DUNKIN’S latest drive-thru, located at Masterson Avenue, Cagayan de Oro, is finally open.

The only food there that can join my carnivore journey is the bunwich, sans the bun.

At first, the low-carb and carnivore diets do look like a huge sacrifice. Try listing down your favorite carbs and imagine not eating them anymore. No more halo-halo. No more bilo-bilo. No more sapin-sapin.

But the other side of this is going to the Emergency Room to lower an uncontrollable blood pressure. So, which sacrifice is preferable?

At the gym’s Halloween party, though, I taste-tested the empanada and lumpia Shanghai. And they were both yummy.

And once I start eating carbs again, there’s no stopping the carb cravings. So, the day after, I had ube turon and my most favorite bilo-bilo at Fat Chef.

I already know the carbs’ side effects on my body, and yet I had those carbs. What happened to my strict carnivore journey? Oh. It was still there, with some detours, after which I’d switch back to carnivore again.

By the third day, I was sneezing. And it didn’t help that there was a flu scare in Cagayan de Oro.

Yes, as if the gastroenteritis scare weeks ago was not enough, CDO added one more: flu.

I’ve had no food trips at one of the city’s downtown malls after that gastroenteritis news, no thanks to its dirty water reservoir. I now miss Hap Chan’s shrimp scrambled eggs and sweet and sour pork although I can’t have eggs anymore.

I have actually lost track of the why behind eggs. Was it skin allergies? The constantly whining and complaining left knee? Sinusitis?

I had been using eggs as a replacement for rice ever since I went low-carb in February 2022. Now, that great responsibility has been transferred to ground beef. Yes, ground beef as my rice. To which I’d add the viand: beef ribs lauya, pork ribs lauya, grilled pork liempo, or salmon paksiw. I can already imagine the high-carb dieter’s response to this menu: Anong kababalaghan ito?

The carnivore diet does sound like a phenomenon especially since it’s so restrictive and seems impossible to follow and practice. But a deep why, such as healing, can make it possible.

If following the food pyramid and MyPlate has not solved the world’s health problems, it’s time to consider other options.

Dr. Anthony Chaffee has been advocating for the carnivore diet with this tag line: Plants are poison.

Try to observe your tummy after eating anything plant-based. And plant-based is as wide as this: jackfruit, biko, sans rival, buko juice, spaghetti. Is the tummy bloated? Are you rushing to the restroom a few minutes later? Are there malunggay leaves in your — pasintabi sa mga kumakain while reading this column — poop?

CDO’s gastroenteritis scare did make Cagayanons rush to bathrooms and restrooms several weeks ago. The culprit: the downtown mall’s dirty water reservoir. Does ordering bottled water instead of having the service water at restos protect us from tummy trouble? Hmmm.