Netnet Camomot IS that haze? Clouds? How to distinguish one from the other. Hmmm. May I use haze as another excuse not to go walking early in the morning? But no walking for now. Instead, there’s the 30-minute workout in a small gym for a maximum of four people and that already include the instructor. Used to exercise that could last for at least one hour, we were like 30 minutes lang? But while in the midst of the workout, it morphed to, how many minutes more?! O my gas. I’ve been there, done that with all sorts of exercise, and this latest episode seems to be a combination of some past episodes. The body remembers the exercise it’s familiar with, thus, muscle pains are minimal and can disappear overnight. But there’s one more exercise routine that’s new to the senior-moment wannabe: circuit training. When a high school classmate told me she has enrolled in this circuit whatever with her daughter and nieces, we had to ask, Huh? She said, You flip huge tires, make hagis-hagis huge ropes... And we were like, At your age?! You’ll break your back! But here I am, doing the milder version of that. Huff and puff and blow the gym down. Haha! The World Health Organization recently released a warning against red meat and processed meat which I've not been gulping down in the past several days anyway, so what else is new? It's now fish or chicken for meals at home and even when dining out. Like buying the plain black, navy, white, gray and red colors for tops and dresses, narrowing the diet to fish and chicken also simplifies one’s shopping. Add no flour, no sugar, no soda, no junk food, no milk to that, and the shopping is further simplified. Nuts are OK but there’s a need to count the number of pieces to monitor the calorie count. O my gas. I can consume a family-size pack of peanuts while watching TV. How many pieces are in that pack? This is the start of decluttering one’s life. The clothes may have remained claustrophobic in the overstuffed closet, and the books and magazines are still waiting to be read, but at least the food department is starting to look organized. Even the fridge in the room has no food! Used to being filled with chips, diet soda, nuts, mayo, wheat bread, it’s now reduced to storing scents, lotions, meds, vitamins, mints, a few forks and spoons for the past diet’s mayo sandwiches, boxes of tea bags, plastic clips for the past diet’s bags of chips, two piggy plastic clips, a pair of piggy scissors, and the egg art of work representing me which I made during our Rotary club’s team-building. And there are bottles of water on top of the fridge since I don’t drink cold water. How long will this latest diet and exercise program last? Well, let’s see--and no, that’s not pronounced like the Spanish word for milk. At my senior-moment age, returning to bad habits can be dangerous to the health. Emotional eating is one of the culprits behind weight gain. You keep eating despite the full tummy. Eating when there’s joy or sadness, fear, anger, disgust, all the emotions in the movie “Inside Out.” Any emotion triggers the binge and then the guilt of eating too much comes after, which may trigger another binge. It’s Halloween parties galore tonight and tomorrow night, that is, if you’ve not started with trick or treat yet. No need for the emotional eating mascot to entice you into eating more as the buffet table seems to call you to indulge already. Yup, that table can talk! And it's saying, Lechon pa more, dinuguan pa more... With dinuguan of course as the more appropriate food for Halloween--blood, anyone? I don’t know why Pinoys have adopted this western custom to trick or treat. Like as if we don’t have enough fiestas to justify the yearound parties. Some even bring lechon to the cemetery for the All Souls’ and All Saints’ Days. I remember one of those nights when people visiting their departed relatives were feasting on lechon while we, the clueless, had burgers and fries. And there are families from the US who have brought with them Thanksgiving which they celebrate here in Pinas with turkey and more. With more of course referring to lechon. Noche buena will never be the same without the ham if Pinoys will seriously follow WHO’s latest health advice. But the pig will be celebrating. Between the ham and egg, the pig is the one most committed to sating our appetite. Starting a diet a few months before Christmas is not the most popular commitment in the world of anorexic bulimic models and macrobiotic diets. Christmas parties and exchange gifts will soon start to harass our sked again along with the Christmas trees that have sprouted in malls and department stores since September. With all these constant reminders to celebrate, following the diet will require ignoring the buffet tables and the lechons and the hams. At least fruitcake is no longer a popular gift, that's one less food group to deal with, that is, if you love fruitcake. Shedding off the pounds will now require walking for hours despite the haze that could clog up your lungs and clouds threatening to regress to torrential rains. Oh well. Happy Halloween!