FITNESS | Life is a salad

By J.D. Velez

Published in Sun.Star Live, June 17, 2005

I woke up lately feeling like an alien, an extra terrestrial.

I’m no fitness enthusiast, and for several years, I lived my life pushing myself to the limit, testing how much abuse my body can take. I have a secret fanstasy of being like the Bruce Willis character in the movie Unbreakable who no matter what he does, never gets sick.

For years, I slept for barely three to four hours, ate fatty and salty food or with high uric acid content, and stay strapped to my chair for hours staring at the computer monitor.

I love eating lechon sold at Bernadette in Minglanilla. I like most especially the part near the lechon’s belly where most of the spices are. At night, after work, with colleagues, we would often eat paklay made from goat innards in Sikatuna St. or tapsilog at a diner across the office.

Then last week I ate only fish and veggies, and some chicken.

Salads at KFC became my favorite. They have Caesar salad peppered with slices of chicken and an oriental style salad (meaning, Chinese). I find the latter’s sauce too sweet.

Near the office is Kissbone restaurant where a lot of gourmet and healthy food are also available. I found myself ordering some Caesar salad there too.

I was surprised a mix of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, egg white slices can actually fill one’s hungry stomach and make one not feel hungry for hours. The food is so light I couldn’t believe it can take the place of the usual meat and rice that I eat.

At home, it’s Quaker oatmeal for breakfast (the one with an attractive red packaging).

I find everything really queer at first. Added to the diet change is my transfer to a day sked instead of the graveyard shift I’ve been used to for years. The timing is perfect. The paper’s “soft pages” have been redesigned and working days, instead of nights, has become a must for me.

I feel like a different person, like some good ghost has taken over. I feel light, healthier.

And that’s not all. I’m introduced to a new byword lately – stress management. I’m finding a new dimension to what pop shrinks have been saying, “being happy is a matter of choice.”

One can still be happy, even if the ideal eludes you. Life is like chopsuey or Caesar salad. It draws its impeccable taste from the mix of ingredients. Salad isn’t all lettuce, and chopsuey isn’t all cauliflower.