Writer: Darryl Jackson Illustrator: Grace Hwang I love pizza. I love McDonalds. I love root beer soda. Not the way to start off a column in a health lifestyle magazine but truth is truth. The other truth: I absolutely hate working out. Like, hate it. I have two trainers on call, but I never make that call. Working out bores me, it makes my body ache and I feel like I have more important things to do in that hour or so - like eat pizza. I used to be a size 28 in jeans now I'm a 32. In the business that I'm in some might say I'm "fat". What business calls a man that wears average size jeans "fat," you may ask? The business of fashion, is the answer. The same business that trots young people down a runway looking like they haven't eaten all year and tell you that that's what you're supposed to aspire to look like, yeah that business of fashion. There's nothing wrong with being a size small if that's in your genes, but there's everything wrong with losing your mind trying to achieve a smaller size for vanity purposes. I know kids that don't eat trying to maintain that skinny, slender frame. I think that's beyond crazy. Food is amazing. Food is better than sex. Food is the most necessary thing in life. You don't eat, you don't live. Simple. All these crash diets, cleanses and eating routines that people fiend over must have been created by someone in the fashion business. Only someone in this industry would try to convince the rest of the world not to eat for 10 days, but drink this Cayenne pepper and sea salt concoction to lose weight real quick to fit into your skinny jeans. I will admit, I've tried that master cleanse thing and I'm sure it works to some small degree but I think its more damaging psychologically and physically than anything. You just gotta eat. Which brings me to why I'm here in the first place - here as in this magazine and its wonderful health advice. I wanna find that healthy balance between eating what I want, doing what I want and still maintaining a good standard of health & low blood pressure (I was 10 points above average in March). Is it running? Is it eating in smaller proportions? Is it calorie counting? Who knows, but I want to explore health for life's sake. I could care less about the vanity aspects because I still look great in a size 32. But the reality is, my insides need to look great at the same time, and for that precise reason I am here. So follow me on this journey of life to find the right balance of what works for me. Where I can still eat my pizza, not have to do that gym thing so crazy and still fit into my skinny jeans, because honestly, skinny jeans ruined my life.
