TICO TIME

Native Costa Ricans are referred to as Ticos.  I am not a Tico but almost.  My dad was a Tico, a Native Costa Rican, and I have a whole host of Aunts, and Uncles and Grandparents and Cousins who are Ticos. Ticos are super cool and super laid back. And Ticos have their own way of marking time.  They call it Tico Time. Good name.  According to Tico Time, if you are on time, you are early, if you are late you are on time, and if you happen to show up early, that's just plain rude. Also, during the rainy season in Costa Rica, time is often measured by the weather.  It is measured by the rain. When do you want to go to the store?  Let's go before the rain.  What time did you get home from school? Oh it was late, not until after the rain.  I'm going to go to the movies during the rain and I'll stop by after.  You get the idea.

 

I don't measure time according to the rain.  I live in Phoenix.  That would be dumb. To measure time by the rain in Phoenix would be silly.  If I measured time by the rain in Phoenix, time would stand still...for months...and months...and months. Instead, I mark my time and determine my days by the salad.  The salad is the constant in my life.  For almost the last 2 years, it has been the unchanging factor.  There will be long days and short days and hot days and cold days, but no matter the day, there will be the salad.  And so these days, I live my life One Salad At A Time.

Three things are certain for me...death, taxes, and salad. By my best count, at this point I have had 711 salads. In a row. For 711 days straight, I have had a salad of one variety or another.  Sometimes field greens, sometimes power greens, and twice, enough kale chips to more than count as a salad.  My friend Tina gave me the recipe and they are the bomb.  They even contain carrots and celery and onions and a host of other good ingredients.  They are salad in the form of a chip. Perfection.  I will leave it at that for now because the kale chips are so good, they deserve the spotlight.  They are worthy of their very own post...tune in another day.

So anyway, if it's  true what they say, that we are what we eat, then I am a salad. A big one...super sized.  I am a gigantic super sized bowl of greens.  The toppings may vary and the names of the greens may change, but day in and day out, the salad remains the same and I mark my time by it.  Can we go to the mall tonight?  Yep, after the salad...When is grandma going to get here?  Not for 3 or 4 more salads.

I have no doubt at all that my intake of salad in the last 2 years is double my previous lifetime total. Easily. Speaking of the greens (look back...I spoke of the greens) Prior to my diagnosis, I had never intentionally eaten Kale other than in the form of a Chip (yep, it was Tina), or collards or swiss chard. Someone may have slipped some in somewhere but I doubt it…I think I would have noticed. Iceberg was my lettuce of choice or if I was really feeling adventurous, I would go with Romaine…bold move. 

 Ellen DeGeneres often plays games on her show.  I was watching once and saw one of her games. I don't remember the name of the game or how it was played, but I remember the answer to the question. I remember the answer because I didn't know what it was. The answer was Arugula.  I had to look it up. Sad. And now?  Now, I grow Arugula in my garden and I divide and count my days with salads. Big salads.  Beautiful salads. Salads with a plethora of different lettuces and greens. With greens and green onions and fruit and broccoli and cauliflower and beets and carrots and whatever the farmers market provides. With olive oil and balsamic vinegar and pepper. And sometimes nuts or seeds and usually some chicken and sometimes bacon. And an avocado.  Yep you heard me, a whole avocado. Every day, on my big huge salad. A big fat avocado.  No, I haven't gained weight...the opposite, but I will save that conversation for another day. I eat an Avocado every day and I use olive oil and coconut oil and other healthy fats daily, without restraint. Every day. Because fat is not my enemy. Sugar is my enemy.  I need to put healthy fats in my body.  They feed my brain. My big mostly made of fat brain. OK, want to play along?  This is where we all join hands and say it together..."Fat is not the enemy...Sugar is the Enemy, Fat is not the Enemy...Sugar is the Enemy"

...Kumbaya...