I got an e-mail from a friend who regularly visits this blog but never comments (yes, you!). C’s wondering why I’ve been posting “heart-healthy” recipes more, so I thought I’d post my reasons here for everyone’s benefit.

As some of you know, December ’05-January ’06 we spent most of our time in a hotel because of hubby’s work and in preparation for the move (house-hunting, etc.). Because life was so busy and hectic I pretty much neglected my health, didn’t get much exercise and didn’t watch my diet. Now I’ve never really been a dieter, mainly because I’m one of those lucky ones that manage to stay on the thin side most of the time (please don’t hate me). I do, however, have a history of heart disease in the family, so while I haven’t been dieting, I *thought* I was pretty good with keeping fit, not eating a lot of red meat, anything with trans-fat is a no-no for me, and this has been the case for the past 4 years or so. However, late January I had this funny sensation on my left arm which prompted a trip to the emergency room. A stroke was pretty much ruled out by a CT scan and the general checkup, but it was still sort of a wake-up call for me. I’ve been proud of the fact that we eat *mostly* healthy meals; but guess what. The hotel stays made me lazy and we’d partake of the hot breakfast offered every morning, which meant bacon, eggs, waffles, etc. every single day of the week — I now realize that you can’t ever take things for granted, and that sometimes “enough” is not really enough, depending on your genes and other factors like stress. Even though our lunches and dinners were “normal”, that kind of breakfast really wreaked havoc on my body. No surprise that my system probably went into shock after almost two months of living that way; as I’ve posted before I was mostly an oatmeal/cereal type of gal before this.

To counteract any bad effects I may have caused by living that way for two months, I have switched to a mostly vegetarian diet; about 80%-90% of my meals now are fruit and veggies. I can’t give up white rice or red meat completely — it’s the Filipino in me!, but if/when I do eat beef or pork I only take a couple of bites now. I’m not one to go on a low-carb diet either as I get woozy. In the process, I’ve also managed to increase hubby and kids’ fruit and veggie intake. We’ve always been careful about getting those in everyday, but there’s always room for more improvement.

The other thing that’s affecting our food choices lately are the allergies that hubby and kids have always been plagued with, but that we are now taking more active steps to control. Hubby probably is having the most difficulty because he’s got a sweet tooth, and can’t resist desserts. And until their allergies were discovered 4 years ago, eggs/cheese/milk were as part of our daily diet as much as anything else. I do feel guilty sometimes when I know hubby wants something (like Leche Flan) and I push him to have some fruit instead. One thing we haven’t given up (and won’t) is that piece of dark chocolate after the dishes are done.

At any rate, I just wanted to share that in case there are any readers who were wondering too, or who need encouragement with their diets. It’s *not* that difficult to go vegetarian or vegan. I’ve also lost about 8 pounds since going veggie, not that that was my goal in the first place since I wasn’t really overweight, but I do feel better and my energy is up. Plus now that we’re all moved and settling in, the stress has gone down considerably. Obviously we’re also getting more exercise, as the weather gets warmer and our boxes get unpacked:).

If you’ve got any questions/comments/suggestions, feel free to ask:D, especially you, dear C.