Since living back here in the Philippines we pretty much change the way we cook our food. Of course we had to, when we arrived here a lot of the stuff that we are used to in the States before were so hard to find here. So I had to adjust the cooking on what’s available here. Sometimes I’m lucky to find the right substitute for the product that I want.
So when Bob was hospitalized a month or so ago, I had to be careful on what to serve him. Jean or Glenda my niece , or myself, one of us were the one to prepare Bob’s food. We are gearing towards the diet that’s good for his diabetics. We are eating fish and poultry more and more now. We mostly grilled or cook it low fat.
Bob will eat light dinner now. A bit heavier during lunch time. He is into sa
shimi (tuna or malasugui), salmon steak (I cooked in the pan with a small olive oil. Just make the pan smoking hot and just drop the salmon to seal the outside. Feel it that it won’t overcook), Salad, just simple salad with arugula, romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, turkey ham or lechon manok or shrimp drizzled with a small amount of Italian dressing. I also make pomelo & shrimp salad (with that salad goes with spring onions, crushed peanuts, and vinegar mixed with a little bit of sugar or artificial sweetener). We are also making some soup and chili. We are into mussels & clams now too, cooked with pasta and a small amount of olive oil, butter and white whine. Sometimes we grilled the mussels & clams and put some barbecue. Yum.
For breakfast if you want cereals you can pretty much find different kinds of cereals in almost every grocery stores in the mall. Like SM, they also have an organic store there “The Healthy Option”. I mainly buy the whole wheat or whole grain pasta there and the barley at the healthy option. I also make banana muffins or strawberry muffins for breakfast I used the splenda or a small amount of brown sugar and the rest I used liquid sugar-free. It worked for us. I try to be creative on my cooking now. I try learning it by reading on the net and watching cooking shows on TV. I’m so amazed by the resources nowadays, almost anything is posted online. If you have some difficulty on any recipes try to Google it and you will find answers to your query.
Bob’s been doing good on his diet for his diabetics. He really strives hard to eat proper food. I’m so proud of him. He really surprised me now. When I first met him he would not eat salad and some seafood especially mussels and clams. I guess only clam chowder and clam strips. Now he likes to eat mussels and clams cooked differently – grilled or cooked with pasta. I’m still learning and reading more on good diabetic recipes for us to cook everyday.
To our readers that live here in the Philippines and have diabetics too, good luck to you guys on your diet. If you’re a fish and vegetables eater not a problem for you then. You can pretty much find fish in the market and also different kinds of veggies there too. Remember, though, there are more and more diabetic friendly foods available in the Philippines than there were even just a few years ago. Many more healthy choices for all of us to enjoy.
Its really more fun living in the Philippines!
Very nice article Feyma. I sincerely hope and pray that Bob’s health continues to improve. My brother, also diabetic, started using a product that I represent called Morenga Oleifera about a year ago and he lost over 20 pounds without dieting and brought his diabetic condition under control. Visit my website to get more information on this natural product at http://rileyjac.myzija.com. The Morenga tree is a native tree of the Philippines.
Blessings,
Riley Jackson
Morenga is called Malungay here in Philippines. It grows all over, very healthy and nutritious.
My Asawa makes Malungay soup very often, we have many Malungay trees in our garden.
Hi Axel – Yep malunngay grows all over the Philippines.
So many Filipino dish that can be made with malunggay. I’m used to eating malunggay growing up. Good with fish and other vegetables. Really good with mongo beans, coconut milk and small amount of pork.
Always good to see you here Axel. Have a wonderful day!
Hi Riley – Thank you so much for the compliment. He is working and getting there. I’ve heard of that medicine that you’re talking about. It’s made with malunggay tree and leaves. Got so much malunggay tree inside our backyard and outside our house.
Thank you for the comment and the thought. Have a great day!
Thank you Feyma.
Blessings,
Riley
Nice that it is healthy, but it also sounds delicious!
Hi Peter – Yep eating fresh seafood, it’s definitely delicious and healthy.
Have a good one!
I really miss the Philippines everytime I see this kind of my favorite fresh seafoods , someday I’ll be there !!
