3000 a day keeps a runner at play!

"You don't look like you love food enough to be a decent chef." One meal with me would eradicate this statement from the mind of it's deliverer. I am never good company at restaurants, because I have to read the entire menu slowly, imaging each flavor combination and how it would feel in my mouth at that very moment. Fortunately for my waistline I have always had a preference for the crunchy, the tart, and the more acidic foods, leading me toward binges of tart apples and crunchy salads instead of cakes and ice creams. I remember as a little girl sitting on our shag carpet, crunching through apple after apple and lining the cores in front of big bird as he danced happily in the square television before me. I felt satisfied when I had completely blocked out his scratchy voice with my crunching.

According to an old school mentality, a proper chef must have "dimples on the elbows" as my grandmother used to say. Of course, my grandmother lived most of her life in the days before American culture developed a strong taste for endurance exercise. ~3000 calories a day. That is what I am supposed to eat to maintain my body weight in these days of high intensity marathon training. I remember reading recently that it is common for chefs to be marathon runners, and for marathon runners to be foodies. Makes sense.

Here is an interesting scientific bit of information: the hungrier you are, the more your brain releases pleasurable chemicals in response to food. We might say something like "food tastes good when you are hungry" but what is really happening is the brain is being bathed in mood altering neuropeptides including endocannabinoids and endorphin which make us feel a heightened sense of pleasure. Since the brain's response to a calorie deficiency is to make food more rewarding, dieters are told not to get too hungry.

Today, on my run, I saw an old friend who I used to work with. He was on the grass stretching, his bike lay obediently beside him. I recognized him from the prominent scar on his shaved head.

"HEY!" I stopped (I always forget I don't have to scream for the other person to hear me when my music is on).
"Hey" he said rubbing his finger in his ear.

"sorry" I laughed. I looked at the bike, bicyclists seem to have a relationship with their bike that goes beyond appreciation of it's function. "you are biking again???" I pointed out, as if he didn't know. It really surprised me to see him on his bike, because he had spent weeks in a coma after a near death bicycle accident a few years ago. His whole head is covered in scars, and he lost entirely his sense of smell as a result of the accident.

"Yeah" he said "I took some time off, and then one day I thought to myself 'what am I so afraid of' and now I am back to doing tricks on my bike and riding fast on the street." This caused me to feel a little embarrassed about my own refusal to bike after a minor accident I experienced two years ago which caused me to chip a tooth. "I have been meaning to ask you" I said. "Without a sense of smell, can you taste anything?"

"Nope" he said. "Well, I can tell if it is sweet, salty, bitter, or sour, but I can't detect flavors like cherry or watermelon. I know if something is good!" I had a million more questions, but I was starting to get cold and stiff muscles from standing there. I ran off with my questions, wondering if his food preferences changed at all after the accident, or if he lost his appetite for certain foods entirely. I wondered what he thought of fast food now that their aroma enhancers were powerless over his olfactory blindness.

As I write I am having a delicious lunch of pasta with cauliflower, green onions and shredded cheese. I have an ice pack on each leg. For breakfast I had two sandwiches with almond butter and raisins, for first lunch I had grape-nuts cereal and a protein smoothie, for second lunch I am having the pasta. Dinner tonight will be Thai coconut soup with chicken and some spring rolls. I think that should come out to about 3000, and if not I am sure my brain will let me know.