Sunday, April 4, 2010

The First Gift

When I sprinted off to college, my Dad gave me a nice gift. He encouraged me not to be in too big of a hurry. He said that, looking back on his life, he got to his future quick enough. 'Try and find something to study just for the joy of inquiry and knowledge. Worry about job training later."

How cool was that? Just about everything I like about my life came from following that advice. One of the first fruits of that gift was finding the College of Natural Resources at Berkeley and the study of Nutrition and Food Science. Maybe I'll write more about that experience later, but for my first blog post ever I wanted to mention what my first professor in my first class told us at the end of what I considered to be a rigorous review of biochemical pathways and processes, "just eat a balanced diet, for crying out loud...no matter what anyone ever tells you. And think about a little moderation every once in a while."

She was smoking what looked like a pack a day and seemed to be hauling around an extra person in her corduroy jeans, but I never forgot that moment. There were a few mother earth types standing there. They expressed shock and dismay at her lack of 80's cutting edge natural food worship. I just tucked the advice away and beat a quick path to McDonald's for a balanced meal...Big Mac, Large Fries and a Shamrock Shake...the three points of the Jeff Krey food pyramid.

This is a journal of my most recent efforts to try and follow her advice. I am imagining a little personal record keeping, books, articles, etc. that impress or annoy me, the state of my own health philosophy, old stories of success and failures, my state of mind and maybe a few recipes here and there.

The only thing that will not happen is an admission or description of any process that involves the phrase 'super colon blow'. I need to set some boundaries right up front.

*****

Today I felt great. I weighed 191 lbs. I am 5-8. I did O.K. (not great) with the awesome Easter potluck we had at our house today (big Easter egg hunt/cousin brawl). Even though I didn't want to I went over to my sisters house and we walked/jogged for 30 minutes. No matter how much I stretch, my upper back is screaming at the end of the day. I started using some over-the counter-orthotics to treat my self-diagnosed (mild) planter fasciitis. What a hassle.

6 comments:

  1. Welcome to the blogging world! Saw your link on facebook. I have to admit, I'm getting to the point where I really feel like I need to do something to lose weight and quit eating junk food. Maybe you will inspire me.

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  2. You win a prize. You are my first post to my first post on my first blog.

    What's your favorite junk food?

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  3. I remember you telling me this story many years ago, when I went off to college. But I think you left out the part about how she "seemed to be hauling around an extra person in her corduroy jeans." Oh, what heavy irony!

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  4. P.S. If you haven't yet, you might want to try using a tennis ball or baseball to massage the arches of your feet. It's always helped me when I develop some nasty PF. Just sit down, stick the ball on the ground, place the arch of your bare foot on it, add then add pressure and work it until it hurts. It's as easy as that.

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  5. Favorite junk food.....
    Hmm...I don't really eat out much. So I can't count things like In N Out. But I do like candy. I'm a candyholic. I also like those really unhealthy cupcake things, like Zingers. I'm not a soda person, or a chip person, so that helps. Yea, mainly cookies/cake/candy. Girl food. I do think that my biggest problem is portion control. I eat pretty healthy food, but I eat too much of it.

    I have plantar fascitis too. The thing that helps me most is stretching. I usually stand on the curb, or a stair, and drop my heel down to stretch. It hurts like heck, but my foot feels better when I'm done.

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  6. Delirious...Zingers! Raspberry Zingers. The best, most perfectess food ever. Someday I will post on this subject. Don't be surprised if I bust out some low grade love poems.

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