Eating Green

"Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness." ~ The Conduct of Life

I started eating healthy when I saw the need of it. My mother is hypertensive and so are her clans. They are known as gourmands, they also served the best and tasty foods in town. Their families are close-knitted. Whatever is served in the table is also shared by their families. They liked roasted ducks, lechons (roasted whole pigs), pork cuisines (such as caldereta, menudo, crispy pata and the all time favorite adobo), rarely vegetables are in the scene. 


This is what we grow up - meat eaters. We all love our mother's cooking. When we had our restaurant, everyone in the family was excited because we had so many choices of foods - from nilagang baka, pork adobo, beef caldereta, pork menudo, pork and beef steaks, pork-chop, and the name-all-the-pork-cooked-foods. Chicken was never spared, foods cooked out of it were displayed just below where the pork was placed. One could imagine how pork was treated - special. 


Until the time when my mother had her mild stroke. She was off the kitchen for so long because she needed to take a break from her cooking and eating lifestyles. Meals were salt-free. I imagined how painful it was to her. She lost 30lbs+ from 198. Twice she was confined, one in her 40s and the other in her 60s. The culprit? Her way of eating. 

For salad preparation, lettuce is one of many preferred. 

I decided to break the line, I'm doing it for the next generations. I began cooking and eating vegetables during early college. It was also a call for me to spend less because my family could no longer afford boarding school. The years after that are spent to healthy options. Everyday I try to complete my 20-minute-walk. From it I got to save Php10 when I was in college and Php20 now that I'm working. The savings are used to buy raw from the market because I love love love cooking. It's one way to get over stress, boredom and even vain. Cooked or uncooked, whichever I prefer as long as it's healthy, matters. You might want to see one of my food preferences (see photo).