Caloric Intake

A couple weeks ago, another raft guide mentioned to me that his biggest struggle with the job was caloric intake. I thought that was crazy. The guide lounge in the rafting center has an endless supply of granola bars. There are two restaurants and a store on campus. Both restaurants offer staff meals, and there's even a meal plan for lunch. How could caloric intake be a problem? There are calories available everywhere!

As it turns out, in spite of the abundance of food, caloric intake really is a problem. I learned this the hard way. A few days ago, I crawled out of bed and went to brush my teeth. Everything was fine, but when I put my toothbrush down on the sink, I started to feel dizzy. Really dizzy. Then I blacked out. I came to on the floor, in a pile of towels. Somewhat flustered, I wandered back to my cabin, and my roommate took me to the local urgent care center (where we ran into another raft guide with a back injury).

Anyways, I'm fine. I was dehydrated and my blood sugar was low. In other words, my caloric intake was insufficient, and my body just gave up. Looking back, that's not so surprising. Initially, my diet didn't change too much when I went from a poor grad student to a poor raft guide. I was never much of a breakfast person, usually too busy for lunch and then too tired for dinner. As a result, my diet was pretty much sandwiches and cereal.

Raft guides cannot live on sandwiches and cereal. For one thing, my job now involves more physical labor than anything I've ever done. My biceps are even bigger now than when I was hauling water in South Africa. Dry cereal could fuel me through many a late-night spent writing papers, but it's hardly substantial enough to support me through hours spent hauling boats around.

Another issue related to caloric intake is timing. Students can live off snacks because they have hours in the library to do nothing but graze and read. I do not have hours in one place. Turn-around between trips can be as short as fifteen minutes. I used to think that was hardly enough time to toss down a granola bar, but I've since learned. Now I use whatever downtime I have to eat and drink as much as I can bear. In fact, I'm writing this halfway through a big plate of nachos. Fringe benefits of being a raft guide: great tans and tons of food.