Hey Garcia Ben, flight comes to the Philippines a few times a day. So come on over and have some good food, good fruits and good weather. 🙂 … LOL
Good luck on your next vacation. Have a great day!
ok..your pictures made me really really hungry…lol
Hi Richard – Sorry… LOL
My wife and I live in Moalboal overlooking the bay. Often I will see schools of Tuna attacking the bait fish and turning the water white with their jumps. The local fisherman then rush in with their banka boats to catch the tuna. When this happens, my wife will go to the wet market that afternoon and buy the super fresh tuna and we will have tuna steaks for dinner. Dust the tuna with a little “Cajun Hot Spice”, then into a very hot pan with a little olive oil and butter. Sometimes we will buy other types of fish right off the boat when they come ashore next to where we live. The fish will still be alive, two hours later they are turned into delicious “fish and chips” with my homemade tartar sauce.
Hi Mike – that’s really good then. We used to get fresh tuna when we used to live in GenSan. You guys cooked the tuna similar to how I cooked our tuna steak too, just with the butter for me. Do you guys eat sashimi?
Lapu-lapu is one good fish to make for fish & chips. Sometimes I used camote (sweet potato) for the chips.
Thank you for sharing here. Have a pleasant day!
Makes me really miss dinner with Maria Teresa ( TomTers Parug)
Sorry Tom. Sigh… LOL…
While I find Filipino food leaves much to be desired (too much frying), the availability of fresh seafoods, vegetables, fruits and now very high quality beef makes eating here an absolute delight and the economics of it can’t be beat. I have fresh mango and papaya in the morning perhaps with some cereal. Lunch is a salad of lettuce, tomato, onion with chopped chicken or tuna (canned) mixed in. Dinner can be Seafood of all kinds (fish, shellfish, etc) or Japanese (Waygu) Beef raised here in the Philippines from CDO. I have always been a fairly healthy eater but now even more so. There is absolutely no excuse for anyone not eating good here and maintaining health and physical fitness. It’s all a matter of self discipline. Given the fact you can find a personal trainer in most gyms for less than ten dollars an hour means all it takes is a little will power and we can all have six pack abs. Bob has a real opportunity before him to start afresh so to speak. Metro Fitness is only a hop and skip away Bob. Get healthy and stay healthy. Your family and your readers need you. P.S. I would stay away from too much shellfish as that is not healthy for you in any quantity or frequency
I don’t eat any food that comes out of a can. I do, however, love fresh tuna.
Bob, Mrs Feyma,
Glad to see you changed your diet to keep your diabetes in check. I try pretty much to eat a healthy diet with whole grains. For breakfast I eat whole grain cereal w/organic rice milk or oatmeal w/fresh fruit, raisins and honey and fresh fruit. Once a week I eat 2 eggs, whole wheat toast and maybe some turkey bacon or some buckwheat pancakes with real maple syrup. For lunch and dinner I eat grilled fish, chicken breast, whole wheat spaghetti with sauce made out of fresh tomatoes and eggplant and olive oil, veggie burgers, lots of veggies, sweet potatoes or just a salad. With summer now I cut back on my meals as my appetite is not as big. Seasoning is the key to making healthy food very tasty. Anne is very good at that. Hopefully your change in diet will keep you healthy for years to come.
Hi PapaDuck – Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts here.
Have a wonderful day!
I love Bumblebee Solid White Tuna in water which only comes in a can and from the States. If I am able to go Stateside I buy 52 cans one for each week of the year. We all have to be a little careful especially with eating too much Tuna. My canned Tuna has high levels of Mercury but I am stupidly stubborn about my eating tuna fish. Hey, did you know that there is a processing plant in Gen Sen now for Norwegian Salmon which is now being sold in S&R, Rustans and a couple of other chain markets.
I eat tuna probably 4 or 5 times per week, but never canned. Probably more than half the time, I eat it raw – sashimi, the rest of the time grilled. I love tuna.
Yeah, I am aware of the salmon processing in GSC.
I also limit my sugar and drink lots of water.
