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Feb 22

Human Condition: When that long walk for exercise takes you to the ice cream parlor – The Advocate

How to lose weight safely Comments Off on Human Condition: When that long walk for exercise takes you to the ice cream parlor – The Advocate

Anna Dutko Semrick, a first-generation American, was my maternal grandmother. She was a child of Czechoslovakian immigrants living near Youngstown, Ohio.

Grandma had short curly gray hair and was only 5 feet tall, rather plump and always smiling. The family often teased her by saying that she looked like Mrs. Palooka, the mother of comic strip pugilist Joe Palooka. This only made her smile more.

Dr. Magee, her physician, was constantly encouraging her to go on a diet and to exercise more to improve her health.

In the late 1930s and 1940s, there were no advertised weight control aids, clubs or systems to help the dieter. The word light was not attached to foods or drinks. Diet foods were on lists that came from your physician, and dieting to lose weight was strictly up to the individual.

In the past, exercises were different for men and women. Meant only for men, gyms had equipment for weightlifting, boxing and rope climbing and often a track for running. Today both men and women enjoy using the many machines and other equipment in exercise gyms. Pilates, zumba and yoga were still far in the future. The 1950s brought one of the first exercise machines meant especially for women, described as passive exercise using a motorized couch. Needless to say these machines did not have much success and disappeared within a few years.

Walking was and still is an excellent exercise for everyone, male or female, young or old.

Grandma and I would go on long walks in our tree-shaded neighborhood of Edgewood, a section of Gentilly in New Orleans.

One day we decided to take a very long trek out of our area and into an older, more crowded part of the city since Grandma wanted to visit a pretty old church in the St. Roch area. The walk took us a long time, but puffing and red faced we finally reached our destination.

In the same area as the church was an inviting ice cream parlor, painted white with a black-and-white tile floor. Customers were seated at sturdy tables with white marble tops. We were happy to sit at one of them to rest and enjoy the cool breeze from the ceiling fans.

As a reward for such an extended trek, we each enjoyed a delicious ice cream soda strawberry flavor for me, chocolate for Grandma each topped with whipped cream.

Perhaps the ice cream parlor was the true destination selected by Grandma. Oh well, we followed half of the doctors orders by walking. And, I'm sure, Grandma thought about dieting another day.

Bergeron lives in Baton Rouge

Advocate readers may submit stories of about 500 words to The Human Condition at features@theadvocate.com or The Advocate, Living, 10705 Rieger Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. There is no payment, and stories will be edited. Authors should include their city of residence, and, if writing about yourself, a photo.

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Human Condition: When that long walk for exercise takes you to the ice cream parlor - The Advocate

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