Determined To Succeed

Yesterday, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It knocked me down for the majority of the day. It zapped my strength and held me at it’s mercy. What had me? I had an allergy attack. When my allergies hit me they hit me hard, and there was nothing I could do to calm my sneezing and “ugh-ing.” I even tried getting out of the house for a bit to get some fresh air but that didn’t work either. I am usually helpless in its grasp so I just sat on the couch and watched TV. Lots of TV.

However, I did discover a phenomenal HBO show from a few years back I had never seen called “Band of Brothers.” This incredible show, produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, was about the men who made up Easy Company and their stories during World War II. It was amazingly shot, incredibly acted and deeply affecting (try not to cry when the troops happen upon a Nazi concentration camp and CAN’T feed the prisoners because it might do more harm than good).

Why am I sharing this with you guys today? Because of something that struck me as I watched the last few minutes of the last episode of this amazing show. It was named after a line from William Shakespeare’s “Henry V.”

Shakespeare’s “Henry V” describes Henry’s victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). The French, aware of Henry’s troops’ weakened condition because of their distance from England and the attacks of dysentery that had plagued the dwindling band, moved between King Henry and Calais, the port he needed to reach in order to return to England. The troops followed Henry’s band along the rivers, preventing their crossing and daring them to a battle they thought Henry could not win. Henry was seriously outnumbered, however, because the English fought using archers and Welsh longbows in support of its troops, they defeated the French and won the day.

Just prior to the battle Henry delivered a speech to help rally his men to try to defeat their low morale and dread due to the overwhelming force of the French. That speech was called the “St. Crispin’s Day Speech” and in it is something that is at the core of any battle, even in weight loss.

This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day…”
… in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
…From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Amazing words! Simply amazing. While it is debatable Henry’s actual speech was far more self-serving (based on a priest’s recollection of the scene), this speech written by Shakespeare two-hundred years after the battle is the original “Independence Day” presidential speech. It shows that there is a brotherhood formed in battle, one that is not and cannot be defined by a family’s blood line. It is one that is not taken away with time. It lasts forever because of the shared experiences of the people who go through that shared experience and come out on the other end of it, for they have seen each other at their worst, and they have seen each other at their best.

Weight loss is that battle, however instead of shedding blood we are shedding pounds and we stand together in this fight. Shakespeare’s words hold true not just for his play but for real life. We are in a fight and while we may be few, we will win because we are in this together. Our weight loss battles make our bond, and what we will remember is how we shed those pounds to stand in victory so that we can live out the rest of our days healthier and pass down old photos of us and say “we did it.”

I know losing weight is by no means as important, bloody, horrific or traumatic as any battle, small or large, experienced by any soldier during World War II, but I so understand the bonds that were formed by the troops in all those companies. The scars we show may be more on the inside but we do have them. You might have fears and pain but you are not alone. We stand together, our own band of brothers (and sisters), and I am so proud to be with you on this weight loss journey.

And thank God for television. I know it’s sometimes (O.K. very frequently) full of, how shall I put it – crap, but every now and then it gets it right and makes us reflect on the human condition and why we are able to just lie on our couches lazily nursing a bad allergy attack. It is because men and women sacrificed their lives and livelyhoods for that and continue to do so today and I could not think of a better way to honor those who served and continue to serve this country than watching a show like “Band of Brothers” and honoring them at the end of Fourth of July Weekend.

Hopefully, you guys are used to my cravings by now. You know I crave good movies and TV shows. My current TV craving is enjoying HBO’s new season of “True Blood.” As for food, you know I crave a good Milky Way bar or an ice-cold Coca-Cola every now and then (even though I have tried to seriously curtail both lately and am making some progress). But every year or so I get an extra weird food craving. Even though I am not pregnant (although that would be a medical miracle) I guess you could say it is my pickles and ice-cream. My craving yesterday was for a tomato juice.

I don’t know why that was, either. I think because I started that once-a-year craving on a plane a long time ago and saw lots of planes recently and the craving was activated. Maybe it was because there was a new episode of “True Blood” on last night and I wanted to join in? I don’t know. I know it sounds weird and it is. But, true to myself and true to my craving I had me a can of “True bl…”, er, I mean tomato juice.

Usually, I go for a can of V8. It has a few more spices and tastes better than regular ol’ tomato juice but I thought I heard once how bad V8 was in its sodium content so I went with a can of regular Mott’s Tomato Juice. Turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Before I delved into the nutritional info (which I should have done before drinking the stuff) I tried it in my usual way – with ice. Turns out my taste buds have changed and I prefered it warm. Almost like drinking a can of totato soup. That plus a grilled cheese would have been perfect. Maybe I am turining into a vampire from Bon Temps. Anyway…

While I had a good portion of my daily need for carbs, vitamins A and C, in addition to calcium, iron and protein, one can of Mott’s Tomato Juice has – get this – a whopping 980 mg of sodium and 12 g of sugar! I kid you not. That’s horrible. So I looked up V8 100% vegetable juice and it was way better. One serving has only 8 g of sugar (not great but better than the Mott’s) and about 1/2 the sodium of the Mott’s (480 mg). V8 also has way more daily allotment of vitamin C (120% of your recommended daily helping).

