Protect your pancreas

(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska -Halloween marked the official beginning of over-indulgence season which lasts until the weekend in January that ends up being the death-knell for the Resolution. It’s ridiculous to assume that after two entire months of treats which have been validated under the guise of celebration, that one would be able to successfully kick it all the morning of the new year.For teachers, the new year really starts in August, so life resolutions are made then. At least I do and I feel I am operating at a great level. It’s a good thing too, because I have to be on my game for the holidays.In addition to ensuring eight hours of sleep each night, I switched my morning intellectual intake from ESPN to a couple of podcasts that deal with health and fitness. They aren’t boring self-help nonsense, but almost like some morning bro-time with dudes who enjoy crushing life and optimizing their existence. How do you not have a good day after ingesting an hour of motivation with your eggs and coffee?I’ve also increased my healthy eating diligence, staying further from boxes, bags and eating out than I have in a long time, maybe ever.So, I don’t want to mess it all up with Buddy the Elf’s Food Pyramid which is a mess of sugar in myriad forms. I am far from a militant health-nut, so there is always that temptation to stack a Red Baron pizza on top of some other questionable dinner decisions during a week. It happens. No life is led without at least a little hypocrisy and failure. Ironically this is what we like to point out in other people rather than acknowledge the slip and encourage. The fear of being called can prevent us from making life goals known, when accountability is sometimes exactly what we need. Not judgement, but accountability. Those are two very different things.Anyway, one of the biggest excuses is that it’s expensive to eat healthy. Well, yeah it is, but does that make me hesitate when I’m looking at a new jacket after my other one develops what might be a leak? In the past, it took me as little as three solid days to convince myself to buy a new fly rod, waders, rifle etc. but I’m not willing to shell out an extra $20 a week to eat better? I eat every day and my long-term health is more important than replacing Gore-Tex pants, impressing deer with a camo pattern, steelhead with a fly rod or whatever else.I’ve been great with suppressing the evil impulse buy, now it’s time to set my sites on the food fight these next two months. Tis the season for terrible eating, if I can make it through, I’ll be in great shape, literally, for 2018.See column at:http://www.sitnews.us/JLund/111417_jlund.html