Eating Healthy Means Giving Your Body A Complete And Varied Diet - Recipe

I am a programmer by education. I enrolled to study this specialty with great desire. Shortly before I finished my higher education, I started working in the field, but a few years later I found that the stress in my work came in more than I could handle. I decided to retire from the field and move to another field, but to this day I use some of the acquired knowledge and skills.

For the next few years, my husband and I had a small family business with baby and children's clothes. It was an amazing adventure, thanks to which I met many wonderful people. Many of these acquaintances grew into friendships. I learned valuable lessons and saw myself in a different light. At one point, I just felt exhausted, like I was in a cage. I couldn't imagine myself in the same place after 20 years. I had a thirst to develop, to do other things, to have free time. Although difficult, after several months of torment, I decided to close the store and move on, focusing mainly on the blog.

At the moment I am mainly dealing with it. Maintaining a culinary blog is a complex task - cooking, capturing ready meals and processing photos, preparing texts, technical support and SEO optimization, maintaining channels on social networks ... This is a full-time job for more than one person. , and for the whole team.

Let's tell a little about your blog, what can people find in it, what recipes are in it?

The idea to make "Know how to cook" was born in May 2010. My husband, we were not married then, but we lived together, often complained that I never cook a dish twice in the same way. Each time I improvised and added or excluded something from a recipe. So I decided it was time to start writing down my recipes so I could repeat them. I chose a blog over a notebook for the simple reason that I always wanted it on hand. Besides, at that time the fashion of culinary blogs was just entering our country.

Gradually, my blog evolved into what it is today. As a person with a technical mind and a soul who loves perfect things, I have always tried the blog, in addition to offering quality content, to have an aesthetically pleasing and clean appearance to please the people who visit it. I really care about that and 2 months ago I renewed its look (there are still small details to clear) to match my vision of how such an online space should look, but also to offer enough functionality to users.

In terms of content, the blog reflects me and my understanding of food and life over the years. In it you can find both traditional Bulgarian recipes and recipes for dishes in an updated version, with "modern" products or adapted to a particular diet. Looking for the most suitable way of eating for my body, I have tried many different diets.

To date (for almost 3 years) in the blog I share recipes for dishes that do not contain gluten, lactose and refined sugar.

I try to make the recipes I share easy, simple and delicious, but also suitable for eating by the whole family, regardless of their dietary preferences and intolerances. It is important for the whole family to share one food, because it unites. Besides, as a woman, I know how difficult it is to cook a separate dish for each member of the family, especially when we are always pressed by time and have almost no free one.

I strive for the recipes in the blog to contain easily accessible, mostly seasonal and local products, so that everyone can prepare them at home. In the small settlements it is difficult to find the variety of products that are offered in the large ones, and I believe that everyone has the right to eat good food.

You've been through a huge change in your lifestyle, tell us about the path you took to becoming aware of your diet?

In the last 5 years I have come a long way and tried many different ways of eating. In the beginning, I was very influenced by different understandings of nutrition. I read many different articles, which often contradicted each other. There were times when I was endlessly confused about what was harmful and what was useful. I used to go to extremes. Now I have a slightly different view of things.

Over time, I learned that there is no one-size-fits-all diet. We are different, our bodies have different needs and intolerances. Unfortunately, we have forgotten to listen to our bodies and often miss the signals they give us. I am a supporter of personalized nutrition. I do not support blindly following diets (except when it is really necessary - for example in severe diseases), but I appeal for their adaptation to our needs and for everyone to find the most appropriate way of eating for themselves.

The change in my way of thinking and realizing that I need to offer my body better food came at a time when I was about to feed my daughter. I quickly realized that the education of good eating habits in children begins with the education of the same in our adults. So I urgently started general changes in the way we eat. Of course, the process did not go smoothly and without turmoil, but over time we became convinced that we had chosen the right path.

Only a few months later, Hashimoto was diagnosed. She just turned my life upside down. At first I didn't believe it was happening to me. Then I accepted it and realized that the disease came in order to teach me to take more care of myself. Relatively soon after, I learned about the connection between nutrition and disease. This provoked me to move more and more confidently on the path to conscious and responsible eating. Almost 3 years ago I stopped eating gluten and dairy products. At this stage, my intolerance of both has been overcome. For this reason, from time to time and in limited quantities, I allow myself to eat some dairy products. However, they are not the basis of my diet and I do not cook with them, except for butter.

