When
I decided that I needed to change my lifestyle, and decided to start
with changing the food style, I was sure that I would have much to
learn. In fact I was not mistaken and I have not done much more than that, just learning.I
quickly realized that in this new journey I would have to be a much
more organized person regarding to food and its preparation. I
knew I would have to add several ingredients to my pantry and discard others and knew that I would have to start making storing food / drink so I would not have to spend hours in the kitchen, first
because I do not have that time to spend and then because it would easily discourage me. I also figured that I would have to make a new shopping list and that I would have to spend some extra money on it.
But, though I knew all this, I was not sure where to begin. I then decided that I would have to learn. As I would have to learn to knit, or learn a new language, I would have to learn about the foods, the nutritional value of each one. Where to buy them and how to prepare and cook them. I picked up the book from Mafalda Pinto Leite that I already had, and I bought two more, Deliciously Ella and Deliciously Ella Every Day. This way I became acquainted with ingredients I did not know, as well as how to use them. I learned some tips for storing food and the best way to get organized on a daily base. Although, I understand that I am just starting.
While I absorbed all the information that the books were giving me and as I searched for the most difficult ingredients to find in supermarkets and buying a small but diverse stock of them, I also made a list of the treats that give me so much pleasure to eat. Treats that will make me feel somehow incomplete if I stop eating them. I am talking, for example, about the scones that are so often my mid-morning snack, or the Sunday breakfast pancakes, or the warm bread that comes out of the oven so fresh, or the fruit cake with tea, or the pizza on those tiring days... And so I found my start point, finding healthier versions of these little pleasures of mine. For those who, like me, are starting from scratch, it becomes intimidating how much information we have to absorb and process in a short time. We have to do about 3 to 5 meals a day, having to think about these, lets say 4 meals, is already a huge mental and energy waste, and if we have to think about it in a totally unknown way, it becomes impossible to maintain an emotional, mental and even physical balance.
So, if there is someone out there like me who is going to take a 180-degree
turn to their food, for paths never traveled before, do it slowly. Start with a specific list of foods that give you immense pleasure, or for a particular meal, for example breakfasts.
Attempting to make a change of these suddenly and transversely can be
very stressful and end up irreversibly contaminating the motivation. Do it! But do it right! ♥
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