Moderation

Stress and emotions trigger different eating habits in all of us.  When I am under pressure, life goes to hell in a hand basket.  Better yet, when the pressure builds to a monumental boil and then stops abruptly, my pendulum swings in a gigantic arc back to the other extreme.  Generally, I am a happy healthy eater, constantly on the prowl for a delicious, relaxed meal with friends.  But graduate school does funny things to a person.  Winter quarter was a struggle, emotionally and physically.  By the end of the quarter I felt like a car driving on 3 flat tires.  But there was a carrot at the end of my stick, I was leaving for Hawaii 3 hours after my last exam.  I struggled through the quarter to make it to the gym (irregular at best) and eat well (except for the Trader Joe Cranberry Dunkers).  By the end I wasn’t really eating, my body and mind were in a fog.  On the plane to Hawaii, I agreed with my travel partner to eat raw and vegan for the duration of our trip.  It sounded refreshing, rejuvenating, like hell…  I should explain that we were hiking the Napali Coast and relaxing in Kalalou Valley for six days.

Backpacking is a wonderful endeavor that I grew up enjoying, it has always been a part of my life.  And as a food lover, I have never shied away from good food (our its weight) on a trip.  But raw is a whole new game.  Light packs immediately gained 15 pounds as we picked out avocados, cucumbers, apples, vinegar and oil.  It is only 11 miles to nirvana, slugging through the dense jungle heat and exposed cliff faces to enjoy wonderful fresh living food at the end of the rainbow.  What a crock!  No, really, it was quite wonderful.  But I was depleted on all levels, and our abrupt shift left me reeling.  It was a wonderful adventure that left me feeling light and rested, but completely off kilter.  My pendulum had swung too aggressively in one direction.  The balance was gone, the moderation shot.

When I returned to the rain and cold of Seattle I immediately sought comfort in warm, rich foods, for weeks, I was still making up for the intensity of the winter quarter.  See, I made a mistake, well, several actually.  I forgot my mantra of moderation.  I went from an intense situation straight into intense travel.  I forgot to take a few days to adjust after the quarter ended.  And I through my body into an intense physical detox and purge without thought for my mental state.

When the pendulum swings in one direction, I find that it needs to swing in the other direction before it can once again settle somewhere around the center.  We weren’t designed to live permanently in the extreme of our being without a return to the middle.  When you burn the candle at both ends of the stick, do yourself a favor and breathe a second before you take the next great plunge.  It will add years to your life.