As I sit and wait for my Physics book to arrive for a class that starts in two days (AIEEEE!), I find myself pondering my personal health journey and how that impacts the kind of doctor I will someday be.
I can honestly say that when it comes to health and fitness, I've always been a constructive yet hypocritical mess of factoids and avidity. It's clear that since high school I've slimmed down quite a bit and taken personal health into my own hands, but I've still witnessed the moments where I've thrown caution to the wind and readopted poor eating and exercising habits. So where has that left me?
Well... On a current scale of 1 to "in shape" I'd place myself at the intersection "Way To Go!" boulevard and "Getting There" Lane. The brief interpretation is though I have always remained active, anytime I've endorsed a new diet and fitness plan my diet is always the first point that is left by the wayside. Knowing that about myself, I decided that the only way to avoid cheating my diet (and moreover myself) was to go big or go home. Five weeks ago I opted to follow one of the simplest yet most challenging diets I'd ever taken on, and I only eliminated one element: processed sugar.
When you think about it, processed sugar is one of the hardest things to avoid in our current society. We put it in everything! It's easy enough to acknowledge its presence in ice cream, soda pop, and even breakfast cereal, but sugar's existence is less realized in everyday foods like ketchup and salad dressing, lunch meat, and even bread.
So my trips to the grocery store now involve more reading than some people do in a week. I peruse the aisles scanning each item for impish buzzwords like "high fructose corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, and the really big one SUGAR." More often than not, some form of sugar is listed as one of the first three ingredients. That said, shopping is no longer a mindless task, but rather an odyssey of mathematical and rhetorical prowess.
By no means have I gone Atkins and entirely eliminated carbs or sugar from my diet. That would really be foolish and quite frankly unhealthy (there's good reason Dr. Atkins died from his own diet). I merely select smarter carbohydrates and natural sugars. In fact most days I kick off my day with a big bowl of plain oatmeal laden with cinnamon, almonds and a fresh fruit of my choice. Not only is it filling, but I couldn't have asked for a better scent to flood my apartment on a daily basis! By making these healthier choices I hope to truly influence the physician I want to become.
I know that I would have a difficult time going to a dentist who had terrible teeth. The hypocrisy is too great. What is to define a doctor with poor health any differently? I want to be able to lead by example giving patients the same advice I myself would keep. Smart nutrition and an active lifestyle are just the start. In full honesty, it is the best kind of preventative medicine, something I'm very passionate about, but that is a topic for another post.
In short:
Disciplined healthy lifestyle = good. Hypocrisy = bad.
For those who are curious: when I started this fateful pilgrimage of nourishment I weighed 218 lbs. Yesterday I weighed in at 202.5. Not bad for only eliminating processed sugar and drinking more water.
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