Manlio Rules

I was in NYC last weekend and at dinner with two of my close friends from ITP days, Alex and Karen, and we were discussing health and current diet/workout programs. As you may or may not know, i stopped eating beef, pork, chicken, and other meats (not fish) at the start of this year both to reduce my chances of gout attacks (which were coming once a week from Jan-March) and also because I watched Food Inc. and got disgusted by the meat industry and the practices involved with the raising and production of the meat that we eat on a daily basis. Between those two, i figured it was time to stop eating meat for a few months, and just see how it went. It went pretty well, and i can’t say that i really miss it, though occasionally i yearn for a salami and cheese sub from ricci brothers in philly, but i feel like that is more of a memory fix than a real food fix.

Regardless, Alex said something along the lines of: “now that you’re not eating meat, it makes me want to try not eating meat to see if i can do it”. I personally have tried never to think of health in terms of competition, because i know that my own body and metabolism is different enough from everyone else’s that if i try to compete with other people i’ll ultimately end up being disappointed by what i can or can’t do. a few years ago i realized that i could eat exactly the same diet as some of my friends, exercise more, and while they would never gain or show more than a few extra pounds, i would blimp up. It’s “unfair”, but eventually i took responsibility for the fact that i have a slow metabolism, and a body type that tends towards obesity (all the males on my dad’s side of the family are short, squat, and obese).

I guess what i’m saying is that motivation for health is great no matter what the source, as long as you remember that we’re all different and will have different ceilings and pitfalls. If you want to compete with me over who can not eat meat for longer, go for it (I personally couldn’t care less if you eat meat or not, i just know that my toe swells up when i eat too much). I personally am competing with a few generations of genetic history and my own fitness charts which i’ve loosely kept historically (i’m in remarkably better shape than i was 5 years ago, and even 10, i have to go back to when i was a 20 year old gym rat to find a time that i was as fit as I am now). For me it’s just about getting up each day and making the small decisions to be healthier, and continuing to try and make those decisions every day, no matter what you did the day before.