The Path to Eating Healthy

My mom told me I was the most "masiba" of all her children. Growing up, I was always taunted with many names as I was obviously the heavier sibling among all four of us. I've always wanted to lose weight but found it hard to say no to sweets and other sinful eats that were either oily or carb-ridden.

I realized that more than just shedding those unwanted pounds, I now acquired a sense of eating healthy. I wanted to eat food that won't wreak havoc on my organs when I grow old. A lot of people are suffering from a myriad of complications in the internal organs, most of which are attributed to our unhealthy choices in food. Even if we do try to eat "healthy" or go "vegan", not all of the ingredients we use are natural to begin with.

I've known Fristine (or Lakapati as she now calls herself) to be an advocate of a sustainable lifestyle, with raw food as one of her staunchest passions. Together with her husband, Alvin, she organized an introductory demo to preparing raw food with a cozy group of people who were just as interested as I was to learn more about this new way of eating healthy.

Prior to attending the event, I've tried preparing my own green smoothies (with some advice from Lakapati herself), and I'm convinced that this is the kind of eating lifestyle that I want to pursue. The first time I tried drinking green smoothies, I was indisposed for 2 days because I had to go to the loo and relieve myself. In some ways it was a good experience as I felt I detoxified my system from all the oils and unsavory stuff in my tummy. My next attempt proved to be even more enjoyable---the smoothies gave me my daily does of energy that coffee sometimes failed to do. Being a coffee junkie for years, I always thought caffeine would boost my energy whenever I needed it. Imagine my surprise when I was like an Energizer bunny with just drinking greens!

The demo consisted of green juice, green smoothies, raw ice cream, raw salad dressings and buko pasta. Lakapati gave us some nifty handouts for the recipes and explained in detail how she prepared some of the ingredients for each dish. The demo was truly an eye opener. For one, she didn't need cooking pans or the stove to prepare the meals, just her trusty 'ol blender. Imagine the savings on LPG on that! The only challenge I see on my end was how to acquire some of the ingredients she used, particularly some of the flavorings and raw ingredients that are hard to find in groceries. I hope to familiarize myself with some of it so I can convince my mom to slowly transition from junk eating to raw food. My brothers are going to be a challenge, but hopefully we'd get around to wean them from eating red meat at the most.

More demo photos!