A pasalubong center is often my sweet welcome in the mornings these days. Aside from dried fish, chicharon, and beef jerky, most of its merchandise is carbs: pastel, hopia, binangkal, otap, cashew nuts, peanuts, yema, turrones de mani, biscocho, durian candy, dried mango, banana chips, peanut butter, rosquillos, mamon tostado, pinasugbo, salvaro, mango torte, and more. It’s a paradise for high-carb devotees.
Of course I’m always tempted to buy the carbs. But do I ever? Nope. Each time I’m there, I feel like I’m in the right place at the wrong time—or the wrong place at the right time, or even the wrong place at the wrong time—whatever.
Instead of buying high-carb pasalubong for myself, I go to the nearby bookstore to browse and hopefully find a good book that can help me stick to a carnivore diet. And it ends up being perfect timing. No, it doesn’t have a book about the carnivore diet—it’s the Muzak I like: “She’s Too Good for Me” by Sting and “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. I tend to stay inside stores even if I haven’t found anything I like, just to listen to the Muzak.
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As carbs continue to tempt me with their aroma, sweetness, and the promise of satisfying my emotional-eating cravings, I keep my blinders on and stay focused on my carnivore diet.
At my favorite Chinese restaurant, Hap Chan, I used to order scrambled eggs with shrimp, and sweet and sour pork. The waitstaff have already memorized my usual order. Whenever I’m there, they automatically list my favorites, and I simply say, “Yup!” But after realizing I’m now allergic to eggs, I’ve had to avoid the scrambled eggs and replace them with beef and broccoli—though I skip the broccoli. I still order the sweet and sour pork, though.
Chinese restaurants are tricky since most dishes have sauces. The safer choices there are steamed and roasted dishes. At Filipino restaurants, the safer choices are grilled dishes and clear soups.
After struggling with a low-carb lifestyle for four years, I finally leveled up to the stricter carnivore diet. I chose this path to end my battle with carb-induced side effects like hypertension, skin allergies, and brain fog. Some people may experience these side effects too, but dismiss them as part of aging.
The dialysis centers that have been sprouting like lechon-manok stalls in the Philippines are proof that diabetes and its long-term complications have been increasing at an alarming rate.
Other people are lucky—they don’t experience such side effects no matter how many carbs they eat, and some of them don’t even gain weight despite a high-carb intake. They could likely benefit from a low-carb diet too, if they choose to adopt it.
For those who are not as lucky, a low-carb diet can be the best approach. There’s no need to wait for the new year to start this lifestyle.
It’s April now. Those who had a “New Year, new me” goal have already abandoned their diet-and-exercise program. Only the gym rats will remain, working out even at ungodly hours—midnight or 3 a.m., whichever is more convenient for them at a 24/7 gym.
