I made this delicious penne pasta the day before Valentine's day--and it couldn't be any timelier with its luscious red color! For some reason the sauce combination I created resulted in a sauce with a bright red color. The meatballs were made of turkey and no Parmesan cheese so that my father (who can't eat dairy) could eat it. I've also taken care not to use a lot of oil in sauteing and used olive oil exclusively in frying the meatballs, though canola oil would be better to fry it with as olive oil can't handle heat as well as canola.
I've taken the photo of my portion here to share with everyone who is reading. I can't eat pasta without cheese and I love dairy despite the fact that my tummy would get really upset with it. Penne is the type of pasta that easily fills you up, you can't get a lot of servings because one serving will be enough. My portion was already enough for me to last me until lunch the next day!
I have been looking into cooking more healthy food and losing weight. My recent hospital stay and operation to remove my gall bladder and a lot of huge gallstones gave me a grim reality check about what's going on with my body. Some people, including me, have genes that will eventually betray us. I have family history of diabetes and stroke. One of my doctors also determined that because my blood sugar levels were still on the high end despite of me being on IVs, I am on the brink of being diabetic, so I was advised to eat more mindfully. "Eat like a diabetic." She orders, then gave me a prescription of Metformin to be taken after dinner, and with orders to see her after three months.
So it's official, not only have I lost my gall bladder (and reduced my body's ability to handle bile and stuff), my lifestyle the last couple of years has also made me a candidate of diabetes.
So here I am, mindfully cooking something really healthy, however my lifestyle change means that I need to focus on eating really less carbohydrates. So while the penne I cooked is healthy with lycopene, protein and good fats, the penne pasta I used is still made of white flour and heavily processed ingredients. I know I shouldn't be eating white carbs anymore but when it comes to pasta I would always give in. I also give in to potatoes. I've yet to learn to like whole grain pasta just as I have learned to love brown rice. It's probably going to take some more time, but I'm determined to do it now more than ever now that I've lost a part of my insides due to my negligence. I was able to banish white carbs for a while a long time back, and I survived, now that I have survival as a reason instead of vanity to lose weight, I should be able to banish the "white stuff" once again!
Talking to doctors and knowing more about my body gave me a new perspective on eating. It's not all about taste or the emotional contentment that I encounter anymore. I need to see food in a different light, before it is too late. Health is a valuable thing. In order to live a full life and have more years to enjoy food, we have to allow ourselves to sacrifice a little. If we forego our health and not let our body heal and revive itself with nourishing food is a disservice to the glorious body that God has created and given to us. If we don't nourish and instead abuse and give in to our constant cravings, we will eventually lose full benefits of a healthy body--a body at its best will be able to fulfill what we will it to do.
I like to believe that my love affair with food has undergone a major change. Perhaps, like some forms of love, it can be deadly to love food to the point of slowly torturing and killing yourself. But love, at its best, is nourishing, purifying and can only do you good.
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