Skipping Dessert … and taking the stairs

It’s Five-Things-Wednesday …

People have been thinking and writing about eating for as long as people have been thinking and writing.  Cave painters painted the animals they hunted, which they hoped would end up in their bellies.  Scanning my cable channels late at night I realize that’s still mostly what we think about – half the channels have some sort of food programming and half the commercials on all the channels are food-related in one way or another.

Some people have had more interesting thoughts than others.

Here are five food thinkers I find interesting.  They’re an odd group, and they probably wouldn’t like each other all that much.  I don’t know that I like most of them all that much.  But they’re all worth reading up on.

1.)  Pythagoras.  Yeah, the guy with the theorem.  More than a mathematician, Pythagoras led a whole school of religion and philosophy back in the 5th century BC, which included extensive dietary guidelines.  Until the nineteenth century, the phrase “Pythagorean diet” was the describer of what we’ve come to know as “vegetarianism.”  He and his disciples didn’t eat meat or fish … or beans.  Which makes me wonder how they got any protein.  Maybe they were into dairy products.

2.)  Jack LaLanne.  I know, big jump from Greek Philosopher to Freaky Old Guy in a Jumpsuit.  But there was more to Jack than the jumpsuit.  A friend of the blog recommended clips from a TV show LaLanne hosted in the 1950’s.  His advice on nutrition is solid – excellent even.  He grates on my nerves, but if you can get past that (and his body-image issues), he’s a fine fitness coach.

3.)  Zig Ziglar.   I know this is where some of you will jump ship.  Ol’ Zig ain’t for everybody.  But I’m a big fan.  A segment from one of his talks actually inspired me to set the weight-loss goals that started this blog.  He knows what he’s talking about regarding weight, as a former tubby dude who (at a one-pound a week rate) lost the excess poundage and has managed to keep it off for decades.

4.)  Mike Huckabee.  Now, those of you who know me personally know Huckabee and I don’t see eye-to-eye politically.  At all.  To say the least.  But again, here’s a guy who struggled with weight issues most of his life until he decided he wanted to, you know, not die young.  He’s been remarkably frank about his path to healthier living/eating.  He wrote a book called Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork.  Which is kinda what I’m trying to do.

5.)  Jared.  The guy from the Subway commercials.  I don’t know if Jared is a big thinker or not.  He may have brilliant thoughts on the topic, or he may just be cashin’ checks as a spokesdude.  I include him because he’s made millions of Americans do their own thinking – if only for the duration of a Subway commercial – about losing weight in a (relatively) healthy fashion.  Plus, I like how he juxtaposes with Pythagoras.