The main corridor at Defense Raya GCC hosts a number of sports, like squash court, gym, yoga studio, pro shop, and gateway to the golf course. This is a great avenue that accommodates its members’ quest for healthy activities. The irony is that a cute & tiny pastry shop also sits there, calling me with its sweet allure. Each time I pass through that passage, a parade of yellow lemon tots, smiling ques of phyllo pastries, and a congregation of croissants intimately invite me in. Oh, how sinfully sweet yet seductive. The decorative and esthetic placement of such beauties, on the shiny glass racks under the light of glittering roof bulbs, is impossible to ignore. One needs staunch discipline to let go of that instigation. I wonder if the designers of the club mischievously set it there to test the fondness of people like me who love sweets and allied products. What a blend of business and psychology. A bunch of us get inspiration for exercise just to remain loyal to sugar. My mouth swirls with saliva and my tummy growls at the sight of date cake. I’m consumed by confusions between diet and desserts. Well! So far, I have defied such temptations quite successfully during my voyages to the rounds of golf at that club.
What is the fun in diet, avoidance and refraining when your heart starts trumping and mouth keeps flooding? Paleo Diet, Keto Diet, Vegan Diet, Low Carb Diet, Dukan Diet, and many more surplus the market! but eating sweets has its own charms. Just how long will we make our uncertain futures wait. I would promise myself to refrain from the sweets but they come in front of you in so many ways. They are present on birthdays, anniversaries, office promotions, dine outs, tea breaks, midway huts, and at so many other occasions. No doubt people who go through diets and achieve their goals are people of determination and will. I do wonder where such magical resilience comes from. One should also not doubt the zeal of sweet lovers because, despite being highly diabetics they keep their cozy relationship with sweets intact. They would find fresh excuses to have their hands on it. I know some people who always keep nutra-sweets handy although it never fulfills their cravings, eventually waging on a cream full piece of cake or a benevolent baklava.
I personally prefer Ladoo, Barfi, Kalakand, Cheese & Almond Cake, Raw brown sugar, and all kinds of ice creams and fruits, since I am neither diabetic nor bulky, except for a prominent tummy. And that doesn’t matter since I am not in showbiz. At times when a picture is taken I always wrench it in, for a few moments. My grandchildren also love to sit on it. They also bang it when they are in jubilant mode or in a drumming spirits. Ah, the blissful joys of children.
I do put on my part of the struggle to reduce my gut or to keep it where it is. I play golf almost everyday, walking three to six miles. Some people don’t regard golf as a sport. I don’t care since that’s all I can offer in this regard. The other day at a fundraiser I met a yoga instructor. She was quite convincing merely by looks. I did not speak to her but ever since I’ve been inclined to pursue evening yoga, in addition to morning golf. After all, a tummy should be tamed and put back to its place, for it is also that it breaks down our food and releases the energy, so that we can move onto the next meal and our next golf session.
“in the stomach's emptiness. We are lutes, no more, no less. If the sound box is stuffed full of anything, no music. If the brain and the belly are burning clean with fasting, every moment a new song comes out of the fire.”
Rumi
Credits
YouTube
Defense Raya GCC
Royal Palm GCC
By
Ahsan Jamil
Golfer, Blogger, Entrepreneur, Author, Poet, Wanderer, photographer, Rebel.
Email: Golfaij@gmail.com
Website: Golfaij.com
YouTube: Morning with Golf