Since getting together with my wife, my eating habits have changed and improved drastically. Some of that is by default, meaning I’ll just eat what she makes. Some of it is by choice. For instance, I willingly gave up ice cream last September and while I picked it up again in April (though far less often), I plan to once again employ a self-imposed blackout at the end of the month. The proof is in the pudding – when I graduated college in 1994 I was at 192 pounds. I lost a little in the years following, but always stayed in the 180-185 range until about two years ago, when I really started paying attention. Today, I’m 165.
In the past year I’ve also become a fan of Men’s Health magazine. I guess my past impression of this magazine (and others in similarity) was that it would just be filled with stories about things like beta blockers, Hydroxycut and dudes who can lift cars over their head or whatever. But it’s not. I’ve found the magazine to be quite an interesting read, targeted to guys just like me – the ones who have recently discovered how important this stuff is and need some basic information on how get (and stay) healthy. It also looks like there are some good recipes in there. I’ve torn a few out, but haven’t tried them yet. Soon.
Anyway, here’s what I’m getting at: this month’s issue has a story about a guy who has gone 25 years without eating produce. And get this: he’s the nutrition writer for the magazine! That’s a funny little fact and then you can’t really help but have a hearty laugh at that picture (above) which accompanies the article. That must have been fun to build – a HEAD of meat!!
So anyway, the author of the article decides to have a few renowned doctors perform a deep dive on his health after his own self-imposed 25 year produce boycott. After many detailed blood tests and hookups…..good god – the doctors proclaim him to be as healthy as any vegetarian! How funny is that!? The devil is in the details, though. The doctors also tell him that he may not make it to 65-70 if he keeps it up. Apparantly that’s really where you pay for a lifetime of…..meat. Or lack of produce. That triggered a strange memory for me: sitting in Miss Dugan’s biology class during my sophomore year in high school, I remember her saying that we don’t necessarily have a free pass on what we eat, but it’s something that you need to seriously pay attention to when you hit your 30’s. Funny how little memories pop up like that from time to time.
I guess I should add one more thing: by no means am I fanatical about eating healthy. I won’t leave Fenway Park without eating a hot dog or two. Cookies remain an issue for me. But the old adage about that stuff truly applies. I don’t even have to cite the adage, do I?