THE books I’m currently reading somehow reveal my age: “Disrupt Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age” by Jo Ann Jenkins with Boe Workman, and “Woodward and Bernstein: Life In the Shadow of Watergate” by Alicia Shepard.
The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein became popular because of their Watergate investigative journalism that led to the resignation of then U.S. President Richard Nixon. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman later portrayed the two in the 1976 movie “All the President’s Men.” That’s 48 years ago. And I watched it.
So, am I disrupting aging by sticking to a low-carb diet? Hmmm. In the last week or so, some people told me I look 30. Or 40. And that’s with the non-strict low-carb diet, after all the high-carb food I had been feasting on since the start of this year.
But during the weekly Facebook Live of “Doktor’s Desk” on Tuesday last week, when I commented about my nadapa episodes, meaning eating high-carb food, Dr. Fi Atencio said, When we started “Doktor’s Desk” in September 2023, nadapa has always been your challenge. And that’s when I realized, Oops! So, it’s not only this year.
“Doktor’s Desk” is the Facebook page of Doc Fi and Dr. Suzeth Encarnado who are low-carb doctors.
Anyway, after saying thank you to those who said I look, ahem, 30 or 40—puera buyag—I’d reveal what could be the secret behind this phenomenon: the low-carb diet. And then I’d add some details: if only you saw me in January 2021 when I was 180 pounds…
I’ve lost more than 50 pounds since then through the traditional no-red-meat diet from January 2021 to February 2022, and the low-carb diet from February 2022 to the present.
It has been a difficult journey because of the conflicting information about health. Doctors can’t seem to agree on the best method to reverse bad health conditions. It’s traditional medicine versus the low-carb practice.
If only there’s that one sure thing about health, then there will be no confusion. Everyone is following the same path. Everyone is happy with no maintenance medication and no chronic illnesses. But that’s kind of Shangri-La. Or nirvana.
The road less travelled in the world of medicine is the extreme diet: lion diet, and vegan.
Popularized by Mikhaila Peterson, the lion diet allows only ruminant meat: beef, lamb, venison. Plus salt and water. Ruminants include cattle, sheep, deer, antelopes, giraffes, and their kind. I don’t think you’ll eat a giraffe. Hmmm.
And there’s the not-so-extreme: vegetarian, fruitarian, pescetarian, low-carb (less than 100 grams of total carbs), ketogenic (less than 20 grams total carbs), ketovore (less than ten grams total carbs), and carnivore (zero carbs).
Most people follow the moderation diet. A little bit of everything. Meals scattered throughout the day. Pandesal and coffee upon waking up. The real breakfast after that. Morning snacks. Lunch. Afternoon snacks. Dinner. Snacks while watching Netflix. Midnight snacks. That’s a total of eight “moderate” meals in one day. Which I used to feast on once upon a time.
The last time I checked, Pinas is still a free country, so, the Pinoy is free to follow whatever diet he can stick to forevermore. Which is the most important part of a diet: if you can stick to it, congratulations.
