When I was a small boy I was very skinny. You could count all my ribs without a problem. I was like a living X-Ray. My mother was worried that there was something wrong with me. What I remember from that time is that I believed sitting down for dinner was a huge waste of time. I didn’t almost any of the food offered and staying still for a period of time to eat, was a torture for a hyper active child like I was.
That all changed when I hit puberty. From very skinny I became chubby. I discovered the pleasures of chocolate, fries, eggs and other unhealthy things. My mother was all too happy to see a healthy appetite in me, so she encouraged me. For a Greek mother, stuffing her son is pure bliss. She feels a worthy member of the mothers’ community.
I did play tennis and I tried swimming as well. I even periodically joined a local gym. However, my weight fluctuations had tendencies to go up. Even now, I’m more comfortable reading a book and doing other static activities than exercise. Especially in Greece, massive feasts with friends is a favorite pastime. Christmas, birthdays, Easter, national celebrations are all excuses to eat and eat some more.
Fortunately, that changed recently. I am amazed to find myself a constant member of a gym with a personal trainer for more than 2 years. I also have a series of medals to prove some races I’ve managed to finish. I’m even thinking of trying other activities like wall climbing, yoga or swimming.
Many years of bad habits do not die easily though. I like good food. I like having friends for dinner and I always cook for more than the actual number of people invited. My weight constantly goes up and down. I haven’t been able to maintain it properly. I always fashion a hairy belly, not from drinking beer but from eating. That belly in some cases does go away during summer but always comes back in winter. I’m a bear (excuse the pun) accumulating fat for the cold season…
I also know that I could never be a vegetarian. Have you seen in ‘My Big Fat Greek wedding’ the scene where John Corbett says he’s a vegetarian and how everybody else reacts? Exactly that. Some jokes in that movie are so real!
Since, I’m turning a bit older and I am (more or less) making some progress, I’d like to take it to the next step and start monitoring how many fruit and vegetables I eat and how much water I drink. My family’s history of heart disease, high cholesterol and bad genes is not helping. I can’t remember the last time I had all 5 of my ‘5 a day’. And there is no way I had many days in a row, all 5 portions of fruit and vegetables.
Since, I’ve been showing some signs of persistence (writing this blog, going running etc), I do hope to have for the first time in my life a healthier body and a flat stomach… It's mostly about being healthy. Yes, sometimes I am insecure regarding my weight but I am not getting any younger and I don't want to follow my family's history.
How many of your 5-a-day, did you have today?
All these thoughts came to me when I was checking 'Cancer Research UK' web site. I've registered for another run and I might choose to fund raise for them. In their website, among other things they have some tips on healthy living. There's an easy test regarding life styles here. Of course it's not something I didn't know before, but it made me wonder...
Anyway, that's enough deep thinking for a Friday afternoon! Have a nice weekend...
xxx
Friday, 6 May 2011
5 on the Fifth
As promised the other day, I'm posting my part for the 'State Of The Nation UK' this month's Five on the fifth, even if a bit late. For those of you not aware with it, it's a project where you have to take some pictures and upload them on the 5th of each month. There is also a theme / subject you can follow if you want. This month's suggested theme is 'Clothes' or 'Happy'.
For this month, I've decided to post 5 things that make me happy. These are all photos I took last week.
A good book and a nice cup of coffee. I like spending time on my own.
My running shoes
Traveling / Road trips
Laying under the sun.
My boyfriend...That's the flowers he got me this year on Valentine's Day.
That's me being happy a few days ago in Greece:
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Back from Greece…
I’m back and I had a really nice time.
Weather wise it wasn’t that great. I’ve noticed that Greece in general has the opposite weather from UK. When the weather here is warm and sunny, it’s crap in Greece and vice versa. That is why, most days of the year, Greece enjoys a nice, dry, warm weather. That didn’t stop me though from having a nice time.
walking around the city center
I hadn’t told most of my friends that I’ll be in Greece. I only saw two of my closest friends I missed the most and hadn’t seen during my last visit. I mostly wanted to stay at home, see my parents and get some rest, which is what I did. I even organised with my parents a day trip to a city called ‘Kastoria’ in northern Greece. That’s a lovely picturesque city by a . I hadn’t been there before and it was very nice to see. My parents loved the fact that we spent the whole day together.
