My youngest bro suggested this version of resistance training to me: put my hand up to signify “stop” each time carbs are right in front of me while saying, “I resist.” Haha!

Each of us siblings has his/her own unique sense of humor, which we inherited from Daddy. And my nephew—youngest bro’s son—inherited that, too. Imagine us having meals together. Since I usually have a delayed reaction to their jokes, the “loading” symbol hovers above my minute brain until I finally get it. Sometimes they even need to explain to me why it’s funny. Aha! And I’m finally laughing just when they’ve already moved on.

As for the resistance training against carbs, I’ve been on a low-carb diet since February 2022 and started transitioning to carnivore two months ago. The struggle is real, as usual. At least I’m now able to say no to carbs.

At a recent birthday party, two slices of ube cake were, yes, served right in front of me. Ube was my most favorite carb ingredient during my high-carb days. Had this ube cake appeared before I went carnivore, I would have devoured both slices with much pleasure. Yum—sounds like purple yam, eh?

At other parties, I said no to chocolate cake, ube turon, halo-halo, all other carbs and sweets, and my most favorite snack—the one that evoked cravings that not even my low-carb goals could stop in my pre-carnivore days: Fat Chef’s bilo-bilo.

There was that time, despite being on a low-carb diet, when I tried so many versions of halo-halo in Cagayan de Oro and the towns of Misamis Oriental. Jacks Halo-halo, located in Tablon, CDO, was the best then, and I’m guessing it’s still the yummiest now.

My carnivore menu has been reduced to beef and pork. Ho-hum? Not exactly. I can now eat lechon, lechon baka, beef tendons, ribeyes, crispy pata, Fat Chef’s sizzling beef sinigang, and other beef and pork dishes until I’m satiated.

I don’t like chicken anymore, and my body reacts to eggs, fish, shrimp, scallops, and, I’m guessing, other seafood, too. I don’t want to experiment further with crabs and their kind.

But with hypertension as my main concern, I now have to discover the non-food triggers that may increase my blood pressure. Recreational screen time can be one of the major culprits. This includes Facebook, YouTube, Messenger, casual Googling, texting, video calls, mobile games, and other unnecessary online activities.

I’ve already removed all the mobile game apps from my phone. Remember Candy Crush? Whew.

At the height of the pandemic lockdowns, there was this digital coloring app that I became addicted to. I even paid for a monthly subscription after the free trial expired.

Another trigger can be narcissistic people. For a while there, I thought they were merely showy gossipers—bragging about their perceived achievements while putting down and gossiping about other people. And it doesn’t matter if their victims are their close friends, as long as they can present themselves as the best, the greatest, and the most supreme. All others had better bow before them and idolize them as gods.

Narcissists lack awareness of their own weaknesses; they only see their perceived strengths.

Operative word: perceived. Akala lang nila, ‘yon pala wala. Nada, nil, none, zero, zilch.

That’s why dealing with a narcissist is stressful: you can see with your bare eyes what’s wrong with her, and yet she continues to gossip, as if she’s the epitome of perfection. And what should you do even if the narcissist’s weaknesses are so obvious to you? STFU—shut the f*** up, ignore her, and ignore her gossip and lies. She doesn’t exist.