Why me, a 23 year old, had to start paying attention to what I eat!

If you are curious about the reason then read until the end ^^

But you are also welcome to just watch the pictures!!!

My recent posts were all about food and travel. Different dishes that I presented and many places. But it's of course not always like this. I can't go out for some food every day, it would be just too expensive. Sometimes I have to cook too ^^ I am pretty grateful for this time because most of the food you eat outside is fast made and without any love. Secondly I try to eat as less meat as possible. I explain to you later why...
And finally, the food you cook also tastes delicious and you most of the time know what ingredients you used.
The only thing I really hate about cooking is the dirty dish everywhere after preparing the meal^^ But I think the most of you can relate to that.

But let's start with me showing you what I had made myself the last few weeks. Don't expect anything special I am not a great cook I just enjoy the time getting something done :D

First:

A self made Guacamole with some bread. I prefer white bread like baguette but unfortunately the darker ones are the healthier ones... ^^

My beloved breakfast the last few days:

Of course I do not rearrange my food every time I am going to eat ^^ Just for the photo ...
Sadly I don't always have so many different kind of fruits and berries. Also it is not the right season for most of the berries and therefore they are expensive. But every now and then a bowl of fresh blueberries with some kiwis and different sorts of nuts are just like heaven!!!

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Okay let's head over to the main menus :D
Here I like the variety of combinations. You can try and mix different kind of vegetables, you can roast them or just mix them uncooked. Often I don't have everything i need for a special meal at home and I am too lazy or too broke to go and buy the right ingredients. That's why I try merging various stuff together. Anything that fits in my imagination^^
So here some examples I recently made:

An Umami-Bowl:

Some interesting taste had this one dish:

Big peppers filled up with potatoes, tomatoes and some feta cheese:

A salad mainly made out of beetroot, couscous and mushrooms:

A normal salad with roasted bread and soy strips or halloumi cheese:

Something you can easily take away with you and eat to go - a burger with curry lentils:

Easy and fast to made couscous salad:

One of my favorite meals so far - aubergine curry with rice:

And of course a self made pizza with vegetables :D

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Last but not least we shouldn't forget about the dessert :D I love sweet stuff and it is still quite difficult for me to say no to someone who is offering me goodies or cake... BUT ... here is one cake that I never thought of I would like: a lavacake!

I know they don't look really attractive ^^ Sorry for that!

Now everyone would wonder why exactly this one should be better then other sweets. I'll tell you: This cake is made out of beetroot and cocoa. It is of course not the sweetest one but I still love it! You will be surprised about the taste :D

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Let me stop here. Maybe some of you noticed that none of this meals included meat. As promised in the beginning I gonna tell you why.

It started maybe about 2 years ago. I started to feel really bad and often had breathing problems in the late evening. It got so far that I woke up nearly every night gasping for breath and feeling so terrible that my boyfriend thought about to call the ambulance. Sometimes it even started in the middle of the day.
My first suggestions were: panic attacks. I had some exams to pass so it was a possible reason. After enduring it some months and passing the exams my physical problems didn't disappear. So it had to be another reason and I went to a doctor for help. He couldn't find anything and suggested me to eat a bit healthier. At that time I ate a lot of meat like everyday three times, drank alcohol like other students and didn't really pay much attention to my eating habits.
Maybe I should mention that I wasn't overweight and I loved to exercise! So don't get the wrong image of me sitting the whole time and eating ^^
Anyways, me and my boyfriend started to read a lot about eating habits and he found something interesting about the constellation between meat and health. People eating less meat have less heart and cancer issues. I first didn't saw a relation between heart problems and mine. However we started to eat less meat. First only four times a week (it was horrible for me at the beginning ^^) then three a.s.o. This year we even tried to eat vegan for about two months. Today I can live a couple of weeks without eating meat and I do not even miss it. I can go out eating without necessarily order meat. First my friends thought I was doing this just because of the vegan trend but after some time passed they accepted it.
Nowadays I eat vegetarian food most of the time. Some days, on special occasions, I like to treat myself with a steak for example. On other days i feel so bad that the vegan way is the best for me.
But the main question is, did it help?
YES it helped a lot. I never had these breathing problems again and even my results in sport got better!(By the way, when I write sport I in particularly mean volleyball most of the time. ) I know it sounds like all the average books and TV-shows some of you might know but I feel fitter and healthier.

So if some of you want to try it out or feel as bad as me at that time I only can recommend it. The others who don't want to believe this it's okay for me too. My friends and even my parents still do not believe me... I don't want to push anyone, because I myself know how hard it is to change your own habits. Pushing it, is no help to anyone. "The most must learn it the hard way", my mother would say^^
But the few of you who want to try it out, feel free :D

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As always stay happy and healthy until next time!!!