Prison Freedom

The Boys of Summer roll along, but we need your help to complete this year's journey. Please see our site for the latest on how to contribute. Thank you!

“Being told I have to change my diet feels like a prison sentence”, the man complained

“I understand how you could look at it that way,” the master replied. “But the nice thing about this sentence is that you get to write it.”

“Yeah, but I don’t get to choose a lot of the words I’d like to write it with,” the man said.

“Perhaps you’ve been a bit too wordy,” the master said.

Back in 2004, we were held for several minutes in this
brutal Montreal prison/parking garage after hitting a sign with our car
on the way in. Then we were forced to watch the Expos play in Olympic Stadium.

I like that story a lot because it cuts to an important point I’ve felt about health for a long time: ultimate freedom is making us sick. What do I mean by ultimate freedom? Eating as much of whatever we want whenever we want. Eating for the satisfaction of our mouth over the health effect it has on our body and mind. In the American culture, freedom is prized and cherished. In comparison to living in an oppressive state, like North Korea (unless you’re Dennis Rodman or part of the Kim clan), I suppose that argument holds water. But the fallacy lies as it does with all straw man logic, the lack of one thing does not necessitate the other. In other words, having less options for food does not mean you have to be miserable. You can certainly choose to be miserable by focusing on what you lose or you can look at the very tangible things you gain. And I encourage you to look the gains and losses side by side:

LOSE	GAIN
Fried food Sugar Weight Salt	Energy Clear thought Mobility and Participation Confidence

And the list goes on.

My dad is down to 178 today – just three pounds off his goal weight of 175. That’s well over 20 pounds in the five weeks he’s been doing his gluten/sugar free diet. People have asked if he’s miserable. He’d tell you no. And he’s a man who’s been known for a fierce sweet tooth for sometime. He admitted early in the process that he believes he began to eat a lot of sugar when he gave up drinking about ten years ago. He’s certainly felt the pain of that progression and his insulin levels and pancreatic health were on the top of the list of Dr. DeMartino’s concerns when he saw my dad’s blood work. The weight is the visible symptom, but it doesn’t give the information on what’s going on beneath the surface. My dad was inching toward diabetes. That would be a fun one to add to Parkinson’s.

Food is not the whole story or key to wellness, but it’s a significant part of health for everyone, including those with Parkinson’s as we have learned this summer.

The Boys of Summer roll along, but we need your help to complete this year's journey. Please see our site for the latest on how to contribute. Thank you!

It's gotta be the food, money.

This blog continues its path, sharing the inside details of the follow up to the award-winning documentary, "Boys of Summer". For more details, to watch the film or contribute to the sequel, please click here.

Back in the late 1980's, Spike Lee unleashed Mars Blackmon on the world with the help of Nike and Michael Jordan. Those following Lee knew Mars from the cult classic, "She's Gotta Have It". But Mars never had it like this. With his signature catch phrase, "It's gotta be the shoes," Air Jordans flew off the shelf to the point of deep controversy, even, tragically, murder. The point here is not the shoes, but rather the catch phrase and the mania it helped drive. What if people thought this way about food?

Part of my dad's treatment with Dr. DeMartino has been to go gluten free, organic and eat no processed/refined sugar. Now this isn't all he's doing - not by a long shot. But it's clear the diet has had a profound impact on my dad in many ways. He's lost weight - which is important as he felt about 20 pounds over what he wanted to be - and his energy and general interest in social and personal activities is up. His pain level is lower - though still prevalent. And the biggest advocate of what he's doing is the woman who knows him best, my mom, his wife of nearly 48 years.

In talking about the importance of this today, my dad openly questioned: "Why haven't any of my other doctors suggested a diet like this?" The traditional answer is that doctors aren't taught much nutrition in med school. There are articles that seem to back that idea up. There are also doctors that take offense to that comment and have fired back. Whatever "the truth" is, a slippery idea at best, it's fair to say that, based on the food that is eaten the most, subsidized the most, is the cheapest, the most highly processed and designed to taste unfairly delicious to your mouth, nutrition is undervalued in our society as a whole.

"It's criminal," my dad continued.

We had an interesting conversation about what it's been like for him to lay off sweets, especially as that has been his nemesis for some time. We've had a few birthdays over the weekend so cake and ice cream have been aplenty, along with other such niceties as chips and fried foods. It all tastes great. No debate there. But the price one pays at a cellular level is not often considered. People will joke about getting or being fat and maybe can even get to a place of peace being that in their own lives. But as to how things happen on a cellular level, most of us don't have a clue. Should you feel like going there, here are a few articles to nosh on (one, two, three).

Tomorrow dad will have an x-ray and Dr. DeMartino will begin to see how he can affect the curvature of my dad's spine - his "tilt" as we call it.