When taking a class with Mr. Andino, a math teacher at AITE, it is not surprising to see him come to class with his signature Coke ICEE. When students ask about his sweet treat, he informs them that he has on average three ICEEs a day.
I was surprised to hear this since Mr. Andino looks healthy and fit. When further investigating, I discovered that his diet is unique as well. He states he has not eaten a fruit or vegetable in ten years, a video of bugs crawling out of a strawberry made him turn away from the nutritious food groups. Daily, Mr. Andino eats a bagel, chicken or steak with french fries, and Coke ICEEs. I asked him if he has ever gone a day without a Coke ICEE, and he told me that he has not. If snow is in the forecast, he will preemptively stock his freezer with Coke ICCEs.
While my friend and I were discussing how peculiar Mr. Andino’s diet is, she mentioned that his blood pressure must be sky high. This piqued my interest. Surely his blood pressure will reflect his eating habits. Since I know how to take blood pressures, Mr. Andino agreed that I could take his.
He was extremely confident that his blood pressure would be a normal one for adults, 120/80 mmHg. Mr. Andino allowed me to take multiple samples on both arms to prove his point. His blood pressure is approximately 120/80 mmHg, the healthy range.
I was in a state of disbelief. How is this possible? I decided to ask him more lifestyle questions to understand why this might be the case. Mr. Andino works out every single day, doing 150 pushups every morning and night, along with some sit ups. He alternates every day from doing five minutes on the stationary bike, calf raises, and squats to performing bicep curls. Mr. Andino wakes up at 4:00 AM daily and typically, as long as there are no late Steelers games on, he goes to bed between 9-10 PM.
I decided to ask him how his doctor appointments are. Mr. Andino states that his yearly visit is always successful, with no tests containing harmful data. The doctors say his blood pressure and blood work comes out normal. This may be due to strong genetics or his metabolism to allow positive results. Mr. Andino states, “[The doctors] are well aware of what my diet is”. When I questioned if his doctors told him to fix his eating habits, he responded with, “No, because there hasn’t been any kind of adverse impact to my health. So, they should probably tell everybody to do what I am doing.” When asked if he had anything else to say, he responded with, “Coke ICEEs. That’s the key to success”.
