I’ve been struggling with something lately that has kept me from my regular routine. I’ve been thinking about ignoring it and posting about healthy recipes and how to be motivated to workout but honestly, right now, I’d feel like a hypocrite if I did any of those things. I think it’s easy to think I have it all figured out. I rarely do let my walls down as I believe in positivity and sharing all that is good and bright with the world. The dark things, well I keep those to myself, as I do not think they will benefit anyone or make anyone’s day better, and really that’s part of the reason I share so much of me. I want to help, I want others to be well, I want to make you think about something mundane in a new light. It’s something that fills my heart.

When I struggle, and I fall, and I have trouble following my own advice I just go silent. I stop posting for a few days and barely look at social media. And it happens. I often go through waves and I’m working constantly on balance. I like to try things. Everyone knows that one thing about me. They may also know I tend to try hard, and intensely and sometimes I wear myself out in the midst of it all. I need a break I retreat from everything and cocoon myself until I feel recharged and ready to go again. It’s something I’ve done most of my adult life and it has got to stop.

I love how lost I get in the excitement of something new. I love how much of myself I give to people and situations and things I’m interested in. I love all of it. I don’t love the moments I feel down, depressed, crippled with an inability to get up and do anything productive. When focusing on simple tasks at work seem like they will use up all of my remaining gasps of energy and when the idea of making food is so tiring I’d rather sleep for hours on end. Therefore, change has to happen. I write this, still unsure if I will publish it but I’m a writer, and this is how I heal, this is my therapy, this is how I make sense of things and see them for the first time very clearly. It’s like speaking with myself in an uncluttered environment because the page is blank when I start speaking and you can only write one word at a time. The countless things in my mind have to get in line and only one thought can come out at a time. A peaceful reflexion when the haze of everything threatens to take over. I love writing.

Unable to write anything else, I think this will do. I’ve sat down to blog about countless other things this last month, but nothing would come. Sitting here minutes after pouring this out I am sure this is what I needed to do in order to break the wall of my creativity and motivation.

I am doing well and I have an amazing support system in my family and friends. I hope if you’ve been struggling with motivation, getting started on your plans or projects, or simply struggling with getting through the day and still smiling, then know it happens to all of us. We’re always switching from one end of the spectrum to the other. Sometimes you’re up while other times you’re down. No matter the reason, know you’re not alone. And sometimes this cloud leaves as quickly as it came while other times some work has to be done in order to keep it moving right along.

Yay to breaking the wall. Up next, a recap of all the great things June brought with it.

Much love always,

Mariangelica


Photo by Dean Johns on Unsplash

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vegetarian, pescatarianVegan, Vegetarian, Lacto Vegetarian, Ovo Vegetarian, Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian, Pollotarian, Pescatarian, Raw, Rawtil4, Flexitarian.

Say that five times fast. You can learn more about what each of these are here. But the point is, wow. There are so many ways to label what we choose to put into our bodies. I’ve come to think about this topic because just this past March I hit 24 months of making a conscious decision as to the food I wanted to consume. My family isn’t vegetarian, or anywhere close to it. Back in March of 2015, we were a typical latin american family who gathered for parties and events to eat because really, we’re all there for the food, aren’t we?

Christian and I have this joke (but true story) we tell of one day early in our marriage when I got home to have my sweet husband tell me he had already made dinner. Steak! Yum. Oh and what else? No, just steak! We laugh about it now because of how much we have both grown and learned along the way. Food is something we experience many times a day, every day.

It is astonishing how little we used to think about it in the past. My mom always tried to get me to eat my veggies. I just wouldn’t budge and the colourful food was always left on my plate or I’d sneak it into one of my brother’s plates! Now as a married couple, cooking on our own, it didn’t seem so hard. Steak tastes good, pasta tastes good, extra cheesy hawaiian pizza with bacon tastes good. What is there to think about? Just follow your taste buds!

My sister though, who grew up elsewhere with her mom, was my first glimpse at a different way of eating. I also have a joke (but true story) I tell about how the first time I visited her in my teens I opened her cupboards to look for food and could only find what I called “rabbit food” Just seeds, and things in jars with gasp no labels?! And the fridge? A sea of mason jars with interestingly coloured things inside.

