If you look back at my pictures on social media, you’ll see that my weight tends to fluctuate from one end of the spectrum to the other. The featured picture for this blog shows me at weights ranging from 225 back in 1999 to 285 a couple of years ago with stops at 265 and 240. I’ve always been a nervous eater and I go through phases of my life where I am not able to be as active as I’d like. When I was in my 20’s, this was not really an issue but as I’ve gotten older not only have I run into all of the fun parts of physically aging but I’ve come to realize the toll that my lack of fitness and poor eating habits have taken on my music, as well.
My primary working gig is a three-piece rock cover band named the All Star Trio (the name goes back to before the band had a concrete lineup and the founder of the band (drummer Dominic) just had a list of guitarists and bassists that knew most of the same music that he could call as he booked dates. Eventually, the band coalesced into its current lineup that has been together nearly two decades this month. The band is an “entertainment unit” and we play very high energy shows that are typically three sets that range from 60 to 90 minutes. As I headed into my thirties we would play 2-3 shows a week and I would be a mess on Sundays with back and foot pain, fatigue and all kinds of other complaints. I took a hiatus from the band from 2007-2009 but when I came back the experience was more of the same, but after sitting on my butt in my studio for a few years I was in even worse physical shape. And the gig schedule on top of running my music school and family life made it easy for me to fall into the habit of eating junk and fast food on a regular basis.
I go through all of that to set the stage for the current phase of my life, which is my mid-late 40’s. Still playing the rock gigs while being a full-time college student (trying to finish that Jazz Performance degree), a dad and husband, and teaching to pay the bills. And still not taking care of myself as I should. A couple of not-shared-on-social-media health scares later (I’m not big on sharing that kind of thing) and I came to realize that I was too old to be living that way so last year I gave the Whole30 diet a try and while I did get some pretty immediate results I didn’t actually commit to it like I should have and backslid a bit.
After a summer of gigs, stress and more family health issues I decided to give it another try. Please keep in mind that this is not about a specific diet, just how my life is changing once I made some significant changes that were facilitated by a specific diet. You could probably use some restraint and some common sense and get similar results but I’m a little deficient in both of those areas sometimes so having a structure to work within helps me quite a bit.
The particulars of the diet that I was on included cutting out sugar, soy, dairy, gluten, grains, and any kind of processed or fried foods. That first week is a real bitch, let me tell you.
What I did come to understand was that my biggest issues have to do with my sugar intake. After the first 7-10 days, my ability to focus sharpened and what they call “brain fog” seemed to have lifted. The most noticeable place that I experienced this was on stage. My focus on stage and the accuracy of my performances improved immeasurably. I am assuming that my cleaner eating also maintained more consistent energy levels as my blood sugar wasn’t careening back and forth from the crap that I used to eat. And as the weight began to come off, I didn’t feel like death at the end of a four-hour gig.
My current schedule precludes the kind of gym-rat behavior I loved in my 20’s so I’ve had to work in ways of getting some small amount of exercise in as well. Since I’m at school 5 days a week, I park in the farthest parking lot or at the top of the parking structure so that I have to walk stairs. I do try and ride my bike on the weekends. Just before school started I got an Apple Watch primarily for the health applications. Just like the diet, the structure that I get from counting steps and closing the stupid rings for movement, exercise and even just standing up every hour help me stay on track. Some folks don’t need all of this. My wife is a great example of someone who eats responsibly and takes care of herself without needing a “plan”. It’s a good thing one of us is an actual adult.
The end result of my 30 days of “detox” from the foods that create inflammation and all kinds of other bodily mayhem is that I feel more like a normal person. I have better energy throughout the day (in spite of my chronic lack of sleep), I’ve lost 19 lbs since I started (and I’m down 35 lbs from last year at this time) and most importantly for the purposes of this blog, my ability to make music has improved quite a bit. Even my sight reading for big band and combo classes has gotten better as my brain seems to be able to stay on track at a higher resolution than before.
I used to look at the contract riders that big stars would have really stringent dietary demands for their dressing room meals or the need for quiet space or other “self-care” concerns and think that it was all Prima Dona B.S. In reality, if you want to be the best performer and artist that you can possibly be you need to take care of yourself both mentally and physically to the best of your ability. I kinda wish I had figured this out a few decades earlier…
