and trying new things again.  That is a victory as well.  I feel strong, I feel vibrant, I feel alive.  So no, the scale isn't bloody cooperating.  But, I have some other things to be proud and happy about.  And that is truly all that matters.

Well kids, it's off to good old middle of nowhere NY in just a day and a bit.  Sigh…..wish me luck on my drive across the country!!! And pray I don't chuck roomy out the window after five miles of Christmas carols!

 

FGS