When Your Body, Heart Or Mind (Forget Mind Mr. Spock) Go Through Hell, Remember The Therapeutic Value Of Nostalgia Food

A faux Onion Man? Doesn’t look grizzled enough to me. Bet he’s English! If he is French, don’t tell him I said that! If you want to know more, read the excellent blog linked to the figure.

Nostalgia: “A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.” by Google

Hi folks, welcome to another day on this lovely planet..

I said to a random lady in a store in Cleveland, “My wife says I dress like a homeless person. What do you think?” She looked me up and down severely and said emphatically that I do, and then kindly took this photo. Deb also said I look more like the onion man than the guy in the picture at the head of this post, especially when I tuck my pants in my socks.

Ah! The good old days, or good old romance, or good old country, or good old car, or good old food! Yes! Nostalgia is a powerful, but a potentially crippling or alternatively potentially curative tool, available to all.

Reminded me of the Onion Man!

I consider nostalgia to be crippling when I hear people talk about an old relationship of which they just can’t let go (thus excluding the new), or athletic endeavors in their youth (back in the day), whilst their middle-aged bodies are decaying through lack of attention.

I consider nostalgia to be curative when it is used to enhance recovery from an emotional or physical challenge.

Bristol North Swimming Pool, which played a big role in my formative teenage years, and from whence I walked after water polo training to enjoy those lovely steak and kidney pies that don’t exist in the USA, but Australia came close with their steak pies.

For instance, nostalgia food can help with (a) feelings associated with a relationship breakup (favorite meal from the past or a candy bar is better than booze to salve the broken heart – though it’s not really broken, it just feels like that; a little growing to do?) or (b) a queazy stomach after an Ironman race, illness (some consider my Ironman enthusiasm to be a mental illness!), or major surgery.

This is where nostalgia came to my rescue a couple of days ago. I was four days out from my latest aortic surgery (see my newsletter for the gory details), feeling pretty wonky from the process, but I knew that I needed to eat. The thought of food turned my stomach. Then I remembered Chris Hauth, great Ironman-distance triathlon coach, saying, “Sometimes it helps to just eat what you feel like. Me? I sometimes carry a Snickers Bar, just in case.”

Soft-boiled eggs on whole-wheat toast. Not Paleo, but they hit the spot, settling my stomach and giving me energy. FitOldDog nostalgia food, with a pinch of salt.

So my mind turned to those lovely steak and kidney pies in England, after a game of water polo as a teenager. Imagine, I didn’t have a lot of money, but I would save from my paycheck (any job I could find, pig farm or hotel) enough to buy a steak and kidney pie after training, which I ate walking along the road home.

No steak and kidney pie in the good ol’ USA, so my next choice was soft-boiled eggs on whole wheat toast – had it for 50 years, and then I went Paleo! But it’s not Paleo!!!! Hell, I’ll have it anyway. It tasted great, and I sure felt better for the food.

Remember! You might be a highly disciplined athlete, but sometimes you just have to listen to your stomach.

-k @FitOldDog