So. Define "X."

Let's start with the basics. I'm about to go to college. Obviously, every new college student wants to avoid the freshman 10…or 15. I am no exception. I’m Sam. A senior at Hawken School in Gates Mills, Ohio. I’ve always been an athlete—you know, the little kid in the overalls and pigtails on the playground who, between digging for worms and chugging chocolate milk, was out on the field tearing after which ever runny nosed little boy had the ball at the moment, playing full-on tackle football. Mind you, most of this was while the rest of my female compadres jumped rope or practiced cheerleading, raising a fifth-grade disapproving eyebrow at the one of their own covered in mud and smelling kind of funny. Eventually, I would go on to discover make-up, and boys, and earrings, and other such “girly” essentials. But that hard-core, gritty competitor was one part of me that never left. I never could have imagined my life without the Sunday drives to soccer tournaments and the post-game rehash with my super-fan, insanely athletic dad. That is, until the first day of my senior year.

In soccer, I play goalie. How's this for a freak accident: in my borderline psychotic, “anything to prevent a goal, no matter how irrational it might seem” mentality, I came flying off the goal line to avoid what would clearly have been a goal, and slide tackled a six-foot behemoth, sending the ball ricocheting out of bounds. Oh, what a beautiful play it was! Until the agonizing pain of my broken fibula sank in after about three seconds. That little lapse in judgment kick started a senior year filled with doctors appointments, full-leg casts, bones that refused to heal, an excruciatingly painful basketball season, and landed me in not one, but two casts over the course of 12th grade—I opted for tie-dye the second time, which proved to be a nice change of pace from the glow in the dark I had the first go-around. I mean, if I’m going to have a cast, it might as well be ridiculous.

I got that second lovely hunk of plaster (or fiber glass if we’re going to be completely correct) after getting surgery on March 22, where I’ve been told Dr. Goodwin at the Cleveland Clinic inserted some form of metal do-hickey in my right leg to hold the two floppy sections of fibula together in hopes that the compression might stimulate some bone growth. For good measure they snagged some bone marrow from my hip and shot it in there, in case the bone didn’t get the message to get busy healing from the metal plate alone.

Bottom line is, this year I got to experience life where sports were not the main focus. While my teammates took recruiting trips and talked about their options, I planned Homecoming and built up my portfolio. I decided that it was art, not soccer, that would be taking me to college.

Now, that was all fine and dandy (except for with my dad who took a little while to let this emotional blow sink in) until I realized one night as I scarfed down a bacon cheeseburger and munched on my brother’s French fries (just like always--i mean during my athletic career, food and I had always been pals. I needed all the fuel I could get in order to compete.) “Hey wait a minute…this was ok while I had sports every day…But before I go to college, I’m pretty sure some things are gonna have to change.” And BAM. Just like that, the idea for my senior project was hatched: Figure out a way for a kid going to college to stay healthy and active without the daily practices of high school sports to keep them in check. Everything from finding different forms of activity to fit individual styles, to what food choices to make. It's all here. So follow me on this quest to find a balanced, healthy life style for all those X-Athletes out there.


Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Week 3, Day 2 (Let's Check In With the Project Group, Shall We?)

6:30 am- Breakfast

Last night I went to bed late and towards the end started feeling a little bit hungry, but I was too tired to go downstairs and eat. Therefore, this morning it surprised me that I had utterly no appetite. One of my past nutritionists, Nancy Blazar, told me that 9 times out of 10, when you wake up in the morning and aren't hungry, it's because you missed your body telling you it was hungry while you slept and you need to eat anyway. Fair enough, I thought to myself.

My mom went to the grocery store and brought home all sorts of delicious food--some of it healthy, some of it not so much--and this morning I was tempted. I didn't want my usual Special K, and there was this danish sitting in the pantry. Instead of going nuts like I usually would have, I cut myself a very small slice, as well as a small slice of brownie and popped them on a plate with a glass of milk and an apple. Was it the healthiest or most filling choice possible? No. But I didn't want to deprive myself and crave the sweets even more later in the day, so I had some.

1/2 serving Danish
1/2 serving chocolate fudge brownie (both these items were from the bakery at Heinen's)
8 oz. 2% milk
1 large pink lady apple

I dropped my brother off at school and came home at about 9:30. Shockingly, because of my ultra filling and nutritious breakfast, I was hungry again. Because I decided to make really well thought out food choices today, I grabbed the remainder of the chex mix (there was about 1/3 to 1/2 of a serving left and brought it upstairs with me. I knew it wouldn't hold me over, but there wasn't much left and I didn't really care.

