The East Coast Radio Big Walk

I need to tell you all this, because I don't know if I am stupid, crazy or just a little bit over the top ....... but last week myself, Andrew, Andy and Chantal entered this walk and we entered into the 20 km walking distance. I think I must be crazy. I guess it will take us about 3 hours to complete it, but there goes, I am seriously looking forward to this to see how I do. So for the next 3 weeks I am going to be doing some serious walking in preperation for this.

We went camping this weekend again, took Friday and Monday off work, Tuesday was a public holiday and the day that my father died 21 years ago. Did alot of walking, lots of hard work because of the steep hills to be climbed, was stiff all 4 days of walking, didn't even pick up a gram this weekend.

I also thought of all the years that I was as thin as a rake, and today I am sorry about how I treated my body when I was young. I couldn't put on weight, no matter how much I ate, just stayed thin, but then again, looking back at what I used to dish up for myself those years, the quantities did increase hugely over the years, at one stage it was hard to tell which was my plate and which was Andrews. So to warn you all, just be carefull of that.

I also remember how Chris, our minister, used to think I am anorexic, and always telling me to eat, I would laugh at him and tell him I'm fine, I eat enough .......... but I had a problem, I wasn't anorexic but I was pretty close to it with hindsight. I am short, and I always only weighed 42 kg. Today, later in life, I recall those days, and I also recall, being hectically busy and missing meals, going out on a friday night and not eating supper, and the next day, I used to feel ill if I tried to eat anything. I literally had to force myself to eat, I used to make custard and eat that, then later I could try and eat other foods, today I recognise it as being very borderline, I also recognise what I didn't when I was younger, that I was playing havoc with my body. My blood sugar was always very low, my blood pressure was always very low, and I did a fair amount of exercise those years. I would sometimes only eat a sandwich during the day and think it is enough, or a banana vetkoek, do you know, that sometimes I used to eat a half a can of condensed milk for supper sometimes, how very wrong I was, today I am paying the price for all of that, and this is my warning to you young ones, try and eat 5 meals a day, breakfast, lunch and supper then again a nibble (which could be fruit) at 10 oclock and another at 3 o'clock - you will be looking after your body for the future, you truly don't have to eat huge amounts of food, and secondly, exercise even if it is just for 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. One thing that has always been on my side, is that at that time of my life, I didn't drink alcohol at all, or very seldom had any.

I can't stress it enough, eat but eat wisely........... will post more receipes later .........

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