Living Healthy[ish]…

January 12, 2008 | 6:28 AM

When I was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes last April, I was confronted with the harsh reality that my lifestyle was killing me.  At the same time, I was given a reprieve from the potentially devastating news that I was type-1, which would require me to take daily shots of insulin.  With type-2 diabetes, I was simply forced to take a few pills and change my diet.  With the exception of one or two days, I’ve never missed taking my medication, and for the most part, I’ve managed my diet well.  That is to say, I’m not nearly as ridiculous as I used to be (although I’ve never been nearly as ridiculous as I could have been, either).

So I learned to cook.  Granted, so far what you’ve seen me cook is generally considered unhealthy (pizza, lasagna, the best apple pie you’ve ever seen), but the key is not eating so much.  And tonight I’m going to give macaroni and cheese (lunch lady style) a shot.  I think it’ll be good, but that’s really not the point.

For the last three mornings I’ve gotten up at or around 5AM.  In order to make more productive use of my mornings (things tend to be closed in New Orleans after 9PM, so it helps if I run my errands between rush hours), I’ve been getting up early.  Understand that under normal circumstances, you’d be more likely to find me still awake at 5AM rather than just getting up.  So this is a feat in itself.  More importantly, and to bring this back to the title of the post, I’ve been getting up to walk around campus every morning.  The weather here is rarely colder than 45F, so it’s not like I can’t handle the cold.  The worst thing we have is rain or fog, and I missed the rain on Thursday by about 45 minutes.

It’s been a good time of thought, reflection, and inspiration.  And even though I know when the semester starts, all this morning stuff will likely get thrown into oblivion, it’s nice to have a short time when I can do it.  Things are going to get very, very busy, very, very soon.  So it’s now or never.

Posted in Life