Wow! What a huge difference that is, and a surprising one., Whodathunk a can of 100% tomato juice was worse for you. Well, consider me educated nmow and chalk it up to me taking one for the team, I guess. And now I also get why vampires don’t like to drink “True Blood” cold. It goes down smoother when it’s warm.

I don’t think I need to worry about this craving anymore, though. I should be done with my tomato/veggie jusice craving for at least a year now. That is, until next Sunday night when the vampires in Bon Temps come out to play.

If I get another craving for a warm red drink then you and I can officially start to worry. Although, my name is Bill…

Bah! I have a cold.

Like all colds it started with that drippy feeling in the back of the throat, followed by my throat feeling lumpy and a general feeling of fatigue. So I did the only thing that made sense – I took the day yesterday to rest. It may have only been mid-day but I crashed on my couch, falling asleep to the remake of “Planet of the Apes” on HBO.

When I awoke sometime in the early evening it was time to eat. I had had a grilled chicken salad for lunch so I was in need of food, at least something palatable in my groggy, stuffy haze that remotely sounded good. Then for some strange reason that old phrase hit me – “feed a cold, starve a fever.” But why in the hell would I WANT to feed a cold? I mean, to me, you feed a guest you want to stick around, not some stupid unwelcome visitor you want to leave asap. And not just any unwelcome visitor but the kind you wish wouldn’t be hit in the ass  by the doorknob on the way out.

So as I ate  my canned minestrone soup (totally not worth the calories) I looked up that old phrase. No one really knows its origins, but most accounts link it back to as early as 1574, when dictionary writer John Withals wrote “Fasting is a great remedie of feuer.” In those days, medical wisdom dictated that a drop in body temperature caused colds, while fevers produced a temperature spike.  So the rationale behind “feed a cold, starve a fever” may have been that eating food and drinking tonic helped the body generate warmth during a cold, while laying off the calories helped temper the inner heat during a fever.

But is it true?

“Colds usually last longer than fevers,” says Denise Snyder, a nutrition scientist and clinical trials manager at the Duke University School of Nursing. “You need to be consuming food so you can fight it off — especially fruit and vegetable juices and warm broths.”

Further, Scott Joy, MD, Chief of Clinical Services with Duke’s Division of General Internal Medicine, adds “Drinking plenty of fluids also makes a difference because it helps keep the secretions thinner and allows patients to get them out of their system lot quicker, alleviating symptoms such as a cough or nasal drainage.” Joy also doesn’t want patients to get hung up on unproven treatments. “It’s important to stress what we know makes a difference, which is getting plenty of rest.”

Dr. Joy, I couldn’t agree more, which is why I am heading right back to bed. But before I do I am putting a “beware of sick curmudgeon” sign in the ground outside directed at the common cold, H1N1, bronchitis and whatever stupid sicknesses are out there fighting and clawing their way inside my nasal passages, throat and head. In the meantime, what will I be eating?

Heidi Skolnik, MS, CDN, a dietitian and author, suggests “to help keep the sniffles and sneezes away, shop for nutrient-rich foods and beverages.” She recommends foods that are high in vitamins A, B, C, and E and in potassium, zinc, and magnesium. “Live and active cultures in yogurt also pack a punch, as well as folate found in 100 percent orange juice and spinach,” she says. “Load your shopping cart with immunity heroes to help maintain good health.”

Top 10 Cold Remedy Foods

• 100 percent orange juice
• Avocado
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Garlic
• Grapefruit
• Lean meat
• Yogurt

Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, an internal medicine specialist and author, adds you should avoid foods that are high in sugar because they can decrease your immunity. “The sugar in a can of soda suppresses immune function by 30 percent for three hours.” “Avoid excess milk products if you are stuffy. Milk protein thickens mucous and makes it harder to drain.” Water, on the other hand, will help keep mucus thin and easier to clear.

Damn. No Coca-Cola for me for a few days.

And what of my cans of chicken soup hanging out in my pantry?

Chicken soup has been praised as a cold remedy since the time of the ancient Greeks. Twelfth-century Jewish physician Maimonides recommended chicken soup for treating colds. A well-known study done at the Nebraska Medical Center researched whether chicken soup works as a remedy to fight colds. The study found that chicken soup contains a number of substances with healing effects — and the researchers concluded that chicken soup actually does work (and not just for the soul).

Sweet. I know what I’m having for lunch today. That is when I wake up from resting.