I'll concede that uncertainty has been developing in my stance on soda taxes. For me, they are such an obvious target — there's NOTHING essential about sugary sodas, and lots to argue against them.

But where does it stop?

Interesting term, interesting idea, from David McRaney, proprietor of the blog You Are Not So Smart, which I came across yesterday. 

The concept is an echo, if not an analog, of Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," applied to bad eating habits. 

You’ve been there.

You get serious about losing weight and start to watch every calorie. You read labels, stock up on fruit and vegetables, hit the gym.

I just got a query asking if I would come to Washington in a couple of weeks to lobby for a renewable energy bill. No way I can do it, but wanted to pass along the details to others who might. You'll see that the letter writer asks for others who might be interested:

I recently ran across the Shrinking Mama blog, telling the story of Melissa, a 31-year-old mom of two who is, or was, up near 400 pounds. 'Least, I think that's right; in her bio, she declines to say how much, though she does keep a running weekly total of her weight loss, which stands around 60 pounds since March 18. She says she needs to drop 150 to be healthy.

I can relate a lot to what she says, of course, such as this passage from her bio:

[I lifted this entirely from a newsletter from edreferral@aol.com. As some readers will recall, my issue is the recognition of food addiction, but that never was even on the table. Recognition of Binge Eating Disorder is important, but progress comes way too slow.]

By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today May 29, 2010. Primary source: American Psychiatric Association. Source reference: Walsh B, "Approaches to the diagnosis and classification of eating disorders in DSM-V" APA 2010; p. 106.

Originally I wanted to make fun of this guy, Dattatreya Siva Baba, and he's still campy by Western standards, but his theory isn't too far from what I subscribe to, albeit with different frames of reference.

The description on the site where I "found" the clip said that "the main reason we are attracted to the wrong food is because negative forces or demons make us unconscious and we consume food that is bad for us."

Via Jamie Oliver, the heartening news that in the fall, DC schools will stop serving sugary cereals and flavored milk. 

Some plants are determinant. Some are indeterminant. One thing led to another, and I think I figured out the difference. Over at the Robbins Farm Garden blog.

A photo of me in harvesting mode, over at the Robbins Farm Park garden.

(Oh, and a couple of my gardening compadres, displaying other crops.)

I've had cause to cite obesity stats from time to time, but chacha.com, a website I'd not heard of before today, brings them together in a nicely done infographic.

Among the datanuggets: 8 of 10 kids aged 10-15 who are overweight will be obese as adults. I fit into that cohort, even if I'm now escaping obesity with daily maintenance.

And: I knew the US was the heaviest nation on earth, by percentage of population, but I didn't know Mexico was second. Britain, Slovakia, and Greece complete the big five. C'mon, Canada, why so fit?