Enjoying food with doses of moderation
As November is Food Month and we are in the thick of things during Restaurant Week, I couldn’t help but think about how much I love food and how it could have cost me my life. I am also reminded of what great foods I have had to give up.
It was just about 13 months ago that I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension and my life changed forever. At the time, I was over 260 pounds and suffering. Food, however, made the suffering tolerable. I loved to eat. Growing up, I enjoyed having a plate of bully beef and steaming hot rice with some fried ripe plantain. I also enjoyed a small loaf, hot harddough bread fresh from the bakery with a nice slab of cheese squished into its middle.
As I grew up, plates of steaming stew peas, bulla and cheese, hot chocolate brownies smothered in chocolate syrup, and ice cream were some of my favourite things to eat. Of course, my wife’s incredible cooking is always my favourite. No matter what this woman cooks, it always tastes fantastic!
But in between her amazing meals, a week wouldn’t go by without me heading out to Cuddy’z to enjoy some great stew peas with the pig’s tail and spinners. I must say compliments to the chef there, because since I started having the stew peas there, the flavour has never wavered. There are many eateries in this country that start out great, but as time passes, the quality of the food begins to wane, but not Cuddy’z, certainly not as it concerns their stew peas.
TGIF was also somewhere I liked to go to have a meal. Their que- sadillas are to die for, and those hot brownies and ice cream I mentioned earlier? That’s where I got them. I remember before my wife got pregnant, we used to spend Friday evenings there enjoying each other’s company and a good meal. It was the closest we came to the experiences we had at the Greenhouse in St Maarten where we would dine on a Friday evening after a long workweek. She would enjoy the coconut shrimp and I, a nice juicy steak with baby potatoes.
I miss those days, but pragmatism has to take pride of place now.
A year’s worth of healthy living, including eating healthily ( most of the time) and a strong exercise programme have seen me shed 75 pounds. I am feeling stronger and healthier than I have in years. In the early days of my new regimen, I had gone to see a diabetic counsellor who laid out what my new eating plan would look like.
I have to admit that when she laid it out, I wasn’t feeling it. My tongue and stomach were not enthused either. Replacing regular milk with almond milk was at first tough to deal with but, over time, it became easier. I actually now enjoy almond milk with my high- fibre cereal or my oats and fruit. And courtesy of my beautiful wife, I also can enjoy the occasional taste of stew peas. However, my diet plan has evolved and I now enjoy baked chicken, steamed broccoli and carrots, or a nice tossed salad along with skinned chicken breasts and other healthy meat choices.
Occasionally, I cheat, but overall, I am still able to enjoy my food. My tastes have been altered a bit, but ultimately, eating healthier has helped me fashion a new lease on life. I have also learned a very valuable lesson: I can still enjoy some, if not all the foods I used to enjoy, but with large doses of moderation.