This article will be a bit of a departure from my normal articles and I hope you take it in the spirit it is intended – it is a bit about me. When I was in the military, I was in pretty good shape, as one might imagine. However, since leaving the nurturing bosom of the U.S. Marine Corps, I’ve put on a pound here or there. Well…it is more than a few pounds. My entire life I’ve enjoyed the best that life has to offer when it comes to food. Pork being my particular weakness, I follow the dictates of Anthony Bourdain in that little in life can trump crispy pork skin or succulent pork sausage. However, as I methodically and mercilessly enter my mid-40s, I’ve smacked into a couple of realities. That is where the cleanse comes in.
A couple of years ago, some Aussie friends of ours suggested this two week plan where we eat only what was grown in the ground or, occasionally, swam in the sea. Now, to borrow a Bourdainian phrase, I’ve always seen the vegans as a “Hezbollah-like splinter faction” of the vegetarian class. However, my wife was very excited about the possibilities and, as it is well known among married couples or partners, one spouse entering this type of adventure pretty much ensures the other will follow suit. For two weeks, I’ve followed an eating regime that man was not meant to endure and at the end, my eyes were opened.
I feel better, I move quicker, I wake up more energetically, my workouts are more productive and in general, my health improves. As I felt the change begin to come over me, I was amazed and somewhat saddened by the fact that my typical eating habits were so impactful – in ways I’ve never considered. Because I’m doing this with my wife, my culinary consciousness is more fine-tuned and I consider every gastronomical impulse with more thought as I go through my day. At the end of the two weeks, I’m a few pounds lighter and generally, in peak form. I remember those feelings when I bite into my first sausage link post-cleanse. I’m a pork-aholic and like the worst of drug addicts, I savor that first taste of and surrender to swine euphoria.
The cleanse has taught me that I must make a choice – avoid some foods all together or try moderation. I'm attempting the moderation method. Hoping that I don’t sound preachy, I think men my age need to see something like this as a preventative health measure. It certainly can’t hurt.
Way to go for both of you! I would like to try something like that. When I fast for Ramadan, my body naturally seeks more wholesome foods to eat, and I am normally completely weaned off coffee by the middle of the month. Of course, like you, that doesn't stop me from running back, arms wide open, into the lap of the addiction!
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