New area of focus: my flabby brain

I find myself writing this as I sit in the American Airlines lounge on a four hour layover enroute to Sydney, AU from NYC.  I love Australia, Sydney and Australians, but I hate the flight that gets me there.  24 hours of commuting is always a bear, followed by a few days of rough jet lag.  Perhaps I need to be reminded of the ridiculous hardship that this journey would have spawned had I made it 200 years ago.  Scurvy seems like a rough travel affliction in comparison to a little sleep deprivation.

As always, I don't have high expectations for my nutritional intake in the 16 hour leg from LAX to SYD.  That said, it's only one day, and I've been living the straight and narrow for the past couple of weeks.  I will be fine once I get to Sydney.  I've already found my gym (Fitness First), which will let me buy day passes.  I find it sad how relieved this makes me feel.

Browsing through the American Airlines magazine, I was reading an article about Naomi Watts, who is now an ageless 42 years old.  She's had two kids, and she leads a pretty kooky schedule and lifestyle.  According to the article, she works out pretty consistently, and she tries to take in decent nutrition.  She also made of a point of saying how she avoided depriving herself of any foods because she claims that this act causes her to crave.  She seeks moderation and balance.

I have to admit that every time I read an interview of a beautiful (and thin) celebrity talking about how they don't "diet" that I am always a bit skeptical.  What else would they say?

In this case, I am hoping that everything she said was true.  Why?  I am starting to relate to it -- or at least I aspire to.

When I hear people talk about living their healthy lifestyle, they often talk about balance and not over-stressing about food.  There is something about them that sounds a bit like a Zen monk who has found balance and grace in the world of overly abundant junk food.  I'm jealous of them because I'm not there.

My issue with food always seems to come down to the fact that I'm a pretty compulsive eater when I let myself go.  When I start on food my head gets buzzy, and I find myself in a frenzy of food lust. One of these days I am going to video tape myself eating a meal.  My guess is that it will look a sped-up video with a person eating at 3X speed.  I literally have to focus on slowing myself down or I run the risk of eating through my plate and possible the table beneath it.  Does it matter?  There is certainly research that suggests that eating to quickly does not allow your body time to tell you it's full.

I also tend to be a pretty compulsive eater when I'm bored.  I have immense nervous energy.  It's hard for me not to play with things constantly, and my office is full of small gadgets and toys.  When I'm in the kitchen, that energy can quickly get channeled into grazing and drinking.  For example, I almost always have two diet Mountain Dews for lunch during the week.  Why two?  Frankly, I have a hard time stopping at one.  Ironically, this just gives me more caffeine which in turn creates more nervous energy.

At this point, you should be picturing someone who is a thousand miles away from being a Zen monk -- more like a Tasmanian Devil.  In truth, of all of the dimensions of a well lifestyle, stress management is one of my big unfinished projects.  I'm not a deep breather.

I've started my own exploration into finding a more centered approach to life.  Over the past couple of years, I've begun to poke around Eastern philosophies, and I've even tried meditation (which I actually found surprisingly relaxing).  My premise is that just as there is fitness for the body, there is also fitness for the mind.  I have found a way to exercise my body just about every day of the week.  It seems only logical that I should do the same for my brain.

I am gradually approaching the realization that a model for taking care of myself is one that encompasses sound nutrition, sound body and sound mind.  It is increasingly clear to me that it's hard to really achieve the nutrition and body bit without the mind part.  Just as I take time to get my body fit, it seems only reasonable to endeavor to keep my mind fit as well.  For some people, mindfulness comes naturally, but for most of us, it requires effort and training.  So I hereby aspire to get my mind seriously fit.  I just wish I could sport it in a swimsuit once I get there.

Cheers,

David