I walked over to the corner store purchased a loaf of white Wonderbread, a tub of margarine, Coca-Cola, and white cheese. Heading back up to her place with food, I put things away. But not after I made myself a nice grilled cheese sandwich with an ice cold coca cola to go with it. Food. I’m sure my sister was horrified, but she hid it well. While helping her with dinner I saw how she pulled out jars, seeds, some eggs, vegetables, and beans. No meat for this meal. How could something be a meal without meat? Instead, there were mushrooms and chickpeas and things I had always said I didn’t like, even when I hadn’t even given it a try. Typical teenager.

Through the years I continued to eat my way, with the additions that flourished when my mom made something delicious and then when I was done eating told me there had been carrots in it. Whatttt. Or when my yearly visits to Montreal to visit my sister would always end up in me trying something new that I actually liked. I didn’t try a pineapple or avocado until I was 20!

Somehow, somewhere, I started to think about food, and how there were all these things I never tried and assumed wouldn’t taste good. They were delicious, and interestingly, nutritious! If I look back, I think what I ate was never a concern because I wasn’t a large girl. I wasn’t overweight and didn’t look unhealthy. It’s a common mentality, and a wrong one, but regardless it is likely why food choices were not a common topic in my life.

In March of 2015, almost two years into our marriage, scrolling Netflix at home while waiting for my husband to come home from work I stumbled upon a documentary that changed my life. Forks Over Knives. I watched it in awe. I was horrified, alarmed, worried, interested, curious, and by the end, I was on my laptop researching many of the topics I had only just heard about for the first time in my life.

That very same day I decided to become Vegetarian. I just couldn’t unlearn what I had learned, I couldn’t unsee what I had seen. The numbers didn’t lie. Earlier in my life, I had seen those PETA videos, with the mistreatment of animals, and although I was horrified then, it didn’t make me stop eating meat. This though, data, information, and a new way of thinking for me made something happen, something click.

Originally, it came as a shock to most of my family. There were no vegetarians in our family, and it took a while for them to realize this was here to stay. “Oh, you don’t eat chicken either?” “Are you doing this to lose weight?” “You need protein, how are you going to get any protein if you don’t eat meat?” “This won’t last” “You need meat to be able to grow a healthy baby” “Think about the health of your future children” “Will your children eat meat?” “So what are you going to eat now? Salads forever?”

My mom came around quickly and to this day anytime we have an event or a gathering she’s always mindful to make something vegetarian, and to me, this is such an expression of love, love her for it. Naturally, Christian being the superstar he is supported me from day one and even made a plan to only eat meat if we were out with friends or out on an event but he would refrain from cooking it at home.

Through these last two years, he and I have learned more about food than in all the years of our lives prior. I have become obsessed with learning and trying. We have set foot in health food stores and regularly shop locally at farmer’s markets. I understand the value of food as a form of energy, health, and medicine. I have experienced incredible changes in energy, drive, motivation and positivity in my life. I had energy to begin exercising regularly, something I didn’t do often. I started helping other women in changing their life through the use of food and movement. I became passionate about helping others lead healthy lives, no matter if they ate meat or not.

Fish has been reintroduced into my diet in the last few months, and it’s actually interesting how natural this addition came back into my life. Through my research into things that I cared about, fish never made any appearances, thinking back, there were things in the first documentary I watched that I wasn’t following.

They spoke of the evils of anything that came from cow’s milk, yet although I don’t drink cow’s milk, I do consume cheese, butter and sometimes yogurt. They didn’t mention fish as a cause of many of the diseases and issues the documentary brought up yet I wasn’t eating it because it didn’t fall under the Vegetarian umbrella.

This was my lightbulb moment. In an age where we feel like we have to define ourselves to the world, labels help keep us in line and in check, because how hard would it be to explain that you’re not a vegan, but you don’t consume cow’s milk directly, and you are vegetarian, but you eat fish here and there, and you had that marshmallow during the campfire and yes it has gelatin, but… Do you see what’s happening?

The feeling to have to justify to your family, to the world, to yourself what you are is tiring and completely unnecessary. I have recently grown to understand that I am none of these labels. I choose to eat what brings me joy, and I choose to avoid some foods always or as often as I want to (looking at you gluten!)

So eat what you want to eat, but learn a thing or two about your food, whether you choose to care or not is up to you, but there’s nothing wrong with learning. I’ve been recently letting go of things that were bringing my life invisible stress and this issue had been one of them. I write on this blog for many reasons, but writing is one of my ways of getting my feelings out, and this is something I felt had to come out.

