What do I like to eat?
The answer is "everything". I am, as one of my previous co-workers described me as, a "garbage can" - and he meant that as a compliment. I'll eat anything and everything, within reason of course. Again, because of the "D" word that's constantly pulsing like a broken neon sign in my head, I need to be smart about what I eat. Do I indulge once in a while? Of course, but never out of control. There's also a "payment" for that indulgence since I don't want to rely solely on meds. I either have to prepay it by exercising beforehand or, exercise happens the following day. Either way, I try to balance everything out.
Where are we eating?
I eat where there's food. Luckily, I live in an area where the choices are a plenty! I have now moved west to sunny San Diego, California to be with my family. The food scene here is totally different than what I was used to back east but that doesn't mean they're any less tasty. Here on the west coast, Mexican food is king, specially here in Southern California and it's going to take some time for me to explore the area and get into a comfortable groove with discovering new dishes to eat. Don't get me wrong - I do miss the food back home specially the pizza. I've actually started a search for the closest thing to a New York/New Jersey-style pizza here in San Diego. So far, I've discovered two decent pizza places but, the search continues.
What I really love about the different foods here are the plentiful choices of ramen-yas. You guys know how much I love ramen and San Diego is full of these ramen places with many new places popping up from all the time so I'm definitely going to have fun with ramen.
You can follow all these food adventures on my YouTube channel "Foodie A1C".
When I'm not eating ...
I try to take care of myself; the keyword here is 'try'. It's always a struggle with the "D" word but, a few years ago, I found out that if I do something I really love, I'll stick with it. So I started cycling. Nine years later, I'm still here and I'm healthier than ever. My passion for cycling has allowed me to lose weight and keep everything under control. Cycling has also allowed me to help others not just in the diabetes community but also other charitable organizations. I never really thought of New Jersey as being a cycling destination but I've discovered routes and climbs which take my breath away both physically and mentally. At the end of the day, it feels really good - a good pain as I like to call it.
In the winter time, well, we can't really control mother nature so I usually take my cycling indoors. It sounds boring I know but, it can be as fun and as competitive as it is when I'm riding outside. It feels really good to hang out with like-minded people.
The video below was for an indoor charity ride that I participated in to benefit The Davis Phinney Foundation in their fight against Parkinson's Disease.