Doing Away with the "Chuletas" (Pork Chops)

I recently had a conversation with a good friend of mine about foods we ate while growing up that we hold near and dear to our hearts. In my case, I grew up eating a lot of traditional Puerto Rican dishes which quite often were not the healthiest. They were high in saturated fat, loaded with cholesterol and certainly not a part of a healthy diet.

Without a doubt, whether it was a birthday or a holiday, or maybe even an ordinary day we would eat things like rice and beans (with a pork base of course), fried plantains, fried pork chops and the Puerto Rican version of the meat pie - called an "empanada".

Typically when you're young and active you really don't have to worry too much about packing on the weight from those typesof foods. In my case I did worry. At age twelve I remember exercising with Jane Fonda so that I could be slimmer like some of my friends and sisters. Weight was just something that was frequently on my mind.

I knew I didn't want to grow up and be overweight like a lot of women in my great big Puerto Rican family. But how was I to do that if I didn't change my diet?

As I got older I realized that I needed to make some changes. By the time I was a sophomore in college I was about 30 pounds overweight and nearly a size 14! Not to say that a size 14 doesn't suit some people, but in my case it did not!

The sad truth was that if I wanted to lose the weight I had to make some sacrifices - and so I did. I gave up my "chuletas" (GASP!) along with most of my favorite home cooked Puerto Rican dishes.

Needless to say, the weight came off. I am now a size 4 and I feel great! I have to be honest though, not only can I smell a pork chop hit a frying pan from a mile away :), but I do indulge once in a blue moon (2 weeks ago to be exact) and still manage to keep a healthy weight. As long as I don't start to do it everyday I think I'll be okay.