I’m happy doing me and to the person who judges or pokes fun at anyone for foods they put into their body, I simply feel sorry for you and wish for you to take a step back and rethink how to better add value to the world and to others, there are kinder ways of educating. Likewise, to those who choose to follow a strict diet and have your reasons as to why, know that not everyone is ready to change when you are, that everyone’s make up is different and although this has worked miracles for you, it may not be right for them and sometimes, just being an example to others of a healthy and happy life, how my sister was to me, does more to intrigue or help someone than flat out shaming or trying to convert everyone you meet to your way ever could.

You do you girl, label or no label.

Love,

Mariangelica

 

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paproka french fries healthy

I like french fries, no sorry, I love french fries. They have always been my weakness. It’s not even that I love the salt because back when I used to eat at fast food places I always asked for them unsalted. It’s just the potato, gotta love it, and if they weren’t dipped into a bath of hot and super fatty oil, I would eat them every day.

Cue in, the healthy paprika french fries. These bad boys fit into my portion fix meal plan, they just count as a yellow container and a teaspoon! I usually make them in the oven. But since we were graciously gifted an Actifry by my mom we’ve loved making unhealthy recipes healthy again. If you don’t know what an ActiFry is or how it works, basically it’s a heat distributor and it has a slow rotator on the inside to move the food around as it cooks, and with just a teaspoon of oil you can have two pounds of potatoes feel like they were deep fried, and that my friends, is EXCITING. You can make these in the oven too though, so read on and enjoy!!

1. Get 2 pounds of white potatoes, which to me it translated into three Potatoes.

2. Wash them thoroughly and peel them.

3. Cut them into long strips and try to get them to be similar widths for more even cooking.

4. Add a tablespoon of paprika, a teaspoon of salt and a 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.

5. Mix spices in a bowl and make sure all potatoes are coated.

6. Add potatoes into the ActiFry or set on a cookie sheet in the oven.

7. Add a teaspoon of coconut oil or use coconut oil spray if putting in the oven.

8. Close the lid and turn it on, leave on for 30 minutes, then remove and place in a bowl or directly on the plate.

9. Enjoy these amazing paprika french fries!

 

Let me know if you make them and how you liked them! Feel free to play with the spices and try some new flavours!

Enjoy!


This post contains affiliate links. What does that mean for you? It doesn’t cost you anything extra but I get a small percentage of your purchase if you decide to purchase something from the post. I do this to make some side income while linking you to the great products I use. I will never write a post about a product I do not believe in, and no one has paid me to write this post. All opinions are always my own. Just like supporting a friend’s small business, by clicking on my affiliate links you are supporting a small time blogger who deeply appreciates it.

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21df-free-meal-plan-1

It’s Monday and today I start (another round) of the 21 Day Fix! You can get your own here! This is by far my most favourite fitness program from all of Beachbody’s line of workouts. Every Monday I get this electrifying reminder that it’s the beginning of a new week and there’s so much thrill in the beginning of anything.

The beauty of this program is the nutrition aspect. I am not a nutritionist, nor an expert in nutrition, and you shouldn’t have to be to get the benefits of any program. Your body is made in the kitchen. Working out is a part of being fit and healthy, but food is a much bigger part. The 21 Day Fix Program brings coloured containers that make it so easy to plan your meals and eat the correct portions to achieve your goal. And I’m all for easy hah.

The program starts with a booklet with a formula for figuring out which caloric bracket you fall under, and trust me this is the first and last time you have to look at calories! I honestly do not look at calories anymore, it’s been so freeing!

After the calculation I am told exactly how many containers of each colour to consume in a day and boy is it a lot of food! I know some of my past challengers have questioned if they really should eat that much food, and the answer is YES. Your body will be working out hard everyday and you need fuel for your body. Plus, here’s a secret, if you were gaining weight before trying this program out, then you were eating MORE calories than the ones in your bracket, so remember that. It’s all about the quality of the ingredients you are eating!

THE MEAL PLAN

Being Vegetarian AND Gluten Free really forces me to go to the natural ingredients and be a bit more creative than usual when planning out my meals. So the meal plan might look a bit drastic to a gluten & meat-eater’s eye, but that’s the beauty of this program, just change all your red containers to your preferred choice of protein and give it a go! I’m sharing this because it helped me when doing groceries for the week! As a note: I know it’s a lot of eggs, if i get tired of eggs halfway through the week I may switch to something else from the list! Remember, make it your own!

free-mealplan

 

I hope you give this program a try, it has been a complete life-changer for me!

Have you tried the 21 Day Fix? Do you follow a meal plan you love? I’d love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments below!

 

 

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