Letters from Larry

Published:  Monday, February 4, 2008 (5 months, 2 weeks ago)
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By Larry Baum

I am in relatively poor health and I entirely take the blame at 58 years of age. When I was 18 my 1st college girlfriend Bev (please refer to my last column, No. 15 “Woodstock 1969”) said, in an intense philosophical debate amongst eager college intellectuals, that the most important thing to an individual person was their health. I was shocked, befuddled, and otherwise annoyed at this remark. This was entirely too shallow a conviction in the context of the discussion. It could not be that all we were learning at school and debating about would come down to Health as the No. 1 concern. I don’t remember exactly what I said was the most important issue. It was possibly something about U.S. involvement in South East Asia or the civil rights battleground or how to stop political assassinations in our country. I humbly have to take it all back because Bev was right, it is your HEALTH.
Taking health for granted is easy to do when you are young and feel great.  Why would you consider it a top priority when you are bouncing around and looking good and lean?  You are healthy and it is taking no work to achieve that. As we proceed to process and age it becomes an increased imperative to attend to. This could make one follow a Suzanne Somers diet (please refer to column # 13 for the irony) or take a look at other diet and exercise programs you could follow below.
Fat equals “calories in” minus “calories out”.  If you are on the plus side of that equation, you are probably fat. This is the equation of physical life for each of us, and it’s all the science you need, the rest is will power.
You could consider a macrobiotic diet, a grapefruit diet, or the Scarsdale diet. You could go on Weight Watchers or perhaps Nutri System. How about the protein line with Atkins or Miami Beach?  You could not eat after 6 PM like my friend Joe in San Antonio Texas.  You could not eat breakfast, or you could eat a big breakfast and light lunch. By no means have a heavy meal right before bed, like I usually do. All these diets I have tried, and some several times. My latest diet is sugar free drinks and desserts and minimal pasta and rice. You know the reason I am doing that. It’s a start but it’s not enough as my equation is not yet established to lose weight. How can you achieve the moderation required and then put it into practice with a purposeful plan of action? I ask that every day.
Playing vigorous basketball and running every day works beautifully, but I haven’t done that lately. My basketball days are probably over, but I can run (strong legs, like going up that steep Manhattan Beach hill in column #13). You can run in the park, at the track, or on the treadmill. You can call it running or fast walking or trotting, and it is effective exercise. You could run in the morning, you could run at night after work, or you could do both and run morning and night. You could do aerobic exercise 3 times a week, 5 times a week, or do it every day. I’ve been on a once a week exercise routine and this is not enough to balance the equation to lose weight.
My wife and I mesh on many levels. We love music and fun card games and our friends and family and most of the same TV shows and movies and we love and are very particular about our food. We love dining out and we love cooking in, especially steaks and ribs on the grill with grilled onions and mushrooms. I’m a big bread eater, which hurts me bad. Pizza? Love it. On diet and exercise, Laurie and I have not been able to find a workable solution yet. We will try again and I hope we can do it.
I stopped caring about my weight several years ago due to me feeling that it was getting me nowhere. You know how it is when you just can’t lose that last few pounds? Well, I couldn’t, so I said to heck with it. Big mistake. I now must find a new diet and exercise pattern that I can stamp into my life and embrace. In the past I’ve had all the above wonderful diet and exercise concepts active at one time or another. You know I’m traveling a lot lately and that is adding to the control challenge.  I know it is mind over matter, and I know that HEALTH MATTERS. There, I’ve said it again, the title of this piece.  We’ll see if we can make a move, and it is noted that small positive moves are acceptable.

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