My Last Days Mainlining Sweet Tea

Time for me to get serious.

Yes, it is.

So far I’ve been playing with the Paleo/Primal stuff. Kind of nosing in around the edges, checking stuff out, and getting a feel for things. Reading other blogs, researching, and trying to figure a lot of the smaller things out. Figuring out what not to eat, what to eat. What I can get away with, what I can’t.

Sunday I tried baking. Karma kicked me in the rear, reminding me of the promises I had made. I was making cinnamon rolls, and I professed that they wouldn’t affect me. That I’d hand them off to family and neighbors. And seriously, I had all the intent of giving them away, until I started cooking. The first scent of the stuff cooking and I was like a crack addict with a winning scratch off ticket. God knows, if I had actually not screwed up the dough, a million years from now scientists would’ve found me encased happily in a hardened cocoon of frosting, still covered in cinnamon and crumbs.

Egad, Dr. Johnson! I smell nutmeg!

I’ve also fought a losing battle to give up sweet tea. How I love sweet tea. I don’t mean like. Or adore. I mean completely unconditional, head over heels, gotta have it kind of love. Every day for twenty years the first place I’ve headed when I return home is to the refrigerator to pour myself a nice, big cup of sweet tea. In my house I have my own pitcher. Touching that pitcher is a death sentence. My family knows that they are to, without fail, stay away from my tea. Coming home to an empty pitcher, is to me, incomprehensible. If I could take it intravenously I would. I would shuffle down the street with my little stand happily going about my sugar infused life.

Yes, okay, SUGAR has been an issue. Sigh.

It’s a hard habit to break.

You understand don't you Peter?

I also need to get back into my workouts with some seriousness. I’ve gotten sloppy with it, and inevitably I can feel the weight of work and responsibilities and all that pulling me off my carefully chosen path. Pretty soon I will have strayed too far and yet again I’ll be looking back at another year in which I regret not doing what I set out to do. I need to be more proactive with my goals. And I need to make this one a more important one. Too often that is the first thing to go when the day gets busy. But I can tell a huge difference in my stress levels and the way I feel on days I work out and days I don’t.

Man, I am glad I worked out today, or I'd be stressed OUT!

On the plus side, I am really doing well with my cooking. Eating out has become the rarity at our home instead of the almost daily occurrence it had once been. And, as documented in it has allowed me to spend more time at home, reconnecting with my family. That alone has made this worth the effort. I can only imagine that further down the road lie more rewards and more tales of my setbacks.

I’m eighteen pounds lighter than when I celebrated Thanksgiving. Or, rather, when my family did. I gnawed on turkey and stared at the dressing and gravy with contempt. I’m in better physical shape already than I’ve been in for years. So I cannot complain too much. The sugar thing I’ll whip, sooner or later. Hopefully sooner. I know that’s my ultimate weakness. Not candy, or cake, or cookies, mind you.

But sweet tea. Sigh. I guess you’re finally going to have to go. Parting is such a sweet sorrow…………………

Loved sweet tea.

Computer photo courtesy of

Image: Phaitoon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net