I'd like to post a disclaimer before anything else. I am not overly fond of lechon. Balat lang po. Crunchy and well done golden turning medium brown. Now after having said that, I'd like to make it clear that I can live without it. Basta may danggit o pusit. Kahit tuyo lang.
And that's precisely what I did last Sunday, when my niece Peaen celebrated her birthday, I snobbed the lechon. It was slightly larger than a lechon de leche. Not too fat. Relatively small. Enough for an extended family to feast on. Unfortunately, the household has more people who should be watching their diet, than those who were healthy enough to eat of the feast. hehehe
I knew that my brother-in-law bought lechon, but I didn't expect it to be a whole pig. Soon as it was settled and ready for the chopping block, I grabbed the electronic sphygmomanometer and took a blood pressure reading.
I would not have gotten a BP reading before, but just before Christmas, the company I work for had an annual physical exam for all its employees. I had a BP reading of 140/100 and the doctor warned me about my age, advising me to think seriously about a low-fat low-salt diet. I said I'll think about it. In fact, I thought long and hard about it and came to the conclusion that she's right, I should watch my diet. I've had readings of BPs as high as 140/100 before and I was wary of that becoming the norm. And that was almost three years ago. I decided to make it my New Year's Resolution: low-fat, low-salt diet. I figured to be cute about it; eat during the season and have the diet after December.
Going back to the BP reading after the roast pig came into the picture, I already had a headache that Sunday morning. I just needed to make sure that I'm safe to eat pork. The instrument read 160/93. I was stunned. I had juice, lots of it. I went to bed, and read a little bit, but the migraine was not helping me any. I think I dozed off. I sent a text message to some friends. One of them answered that the migraine and the BP readings might be related; the migraines might be because of intra-cranial pressure, which was why there was a big gulf between the diastolic and systolic readings (I have no idea which is which). To me that meant that an aneurysm was possible. I asked for aspirin, and there not being any in the household, I took a walk with my son to the corner drugstore to get me some aspirin. I was also advised to drink pineapple juice. There being none, I had what was available, four seasons juice. I peeled the pomelo and had several slivers. Of course, Darwi was there to help with the pomelo.
An hour or two later, I had another reading, and this time it was 150/97. After the scare, I had lost my appetite and was not in any mood to eat. Besides, the things on the table were a lot worse than the roast pig. Except for the char-broiled pampano, most of the food was either salty or rich in fat. There was even kilaw na baboy, boiled pork rind in vinegar and spices. Steered away from the Carlos I (not being a drinker myself, that was no great loss). I had some pancit, and a bite of ube cake (about three inches square by four inches tall, a single bite). I also made myself a fresh fruit salad, slicing apple, orange, kiwi, banana with calamansi juice sprinkled on top. No cream thank you.
And in the afternoon, I had my last reading, and it was 140/97. Most of the day was spent playing chess with the in-laws. That was the only good part, I guess. My brother-in-law Paquito played "two-out-of-three" and got mated the first two games, didn't play the third. His son, Dictus played a lot of games. We usually halve wins. This time, he got mated in all five or six of the games. Only Peping, another brother-in-law had good games against me. He won twice, drew once and lost once against me.
The following day, a Monday, I went on sick leave to go to the doctor for a check-up. My BP reading was 170/110. And in the evening I was crying over the danggit. I know if the danggit gets washed first so it won't be too salty, it should be okay. But Lilia wouldn't want to do that as the cooking oil would splash once the wet danggit is put into the pan.
Tough. But I guess this is one New Year's Resolution which will stick.
--andoy
9 January 2008
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