You need to eat healthy… Did you have your vegetables today… You need all the different colors in your diet.. where is the green here… And then when you lift the green circle piece in your colorful cereal.. they say it don’t count… diets…

I hate diets, but I realize how important they are. Yes I do… No Kidding… As a kid growing up, I remember my mom saying that when we went to a hotel we used to order two biryanis and one I will eat and one for my dad, my mom and my sister.. I ate a lot.. I was growing up and my sister was much younger to me.

But I don’t think it was eating alone that was the issue…. it was also the drinks… growing up in Dubai Sugary drinks were a big thing back in the early 80s. We would buy those huge bottles.. cartons of 24… I just had that instead of water I guess. When we returned to India mid 80s, I even had withdrawals from not having sugary cola. But then over time that habit was gone.. Not really… even now I am the only person in my family who buys and drinks them once in a while. Just for old times sake.

That does not mean I have not tried diets.. Always.. from Low Carb to High Carb to high fat to low fat… but nothing seemed to be fun… I love meat.. but then if it is only meat I want something else. So now over time I have had a simple, less bothering diet and personally it is working.

For the past several years my breakfast has been two eggs and a chappathi. But I only use one Yolk and throw the other one. Cholesterol call…. Occasionally I replace Chappathi with a piece of bread. On weekends once in a while we might go out as a family and have a big brunch and at home too… some weekends I make some upma that I love.. And that goes well with some mixture (indian Snack) and steamed ripe plantains.. A kerala delicacy…

Lunches are home-made and so are dinners which I try my best to wrap up before 7 PM.. it does not work always. But I have seen significant changes just by eating dinner early… On Friday nights we buy something from any restaurant. This was not happening during pandemic but we have started now.. for kids it is also the pizza night. Saturday and Sunday if we have some event… the thought of diet is thrown out of the window.. but if not it goes as usual.

Even when we eat out we try to be a bit conscious and aware of what we eat. I won’t say all salads… but we completely avoid all you can eat buffets. I don’t even remember when was the last time I had these buffets.

Now the problem with me is control. Today I went to drop my son to school and as we passed a McDonald’s he read the breakfast ad posted in big letters outside. Immediately I wanted a Sausage McMuffin with Egg.. I so badly wanted it… I thought I will drop him at school and get it on my way back. Then I controlled myself… I had my regular breakfast waiting for me back home. I said I will have it this weekend… not one but I will have two of it with hash browns….. Aha! how nice..

Now folks might be thinking what is he saying.. he has got a title of ‘staying healthy’ and he talks about fast food.. well the title is about my fights with diets and how I find my way to incentivize myself.. Let us be honest.. I don’t like diets, I just do it because that is the right thing to do. I am as human as anyone else who loves that greasy.. salty… yum yum there… But then sometimes I give away to temptation.. sometimes I control like today… everyday I am just another human…

I think fitting your vices into our diet just so we don’t feel deprived is my way of diet. I am not the person whose eyes bulges out and mouth waters when I see a green vegetable… But yes I like salads… I make them and I eat them.. Or I should say, I have trained myself over time to eat salads and like them… I like… not love.

But now to avoid the salad dressing I usually use vegetables while cooking or have raw vegetables that I eat like cucumber, zucchini and so on.. Even for salads we try the plain salad without off the shelf dressing.. some of the dressings are so sweet and unhealthy it feels like…

Sandwiches are my way of getting vegetables in and I love them with brown bread.. I love the crunchiness in between… And I like it without any fancy spreads. Cooking is also something I do a lot.. May be I should try experimenting some soups as winter is coming. Diet is also an evolving process for me. Though I hate it.. I am finding ways to like it…

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Categories: Health, Writing Project

Tags: coocking, diet, salads, Staying healthy