Butch’s Diet Works Wonders!

   Most of the people my age (i.e. the “Baby Boomers”) followed one basic rule when sitting down at the table for our meals when we were young. “You’re not getting up from the table until you finish everything on your plate. You should be glad you have food. People in Africa are starving.” Yep, that’s what our parents drilled into our heads hundreds of times. So . . . I choked down the liver and onions, mountain oysters, chicken gizzards, fried rabbit, asparagus, beets, cucumbers, lima beans, sweet potatoes, spinach, broccoli, brussel sprouts, sauerkraut and various other foods that I detested. Mom also reminded me, “If you keep eating it, you’ll learn to like it one day.” Broccoli is the only one that passed that test. I was active in all sports in high school, and as a senior I weighed 170 lbs.

   My eating habits changed after I was married. I ate anything I wanted. And if I decided to NOT finish everything on my plate, I could get up from the table. The starving people in Africa would never know. However, another problem came up. I was a student at Purdue, also working at National Homes for $2.00 an hour. My wife worked full-time as a typist. Her weekly take-home pay was $49. So, we ate a LOT of TV dinners (5 for a $1 on sale), chicken noodle soup and cheese sandwiches, hamburger helper, cornbread and beans and several types of sandwiches . . . hot dogs, sausage, luncheon meat, peanut butter and jelly, and chips. We also splurged and ate at McDonalds and the A&W root beer stand every so often, as back then their food was crazy cheap. My weight stayed the same . . . 170.

   When I became a teacher and was making “big money” in 1971 ($10,300 a year), we began eating better, although quite a bit of my salary went for baby formula, diapers, etc. when our first two children came along. I had been at 170 pounds my senior year in high school, but as I ate more and had less exercise, I got up to 180 in those days. Two more children came along in 1979 and 1988, and in 1990 I began working two full-time jobs . . . as a deputy sheriff and librarian. Not only did I lose sleep, but also pounds. I smoked Marlboro cigarettes and drank Diet Pepsi and coffee, often skipping meals. However, it was not unusual for me to eat a half gallon of Breyer’s butter pecan ice cream in one sitting. I maintained that 170 weight in a most unhealthy way.

    Now at age 77, my weight is still 170 lbs. Sometimes my friends ask me how I still stay at my same high school weight, “Butch, what diet are you on?”

So for the benefit of everyone, here it is: For breakfast I have a bowl of Cream of Wheat or oatmeal, a glass of orange juice or a grapefruit, and a half cup of coffee. I skip lunch, but drink two or three half cups of coffee at work. For supper, I eat whatever my wife prepares, plus a salad. After supper, I eat eight Lorna Doone cookies with a glass of milk. I then snack on lots of things the rest of the evening . . . cashews, cheese crackers, pudding, yogurt, ice cream, popsicles, candy bars, donuts, snack bars, etc.  Before I hit the sack, I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a big bowl of cereal. Amazing, isn’t it? Of course, I walk two miles every morning and I am on the go all day at home and at work, so evidently, I burn off the calories that way.

   There is one thing that I still do, as taught to me by my parents during my childhood. I don’t get up from the table until I finish everything on my plate. The people in Africa are starving you know.

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 37 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.