At this stage, my menu includes many and varied, mostly seasonal vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, eggs, legumes, some gluten-free cereals, nuts, seeds, various unrefined fats.

Can you say in a few words what you mean by "healthy eating", what food is good not only for us but also for our children?

Nowadays, healthy eating is a very expansive concept and everyone interprets it through their own prism. For me, eating healthy means offering your body a complete and varied food, rich in micro and macronutrients and in accordance with the season. Food without piles of additives in the form of colors, preservatives and flavors. Whether this food will be gluten-free, lactose-free or egg-free, for example, everyone decides according to their own needs and intolerances.

You are part of the Board of Directors of the Food Foundation, tell us a little about the foundation and what made you join it?

It all started with the first large-scale Food Revolution Day in May 2017, which took place in a number of cities across the country. I took part in organizing and conducting several children's culinary workshops in Varna. At that time, I was already an ambassador for the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution movement. The event had an incredible and unexpected positive response. This gave us an extra incentive to move forward.

Only a few weeks later, it was established by the Food Foundation. Our mission is to promote healthy eating among children, parents, teachers, chefs and everyone involved in nutrition. We meet great support from parents, school principals, cooks and people from all walks of life, because children's nutrition has become a pressing problem in society, which needs not only to talk about, but also to take adequate action. Children are our future and as such, we must grow up healthy and strong.

My decision to join the foundation first as a volunteer and then as a member of the board came relatively easily. I had already done everything in my power to offer my child complete healthy food, to lay the foundations of healthy eating habits, I had found a way to "save", but saving alone is not the solution. All children have the right to eat wholesome, varied and environmentally friendly food. We, as a society, need to unite in order to achieve lasting and conscious change at all levels. This is what motivates me to be part of the foundation and to work voluntarily to change the way the children of Bulgaria eat.

Personally, I believe that feeding children is not the main concern of the state, but especially of parents. Do you think that parents can change and pay real attention to their children's nutrition, which they themselves offer? We regularly see children eating extremely unhealthy food, a choice given to them by their parents, and at the same time these mothers and fathers demand healthy eating from the state ...

That's right, children's nutrition is the main concern of parents and the education of healthy eating habits in children should start with the family. The state must have a supporting role. Many parents have already made the change for themselves and their children. In order to achieve mass, some institutional and expert support is needed from doctors, cooks and other professionals. Over the last few decades, food has changed as dramatically as it has not in the last 40,000 years. Industrialization has made our lives easier, but it has also drastically reduced the quality of the food that is grown, offered and consumed.

The Food Foundation is currently developing a digital resource center to help parents with expert materials, useful articles, recipes, videos and other resources to offer better food to their children. This platform, in addition to parents, will also be aimed at teachers and children. With this project we participate in the "Change" on Nova TV and Reach For Change, where from January 15 to February 4 is the final vote to determine the winners.

Let's pay attention to your other activity for the final. You share that you are interested in culinary photography. Tell us more about this activity of yours?

I became interested in culinary photography along the blog. I didn't even realize how it happened, but I was captivated by the beautiful and appetizing photos I saw on foreign language blogs. I started trying to do the same. Naturally, my first attempts were tragic, but that didn't stop me. It makes me even more ambitious. With a little more perseverance, desire, observation, learning and a lot of shooting, things started to work out for me. I still have a way to go to the level I want to reach, but I have made great progress and I think a quick look at the blog proves it.

It's a cliché, but it's true that we eat with our eyes first. That is why in good restaurants such attention is paid to the arrangement of food on the plate. The same goes for culinary blogs and recipe sites. In order to be attracted to a recipe, the photo should speak, make you dream and long for the taste of what you see on the plate.

Culinary photography is magic. Everyone who touches it is captivated and I notice that it is gaining more and more popularity in our country. I'm glad that companies are beginning to realize how important it is to present their product, especially when it comes to food. I already have suggestions for partnerships with some brands.