Exercise discipline helps reform eating habits

Early Tuesday morning, I laid in bed listening to the wind attempting to blow down my old cabin and thought, "I have to run." It was 6:03 a.m.

I was just getting over a chest cold, the cabin was cold, and the wind was blowing hard. Everything was aligned to form a good reason for me to stay in bed and skip the run. Then I thought about this column.

I arose, went outside and listened to the wind push tall pines from side to side. It was a good morning aside from the gusting wind. I needed to show God that things were good, just like Sarge Old Horn said about dancing. Shortly after, I realized that exercise, though clichéd, should never be taken for granted.

I thought about 16-year-old Jarrod Keeswood of Shiprock, who walks with a limp as a result of second-degree burns he sustained while receiving radiation treatments to kill the cancer that had invaded his body.

His cancer was so advanced by the time it was finally diagnosed that he required radical treatment, leaving him bedridden for a time. He started thinking about people who weren't confined to a bed and had good health.

"They just don't know how lucky they are that they don't have health problems," Keeswood said.

His words ran through my mind as I started to run against the blustery wind.

However, aside from going years without exercise, my weight problem isn't solely from a lack of physical activity. What I eat probably has much to do with my current size as well.

My father taught me the fundamentals of being thankful for food. He taught me never to refuse food when someone offered. To do so would be disrespectful. He stressed the importance of finishing a plate of food. Not because there were starving children in China, but rather, to be thankful that we had food to eat.

The teachings are well intentioned, founded in pure gratitude.

However, intentions are just that sometimes - intentions.

I never learned about portion sizing, never even thought about it until I was fairly obese.

"What you need to do is cut back," said Lena Guerito, nutritionist with the Navajo Special Diabetes Project in Shiprock.

She wasn't only talking about food, but also the types of food, primarily red meats and processed meats, but that was the beginning of a 30-minute conversation that didn't repeat itself when it came to nutrition.

Cut back on foods with saturated fats and replace them with fruit and vegetables, advice that I've heard since grade school and here it was again, being said plain as day.

I can't say that I load my grocery cart with chips, pop and a slab of mutton ribs, or that I regularly eat at fast food restaurants. But what I can say is that when I eat, I eat to get full, real full. And to get real full, I need large helpings of food.

So now I have to make some serious changes, and forge a habit of eating in smaller portions.

Guerito told me about what her grandmother used to say about eating too much, that it wasn't healthy. Her grandmother stressed the importance of small portions.

Five ounces of meat a day is sufficient, Guerito added.

Five ounces? I ordered a six-ounce sirloin one time. That steak was pretty small. I think the menu called it a "petite cut" too. At nearly 6-foot-4, I'm far from petite.

As it stands though, adding in more vegetables and less meat sounds like a good idea. Since I started running, I feel better and it only seems natural to progress to healthier eating now.

So if that means smaller portions, I believe I am ready. That includes eating more vegetables, green ones, just like Guerito said.

"Go green, just like they said on Mother Earth Day. You need to go green," she said.

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