Jester's Canned Thoughts

Over the past few weeks, there have been a few issues that came out. Some are political, some scientific, and some are trivial. And I would like to give my thoughts about those. These are issues are a few weeks old, therefore my thoughts were somewhat, canned.

Issue 1: How difficult is it to open a Busog Meal at 711?

It is quite difficult to open one of those packed meals. The box is just sealed with a few adhesive tape strips on the sides. However, the tape seems to have a very strong adhesion to the box. So a few tips:
a) Have the cashier open it up for you. They usually have a cutter or a pair of scissors at the counter.
b) Use you plastic utensils to help you open the pack. Just in case you forgot to ask the cashier to open it up for you.
c) Take it home. I'm sure you have various cutting tools at home.

Issue 2: Philippine fishing vessel rammed by Chinese ship.

Whether or not they were rammed, the Filipinos should at least take the side of their fellow Pinoy. I saw a lot of Filipino posts on social media saying that the fishermen were at the wrong. Scolding a fellow Pinoy is fine as long as we do it among ourselves and not announcing it to the whole world. Doing it in public does not make us righteous.

Issue 3: As a follow up of the above issue, China having given the right to fish in our territorial waters.

"Giving up because you know you can't win," is a good plan. But being the head of state and showing that your tail is between your legs is not really a good image for a leader. You just let a neighbor come to your home and raid your fridge, literally.

Issue 4: Vinegar, the synthetic and the naturally produced. According to the Philippine FDA, "Vinegar is the liquid produced by alcoholic and/or acetous fermentation of onw (yes, I kept the type-o) or more of the following: malt, spirit, vine, cider, alcoholic liquors,

According to the Philippine FDA, "Vinegar is the liquid produced by alcoholic and/or acetous fermentation of onw or more of the following: malt, spirit, vine, cider, alcoholic liquors, fruits, grain, vegetables, honey, glucose, sugar (including unrefined crystal sugar and refinery syrups, or mollasses," and "Distilled vinegar is the liquid produced by acetous fermentation of dilute distilled alcohol or by the distillation of vinegar." And take note, I kept the typographical errors intact.

A technical description of vinegar is, "an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace chemicals that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5-20% acetic acid by volume."

Synthetic or natural, when it comes down to the chemistry of it, they are the same. There is no difference, just the source. We consume many synthetic foodstuffs that we just do not notice it. Vanilla, for example, is made abundant by being synthesized. Using natural vanilla is very expensive. If you want naturally flavored vanilla ice cream, be ready to cough out the dough.

The definition of the Philippine FDA is so old that it was even typewritten. It was probably drafted during the time when FDA was still BFAD. So it was never updated. The definition is still true, it just needs to be updated. For someone who is from a scientific background to say that artificially prepared vinegar should not be called vinegar is just… dumb.

Issue 5: And this happens to be my favorite (so far), Isko Moreno.

What can I say? So far, he is doing good. No, not good, great. Yorme Isko is very hands-on and very is making his presence felt very early in his term. He has a lot of videos on YouTube. He does Facebook live while he goes around the city. He is creating buzz and is becoming somewhat of a benchmark when it comes to being a mayor. He raised the bar, so to speak. It makes me want to be a resident of Manila City. I just hope he sustains this momentum he generated.

Those are the issues that I want to share my opinions about… so far. There would be more in the coming days. I just wanted to live up to my blog's title every once in a while.

I.F. You Asked Me What I've Given Up, It Would Be This

Like what the title says, if you asked me what I've given up, it would be this: eating from six in the evening up until ten in the morning. Now in case you're wondering why the "if" is "I.F.", it's because I've recently started Intermittent Fasting.

Back in the day, I've tried a number of diet plans and they all worked for me. But, the temptation of food is just so great that limiting your carbo intake is just so challenging; pasta, pizza, turn overs, donuts, ramen… Plus, it doesn't help that I do have a food blog (https://tira-tirahan.blogspot.com). So, I get back what I shed off. Until age caught up and my natural metabolism wasn't as active as it used to. Even if I went back to the diet plans, exercise routines, it was taking more effort than it used to.

Eventually, I gave in and just accepted the fact that this is my fate. I've reached the weight of 80 kilograms. That's very heavy. Already on the obese side. I missed the days when I was just 64 kilograms heavy. I know that however I worked out and diet, I would never get to that weight again. Until one day, I heard of a technique that was new to me. It made sense because I know that the body, when it has no more carbohydrates to burn, it will start to burn stored fat. And when the fat is all out, it will start to consume protein. I also know that the brain consumes the most energy. The problem was, I didn't know how it actually works or how to activate the process. This technique told me how the process was activated.

But since I've let myself go for so long already, I never really paid much attention to it. I was skeptical since at my age, with my slowed down metabolism, it just might not work. So yes, I did not do any fasting in any form.

Then came our company's annual physical examination for 2019. When I went on the scale to get my weight, it tipped at 99 kilograms. Oh my god! Almost a hundred. Sure I was seeing myself getting bigger and bigger every time I go by the restroom mirror. And I didn't mind. But getting an actual number attached to that size, that was different. That was almost 20 kilograms from the last time I checked. That's when I decided to give intermittent fasting a try.

The first week was the difficult one. Suddenly adjusting my eating habits from "eating when hungry" to "eating just within the window" was quite difficult. I almost gave up. But I thought to myself, "Let's see where this takes us for at least a month, then we quit if it goes nowhere." So with a lot of will power, I persevered.

One week went on and the second week was a lot easier because my body had already adjusted to my eating window of 10AM to 6PM. After three weeks, it was already clockwork. And then a month went by without me noticing. I only realized that that I needed to check on my progress after a month and a half in. When I checked, I was down to 84 kilograms. It actually worked. And I could feel the changes as well; my shirts felt bigger, my pants as well. Some of the clothes that I couldn't wear because I got bigger started to fit again.

The wonderful thing about intermittent fasting is you can still eat whatever you like as long as you eat within your eating window. So I never gave up on the carbs. However, if you do choose to give up on the carbs as well, it might accelerate the fat loss since your body will skip the carbo burning and go straight to fat burning. That's just what I think.

If you want to know more about intermittent fasting, there are a lot of information out there about this technique. Just be sure that you're okay with it. I'm sure this is not for everyone, especially those with stomach problems like hyper acidity and ulcer. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

For now, I'm sticking to intermittent fasting until I get to the lowest weight I can get to. Even though getting to 64 is quite a stretch.