Everybody seems to have something unusual or special about themselves. In most cases it’s not anything so special that you can make money from it or anything. We all seem to do something well. Many years ago I had a roomate named Kristine. She was pretty much a bikini model. For some reason we always think bikini models are only good at wearing a bikini and having their picture taken. She had one of those weird talents. She was good at painting. I’m not talking about painting on a canvas. I’m talking painting the interior of our apartment. All she needed was some masking tape, a brush and some paint. She was as good as any professional. I also have something I do well. I’m able to drive very long distances and stop only for gas. I’ve gone 40-plus hours with no sleep. Somehow I’m just as fresh on the 40th hour as I am on the first hour. Recently I drove from California to Louisiana for the holidays. The trip was just short of 30 hours. I showed up just in time for the beginning of a New Orleans Saints football game. I sat down and watched the entire game before going to sleep. In total, I was up for almost 40 hours. A few days later, I turned around and drove back to Los Angeles, staying awake for a similar amount of hours. The question I’ve gotten over the years has been some variation of “Boy, you sure must drink a lot of coffee right?” Oddly enough, I wouldn’t drink anymore coffee than I do on a regular basis. I probably drink less. I have learned a few tricks to staying awake and alert. I don’t eat a meal. That causes more blood to pool in the stomach for digestion. This makes me feel sluggish and tired, so I don’t do it. My second rule is no sugar. In the interest of full disclosure, what I do eat is almonds and peanuts. Every couple of hours I nibble on either or both. This keeps hunger away and the lack of sugar keeps me from getting a rush then subsequent crash. I’ve been doing this for well over 30 years. It hasn’t failed me yet. I told you that to tell you this. I love sugar. I think I love it more than most. There were many sugarcane farmers in my family. I grew up in sugarcane fields. In the fall, when the cane starts to ripen, I would always have a pocket knife on me to make sure I can get the sugar from the tap, so to speak. Another problem I have with sugar is I don’t get fat from it. The reason is I do at least 20 hours of aerobics per week. That’s a slow week. When I’m training for an ultra event, I easily go over 30 hours. There’s no incentive for me not to eat sugar. My teeth are healthy, I don’t have a diabetes problem, so why shouldn’t I enjoy sugar on a daily basis? But I digress. Because I drove all the way to Louisiana without sugar, then all the way back to California, I went several days without the sweet nectar that I love. You know what? I’ve never felt better. I wasn’t getting the afternoon lull, where I feel like I need to take a nap. The arthritis in my right shoulder just didn’t seem to hurt as much. I seemed to recover from workouts quicker. There’s no shortage of literature condemning sugar. I constantly tell my clients not to touch the stuff. Without an insane amount of aerobics, you will gain weight from it. And yes, it can rot your teeth, unless you are a flossing and brushing freak like me. Will I stay off of sugar forever? Probably not. But I do see positive effects from having a lot less of it. I’ve found good reason to at least keep it to a bare minimum.
