Who said healthy cannot be tasty?

Hey you lovely reader,

It’s already been a week since the launch of LTA (time has literally flown by so fast!) , and I wanted to start this post with a thank you note and a short disclaimer…

I truly appreciate all the support and love you’ve given me over the last week. You are the special piece essential for the success of this project .Thanks to you and the feedback you've sent me I feel much more inspired and motivated to keep on pursuing the initial idea behind the blog, namely, to unravel myself in front of you and encourage you do the same. We all, as human beings, have somehow developed the odd habit of disguising ourselves with way too many social masks in the never-ending attempt to create “proper” first impressions and please everyone around - be it family, friends, colleagues, and sometimes-even enemies.

It’s weird how when you actually decide to share yourself in front of others you get this lovely feeling of freedom, happiness, and harmony.  As I’ve said before, LTA will be the place where we’ll laugh together and share the occasional tear - cos’ that’s what friends do - they don’t back off in moments of hardship; they stick around and listen to all you have to say.

Frankly, for me this blog is a dream come true, and that’s mainly because of you. I really hope you enjoy the upcoming posts, part of “Daily Dose of A”, as much as I enjoy working on them.

Oh, and about the disclaimer..

When I initiated this project I promised myself to be candid and honest with you at all times; to narrate a real-life story in an unconventional manner so as to allow you to learn from my mistakes and find your path to happiness. Though written in quite metaphorical way, the stories do represent real-life events and introduce to you people that have had different impact on my life. However, I'd like to emphasise that what you read is entirely my subjective perspective of disparate and quite extraordinary life encounters, a personal opinion, which doesn't intend to offend or upset those of you who recognise themselves (or someone they know) in the stories' characters. Rather, the posts should be eye-opening, helping you see that it is precisely life's weird twists and turns that make it so exciting and wonderful. And for those of you who find a piece of themselves between the lines - this will be my biggest reward.

Having clarified that, today I’d like to introduce you to my Health & Diet Section.

On Sunday, my mother and I were walking around the city enjoying the warm weather and trying to decide where to stop for lunch. We were quite hungry indeed and I suggested that we dropped by one of my favourite places called “Sun & Moon” - how romantic and ethereal, right?

Rather than simply a café or a standard restaurant - the place is more of a mixture between a bakery and a piece of paradise for healthy living. Just a second after entering the room it suddenly hit me, I’ve actually waited a whole week to initiate writing about a topic that has been rather definitive of my persona for the last 14 years. Yes - healthy living - that’s “mah thing”. People have regularly asked me   “How could you possibly not love KFC or Domino’s?”, simultaneously trying their best to lure me into munching on some burgers which they never really achieved.

Well, the thing is that I genuinely dislike the fatty acid taste of junk food and fizzy drinks, as well as skipping my regular exercise classes.

Now, you probably wonder whether I’ve this thing called “healthy living obsession”. Well, you know, the word “obsession” sounds quite off-putting and scary (P.S. Stay tuned for my special post on Orthorexia - obsessions with healthy foods - coming up next week), so I’ll be using another phrase to describe myself, namely, healthy living lover. I’ll be sharing with you the most effective tips and tricks I have learned over the years for staying fit and healthy without going to any extremes. With time I’ve realised that being healthy doesn’t mean chewing on carrots all day long, drinking freshly squeezed juices as a substitute for food, or exercising excessively. It is really not about reducing your daily calorie intake or learning to read the nutrition boxes printed on the food packaging, rather it is more about completely altering your mind set.

Let me ask you a question. "Are cakes good for you?" Well, I'm quite certain what your response will be. But, hey, who said desserts cannot be healthy and tasty? Look at that lovely cake I got from "Sun and Moon" to treat myself with while drinking my afternoon tea. Though it is sweet (yes, I do have sweet tooth...) it is still one of the healthiest dessert I've ever eaten. So, being healthy, is really about knowing what type of ingredients to use when preparing your dishes and where to do your shopping. By learning a few easy-to-follow steps you can completely transform your body and skin making your looks healthier, flawless, and glowing. 

And, please, remember “going to extremes” is not a healthy thing when talking about “healthy habits”. To lead a healthy lifestyle means to achieve physical and emotional equilibrium, to achieve the perfect balance while feeling happy in-between.

So, though I won't be focusing on specific tips and tricks now, there is still one thing I'd like to ask you to do - start changing your mindset if you want healthy and positive changes in your lifestyle to follow. You know, if you regard doing exercises as a chore and believe that healthy food always tastes like paper - no advice could actually help you.

Let me explain. Though my mother has always been quite petite, due to the overwhelming stress at her office and countless hours spent in front of her lap top, she had headed down the wrong path - smoking way too many cigarettes, living on sweets and junk food when out of my sight J. Today, I look at her sitting on the other side of the table, chewing her rocket salad and sipping home-made lemonade, and I couldn't be any prouder of her.

The thing is that though I’ve been telling her everything about healthy eating and living, she's never seemed to hear me. It was only a few weeks ago when I was stunned to find out that she had quitted smoking without telling me anything about it. And I truly doubt that she has changed her bad habits only because of my incessant nagging that she should start taking care of herself and not only of her family. Her decision was really a combination of everything health-related she had learned from me and her personal decision to finally change - for herself and because of herself.

Why am I saying that? Because no matter what I’ll be sharing with you in regards to your healthy diet and living it is your role to put my well-coined advice into action. Changing your lifestyle for the better - yes, it depends mainly on you. I’ll lay the ground - and then, on your turn, you will be building upon it.

It’s a two way, never-ending process.

Today, I cannot express how buzzing I am to see that my mom, an ex fried foods, fizzy drinks, cigarettes' lover is sitting in front of me enjoying the healthy flavour of her rocket salad and munching on a piece of vegan pizza.

Yes, it's never too late to find out that healthy can be tasty...

And, hey, it's never too late to change, is it?

Love,

A.