Arriving in Kastoria
As expected, no serious discussions were made and the ‘gay’ issue wasn’t brought up. To be honest, that’s what I expected. As a family, we don’t easily discuss difficult, sentimentally charged topics. Especially, when my visits are short, a topic that might end up in an argument is not raised. I did however wanted to tell them about JJ. I know that my mother is keeping an eye on my facebook page and she must have seen the countless pictures. I’ll just give them more time…
View of the sea and the Aristotelous square from a lovely coffee place
The financial situation in Greece is abysmal. Driving through the city, the number of closed shops you see is frightening. Apart from the very city centre which is always busy, other major commercial roads are failing. The government in their attempt to minimize the national debt is taking measures that do not really help the market. Increasing yet again the VAT and the taxes made people afraid to spend. My parents for example are not wealthy but they are considered to be financial stable. They saw their pension schemes cut and the price of everything increased. My mother told me she’s terrified to spend more than necessarily needed, for fear of what will come next. The dark cloud of Greece defaulting is looming. When consumers are so scared, I can’t really see the situation improving any time soon.
Anyway, I’m back now and I’m as busy as ever. Work’s been interestingly challenging lately and I’m out of town tomorrow to visit a client. I love these visits because they’re a nice excuse to be out of the office. The place I’m going now is not that bad either and when I’ll be back, it’s going to be almost the weekend.
Being out of London means that I might not be able to take part in ‘5 on the fifth’ on time. I’ll probably upload my pictures on Friday…
Weather wise it wasn’t that great. I’ve noticed that Greece in general has the opposite weather from UK. When the weather here is warm and sunny, it’s crap in Greece and vice versa. That is why, most days of the year, Greece enjoys a nice, dry, warm weather. That didn’t stop me though from having a nice time.
walking around the city centerI hadn’t told most of my friends that I’ll be in Greece. I only saw two of my closest friends I missed the most and hadn’t seen during my last visit. I mostly wanted to stay at home, see my parents and get some rest, which is what I did. I even organised with my parents a day trip to a city called ‘Kastoria’ in northern Greece. That’s a lovely picturesque city by a . I hadn’t been there before and it was very nice to see. My parents loved the fact that we spent the whole day together.
Arriving in Kastoria
Walking around Kastoria
As expected, no serious discussions were made and the ‘gay’ issue wasn’t brought up. To be honest, that’s what I expected. As a family, we don’t easily discuss difficult, sentimentally charged topics. Especially, when my visits are short, a topic that might end up in an argument is not raised. I did however wanted to tell them about JJ. I know that my mother is keeping an eye on my facebook page and she must have seen the countless pictures. I’ll just give them more time…
View of the sea and the Aristotelous square from a lovely coffee placeThe financial situation in Greece is abysmal. Driving through the city, the number of closed shops you see is frightening. Apart from the very city centre which is always busy, other major commercial roads are failing. The government in their attempt to minimize the national debt is taking measures that do not really help the market. Increasing yet again the VAT and the taxes made people afraid to spend. My parents for example are not wealthy but they are considered to be financial stable. They saw their pension schemes cut and the price of everything increased. My mother told me she’s terrified to spend more than necessarily needed, for fear of what will come next. The dark cloud of Greece defaulting is looming. When consumers are so scared, I can’t really see the situation improving any time soon.
Anyway, I’m back now and I’m as busy as ever. Work’s been interestingly challenging lately and I’m out of town tomorrow to visit a client. I love these visits because they’re a nice excuse to be out of the office. The place I’m going now is not that bad either and when I’ll be back, it’s going to be almost the weekend.
Being out of London means that I might not be able to take part in ‘5 on the fifth’ on time. I’ll probably upload my pictures on Friday…
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