No More Mr. Fat Guy!

When I was a kid the idea of a pop machine at school was unthinkable.  Now, they’re in  schools everywhere, and kids are getting fatter and fatter, and they’re becoming hooked on these drinks for life.  But it’s not just the kids who are hooked on soda pop.  It’s the schools themselves.  Many of them made deals with the devil-taking large sums of money from Coke and Pepsi to allow the placement of the machines.  In many school districts, the money has been a windfall, and now, as pressure mounts to remove soda pop machines from schools, they’re finding that their hands are tied.  Many of them signed long term contracts, and if they remove the machines they’ll have to return hundreds of thousands of dollars to Coke, Pepsi, or one of the smaller companies.

Less than a year after the nation’s largest beverage companies pledged to remove high-calorie drinks and limit sugary beverages in all schools, districts across the country are finding that they may not be able to afford the switch because of contracts they signed several years ago with bottlers for the companies.

When Portland, Ore., recently wanted to remove diet soda and sports drinks from high school vending machines and cafeterias, school officials found that they would have to pay the local Coca-Cola bottling company $600,000 to do so. In Racine, Wis., officials decided not to remove high-calorie drinks from high schools earlier this year after they learned they would have to pay the local Pepsi bottler $200,000.

A majority of schools have exclusive marketing agreements with bottling companies — almost 75 percent of high schools, 65 percent of middle schools, and 30 percent of elementary schools.

A carton of Marlboro Light 100s, a case of Pepsi, or at this point Mountain Dew, a bottle of No-Doz, and about three of those 1 pound Hershey Bars. And I want Christmas to be tonight.

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I’m spending a week or so with some friends, as of yesterday.  I was busy traveling and settling in, so I didn’t post for a day or so.  I’m at about 280 right now.  It’s headed the wrong way, which I knew it would when I quit walking.  Most of my weight loss has come from two things-walking, and quitting soda pop.  And lately I’ve replaced a lot of the sugar and calories I was getting from Pepsi with iced tea.  I’ve been drinking two or three quarts of that a day, for a total of 500-750 calories a day just from sugar.  Not quite as much as I was getting from 6-7 Pepsi’s a day, but still plenty.  Still smoking, too.  I really need to do something about the sugar, caffeine and nicotine intake.

So, since yesterday, I’ve been nicotine free–no cigarettes, no gum, no patches.  It’s easier when I’m around other people to go without.  I’ve also been without tea, except for one glass to prevent getting a headache from caffeine withdrawal.    And my body is certainly noticing the difference.  It’s bad enough when I cut out either caffeine or nicotine.  But doing both at once is double the fun.  On top of the cigarette and and sugar cravings, I can hardly function due to lack of energy.  It’s very strange-I sit here trying to read, and not only am I overcome by the desire to lay down, I also can’t stop yawning or nodding off.  But when I give in and lay down, I can’t sleep, even though I can’t stop yawning.  So I try to read in bed, and keep nodding off and yawning uncontrollably.  It’s very strange.  I’ve been through it before, and it lasts a couple days.   I knew what to expect, and so did the friends I’m staying with, so I just brought a bunch of books and I’m either in the reading chair or in bed for the most part.   And I do somehow manage to make a little progress in different books.  It would be really great if I could kick all three–caffeine, nicotine, and sweet drinks–for good.  But I’m not going to worry about that right now.  I’m just going to try to drift off to a good night’s sleep by listening to George Noory.