The Lightness of Being.

i went grocery shopping this morning. my typical grocery list consistently consists of the following:
a. Chase's dog food (1 sack)
b. an assortment of toiletries
c. flavored tea bags (this month it's Lipton's Infusions - cranberry, strawberry and raspberry mix, decaf)
d. biscuits (love those cute animal shaped seaweed biscuits)
e. chocolates and caramel bars (get cheap alternatives - the Middle East produced Demolino tastes almost as good as a Twix bar)
f. a bag or two of chips (pile on the guilt)

this morning however, i went shopping for the most important two weeks in my life (or so id like to think). i go on a strict detox diet tuesday, and my cart today belonged to a gym bunny, not a mall rat. i purchased the following:

a. chicken breast fillets (no skin)
b. sour cream
c. capers (used sparingly)
d. red beans (instead of carb)
e. tomato soup (good for the immune system)
f. liter packs of fruit juice as part of the daily allowable A.C.E.S.
g. wheat bread (only one slice a day)
h. no msg seasoning (salt pepper paprika cumin thyme tarragon rosemary)
i. tortilla chips (baked, not fried, with salsa)
j. romaine and tagalog lettuce
k. red wine vinegar

put them all together and you have a new me, post diet in just two weeks. that's the lead time im giving myself, and fingers crossed, i will be sticking to my diet this time. so why detox? at 23, i have the eyebags of a 34 year old. the pandesal, or puson, or lower gut of a 30 year old. the flabby arms of my almost 60 year old mother (slightly exaggerated). i have cellulite to last me a lifetime, falling hairstrands that are more than the number of healthy hair follicles on my head. i feel tired waking up every morning, and am ready to retire in the evening at 830 p.m. i am older than my grandma. plus, i get the worst hangovers in the world.

before i went to taipei last july i did pilates for a month, every single day. my body asked for it when i stopped, my back was sore, my appetite bigger, my metabolism slower. i became too lazy though to do so and put on a good amount of weight. i started drinking again and that affected my strength considerably. when stressed, i'd turn to a glass of alcohol and for the moment or the evening, lose myself in a hazy perspective that can only liquor induced. the morning after, id have the biggest headache, a migraine would follow, and id be low on red blood platelets the entire day, feeling nauseaous and weak.

i tried hard to pick up where i left off, but it's difficult to break a routine, if you could call it that. i had been thru the same type of lifestyle back in college, when drinking sprees started at 3 in the afternoon and ended at 9. but these affairs never gave me trouble. id be on a consistent hamburger and fries diet and would be alert enough in class to participate in discussions and answer exams. i never thought, and neither did any of my colleagues and friends, that it would be so different once you hit a certain age, if you stop caring for your body. last month i bought myself 7 drinks under a drink all you can promo and found myself sprawled on the ground under a tree, along the entrance of a high class mall complex in Makati. water was coming out of my nose already, and i was passing out continually. i wanted to sleep, throw up, sleep again and just whine my way out of that evening.

indeed, health is wealth. the amount of stress young people choose to go through today will eventually take its toll on our bodies, especially if we subject our bodies to neglect. there's no better time to start loving yourself again. and there's also no better time to start knowing who your real friends and family are. surround yourself with people who take care of themselves, who shy away from vices, and those who keep clean the creation which we call the temple of God. it's a good start. pretty soon your efforts to physiologically declutter your lifestyle will branch out to help keep the rest of your life in shape.