HEALTH-CONSCIOUS

For the past weeks, I have been trying to be more health-conscious. I suppose it's because of the availability of fruits around the house (papayas, bananas, marang, mangoes, buko or young coconut, etc) and the fact that my parents eat lightly in the evenings. So, I decided to exercise more, increase my juice and water intake (Ruther always reprimands me for not drinking a lot of water everyday) and eat less carbs and lessen my servings. Unlike my mom, I am not gifted with a slim body. I am big boned. When I am placed between my mom and sister, I look like an Amazon. I'm not kidding. The only way for me to lose weight is to work, and work hard. I know life is not fair but it's okay. I like it when the boys see me exercising. When I announce to the boys, "Mommy is going to exercise" you could see them bounce up and happily come with me to the basement for 20 minutes of workout. For them, exercise is fun and that is exactly the attitude I want to see in them.

Anyway, I have been drinking a lot of juices lately. The Del Monte Pineapple Orange drink is one of my favorites (see the big mug? Might as well drown myself in it. =D). One can costs around P43, so not bad. I also like the Sweetened Pineapple flavor (I can't take it too sour because I get acidic), Four Seasons and Mango flavor. Ruther loves the Sunkist Mango and I used to buy the big tetrapack for him before. (I can't even recall the last time I did that for him, since he's been away for so long.) Nikki likes orange
juice and the dalandan (that's Philippine orange) drink from Jollibee (a fast food restaurant here) and Ethan doesn't like any juice at all. =D I love taking juices. Since we arrived here in Zamboanga, I think the only times I drank sodas were during my Tita Josie's 80th Birthday celebration and a few weeks ago when I bought a can at the supermarket. And that's it. Mighty proud of myself for that. =D Oh yes, I'm also fond of shakes. This one in the photo is mango shake that I ordered when we were at a family restaurant. Really yummy and very refreshing. I also love other shake flavors: banana, avocado, apple, kiwi... LOTS!

I've also cut down on chocolates and candies. With diabetes as part of our family medical history, I suppose it's time I became more careful of my sugar intake (well, maybe cotton candy every other week. hehehe.) My paternal grandfather lost part of his leg (shin, below the knee) because of complications from diabetes. He also passed away the year my grandmother (his wife) died.

Veggies, well, I've become quite accustomed to eating vegetables so that's not a problem. But my 3 boys (Ruther, Nikki and Ethan) are not too keen on veggies. But I still try to serve them some greens once in a while.

I'm also a coffee lover (i love cappuccino and Ruther loves the caramel macchiato) but still, I'm trying to cut down. I drink 3 cups a week now unlike the 2 cups a day when I was in college. Yup, I was a coffee addict then. Coffee was my stimulant so I could stay awake all night to study... I'm also trying green tea now, after reading about it's many benefits. I'm not too fond of the taste but I figure, I could get used to it later on.

Thankfully, I don't drink alcohol and smoke. And neither does Ruther although he does occasionally drink beer with his friends from time to time. I've only drank tequila thrice in my life and it was all during a party so I had very little.

I have yet to get a physical check-up when we go back to Manila. Hopefully, there will be no problems there. Then I have to schedule a dental appointment too to have some of my fillings redone. Some are deteriorating and I'm worried about those. Oh yes, the boys will need some cleaning as well. =D

I suppose being health-conscious takes a lot of effort but then again, it's always better to be healthy than to be sick, right? As my teachers used to say, "Prevention is always better than cure."