Sunday, August 28, 2011

This is hard...

My Crossfit coach, Theo, while giving his introduction to the Paleo challenge we are doing said something to the effect of "People always come whining to me, 'This is hard!!!' Diabetes is hard, fighting cancer is hard, not putting cream in your F'ing coffee isn't hard." It's not hard to see why I really like this guy. I have gone through some sugar withdrawals today and felt kind of crappy as my body gets used to the way I'm eating. I thought more than once today...this is hard. Every time I did though, the thought was instantly replaced by how sad I think it is that the American standard diet is so reliant on processed sugar. Compound that with the fact that I'm an "athlete" and therefore feel some sense of entitlement to put extra, well, anything in my body, and I am starting to see that my nutrition ideas have gotten pretty messed up. Coming from 300 pounds, it was easy for the number on the scale to be the biggest, if not the only, measuring stick I used to track my "health." At first, it needed to be, I needed to get pounds off me and I needed to keep them off. I did that, and the effects were fantastic. I was running, swimming, and biking and I was making great strides in my personal fitness. I got to a comfortable weight and stayed there, have stayed there for 2 years. As proud of this as I am, I think it's also the reason I have arrived at the place I am today. As long as the scale was roughly where I needed it to be, I sort of treated my nutrition like a playground, and it's now that I'm realizing that I feel a greater sense of responsibility to treat my body, as well as my place in this world, with a little more responsibility. So what does it matter if I do or don't eat this way, or live this way, or hold certain opinions of the way our American nutritional system has developed? Ultimately not much, but it's that sort of insidious thinking that has gotten us where we are. My eating may not change the world, but if I'm lucky, it just may change mine.

1 comment:

  1. Makes a lot of sense, Will. It is impressive to see the amount of insight you have gained, but more importantly practiced, over the last couple of years. I fully support your efforts to keep moving forward, even if it means looking back.
    Love you!

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