Between Dieting and Eating (Solution: Calorie Counting)

It has been a while since I last blogged about food. You may have noticed that it's been months! We'll aside from being taken over by my work as deadlines are pressing and I have to prioritize them, I also have undergone a self assessment of my health. So before I continue with the usual food blogging, let me share sometime that might be of interest to you.

Sometime last July or August, I noticed that it's been hard catching my breath whenever I catch up with my kids. What's worse is when I try to rush to some place and notice that my body weight causes inertia and instead of thinking about reaching the place, I'm conscious on how I look like and careful as I might loose balance. Yeah, I know that over-reacting.... but sometimes I do feel that way.

I realized that my love for food might be the culprit. I take too much than what I should actually take. One morning when I woke up, I felt my legs hurt due to numbness. I didn't do anything to cause this..... and maybe that's the problem.

I thought the best way to overcome this and somehow bring a little bit of my self esteem back is to loose weight. I tried different methods, including one that asks you to eat only fruits and vegetables. It was hard at first..... heck, it was even harder to continue!

Then, I used a diet plan that asked me not to take a lot of the good stuff. No Rice for example. Then 0% saturated fat. It was getting harder coz if you check the label, the only edible things that do not have saturated fat are fruits, vegetables and water. LOL! Well some processed food claim they don't have it.... but they were hard to find or too expensive for my shrinking budget.

So I figured the best way to start is to ask the experts. It was a good thing that our company invited Nutritionists and Dieticians as part of their employee welfare activities. I approached them and asked for their recommendation regarding my situation.

At the start they told me that I was just okay after some examination and computation. But I figured that I may have been wrong with some information I provided. Like for my weight, I initially told them that I last weighed in at 185 lbs (then after a week I checked the scale and found myself at 196 lbs, that already after dieting for a week!)

The nutritionist then told me that if I wanted to either keep my weight or loose some more, I have to check my activities and calorie intake. Huh? Oh yeah.... While they were explaining the food groups and the science of nutrition, I now realized that what they are trying to tell me is pretty simple...... Energy In ---> Stored Energy ---> Energy Out. The Law of Conservation of Energy and Mass. Stored Energy = Energy In - Energy Out.

Okay this may should weird, but in theory it does make sense. We all know that people need food to GO, GROW and GLOW. That's the reason why we have the food groups to distinguish which ones should we take more and which one to take less. Right? If you understand this, then you are halfway through....

The other idea is that our body converts food into energy, which we use for our activities. These food which were classified into groups provide different levels of energy. I won't be your science teacher now but I hope you get the driff....

Anyway, so what you eat (Energy In) must be converted into energy for activities (Energy out). If Energy In is equal to Energy Out, then you keep your Stored Energy (and theoretically your weight or mass).

Now, what if you change your activity, say you have more physical activities? This means your Energy Out will be higher than before. If you take the same amount of food (Energy In), Stored Energy will decrease as Energy Out will eat some of it.

You think that's cool? Picture this out: What if you change your work activities, then go jogging at least thrice a week and watch your food intake? Get it? You'll notice that you'll get slimmer as days go by.

Two things I learned from this activity: Exercise and Calorie Counting. For me, this DEFINITELY works! To date, I am at 177 lbs. That's 19 lbs from 2 months ago.

You might be thinking, that's too low.... Well, actually I do have some eating splurges in between (I cheat) and that's every Friday, Saturday and Sundays..... Not counting the other celebrations and fiestas. I don't deprive myself on these dates. But I just make sure that I stick to the game plan on regular days.

For me loosing 19 lbs is better than doing nothing and possibly gaining 19 lbs. I also don't have to spend a penny. Actually, at times I'm able to save.

If you want to learn more about Calorie Counting, check this website I just stumbled upon today: http://www.acaloriecounter.com/calorie-counting.php I didn't know about this site when I started, but it has the same idea I am trying to tell you in easier terms.

So, let's eat......

Return to Ikabud: Crispy Buntot

This article has been delayed for almost 2 weeks now.... But friends, the long wait is over.

Hah! I knew we would be back to this place and this time, that Tuna delicacy will not escape our salivating mouths. Order what you want, this one is OURS! bwahahaha!

It was a feast as usual as the whole family was there to take lunch. Orders of grilled chicken, kare-kare, gising-gising and crispy pata were common. The waitress confirmed that the BIG ONE is available to my delight.

Here's a tip when you order this dish: Make sure to have it sliced open so that the meat gets fried all the way down, unless you prefer medium rare. This ain't a fine dining resto, dudes. :)

Also, request for additional calamansi and some chili. Oh my.... this is going to be sweet! I mean spicy! hehehe

Here's my take: As expected, the dish is superb as the deep fried Tuna tail for me is a perfect fit for lunch. Add some gising-gising or chop suey to your menu and you have a feast. The crunchy skin is tasty but should some part of it lose its crispiness, I suggest that you dunk in down that chili-toyo-mansi condiment. Uhmmm... hmmmm! Oh, make sure that you wash it down with buko juice or pineapple if you ordered one.

Heaven... But don't take my word for it. Try it. :)

At Ikabud Clark...

It was another Sunday lunch out, this time together with my wife, son and in-laws. After the mass, we headed directly to SM Clark to fill our empty and now rumbling stomachs with gustatory gusto. Watta word, huh?

We agreed that we should head to Ikabud to have a taste of the supposed Kapampangan cooking. It's not the cooking style we are after but the taste. My mind was already developing this illusion and smell of the "Piniritong Buntot ng Tuna"(we had previously tried this delicacy and it was soooo darn good if you are into Seafoods).

Unfortunately since the demand is sooo high, the dish was no longer available for ordering. Too bad, it should have been the centerpiece of today's blog if I had the chance to taste it again.

Well, we have to move on..... here's what we had and my thoughts on them....

Let's start with the Kare-Kare: It tasted good, particularly the peanut sauce. The vegetables were cooked right and complimented the texture and flavor of the peanut sauce. Noticed that I praised the peanut sauce? hehehe... well that was the good part. The not so good part is the meat serving. It was mostly pigskin and fat, and to be honest I was disappointed as I was looking for proteins... hehehe. The bagoong (shrimp paste) that came with it was also good. I just made sure the sauce was scrapped to the last drop.


Next is the Sizzling Chicken Sisig. Now, the term Sisig is synonymous to Kapampangan as Buko pie is to Laguna. There's a Sisig Festival in Angeles City which happens sometime during the holidays or during that quarter if I'm not mistaken. There are a lot of flavors and ingredients to choose from, but for this place and this day we opted the Chicken variation. Here's a tip: make sure that you mix the chili and the calamansi evenly on your dish and eat while it's still hot. It was, well.... it tasted plain for me. The chunks are a bit bigger than usual. Maybe you need to check it out.


Last in our menu is the Gising-Gising. It's like Chop Suey but has prawns instead of shrimps and slices of squid and scallops, all loaded in a Sizzling plate. It has lots of green chilis too so for those who are not fond of spicy foods, watch out for the chilis. After tasting it, I would recommend the same dish in Mr. Frosty's instead (there's one at SM Clark too) and you would be happy with the bigger serving. hehehe


Well, if you ask how's the overall eating experience.... Since the dish I was looking for was not available, plus the meat in the Kare-kare made me frown.... I indulged myself with a tall Mocha Frappe at the nearby Starbucks outlet. That's where I cooled down. hehehehe