Just add salt

“THE Flash” was not one of the trailers that I saw while watching movies since the cinemas reopened. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn that there’s a superhero movie showing at a theater near me. But that’s not where we watched the movie. We went to a downtown mall in Cagayan de Oro instead.

If the uptown mall would only renovate its cinemas and add a Director’s Club, plus open a Uniqlo branch, the uptowner won’t have to travel to downtown CDO anymore. That means less traffic since the uptowners can then choose to relax at the uptown mall, unlike what they’re doing now.

On a rainy Friday night, while on our way home, there we were, stuck in traffic at the Rotonda. We couldn’t complain, though, because those traveling through Puerto had it worse. The only thing that kept us buoyed up was talking about “The Flash.”

Superhero and action movies are always entertaining. “Fast X,” for example, is all action from beginning to end, and good thing I opted to not eat the free popcorn that time otherwise it would have been, Wait! Let me breathe for a second! It was action action action all throughout the movie.

For “The Flash,” however, I feasted on the free popcorn like I had not eaten one for more than a year, which was actually true. Popcorn is high-carb. And it seems like that’s what I’ve been having lately.

When a friend forwarded her birthday menu to me, she said, No dieting ha. I replied, Of course, no dieting when I’m with family and friends. Which seems to be frequent now, almost daily. Puera buyag.

To high-carb or not to high-carb has become my worst dilemma each time I eat out. Sometimes it feels like I have to prove I have no low-carb obsession whatsoever.

Because of my low-carb journey, sweets are now too sweet for me. I’d look at, say, waffles with their maple syrup, and think I love that. But once I’m eating them, they’re not yummy anymore. It’s like eating paper.

There’s this bread in a Korean coffee shop. I loved that bread the first time I tasted it last year. I ordered it again a few weeks ago, and it, too, wasn’t yummy anymore.

I’m gobbling down these high-carb goodies, expecting their yumminess to kick in, and it never happens.

For steaks, though, it’s the exact opposite. I’m already saying yum after the first bite. If you’ve seen the Cookie Monster swooning over cookies, that’s how I am now with steaks. My taste buds have changed. My cravings are now for beef, pork, and eggs.

The bedroom fridge has sugar-free chocolates which I don’t even like. I don’t think I’ll buy more. The no-sugar-added chocolate ice cream was kind of a test to see if I still love sweets. But I’d rather stick to the basics now when I’m home.

Low-carb dieters call these basics real food. If instant noodles mean “just add water,” real food means “just add salt.”

The free popcorn, by the way, had salt. Hmmm.