Cokay

Such is the success of the Coca Cola ubiquitous marketing strategy that the word ‘coke’ is the 2nd most recognizable word across all languages on this planet. It still trails the word ‘okay’ and I hope it always does. How you feeling? Oh, I’m coke. Perhaps the two will merge. Oh, I’m cokay.

Today was the last day of the US adventure and I am now heading home for one more week of sugar loading and then the beginning of the most exciting and wonderful fresh food festival known to man. I will be bathing in green smoothies, drip feeding chlorophyll and seriously considering any enema that is suggested. I am excited about reality based portion sizes and bread just being bread, not cake with seeds. I will not miss high fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice and apple juice concentrate can kiss me where the enema goes. A glorious new food paradigm awaits and my body will be high five-ing me again, reunited with its old buddy Damon like 2 long lost sisters at an airport raised by different families.

I have been to the US many times before but I never had the sugar lens on. Seen this way, it is astonishing how deeply interwoven sugar is into the culture. In many ways the majority of America is sugar. It’s glossy, fast and full of material excess. As I am learning though, sugar is a false high that without solid foundations supporting it, comes at a cost. It is no surprise to see the extent of the strain on the US medical system and just how sick a huge number of its citizens are. Is there a name for a pandemic sized enema? A Penema?

Brekky was French toast and a chai. (I thought I would go out in style, sadly my ‘style’ was bloated and heart burn. 11 teaspoons.

One ‘Honest kids’ babies juice pack. It had raspberry and lemonade and contained real fruit juice. 8 teaspoons.

One small bowl of trail mix. 7 teaspoons.

One Peach, blueberry smoothie with low fat yoghurt and enema juice concentrate.

Apple juice, apologies. 12 teaspoons.

One chicken wrap

One decaf with 2 sugars as I write this at the airport gate.

I am incredible grateful for the things I have learnt and the people I have met on this trip (except for some staff and baggage handlers at United Airlines at Newark and the ‘Advantage’ rental car company, who without doubt have the most misleading name for a company in the history of nomenclature; and yes I did include ‘Nature Valley’ in my considerations).

There are some sensational people in this country and I have been lucky enough to meet a huge whack of them on this adventure. Now comes the process of sifting through all their wisdom and presenting it in a way that keeps the cinema audience engaged for longer than their coke high. It’s a challenge I am excited to embark on.
I am more excited about getting home to the lady though and being blown away by the amount her pregnant belly has expanded. It might have even outdone mine.

51 days done and yet another 40.

The nature of this flight means that I will never have a September the 21st. I will devour that airline food and all the juices I can.