01 April 2011

You are what you eat

It sucks getting old.

Not too long ago, I used to be bullet proof (or so I thought). I could eat anything, drink anything, smoke cigars, dip snuff, without any consequences. Back in college, I could eat two pizzas, down a liter of coke, a pitcher of beer and still go out for some dancing at the Sparky's. I could easily drink two six packs of Lone Star (The State Beer of Texas) at night and still get up 0700 and stagger off to class. Now if I drink a lite beer past 8 o'clock at night, I have to get up at 0200 to go pee. My standard breakfast used to be 2-3 sausage biscuits drenched with picante sauce. Now I have to take Prilosec in advance if I even think I am going to eat something spicy. In Germany, the frou and I used to be regular wine connoisseurs. We did a number of trips to the wine region along the Rhine and Mosel river to local wineries. Did numerous wine tastings and brought home cases of wine. Now, if I have even one glass of Merlot or Cabernet, I am up all night with heartburn. Jalapenos used to be my favorite topping at Whataburger, now I cannot even look at one of those little green suckers without getting indigestion.

Last week we had a chili cook off at work as part of our fundraiser effort. I did ok as long as I prepped for it and did not eat too much chili (shied away from the Chili Sheen team - Duh!). They even had a jalapeno eating and root beer chugging contest (winners get an extra day off). The winner of the jalapeno contest downed 8 (eight/ocho/ocht) medium jalapenos (medium in size, but uber hot). Made me cringe to think of the poor guy the next day. Jalapenos is one of those "payback" foods - you wind up paying for it later.

You learn to adapt as you get older. I no longer eat pepperoni on pizza. Will shy away from jalapenos & habaneros and tend to skip the cilantro. Greasy foods are kryptonite to me. Even alcohol needs to be regulated. Even at night, I tend to watch what I eat or how late I eat so it does not affect me later. Thought I was doing ok last night. I only had a chicken pot pie (old childhood favorite) last night for dinner. Not sure if it was that or the vodka tonic that I had (been a long week), but I was up 1/2 the night with some serious butt-kicking heartburn. Doubled up on the Prilosec, popped some tums, drank milk - nothing I took seemed to help. The only relief I got was to sleep sitting up, but even that was minor. Finally dropped off around 0230 only to get up at 0400 to get ready for work. Even now, I am still urping. You'd think, after all these years, I would know better.

4 comments:

Rock Chef said...

I think myself lucky that I can still pretty much stuff down what I want. Life without jalapinoes? I dread the day...

terri said...

It does suck getting old. I don't so much have problems with food. It's my body that's failing me. Went to the chiropractor this week. Nothing wrong - just my usual 3 week appointment. I was feeling good going in, but was told my alignment was way off and he put me back in order. My lower back has been protesting ever since. And don't even get me started on the carpal tunnel symptoms I've been battling.

meleah rebeccah said...

Ugh. Heartburn is brutal. I have stomach issues to begin with, so I basically LIVE on Tums, and Zantac.

I could NEVER eat jalapenos. Poor guy is probably going to suffer some serious consequences!

Anonymous said...

I can handle a jalapeno or two, but pepperoni? Forget it! Yeah, sometimes I miss being 17!