“LaLanneisms”

I can’t even really believe that Jack LaLanne has passed away.  You know what they say, though, it isn’t a matter of if, it’s about when and how.

Ninety six years is a good ripe age, and he enjoyed a very high quality of life. 

I remember so clearly watching Jack LaLanne’s television show when I went to visit my grandmother’s house.  It’s not clear to me why we never watched in our own home, maybe I was in school or someone in the house who was older than I took charge of the boob-tube when his show was on.  Sometimes I’d exercise along with him and sometimes, ironically (though I was too young to know I was being ironic), I’d just lie on the floor and listen.

It would be overreaching to say he was an inspiration to me in my choice to lead an active lifestyle, or to pursue a career in fitness education.  But he was wonderfully handy to point to as living example of what one can accomplish with disciplined exercise and healthy eating.  It is no small feat for a man in his 80’s to swim across San Francisco Bay, towing several of his closest friends behind him in a row boat.

Jack didn’t drink coffee, but he did partake of red and white wine.  So, a toast to the memory and the mission of Jack LaLanne!  May his words, deeds, and spirit be inscribed in the book of life.

Here are a few of Jack’s words of wisdom:

• Anything in life is possible and you can make it happen.
• Your waistline is your lifeline.
• Exercise is King, nutrition is Queen, put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.
• Don’t exceed the feed limit.
• The food you eat today is walking and talking tomorrow.
• Ten seconds on the lips and a lifetime on the hips.
• Better to wear out than rust out.
• Do – don’t stew.
• People don’t die of old age, they die of inactivity.
• First we inspire them, then we perspire them.
• You eat everyday, you sleep everyday, and your body was made to exercise everyday.
• Work at living and you don’t have to die tomorrow.
• I can’t die, it would ruin my image. [Whoops.-JO]
• If man makes it, don’t eat it.
• If it tastes good, spit it out.
• What’s it doing for me?
• Your health account is like your bank account: The more you put in, the more you can take out.
• If one apple is good, you wouldn’t eat 100.
• It’s not what you do some of the time that counts, it’s what you do all of the time that counts.
• Make haste slowly.
• Eat right and you can’t go wrong.