Hi PapaDuck -If sugar required we used splenda or the sugar free liquid.
Hi Corey – There some Filipino dishes that we are not crazy about too. We are not into canned tuna. We like to make soups serve with fresh homemade bread. Yum.
Thank you for your comment!
I enjoyed reading your recent articles Feyma, thanks! As a Davaoena I’m happy to get acquainted w/ the Wynward Organic Bistro & the Davao Sanitarium Hospital (Bob’s). These articles makes me miss Davao so much & I’m looking forward to check out Wynward Garden. My mom is a type 2 insulin dependent diabetic too & she used to inject around 40-50 units of insulin & was hospitalized 2x due to complications in 2013. So my sister who’s a nurse & I went home immediately to help her. I read Dr. Fuhrman’s (Eat to Live fame) End of Diabetes book prior to going home to help my mom control her blood sugar levels w/c were ranging from 150-300 then. I put her on mostly vegetables, fruits, legumes/beans diet & avoided refined carbs (white rice, bread, pasta, etc.). She’s now a regular salad eater (buys her greens from Eden’s or Dizon’s farms from the malls supermarkets). Her sugar is now under control & injects only a half to a third to her former dosage of Insulin, thank God.
Glad to know Bob’s doing better now :).
Hi Rae – Thanks for your encouragement. Thankfully, my blood glucose is now usually under 100, sometimes a little over that, but always in the “normal” range. Thankfully, I don’t have to inject insulin, just control my diet and take an oral medication. I am feeling very good now too!
Way to go Bob! With such determination & Feyma’s help, I’m confident you’ll not end up injecting insulin. My mom took oral meds for 2 decades but was eventually prescribed w/ insulin for abt. a decade now since she was unable to control blood sugar levels. But she’s finally doing better now :).
Thanks, Rae. When I was in the hospital, I had to take insulin injections just 4 or 5 times, because my doctor wanted to keep tighter control than I could attain at the time. But, after my release, I was able to keep control much better and did not need the insulin. Good luck to your mom.
Same Rae from the U.S. Virgin Islands, I presume? If so, what’s the price of the New York Times there nowadays? 🙂
Sorry John but I’m Rae from Texas not Virgin Is. 😉 & I just read the online (free) version of NYT.
My apologies. About 4 years ago here on LiP, a lady by the name of Rae, originally from either Davao or GenSan, and I got to talking about the cost of living in the U.S.V.I. where she lived told me that the cost of living there was expensive. She said that the price of a copy of the NYT was $3.
Thank you Rae. Try to go to Wynward whenever you come here for a visit. I just went there again yesterday and bought a few of fresh pick salad pack.
Luckily Bob’s not using insulin. He managed to control his blood glucose. Thank God for that. He pretty much just eat fish and veggies now.
Good luck to your mom. Thank you so much for stopping by here. Nice to see another Davaoena commenting here. 🙂
Have a good one Rae!
ok..you have gotten me hungry now…fresh tuna on the grill?..better than steak to me..:)
I feel the same, Richard! I love a good tuna steak, or other types of fish too, like swordfish and others.
Hi Feyma,
“Remember, though, there are more and more diabetic friendly foods available in the Philippines….”
Awesome!!! 🙂
When the discussion comes to food, I would be the first one to water in the mouth! LOL!
It’s good to find out that the Philippines have made progress to realize that a good, healthy-eating habits, a person with diabetes could actually control their diabetes with food.
And walking exercises! That of course, if you’re still able to walk!
The article reminds me when I was a little boy growing up in Aklan, we get this fresh-caught fish everyday, and right there at the beach we would make fire out of dried-up old coconut husk or wood, and there we grilled the fish. And with white rice, that was our lunch or dinner! I missed those days!
Or we take home the fish and cooked it with vinegar and we call it “sinaing” in Aklan, or in Tagalog “paksiw.” With the white rice, and a bit of adobong kang-kong or something leafy-green on the side, I would be in heaven with that dish! Dinner or lunch!
Oh my, my mouth is watering already, and it’s breakfast time here in Southern California, USA!
Thank you! 🙂
From, Aklan Heat.