Binignit, tabirak, bilo-bilo

HOW many tubs of binignit, tabirak, or bilo-bilo did you have?

Good Friday is supposed to be a day of fasting and abstinence. But for me who eats only one meal a day, should my Good Friday now be a no-meal day?

There was at least one guy who fasted for a year. With a doctor’s guidance, of course. And that guy lost a lot of weight, of course. And all other fasting windows now pale in comparison, of course. But who’s comparing? Not me, said the high-carber who ate all versions of the binignit, tabirak, and bilo-bilo. Not me, said the foodie who eats at least six meals a day. Not me, said the Holy Week vacationer who went to Europe for the pasta, pizza, and croissants. Yum!

But isn’t Europe Catholic? Do Europeans fast, too? Hmmm.

Even a low-carb doctor said she would try the authentic pasta, pizza, and croissants in Europe if ever she gets to visit the continent especially since she doesn’t know when she will be able to return and savor its yummy goodies.

She also said that if that Holy Week vacation is only in Pinas, the low-carber has no excuse to indulge in high-carb goodies even if it’s binignit, tabirak, or bilo-bilo. The Pinoy who’s born here in Pinas must have tasted all kinds of authentic kakanin already since birth, so, there’s nothing new to discover. Ho-hum.

But I still had sapin-sapin, bibingka, puto, torta, putomaya, even taho at the hotel’s breakfast buffet. And suffered the consequences thereafter: bloated feet and legs, bloated eyes, bloated tummy, eye allergies, hand allergies, sneezes, runny nose.

The low-carb doctor’s explanation for that: my body was already in ketosis, thanks to the diet, so, I wasn’t used to high-carb goodies anymore. The longer I indulged in high-carb food, the worse the side effects. My indulgence lasted for a week. Tsk tsk.

She said that an indulgence should be planned and should last for only one day or a maximum of two days. Longer than that, there’s a risk for the low-carber to return to a high-carb diet. Oops.

Good thing I was able to switch back to low-carb upon arriving home after the staycation. Meaning, no binignit, tabirak, or bilo-bilo for me, not even on Good Friday when my OMAD—one meal a day—was fish, chicken, eggs, and cream cheese. Which made me realize I don’t like chicken anymore. And will probably say goodbye to fish in the near future.

This diet is for anyone who has been there, done that with so many diets—low-fat, vegan, vegetarian, Paleo, cabbage soup, Mediterranean, hard boiled egg, South Beach, liquid, pescatarian, etc.—and did lose weight but gained the pounds back plus more.

Facebook was filled with binignit-tabirak-bilo-bilo posts during the Holy Week and all I could do was imagine the side effects if ever neighbors would be generous enough to share their version with us. Hehe.

Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on your POV or point of view—the only binignit the neighborhood had was the one sold through the village’s virtual market. And I didn’t have the nerve to order as I was still having some side effects of the staycation’s high-carb indulgence.