Indiana Jones and My Last Crusade

I'm a sucker for a great story, especially those with some magical element.  My first research paper in elementary school was about the Loch Ness Monster (no joke).  I will always choose a show about Area 51 over the Real Housewives of Anywhere.  I have read every Nora Roberts book that deals with something supernatural, and I know more about the legend of the Swamp Ape than any self-respecting person should.

I am also fascinated with history and archaeology.  I think it's endlessly interesting to look at the lives of people who have come before me, and try to assemble a story from whatever they've left behind.  I love Indiana Jones films (and not just because Harrison Ford is dreamy), Dan Brown novels, and any special on the History Channel that assembles interviews from historians, Popes, and Templars to explain something (however incomplete a conclusion these shows may yield).  


I also have loved the recent television series "Who Do You Think You Are?" where celebrities trace a part of their ancestry to find out more about their own mysterious past.  I'm fascinated by the use of birth and death records, marriage records, and military service records in the explanation of our families' pasts.


All of these stories are supported by clues, left behind in some form - an eyewitness account, a bible story, a journal, a sketchbook, a note on the back of a painting, or even your time card at work - because all of these things say something about a life lived, to those who look.  

A journal page from my honeymoon,
documenting our lunch in St. John, NB.

Over the past two and a half decades, I've attempted to keep my own journals and sketchbooks, to chronicle my life. These various methods of chronicle have included Franklin Planners, digital journals on my iPad, tiny sketchbooks that are pocket sized, and scads of letters and notes from friends dutifully chronicled in acid-free scrapbook boxes. I don't know who will care about my life after I'm gone, but if anyone does, there will be things to view.  Not as organized or thorough as I'd like, but they are there.  (Who will need this, I have no clue.  But it's there.)


In this, our digital age, it's no longer about just recording your thoughts and daily routines.  It's now about sharing them instantly, with pictures and video attached.  Why wait until we're gone to see what others are up to?  Facebook, Twitter, and my own favorite, Blogger, make it easy to know what's happening in someone's mind immediately.  


This blog is probably the most complete record I've ever made of how I felt about my body, my diet, and my health.  After all, except for a few Jenny Craig food journals from many years ago, I've spent most of my life acting like there wasn't a problem with my weight and health, so you're not likely to find much in my journals on the topic.  Most of the blog it is just witty, pedestrian chatter, but behind it all, there is a real person doing something life-changing - something that can bring me to tears of happiness or sorrow more easily than you may know.  The good thing is this:  writing the blog has really helped me to reflect, and I have already learned so much.  Here are a few of my discoveries (or truths, depending on how you look at it):

1. I have never paid as much attention to the size of my form as I am now.  I have always felt it was too big, even when it wasn't - but I didn't notice each change in its shape and use as I am now.  And I have never taken documentary photographs of my body every two weeks, and looked at them critically.
2. I have never read so many nutrition labels in my life with educated understanding.  I now look at calories, protein, fiber and carbohydrates very differently.
3. I have recently begun to silently observe the eating habits of those around me, and found that most of the people in my world eat very well.  This makes me feel like I will be successful in my quest to change my own habits, and not fall back into old, bad habits.
4. I'm more in touch with how I feel about every single thing I put in my stomach.  I see food as fuel, not as an emotional substitute for love, success, or happiness.
5. I know I'll never go back to the way I used to eat.  I will never again be so out-of-shape that I have to take a drastic measure like substituting shakes for my meals.

I love magical, science fiction inspired tales, filled with outcomes no one can predict.  And I am a sucker for anything unsolved or steeped in religion.  But this story, the story of my diet (and my life) is not magical or other-worldly.  It's real, with a real explanation for the seemingly-magical process of changing your large body into a smaller one.  Like Templar Knights, I believe deeply in that which I seek (my holy grail: a hot, non-diabetic bod).  Like the Loch Ness monster, it is still hidden under something dark and murky (layers of fat, earned over years of eating poorly).  Like Robert Langdon, I have learned to read the signs of my quest (your stomach is growling - make a shake!).  And like my beloved Indiana Jones, my favorite of them all, I will use everything at my disposal to find that which I seek in this, my Last Crusade:  a healthy life, lived in a great looking body.