Making It Up As I Go Along #465

“He Ate The Whole Thing!”
Food becomes the enemy as we age.

In my high school days, food didn’t matter. Feel like a burger? Off to McDonald’s you’d go. Want a coke? Stroll up to the corner store.

It never matters. Even in to my mid twenties it doesn’t matter. Back then, we went to a softball tournament. And between two games, it was lunch time. At McDonald’s, our pitcher got a full pizza (back when McDonald’s made pizzas). He ate it all.

I still remember the shock of one of our outfielders. Four of us sitting together, he turning to look a the pitcher finishing up the last slice, and then turning back to us table mates with wide eyes… “he ate the whole thing!”

From McDonald’s we went to our next game. And the pizza fuelled pitcher was none the worse for wear.

Today, if I eat more than three slices of pizza, I’m in need of a bottle of tums and twelve hours of paying for my gastro greed.

There were nights, as a teenager, when I’d sit down to watch a movie or two on TV. I’d tear open a big bag of chips and pop a two litre of coke. By the end of the second movie, both the chip bag and the plastic bottle would sit empty.

Today I buy coke by the mini can… allowing myself one a day. And chips are for special occasions. A big hockey game… the season finale of a favourite TV show… or a rare poker night (once or twice a year). I have clips to snap on chip bags to keep the three quarters of a bag fresh for a later treat.

My friend and I would prepare massive plates of nachos in my high school days. An entire bag of cool range chips coated with a pound of shredded cheese. We’d save the biggest mounds of melted cheese for the end… being able to hold up a hand size portion of the yellowy-orange goodness before throwing it into your mouth with glee was a celebrated moment in our feasting. After the movie… and with the nachos done… we’d part. The visitor heading home… the host to the kitchen… both preparing themselves for what was to follow our nachos… supper.

Today that big bag of chips and pound of cheese are enough to supply three or four servings of nachos… with chip clips and zip lock bags needed to maintain the extra food. And even with only a third or quarter of the portion, I finish with the knowledge that I’ll likely need the tums before bed and my stomach would gurgle the evening away.

And the funniest thing about it all. Back then, I’d eat all this food with not only a lack of effect on the body immediately… but long term as well. I was skinny as a rake. Ranging from 140 to 165 pounds throughout all this feasting and gorging.

Yet now, when I am forced to eat less and watch my coke consumption, the weight gain slowly comes. Bit by bit. Even with me eating carrots and celery and substituting milk for my coke… I haven’t dropped below 200 pounds for a few years now.

I was more active back then. But most of my activity was the actual playing, or practicing, of sports. I burned off my calories on the ball field or during the parking lot street hockey games or even the occasional game of basketball.

Now the sports do me harm. Even slow pitch softball angered my shoulder or torqued my hip or swoll up a knee.

That leaves me with the boredom of the gym or a walk of the neighbourhood. Neither are as inspiring or invigorating as the competition of the games. And so the weight continues to climb even though the food is decreased.

Ah how I miss the days of long ago. When we’d venture off, care free, to McDonald’s between tournament games. What sporting food paradise it was… when my teammate “Ate the whole thing!”


SUNDAY…
--- Work is pretty slow going. Vancouver game on PVR afterwards. Good one for the Canucks… now one win away from the finals.

MONDAY…
--- Work on a holiday means a quiet day there. Some TV in the evening but I stopped by the new house on the way home… checked out things… the foundation is now up and the birch trees are much more summery than when I saw the place the first time.

TUESDAY…
--- Physio, nap, work. Work is ok… a bit tiresome.

WEDNESDAY…
--- Sleep until about 11:30. Some TV after that.
--- MRI time. Sucked into a little tube for twenty minutes of slightly uncomfortable times. But it’s sort of a neat experience all the same.
--- Work is fairly ordinary after the MRI.

THURSDAY…
--- Jetlag day. Up earlier than I should be, considering bed time, and lazy the rest of the day. A few movies and a few naps.

FRIDAY…
--- Rainy day. It seems like a regular thing that when I’m off work, it’s raining.
--- Hit the bank to pay some on my line of credit. Get a few things at Farm Boy. And hang around the house.
--- Edena’s birthday. So I talk to my sis for a while on the phone this evening. Looking forward to seeing them soon.

SATURDAY…
--- Physio in the day… UFC in the evening. Phil, Sarah and I get together for it. Eat too much nachos… but oh well.