I always knew the time would come when I would pay for the years of mistreatment to my body because of my bad habits. Like most people, I tried to put off the inevitable as long as possible. But, I believe it is time for me to make some changes or face bad consequences.
I don”t have many of the common bad habits. I have never smoked, I have consumed very little alcohol in my life and I haven”t used drugs. From childhood I have always thought of myself as an athlete and my philosophy has always been that athletes should take care of themselves.
I grew up a baseball fanatic who idolized Mickey Mantle. I”m glad I didn”t read a pull-no-punches biography about him until a few years ago. If I had known all along that he was a booze-hound perhaps my whole outlook on life would be different.
Mickey abused alcohol most of his adult life. It probably caused him to have less of a baseball career than he could have had, even though he didn”t do badly as it was. I never made it to the professional ranks of any sport, but I have something in common with “The Mick”. I have addictions, too. You see, I have never been able to resist the strong pull of doughnuts and Coca-Cola. Perhaps my addictions stifled my athletic career.
For all these years I have turned a blind eye toward the latest scientific knowledge concerning nutrition. I always thought it was enough that I didn”t partake of those other vices. I also utilized flawed logic in thinking that the fact that I worked out really hard neutralized the effects of the doughnuts and Coke. If I really wanted to take care of my body I would have reduced my sugar and caffeine intake long ago.
Instead of accepting what I knew to be true, I rebelled. What”s more, I blatantly flaunted my rebelliousness at the gym. Over the years I have often carried a bottle of Coca-Cola in my workout bag and took swigs in between sets of pumping iron in the weight room. I thought it was cool to wear my Krispy Kremes Doughnuts T-shirt while lifting weights, running or playing racquetball.
In the end, a combination of bad habits and age can catch up to the best of us. Even with many activities, I have noticed that my waistline has been expanding over the past year. I even had to have some pants let out. I don”t want to give up, though, like Peyton Manning recommends in one of his commercials, and buy bigger shirts rather than think that I can still get six-pack abs like I had as a teenager.
I really still believe that I can get into top shape. But, if I am going to have a fighting chance at doing so, I will have to come face-to-face with my addictions to doughnuts and Coca-Cola, something I have lived with since I was just a boy.
In a mild way, I can empathize with the smoker in need of a drag on a cigarette, the drinker wanting a shot or mug and the junkie seeking a fix. For me, as horrible as it may sound, the “breakfast of champions” is a big glazed doughnut and a 20-ounce bottle of Coke.
I know the best way to end these addictions would be to go “cold turkey” and just ignore the temptations of doughnuts and Coke, but I don”t know if I”m strong enough to do that. Life”s short, you need to have some small rewards to enjoy along the way. For me, I think I will have the best shot at success by gradually cutting back until I reach an acceptable level. By the end of the year I would like to be down to one doughnut day each week and one Coke per day.
Gary Dickson is the publisher of the Record-Bee. He can be reached at gdickson@record-bee.com or called direct at 263-5636 ext. 24.
