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Philippine Genre Stories

...for this special public service announcement.

Well, the ride is over. Not completely over, but pretty much. The halcyon days are done. For me, in any case.

The way I've been eating for the last X years, the same amount of time I've been gloriously inactive and just sitting on my butt, have caught up with me. My blood work sucks, big time. Cholesterol is above normal. Triglycerides are above normal. And oh, glory be, blood sugar too. Why should I be surprised? My lifestyle hasn't been something either a dietician or a gym trainer would be proud of. And the clues were there: waking up in the middle of the night needing to slake some sudden, surprising thirst; tiring out in the middle of the afternoon; losing breath climbing flights of stairs. Still, surprise me it did. The news rocked my world.

So now I've got to adjust what I eat. Not that difficult, really. I like eating anything, so it won't be that hard for me to pile on the veggies the way I did with red meat. I can switch one for the other, easy. What will be difficult will be cutting down on sweets. My sweet tooth is a massive dragon that's going to take a really cool and hefty magic sword to defeat. Sodas, cakes, and ice cream all should come in moderation now. And "moderation" will be defined by the doctor, not by me. Crapola.

I've also got to find time to get moving. I blew my knee out when I was younger, which effectively took me out of regularly playing the game I love most, tennis. I prefer exercising while playing a competitive match, or practicing my ground strokes or volleys, over pumping iron and counting reps, or waiting for time to pass on a treadmill or stationary bike. Looks like I've got to adjust here too. How I wish one could read and lift a barbell at the same time. The distraction of a good book would have been a sure way to make time pass faster.

Sigh.

So where's the public service announcement here?

Simple. Don't let this happen to you.

You sometimes think that you have all the time in the world to take your health for granted, only to look at the clock and discover that, whoops, time's nearly up. Then, whoops again, you see that there are so many things worth not getting tired over. And in keeping with the theme of this blog, which is reading...well, there are all those good books still waiting for you to crack them open, which you can't do if you can't muster the energy to focus on the words and prefer to nap all the time.

Watch out for all that delicious, tasty junk food out there. Too much of that and you'll end up like me. Oh man, I'm going to miss the taste of junk food. Well, not completely. I think I won't be able to avoid indulging every now and then, but it's going to be a taste experienced only once in a blue moon from now on.

And I'm going to have to get used to reeking. Or rather, those around me will have to get used to me reeking. That's what's going to come of long minutes of brisk walking or biking, and mindlessly heaving heavy hunks of metal.

As I said in the previous post, aging is a biotch.

So there. Learn.

Unhappy. Unhappy. Very very very unhappy.

thedancingbastard wrote on Feb 7, '09
That's a really tough lesson to learn, everyone has a sweet tooth.
kafkaed wrote on Feb 8, '09
and i'm a sucker for comfort food. oh dear...
ageofxen wrote on Feb 8, '09
What bummer. It's getting to the age when we need to watch what we eat already. Time was we just didn't care.
anitero wrote on Feb 8, '09
Not happy news, but better to get the wakeup call now rather than later. As for exercise distractions, podcasts and audiobooks can go a long way Ive found :)
pgenrestories wrote on Feb 8, '09, edited on Feb 8, '09
Hey, guys.

If you indulge in fast food less often and in lesser amounts than I did, I think you'll extend your good days for far longer than I did.

I'm still feeling quite down about the whole thing.

@anitero: Hmm...podcasts and audiobooks...what a swell idea! :) That brightens me up a bit.
ichi2011 wrote on Feb 8, '09
if it's any consolation, you get used to the changes, kenneth. after a while, the benefits in terms of increased mobility, better health indicators, better sleep and overall well-being kind of outweigh the feeling that you're "sacrificing" stuff you like.

i've been on my health kick for what, nearly a year and a half now? i honestly don't miss a lot of the stuff i used to like. if there's anything i get a real craving for, i give in to it a little but find that my palate and digestion don't respond as positively to it as they used to. fried stuff, for example, now makes me feel ill about half an hour after i've had it.

but i won't kid you, it'll be tough at first.

pgenrestories wrote on Feb 8, '09, edited on Feb 8, '09
it'll be tough at first
Hi, Ichi. That difficult, eh? That's what I'm afraid of. I'm probably going to be either reduced to tears, or slip into easy anger because of the cravings I'm sure to experience.

But really, thanks for the encouragement.
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