Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Don't Call Me Al

I'm even more committed to bypassing the bypass, as I've heard of so many problems with the recovery process.  And today, thanks to Al Roker, I'm more committed than ever.

This morning as I was sitting at the dining table eating breakfast, and listening to one of the morning talk shows on television, I was thinking about how a lot of the features are kind of fluff pieces with little substance, such as where to vacation inexpensively (most people can't afford the "inexpensive" vacation they talk about), or how some celebrity lost weight (with the help of her personal chef).  But it does beat listening to negative the junk that we're exposed to relentlessly, if we chose to do so.  

While eating and flipping through the channels, I stopped on NBC and listened to the latest TMI segment, this time featuring Al Roker discussing the pitfalls of gastric bypass surgery and not eating the right foods afterwards.  After eating an unhealthy dinner one night, he found himself in an embarrassing situation the next day while working on a feature at the White House.  Thinking he was alone, he decided to pass some gas, and ended up sharting himself, which is a physical combination of passing gas, and, well, you know...

He then went on to share how he ran to the bathroom, tossed his underwear in the trash and went commando the rest of the day.

So much for enjoying my breakfast.

Just for the record, I love Al Roker.  He's one of my favorite personalities on television, and it did take guts to tell that story because there are a lot of people out there who are experiencing the same problem, and while I am making light of his story, just remember that we are not alone in our circumstances.

I was able to finish my breakfast through a couple of more features, and then the host introduced the next guest  - a psychologist who had "The Answer" to why people eat so much.  I calculated quickly that she must have been the 7,596th guest on that show who has "The Answer."

To her credit, she did lose 85 pounds, and so it piqued my interest.

As I tuned into what the psychologist had to say, she spoke of taking what was called the "Apple Test" for hunger, which is to ask yourself if an apple (or anything you like that's good for you to eat) would satisfy you for that moment . A lot of times kids will complain to their moms that they're hungry and mom will say to eat an apple or banana, and the kid will say, "never mind," which shows that the kid was not really hungry, but bored.

So, if I were to say "yes" to the Apple Test, then I'm to go ahead and eat the apple.

The second thing she said was to apply the FLAB test to my hunger, to me to ask myself if I want to eat because I'm:

Frustrated
Lonely
Anxious
Bored

If any of those criteria met the hunger test, then I was to once again apply the Apple Test and go from there.

Sounds like a good plan.

Oh, and she said to take time to enjoy dessert from time to time.  That was good too.

In the meantime, I posted the Al Roker video on my Facebook page because I thought it was humorous, but when I watched it once again, Al made a comment about his dilemma, which resonated with me.

He said, "It told me that I've got to be very vigilant as to what I eat."

Good advice, and it definitely beats sharting in public.  But if it happens, you can call me Al.