Hold the cream, please!

About three months ago, Dyan Castillejo got me hooked on Green Tea Frappuccino from Starbucks. Far from being a coffee drinker, much less a coffee lover, I can count on one hand the number of times I actually went in to order a coffee-based drink. As far as I was concerned, Starbucks’ greatest come-on was their vanilla-flavored non-fat steamed milk and lemon poppy seed bread – these two being high up in my long list of comfort foods. No one makes it better than they do and I have sat through many movies and weathered rainy days happily enjoying one or both. My taste buds and cravings were resolutely loyal to those two only, that is, until my love affair with their Green Tea Frappuccino started. And soon after that, their strawberries and cream variant, but then that is another story.

Oh me, oh my…there I was day in and day out, enjoying the biggest cup they come in. I figured that as long as I regularly attended dance class I would burn off all the sugar. What I was not really conscious of was the fact that I would ask my driver to get me a serving on my way to dance class (as motivation to dance harder, I lead myself to believe) and another one immediately after the class (to reward myself for working up a good sweat). This went on for over a month until one day I grabbed my favorite pair of jeans and, horror of horrors, discovered that I had to inhale until I was almost blue in the face just to get the button to close. Although my weight stayed the same, my waistline apparently had a different inclination. I stared at the mirror and all I could see was a Starbucks cup brimming with my favorite green-colored green tea drink. Whoever said indulgence did not come hand-in-hand with consequences must have been kidding. Yes, it was time to break up with Starbucks and say hello to Diet (not the actor) before my hips could really start a "let’s-get-wide" revolution.

It was Richard’s good friend Jay Heredia who became instrumental in my losing all the unwanted weight gain. The last time I saw Jay he did not resemble his usual buffed self; he had put on weight and was just starting to play badminton regularly to shed it off. About a month later I saw him again and not only did he lose weight he was actually thin. I was amazed at how quick he did it. He explained the Atkins Diet and in essence, I was supposed to be off sugar and carbs for a total of two weeks after which I could slowly reintroduce it into my diet. In between, I could eat all the protein and yes, fat, that I wanted. My only source of carbs would be vegetables, like a salad or something complete with dressing. Yippee. That did not sound bad at all. Chicken? I could eat it fried, with the skin, guilt-free supposedly. Chicharon bulaklak, bulalo, butter, cheese, eggs with the yolks intact and foie gras? Super okay, too. Wow, this seemed like the easiest diet ever.

I stayed on the program for the whole two weeks (admittedly cheating once or twice) and it wasn’t long before I felt and saw the difference. One day I called up Jay to ask if non-fat milk was allowed during the two-week induction period. I was craving for my original Starbucks fix (minus the vanilla syrup for the moment). No it wasn’t…he said something about anything non-fat being practically synonymous with high carbs. Could I eat crispy pata in lieu of non-fat milk then, I asked, pushing my luck. "Go ahead and enjoy" was his answer. I was blown away. It was at that point that I could not make heads or tails of what I was doing. All the fatty, high-caloric food I grew up believing and knowing was bad, all of a sudden, was acceptable. Not only that, for as long as I didn’t enjoy them with any carbs I could actually lose weight too. Talk about having my cake and eating it, too!

True enough, I lost all the weight I gained, plus a bit more. But I switched to South Beach Diet very soon after that, if only because I could not quite comprehend how Atkins could actually be healthy. It may be very effective but it did not seem very sensible to me. The South Beach Diet was more in keeping with the diet ideals I grew up with and although Phase I is very similar to the first two weeks of Atkins, it ultimately boils down to making a healthy choice as opposed to picking the more indulgent one. I kinda like this better.

Speaking of South Beach Diet, Florabel Co makes delicious South Beach diets-to-go. Her recipes, although low in fat, are high in taste, delicious and far from bland. You do not feel deprived at all. I never thought enjoying good food and losing weight could actually go hand in hand. She also makes the yummiest strawberry yogurt. You have to try it. You may contact Florabel at 0917-8117334. She just very well may be your weapon to losing unwanted bulge.

I have, thus far, learned to go the extra mile to make healthier food choices. Because I still want to enjoy bread, my brothers Matt and Jules turned me on to the delightful world of home-baked whole wheat bread that does not have the consistency of steel wool or the taste of cardboard. They buy whole wheat flour from Healthy Options and through the skilled hands of Mang Ben, our family friend who is a seaman-cum-baker on vacation waiting for his next assignment, we get to enjoy loaves of freshly baked wheat bread anytime we want to. He has perfected a recipe that is not dry, but is soft, holds together well, and I can actually squish it into a tight ball when I want to. It is amazing how much bread you can make out of that one pack which costs only P200 or so. It makes for a fresh, healthy, and very cost-effective treat all the time. Healthy Options also carries very good whole wheat pasta. We tried some for dinner earlier this week, topped with olive oil, garlic and strips of tenderloin from Shopwise (they have really good meat there). It was good in a very comforting way.

Nowadays with so much information available, finding a diet to fit your lifestyle and your needs should be a walk in the park. Staying healthy is ultimately the better choice. While I now know better not to indulge on sinfully good treats on a daily basis (it was crazy of me to think I could actually get away with it), I have also come to terms with the fact that I am happiest when I do get to enjoy them once in a while. It is just a matter of perfecting and embracing a balancing act. When it comes to diets, as long as you know your limits, who is to say that you can’t have it all? When I need a sugar fix, I can always run to Leonida’s for their sugar-free chocolates and maybe tomorrow, I can afford to have a big cup of my favorite green-tea frappuccino from Starbucks. I will remember to ask them to hold the cream.