One Friday a few weeks ago, my personal trainer, Coach Jowen Racines, asked if I had cheesecake on Monday and I said, “Nope! I don’t eat cheesecake anymore.” Defensive! Haha.
What he meant was Chest Day. And it was me who coined the term Cheesecake Day to make that day palatable.
Coach Jowen happens to bake and sell the yummiest Basque cheesecake, and how timely to remember that in these “ber” months when Pinas’s Christmas season has officially begun and cheesecake can be the best Christmas gift ever. Yum!
Leg Day, however, remains not so palatable. So I guess I need to coin another term for it. How about Chicken Joy? Since a drumstick is the perfect emoji for Leg Day. Although I don’t eat chicken anymore when I’m home, I do still indulge at parties and in restos.
But the ingredients in party and restaurant food can be tricky. Even if the main star of the dish is beef or pork, the ingredients could be anything under the sun, which might not be perfect for the carnivore diet.
So have I become super sensitive to food? I think I have always been, since birth, but it’s only now that I can isolate the real causes behind my challenges. Remove toxic food. Remove toxic people. Avoid toxic situations—which can be the most difficult challenge, considering the way a particular bank was calling me daily last month to encourage me to avail of its latest promo offers.
Yes, daily—at least two phone calls per day. I already said no the first time because if I wanted that offer, I’d go to the bank and ask for it. Kind of seek and ye shall find.
When the bank’s telemarketers started calling at 8:12 a.m., I was like, “If you offer me P10 million interest-free for 25 years, I’ll take that.”
While watching the movie “Onslaught,” I started to wonder if the telemarketers’ incessant phone calls could also be called an onslaught.
Google defines onslaught as “a very powerful, forceful, and violent attack.” Oh. Telemarketers could only be forceful. So I take it back—their calls were not an onslaught but merely the usual marketing ploy until people would finally surrender and accept the promo offer.
But daily calls were too much. No is supposed to be a complete answer. I already said no to the first call, which was on September 1, 2026. Was this a one-month onslaught—er, bombardment?
What the client craves is a bank that’s always there for him when he desperately needs its services. And lucky is the client who has finally found that bank.
Banks are here, there, and everywhere in Cagayan de Oro these days. Just in case you’re still old school and prefer to hide your money under or inside the bed mattress so you can literally sleep on your money, ignoring bank offers for investments can be a challenge. I mean, there’s a bank right beside the village’s main gate, and an ATM outside the homeowners’ association office, with Spider-Man as its guard. How can any resident here miss that?
Aside from banks, gyms are also here, there, and everywhere in CDO. And their clients can be the whole family tree, from teenagers to senior citizens.
I guess the more money people have, as proven by the many banks in the city, the more funds they can invest in their health journey. Which is great news, actually.
But what I’m seeking and hoping to find now is the strength to continue my diet and workouts, and to achieve the goals I’ve set for myself. Hey, no pressure. Just one step at a time, one day at a time.
