This dad and his daughter are better surfers than you
Meet Sergio Lima and Hadassah Sage Lima. They’re a father and daughter living in Hawaii. They like to go to the beach together.
They’re also surfing sensations. Hadassah is only nine months old and has already mastered the waves, heading out to surf in tandem with her dad every day on the north shore of Oahu.
Hadassah tried surfing for the first time when she was just four months old.
Beautiful surf photographs by John Detemple, on sale here http://www.easyreadernews.com/126372/local-photographer-john-detemple-shoots-keala-kennelly-teahupoo/
What surfing has taught me about eating. And life.
Until 4 and a half years ago, I ate meat. Not only did I eat it, I cooked it and sold it for other people to eat too. The photo above, that’s my version of Argentina on a Taco--the Argentines don’t eat tacos, but I decided a deconstructed carbonada Criolla would do nicely on a corn tortilla. I was running a catering company (that’s the stylized me on the menu card in the photo above) with my husband, Paul. We liked to eat what we cooked. We cooked a lot of meat.
So, what happened, Maggie?
In 2009 my husband lost his job (just after finishing 6 months of chemo for his MS) and neither one of us could find work, and I mean any work, none. You know, The Big Recession? So what to do when you have two kids and you need to pay bills? You make your own work. Since I had catered previously and since we cooked a pretty damn good Tortilla Espanola (that’s a Spanish potato omelet--and, yes @thejgold, I was trying to feed my family by making omelets) my husband and I went into business.
I couldn’t find any of our tortilla photos, but here’s some of our paellas. Note that I was not shy about piling on the meat.
In 2011, my husband, Paul, got gastric cancer. A tumor (called a GIST) was in his stomach and he was losing blood. A lot of blood. When I got him to the hospital he was given 4 pints; both arms hooked up at the same time. He also has MS, so we didn’t realize his feeling so poorly was due to blood loss, we thought it was his MS. Seriously, we did.
Life pro tip: Lack of color in one’s entire body is a really bad sign.
In 2012, after some soul searching by my husband and lots of research, we both became plant based eaters. Immediately 20 pounds fell off the both of us. He feels a lot better. His cancer has stayed away.
Consequently, because of the change in our diet I found myself with a lot more energy, I began seriously working out. But as much as I like working out, I don’t like working out, so I had to find something else. My love of the water led me to surfing. And with that a whole new shift has happened in my eating habits.
Here’s what surfing has taught me so far:
1. I don’t worry anymore about what I put into my mouth. Surfing, or in my case, attempting to surf, is a full body workout and I’ve earned every bit of food I eat.
2. It’s more enjoyable to actually need the food as fuel--it tastes a lot better.
3. Surfing is rather meditative and that’s translated to the kitchen as well. It’s still an on-going process because I did begin to despise being in a commercial kitchen which helped end of our catering. Now I am seeing and treating cooking more as it should be; a gift of nurturing and love.
4. Appreciation. I do, honestly, appreciate what I have a lot more. That includes the food in front of me. Surfing teaches you that anything can happen, although I kind of got that lesson already with my husband, but it reinforces the absolute uncertainty of life itself, every time you go out there.
5. Speaking of life, the ocean is full of life, as long as we humans don’t completely kill it off--but that’s another point for another time. Being surrounded by that life puts me in touch with my own existence in a way I have not felt before. Maybe it’s the humbling experience of surfing or maybe it’s the ocean itself, but it makes me feel more in tune with what is around me and with who I am.
From waterfi.com, Apple Watch Sport, completely waterproofed. It would be really awesome to track your heart rate, calories burned, etc while paddling around attempting to pop up on your surfboard (okay, that’s me). Of course, you’ll need an iPhone as well. http://waterfi.com/waterproof-apple-watch-sport
I just finished a Runtastic walk of 8.13 mi in 2h 18m; average pace 3.5 mph; max was 6.0; elevation gain 941 ft and calories burned 504. Photos from today’s walk, Catalina Island in the background.
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