Gilroy
– Mayor Al Pinheiro has a lot more spring in his step
nowadays.
The city’s top leader has shed 33 pounds since January, when a
sudden hospitalization forced him to make life-altering changes to
his diet and lifestyle.
Gilroy – Mayor Al Pinheiro has a lot more spring in his step nowadays.
The city’s top leader has shed 33 pounds since January, when a sudden hospitalization forced him to make life-altering changes to his diet and lifestyle.
“It’s night and day of how I eat,” Pinheiro said, while awaiting his lunch last week at Harvest Time restaurant. “Normally I’d come in here and have steak and fries.”
Instead, Pinheiro tells the waiter to ask Louie Kalivitis, the owner, to make him something healthy.
“Louie knows that I try to stay away from butters and do things steamed or broiled,” the mayor explained.
The chefs at Gilroy Bowl, a block up Monterey Street, and Tasso’s restaurant off First Street, also have become familiar with the mayor’s redesigned palate.
The bread basket sits untouched as Pinheiro awaits his meal, and he does not reach for the salt when the waiter arrives with a grilled chicken breast, cottage cheese with fruit, and a side of steamed vegetables.
Pinheiro said he probably won’t finish the chicken breast, since it’s nearly double the size of his palm – the standard measure for a single serving of meat.
“Sometimes I wish my palm was bigger,” Pinheiro jokes.
The mayor has changed more than just his eating habits. He now wakes early six times a week and spends a half hour on the treadmill while watching the morning news.
“I’m glad to see that because I was a little concerned about him,” said Councilman Bob Dillon, who was among the first to notice strange symptoms in the mayor during the city council’s Jan. 14 retreat.
The morning of the retreat, Pinheiro had broken out into a cold sweat and was showing clear signs of discomfort. By afternoon, Pinheiro’s condition alarmed fire and police chiefs enough that they insisted on calling an ambulance.
Initially, councilmembers and staff worried that Pinheiro, 52, was suffering a heart attack. The mayor had reported “severe back pain” to doctors, who suspected he may have kidney stones or some other kidney-related ailment.
Doctors did not diagnose him with any kidney problems, Pinheiro said, but found he had a low blood platelet count. In addition, the mayor suffers from diabetes, and at the time was not watching his diet. The day of the incident, he had shared a lunch of lasagna with fellow councilmen and city staff.
Added to the physical strain was the loss of Bill Lindsteadt, the city’s former economic development director and a good friend of the mayor. Lindsteadt died the day before the council retreat.
“Physically and emotionally the day (was difficult),” Pinheiro said.
Whatever the causes, the January hospitalization led the mayor to finally listen to his doctor’s advice.
“I was burning the candle at both ends – not eating properly, not getting enough rest,” Pinheiro said. “The doctor had been telling me to do something.”
The people who work closely with Pinheiro have noticed the few changes.
“It’s kind of humorous because he talks about that a lot,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said. “I’ve teased him about this. It’s like somebody who’s smoking and quits and they’re talking about it all the time. It’s fun that he’s been feeling better.”
For Pinheiro, the scary part is over and the hard part of maintaining his new lifestyle has begun.
Nowadays, the mayor doesn’t pour the thousand-island salad dressing, but dips his fork instead. He doesn’t eat white bread, but allows himself some whole grains. And while his love of seafood remains, it is without the heavy sauces.
“I keep telling myself I’m not on a diet,” Pinheiro said. “I’m just changing the way I live.”
