Long ago, in a land far far away, Jessie use to tell me that she was allergic to chicken but only if she ate it too much. That was before I arrived in the Philippines. I’d see her on skype scratching all over and asked her what was going on. When she told me she was allergic to chicken, I laughed and said something like “Huh, nobody is allergic to chicken.” I had never heard of that one before. Now, I am allergic to the chicken in the Philippines but only if I eat too much of it. It started on my hands, I’d get little itchy bumps on my hands after eating chicken. It took a while before I was certain that it was the chicken causing it. It became obvious in recent weeks.
I don’t think it is the chicken, I think they put some kind of preservative in most
of the chicken here. I’ve had to eat more of it lately because that’s what I can get to eat. There is an Angel’s Burger joint next door, it is supposed to be open 24/7 but it is closed far more than it is open. When it is open they tend to not have what I want to eat. Their hamburgers have too much spice in them, mostly onions which I don’t like anyway but if I eat too much of them, they make my mouth raw haha. They also upset my stomach. I use to get Hungarian Cheese Sausage from Angel’s but they often they don’t cook it enough and that makes me sick in ways that I can’t fully discuss. A clear signal that it might be best if I don’t eat that!
So, I often get fries and chicken from McDonalds. The fries, I sometimes refer to
as salt sticks because they are so salty I can barely eat them. Not all of the McDonald’s are always that bad about the salt. But the one near us that is open 24 hours a day usually have salt sticks that resembles French Fries. I never add salt to anything so I guess I am not use to a lot of salt to start with. These things make my lips feel as if they will turn inside out. Ketchup helps a little but often the ketchup is a bit sour so I skip it. I suspect the USA franchise would have a fit if they knew it was like this. Though it is usually open, it too closes a lot considering it’s a 24/7 business too. It is almost always open but seems they have to renovate something a lot more than most places and it is closed then. The chicken is okay. Often too small but that’s normal for the Philippines. Small people, small chicken. I’ve often wondered about that. Does a hotter climate cause mammals to tend to the small size? I don’t know but I wonder about just about everything.
The Chicken is making me Dizzy?
Jessie found some cheap chicken nuggets at KFC. They are not good, I think they may boil them. I use to tell her to get me some rubber chicken when I wanted those. They don’t taste bad but the texture is like rubber!
The first few times I had them, I noticed it made me feel very warm or perhaps flushed. Many foods do that to me.
One night, I got extremely dizzy after I had eaten them. I didn’t link the two together. Jessie took my blood sugar and it was a bit low even though I had just eaten. So it must have been quite low before I ate. I had never become dizzy from low blood sugar before. I usually sweat, get weak and some trouble thinking. I didn’t think they were the cause of the dizzy spell. I got very dizzy. I was sitting on the bed and playing a game on my phone. I had to put the phone down and it was a critical point during a team battle. It scared me as I was very dizzy. Then a few weeks later, it happened again. Again I had been eating the chicken nuggets. I’ve not had any since then though I’ve been thinking of trying them again. Maybe that would be nuts. Just not eat them as often as I had been during that time.
In fact, it has been a while since I started writing this and I did get some. They are not making me dizzy now but I don’t get them often. The other night, Jessie went to get some and it took her a long time. They were busy. They were awful. I suppose they rushed them because they were behind. They are never good but undercooked and mushy they were horrible.
The french-fries from McDonald’s are often the same way. Either not cooked long enough of sitting out for too long as they are soggy. I don’t like soggy food. But they will do. They are not a bad choice for me because my blood sugar has not been good. They are not great but better than most of my options. I do get itchy about an hour or two after I eat chicken here.
Eating as a Diabetic in the Philippines
For the last couple of weeks my blood sugar has been very high. I have chronic bronchitis
and it has been flaring up. An infection will aggravate diabetes or so my doctor has told me. I think diabetes helps an infection to thrive too. So they make each other worse.
I got sick just before Christmas and Jessie went to her home town for a couple of weeks during that time. So I ate too much pizza as I’m lazy and can just call to get it delivered. 🙂 That certainly did not help my blood sugar even though I switched to all cheese pizza. I had too, my stomach revolts if I eat the meaty pizzas now. I stayed sick for two months but finally feel better.
