Last Night and this Morning I Juiced Up

So, of course patience is a virtue, but so is salubrity, so I'll stick with the later. My patience is extremely selective. Scouring the NYC public archives for family history in the 1880's? I have the patience of a Saint's Saint....ah, I've just finished looking at every single birth certificate of every single "Florence" born in NY in 1881;  time to peruse 1882.  But, when it comes to looking, and feeling great I have, essentially, no patience at all! I want the results now!  I suspect I am not alone!

When I first moved to NYC in my early 20's and my trouser waist size was starting to creep past 34", then 36" (God, what I'd give for those days!), and I noticed a tiny paunch forming at the base of my abdominal scar (still getting stares in the gym BTW), I started running at 6 AM every morning in Central Park. The little bit of excess weight came off so quickly it was actually comical!


So, now I developed a false sense of a "quick fix" and it stayed with me well past the truth expiration date and throughout my 30's all the while it became more and more difficult, and then impossible to shed the excess pounds merely by running hard for a few weeks. In fact, it became impossible. All sorts of things needed to happen before I could lose weight in the fashion I was accustomed to from my early 20's - chiefly, my diet, my drinking, and consistent exercise.

Last night I went to the gym and only did weights, no cardio. Not good, but I had a reason. Excess body fat puts more stress on your back. I was in pain just bending to tie up my... and here I'll speak tin local colloquialisms... my, sneakers (East Coast), tennis shoes (West Coast), runners (UK/Ireland). So I went for a massage. Not for pleasure (OK, a little), but to loosen my back so I can do all the cardio I wanted to do.

A trip to the grocery store followed where I stocked up on vegetables and some fruit. I want to have most of my meals from a juicer this week. Why? I am impatient, and juicing makes me feel good instantly (funny, I always thought scotch did that?), and there is a perceptible difference after a few days when I look in the mirror.

We all need motivation to keep up the good work, to carry on with the healthy living, and mine is 75% vanity (Hey, I look a little trimmer in the face), and 25% physical (Mixing a whole bunch of nutrient dense vegetables in the juicer gives me a jolt of energy).

Finally, and here is my last psychological trick for men: You come home from work, you're beat tired, and you feel your stomach rubbing against your spine (that excess 30 lbs you are carrying around is an allusion of course, not your hunger! Hunger is REAL, as far as you know). So, you want to fill up your belly like you top off your automobile's gas tank before a long drive, complete with excess petrol trickling down the side of the wheel well.

You are hungry, so, pick up a carrot - "meaningless." Now, a head of lettuce - "you must be joking." Now, a beet - "What am I a POW?" Now, place all these vegetables on a plate, like I did last night, and see how it feels. A big bunch of kale, 2 apples, 2 carrots, 4 stalks of celery, a cucumber, ginger root, a beet, and a half a lemon. It is pretty damn heavy! I am sorry, but for a man to be hungry and to pick up a plate with his meal on it and it is quite heavy, there is a psychological effect of, "OK, now this is a meal - a meal from Mom's Fantasy Camp, but a meal nonetheless.  I'm not going to die of starvation after all!"

Throw it all in a juicier.

Does it look like a porterhouse steak dripping in butter? No! Does it taste better than a porterhouse  steak dripping in butter? For most of us, no! But, damn it, it's not that bad, you will get a full stomach, lose all hunger, and will get a little jolt of energy. Oh, and after you drink your juice, or eat your meal of vegetables, fruits, legumes and seeds you will be full, and lose all craving for that specific dish you thought about on the subway riding home - yes, even that pork & crab meat soup dumplings from Joe's Shanghai craving!