11:00 am- Lunch

At 11 o'clock, I was hungry for lunch and knew I was lacking some protein in my diet. I went downstairs and saw shrimp and crab cakes. Perfect. Shrimp are lean, mean protein machines. The crab cakes were good because they were Market Day, and only had 100 calories per cake, while still being absolutely delicious.

3 Market Day Crab Cakes
10 small/medium shrimp
Two Brother's Teriykai Sauce from Heinen's (This is by far the best sauce in the world--I eat it on almost anything. It is extremely thick for teriyaki sauce and is ultra flavorful. Heinen's is just an excellent place to shop, plain and simple.)
60 calorie, sugar free Jello Pudding Cup (not the healthiest choice, but I needed to taste chocolate, and I thought it was the lightest, yet most filling option.)

I went upstairs, finished blogging, and headed off to grab a smoothie from Robek's with my best friend Brooke before we had Senior Project Check In up at Hawken.

Initially, I was concerned about the Robek's. I knew we had an ice cream sundae bar after SP check-in (and we all know I can't pass up ice cream) so I didn't really want or need the extra food. But I also didn't want to be rude and wanted to go out with my friend. At Robek's, I looked at all of the ingredients ans surprisingly, they were fresh and simple. In my smoothie, Cranberry Quest, there were blueberries, cranberry juice, strawberries, raspberry sherbet, non-fat yogurt and ice. I got a junior size, so it was actually correctly portioned, and i really enjoyed it.

2:30 pm- Senior Project Meeting
That went well. I really enjoyed hearing about the projects of all the other activities of my classmates. Everyone really seems to be getting into what they are doing, and it was exciting to listen to.

3:00 pm- Ice Cream Sundae Madness

Basically I had a big giant bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream with whipped cream, hot fudge, and oreo pieces. I wasn't hungry at all, but it looked delicious and I ate it anyways which made me feel awful. At the end, I even had to stop myself from getting more. Ohh no. After walking out to my car, I vowed I'd go home and be done eating for the day.

5:15 pm- ZUMBA!... Or maybe not.
ZUMBA! is an extremely popular class at Urban Active because it is so much fun and there is a ton of energy in the room. Recently, they have started having to do a sign up because too many people want to take the class and it is a fire hazard. When I walked through the doors of UA, the line was almost backed up out the door. I decided to wait because I really wanted to get my dose of exercise in, and I needed to just dance my stress away. I waited about a half hour, and when I got up to the front, the girl behind the counter looked at my card and said, "Sorry, this class is now only open to full-time members." I was not happy. In fact, I was very upset. I stormed out and drove home, heading up to my room to de-stress a little bit. I need a day off.


7:00 pm- Shocking, I was hungry again
Even after my Robek's smoothie and enormous bowl of ice cream, as I laid on my bed, I felt a distinct grumbling in my stomach. At first I didn't think it was possible, but then it came again. Because I am practicing listening to what my body tells me, I went down and made myself a tiny bowl of leftover noodles and vegetables from the previous night's dinner, with a little side bowl of mixed snack food such as pretzels and chips. I realized I would burn through these pretty fast, but was expecting them to last until I went to sleep.

9:00 pm- Really, body? You really need more food right now?
Sure enough, two hours later, the feeling was back. It was frustrating for me because I almost thought I had to be imagining the feeling,because in my own mind, my hunger made no logical sense. But again, I knew what my body wanted, so I listened. I went downstairs and grabbed some food that I knew would tide me over, unlike those chips and noodles. I had a Luna protein bar and a glass of milk. Finally, my body was satisfied.

Reading Material

Lessons from The Secret today are:

Everything in someone's life is a product of the thoughts of that person up to that point. Because thoughts become things, and this includes negative thoughts too, everything in your life is a product of your thoughts and the signals you send out. Obviously, there are some instances where this doesn't apply--like if there is a death in the family. But the area where is does apply is how you react to and move on from that death. Every emotion, every interaction, and everything that you receive is a product of your thoughts. If you can envision what you want, and focus on it completely (not constantly, but on a somewhat regular basis) it will come to you.

Don't focus on the "don't"s. Focusing on what you don't want is the worst possible thing to do. It will basically reverse the effectiveness of this method, because it is all negative energy, and it is constant focus on a subject, which will therefore attract the subject to you, whether you want it or not. For example, do not say, "I really don't want to trip at graduation." The more you focus on that thought, the more likely you are to fall. Instead, say, "I will walk tall at graduation, and be graceful and elegant." By focusing on that positive thought, success will come to you.

Feelings are there to keep your thoughts on track.
 When you feel bad, it is because your thoughts are going the wrong direction. When you feel good, it is a reward for the correct way of thinking. When you are feeling down, you can change it in an instant. Dwell on something beautiful. Really dwell on it.
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