Hey guys it’s Karolina,
I’ve been trying different types of diets all my life and they all have one thing in common: they do not work. Just the sound of the word ‘diet’ puts me in a bad mood as it means restriction, regime and total unhappiness. My very first time when I decided that I had to go on a diet was at the age of 17 (yes, I know, by current standards it’s way too late), when my parents sent me to a modeling school. I was immediately told that I’m too fat and need to lose weight. Being very determined since my early days, I decided to stick to an apple and a yogurt a day. No surprise I did lose weight but I also acquired a heart arrhythmia, anemia and anorexia. But hey! I was skinny, I was getting a lot of modeling jobs and I was also very unhappy. And then I discovered bulimia and for a moment I felt like I had caught God by his legs. But that euphoria lasted only a short spell as by the age of 20 I was bingeing on food and purging up to five times a day. It was horrible, not just physically, but mentally I was drained; I desperately needed to stop the cycle; I just wanted to have my life back. Quitting modeling helped a little but it didn’t stop me from hating my self-image as I just couldn’t sustain my anorexic weight. Officially food was my enemy number one, whether I ate it or didn’t eat it was my foe.
Fast forward to ten years later, thanks to my wonderful husband I’ve learnt how to eat reasonably regularly (by my standards) and took on a path of exercising 6-7 times (or more!) a week. I even got a personal trainer who was monitoring my food diary. It was crazy how I was constantly told to eat more meat, ‘Karolina you need to eat much more meat, you need more protein!’. So I was desperately avoiding carbs and consuming tons of meat. There was a time I would have a tin of sardines for breakfast… Yuck! Surprise surprise, I wasn’t very happy then, and despite all this exercise my metabolism seemed to halt. I was still hungry most of the time and feeling really heavy and often very tired.
Fast forward again to six years ago. I started practicing yoga and subsequently decided to do my teacher training. While studying I’ve read many books and seen quite a few documentaries such as Cowspiracy, Food Inc., Earthlings etc. It had such an impact on me that I became vegan basically overnight. But then I faced another problem: I couldn’t cook. In fact, I was one of those people who said that the kitchen came with the house. If quizzed I probably wouldn’t have been able to determine where our grater was, or if we had one at all. I was this reasonably successful but unhappy (and probably quite bitchy) career city girl who swore would never turn into a housewife. So yes, if it weren’t for yoga I wouldn’t be where I am today. I found true joy in cooking for my family and friends, it literally became cooking for love. For me ethical veganism is not a diet, I am certainly not restricting myself, in fact I eat such a variety of food like never before. I feel healthier, stronger and finally happier. For me, being on a path that incorporates values such as compassion, empathy and kindness is the only way that enables me to evolve as a human being. And that’s why I decided to start this blog, to share ideas how to cook delicious plant based food that will make you feel beautiful and happy. Because if one feels happy then, more likely, one is going to share that with others and make this world a better place. And thus, cooking for love is living for love.
Peace, love & coconut!
Karolina x