HealtHY BlueBeRRY M

1,75 cuPs and 1 tsP Reg WHole WHeat FlouR

1 tsP Baking PoWdeR

0,5 tsP Baking soda

0,5 tsP Fine sea salt

0,25 tsP gRound cinnaMon

0,33 cuP Melted coconut oil oR eXtRa viRgin olive oil

0,5 cuP HoneY oR

2 eggs RooM teMP

1 cuP Plain gReek

2 tsP vanilla eX

1 cuP BlueBeRRies, 1 tBsP RaW sugaR

PReHeat tHe oven to 400 degRees FaHRenHeit.

MiX tHe FlouR , Baking PoWdeR , Baking soda, salt and cinna on togetHeR Wit coMBine tHe oil and HoneY oR MaPle sYRuP and WHisk in add tHe eggs and Beat Well, tHen add tHe Y e Wet ing gentlY Fold tHe BlueBeRRies into tHe Batte

Bake tHe MuFFins FoR 16 t 19 Minutes, oR until t e golden on to

Week 2

Whenever I open the fridge to see what’s in stock (which, let’s be honest, happens a lot), I hear a voice in my head singing the TikTok famous words: “Well he looks at me. And I look at him. And he looks at me. And I look at him.” While I focus on the food that I was advised not to eat. It’s just screaming my name and I crave from time to time. However, even though I have many snack cravings during the day, my main eating moments are aligning very well with my diet. And I have to say, it’s tasty. My love for roaming through cookbooks to look for new recipes I can try out really serves as a motivation to keep up the good work.

Week 3

The past week I have only drank water, next to that one, very tempting hot chocolate, which is huge for me. I still don’t drink the minimum amount of water needed per day, but it’s already a huge step forward in my opinion. Next to that, the visit of the Easter bunny didn’t help with having fewer snacking moments, however, as for the main meals I am killing it. I believe that over the course of the next few weeks I will be able to switch to my diet 99%, I still want to be able to enjoy a night out and the weekly tastings of our class’s cheesecake bake-off, so I am more than fine with that 1% being left forever.

I struggled a lot during the last few weeks, both personally and at school. I went through a very dark period during which I completely lost myself, while the deadlines for school projects were just around the corner. No, I did not stick to my diet 100% and I even delayed it for a week extra. However, this does not take away the proud feeling I have about accomplishing the small steps that I did take in the right direction. My dietician told me that it can take a while to adapt to these changes in your lifestyle and diet, which makes sense. In order for a new routine to stay, it is very important to break it down into smaller steps. Trying to change immediately will only bring you more stress and lessen the possibilities of keeping the routine for the long term, as your brain needs time to adapt.

My tip is that, after receiving the list of changes, look at what’s the easiest to do. A very simple one for myself was to walk for a bit before eating breakfast. So instead of rushing to eat it at home, I took it with me to school and ate it on my way there.

Also, just like me, be happy with eventually accomplishing that 99%. Thinking about what you cannot eat anymore will only increase your cravings. You need to still be able to enjoy life and eat whatever you want, as long as you stay reasonable and make those moments special. Like the cheesecake bake-off is for me, it’s a very special and fun moment I have with my friends. I look forward to it every week, which makes it worth it for me to set aside my diet.

It can take a while for the effects of this practice to overrule the problems within your body. However, the more you do it, the more in sync you get with it. I love getting to know my body more and actually working together with it to cure it. It makes me feel empowered doing this and I wish it was normal to do this. No more countless visits to the doctors or crazy theories of Google. Just knowing what your body is experiencing and how to help it and be ok with losing yourself, everyone experiences that from time to time, as long as you can pull yourself back up after a while.