An unexpected benefit of going back to college
Need to trim the ole' middle-age waistline -- perhaps take off a few dozen pounds?
Go to college.
That did the trick for MinnPost media-writer-on-hiatus David Brauer. When I interviewed him recently about how he'd just finished his degree at the the University of Minnesota, he told me the U helped him drop 30 pounds -- from 211 to 181 -- at age 54.
He now weighs less than he did during his first spin through college more than 30 years ago.
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Brauer credits the U and some assigned reading that he got there -- a section or two from "The Brain That Changes Itself" -- which he says prompted him to change his eating habits:
"It rearranged my thinking on something, and then I was able to integrate my knowledge of myself to change my behavior. ... I can tell you that would not have happened if I had not been at the U."
I recalled losing about 10 pounds my freshman year -- Take that, Freshman 15 -- and another 15 or so when I studied in Germany. Both times I was relaxed but energized. Intellectual pursuits distracted me from compulsive eating, and I had the time to choose the right food and eat wisely.
Brauer acknowledges that he, too, was in a more relaxed state of mind during his part-time studies:
"I tell people: 'My weight loss program won't work for you if you have a job.'"
And in a way that drives home a lamentation he made in my first piece -- that higher ed forces students to race through college and miss out on much of what it has to offer:
"Are we doing it wrong? Why are we putting people's heads in a vice to learn? Why do we associate a certain kind of stress with learning? Why isn't it the sort of thing where it's supposed to be -- at least on some level -- a pleasurable thing -- an experience where you have enough time to reflect? Practically, I don't know if [slowing the pace] would work, but it was great for me."
Update: Brauer has since lost another 10.