Getting Healthy

After a week of vacation with lots of puka dogs and desserts (not to mention carrying around a few extra pounds for the last few years), I am ready to get healthy.

I have discovered the best ways to lose weight include diet and exercise.  When that doesn’t work there is always disease (I once lost 7 lbs in one flu-filled weekend).  Other times I have tried special diets which I cannot seem to keep going over the long term.  (I once lost 9 lbs in 10 days on an all fruit and vegetable diet.  I got so tired of eating fruits and vegetables, I often chose to go to bed hungry instead of eating one more carrot or salad).

My new plan includes applying insights from the first diet book ever written: “Discourses on a Sober and Temperate Life” by Luigi Cornaro.  Cornaro wrote in the 16th century about some of the principles which helped him live to the age of 98 after being told he would die at the age of 40 from obesity-related illnesses.  Some of the principles include:

• Only eat as much as the stomach can easily digest.
• Eat only those foods which agree with both the palate and stomach.
• Always leave the table with an inclination to eat more.
• Eat with strict regularity and moderation.

If I can just learn to stop eating when I am full and wait to eat again when I am hungry, I think I would be surprised by the results.  Of course, this is easier said than done.  With exercise and some vitamins and meal replacement shakes from my friends Anthony and Mandy, I hope to get to my “fighting weight” before summer.