It is not easy for a diabetic to eat properly in the Philippines. There are diabetic stores but the one I went too was not impressive and it has been many years since I went to it. I don’t even remember where it is and don’t know if it is still open. Since I live in a hotel, it is harder for me.
I also think the MSG in the food here is causing me issues. I’ve always been sensitive to it, at least so thought one dietician. After I would eat just about anything I felt flushed and she thought it might be that. I don’t really know. Others have said the food is high in MSG but I can’t say I know that for certain.
About Me
My articles almost always feature my life in the Philippines but they are rarely about me. At least two people have emailed me asking how I’m doing. Well one used the contact form on the website but gave a bad email address so I couldn’t reply. I tried but it came back as not valid.
Today is a good day but things over all have been better. I will try to write more on that very soon. I really MUST do better with writing here. At least once a week but to be honest, my mood is not great. I am happy to be here but I could just be happier with life. I wrote more here but it depressed me when I did and slowed down my getting this online. More soon, I hope.
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Tagged with: Fast Food • In The Philippines • KFC • Pizza
Filed under: Living In The Philippines
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Hello Rusty, nice to hear from you again even if the news are not great.Khmerr food is not great either, and I cook most of the meals mylself witch my roomate love, because I use to be a french chef ha ha. But I like few Kmherr dishes like Squids with Kampot’s green pepper 4$ or fried rice with sea food 3.50$ or BBQ scalops 2$ for 10 But for someone that like beef like me, forget it they don’t know what aging the meat mean. In fact I am craving for the kind of food we have in france or Canada, many things are missing since 90% of the food is imported that is why my budget for food and beer (2 per meal) is of 10$ per day, in france I whas spending 200$ per month but 60$ on wine. Chicken here look like the road runner bird in cartoon and the legs (the part I like best) look like chicken wing we have in US. Fortunately they sale turkey as chicken and the sizes of the legs are right, the meat of course is not the same as chicken, but cookes or served with sauces is great at 1$ a piece of 350g of leg. No Mac Do here but a Kentucky fried chicken bad as usual anywhere in the world. But the is more than 500 restaurants in Sihanouk that served Khmerr and western food, so now I know where to go dépending of what I wanted to eat and I finaly discovered a nice resto own by a Australien fellow that import his meat and he serve a 450g Rib eye tender and juicy at 15$ since it is to big for one, I share it my my coloc.
If you decide to move to Cambodia, Jessy will find a job right away, since many restos and bars are crying to get staff with good english speaking to the point that they hire: Russians; Germains, English and so on, I found 2 Filippinas working there, difficult to tell the difference between them and the Cambodian girls. She will be making 200/300$ per month, better that what she can make in Filippines.
Well, hope to see you some day. Take care yourself.
Richard
We and especially she is not moving to Cambodia. 🙂
I don’t experiment too much with food. I’m limited in what I like or can even tolerate to eat. Another thing about me that I do not like and is very unhealthy. But, I didn’t chose to be me. 🙂
good to hear from you again rusty i hope ur feeling better soonI am a diabetic also i was in the phiippines in 2014 for 2 months I agree with you its hard to find diabetic foods i tried to eat a lot of fruits and vegges when i could find them I also ate chicken and pork I had no issues with itching from the chicken I ate a lot of fresh fish too When i was in manila i found a great american restaurant with excellent filet mignon I was in my glory Then i spent most of the time in the province of my wife Sindangan I could not find much food that i really liked there but got by on chicken pork fish and vegees I purchased a couple of your books in the past before i went there so that i would have an idea what to expect My email is [email protected] if you would like to get back to me I would like to hear from you Take care and stay well
Anthony
Rusty, glad to see another post.
Enjoy your take on the PI and Cebu and always look forward to something new.
Was that you eating an ice cream in Chris Lane’s latest vlog at 24:54? –
Glad to see you’re OK and look forward to more.
Gentleman Jack
Could not have been me. No Ice cream in years. Only if I have a sore throat. I don’t know the person you mentioned.
Rusty,
I’m glad you are back to writing more stories. Hope you lose some weight, too. I had a friend stopped by at my apartment few years ago and I didn’t know who he was and he told me his name. I was like wow you lost over a hundred pounds. He said he went to Weight Program for 6 months. Please think about losing weight. I know it will change your life and you will feel so much better being thin and lighter. I had another friend who had done the same thing in a weight program.
Of course chicken is itchy they are always scratching the ground….