You are not your meal

one of my cheeky foodstagram snaps ;)

Hello there lovely soul! I wanted to talk about food with you today. Browsing around the Internet, I've seen so many blog posts, videos, instagram accounts, and pinterest boards about food, lately. “What's healthy, what makes you lose weight, how can you make it taste good?!” It is driving me nuts, to be quite honest. I can't overlook it anymore, and feel myself sliding into the food obsession many of us have succumbed to (I'm even guilty of having several pinterest boards dedicated to food now..), and I don't think this necessary has to be a bad thing. It's good to be more conscious about what you put into your body and how you can regulate the amount of sugar/saturated fat/chemical compounds that will stay in your body longer than you intended. It's a great direction this community is growing towards, with the ever growing rate of obese people and diet induced diseases, like metabolic syndrome.

I just want to make one thing clear: you are not the food you eat. You are not less of a person if you had a bar of chocolate for breakfast, or simply can't get those green leaves through your throat. You are not more of a success if you are able to resist all the sugar and carb-filled temptations. You are what you do to yourself and other people. You are the smile you bring to people's faces, or the argument you always win. It's about the conversations at the dinner table, and the fun you have in preparing and eating your food, more than what exactly you are preparing of stuffing your face with. I'm not saying that it's okay to just eat unhealthy all of the time. I'm saying that it's not okay to measure your self-worth by the nutrition table on the back of your cereal box.

YOU ARE NOT YOUR DAILY DIETARY INTAKE.

It makes me really sad to see that a lot of people don't enjoy what they're eating anymore, because the only thing they can think about is the amount of unnecessary sugars or fats they are consuming. Food is something that shouldn't have as much pressure on it as it has now. Sure, eating more healthy is always a good idea, but it shouldn't consume you, instead of the other way around.

If you enjoy your life, love the people around you and the things you're doing, why would you worry about that piece of chocolate? Your body will take care of most of it, believe me. Our bodies are made to take up all the nutritional amounts you need at that moment, and filter out all that is not needed at that moment of time. Fats will be stored, so that you will not eat your muscles away when food gets scarce. Sugars will be made into energy, so that you won't get tired after running up a flight of stairs when you're too late for class. Did you know that, about 70% of all the vitamins in those “healthy” vitamin supplementation pills will end up in your toilet? Your body isn't capable to filter out all of those vitamins, because the receptors in your bowels simply get saturated!

What I'm trying to say with this biological rambling is simple. It is perfectly okay -and I encourage you to continue!- to be more conscious about what you're eating, and to improve your eating habits to live healthier. It is, however, not okay to let the food consume you, making you unable to think about the good part of food (the joy of a shared dinner, the coziness of a pizza and movie night, the summer-y feeling of a barbecue) as well as the nutritional part. Don't overdo it. Be happy with who you are, embrace your inner beauty, and try not to get too overwhelmed by the huge amount of food blogs out here. Food is delicious, you shouldn't make it a chore or a challenge instead of a time to relax and enjoy life!

How do you feel about the whole superfoods thing? What are your ideas about food and what role it has to play in one's life? How do you keep yourself on the healthy side of food consumption, without it taking over your life? I'd love to read about it!

Be true to who you are, you are lovely, and I will see you very soon!

Jane xxxx

A journey of a thousand miles

Hello beautiful soul! 

I'm Jane, short for Janeri. Don't even try to pronounce my full name, it will only leave you with a strained tongue -and a weird feeling of contentedness, because thank the lord, your name is normal- which isn't something you want, right? 

To be quite frank with you, I don't know how to do this thing. I spent the last hour or so sorting out my 'template', which -obviously- still isn't top notch material. I don't know how one gets their links into the nice social media icons, or how this blog post will look when i hit the publish button. I'm unprepared, kind of scared but most of all, green. But hey, it's Sunday, I've just had a week off university and i'm finally getting over my horrible cold, so I'm feeling unstoppable. This is going to be my new project, let's see how long i will be able to stick to this one. 

So, blogging. Coming from the Tumblr family, I know how it feels to gain friendships, and lose a bit of that weight pressing on your shoulders, by talking to people on the Internet. I am lucky to say that most of the friends I have, I met through the Internet. If you think I'm talking rubbish right now, look at the YouTube community. Most of the "famous" YouTubers, like Zoella Sugg, Marcus Butler, Charlie Mcdonnell and Grace Helbig, have this massive group of friends they all know because of YouTube. The Internet is -now more than ever- the place to meet people who share the same interests. You can reach out to anyone, no matter where in the world they're living -as long as they have WiFi connection- by one single click. Now, I have decided to reach out to you. 

I'm not a "famous" person out here in the world of blogs and videos. I'm not a famous person anywhere in the world, for that matter, but I am here now. I'm going to start writing blogposts on this blog, hopefully every week, about topics that I think need to be discussed. There are too many people I've met out here that feel lonely, misunderstood or helpless, and I believe that we, together, can change that. Ambitious thoughts, I know, but as Lao-Tzu said; A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step. 

So, that's it then. My introduction post is done. Hopefully this was enjoyable enough for you to stick around until the first real post. Again, I don't know how this works and if this even comes near a proper blogpost, but it's the inside that matters, right?

Be true to who you are, you are wonderful, and I will see you next week! 

Jane xx