Guess what? I have been cooking!

At home, there was always delicious food on table. My grandma and my mom made delicious recipes out of nothing. I have never been much of an "eater", but cooking has always been a no-no. Believe me when I say that I tried to live out of shakes for sometime. I wanted the protein, but spending time in the kitchen was not in my plans.

With contest preparation getting more serious, I simply had to. I always tried to find a way to cook as much raw food as possible and I was really glad that sauces and all tasty stuff was out of my menu.

No-cook recipe: tuna salad with chia seeds

Lazy me was happy, but my body not so much. It needed variation and I could not escape taking my relationship with pot and pans to the next level.

I am in no way a chef, but I finally started daring searching on the internet and mixing up things just because.

Subscribing to receive vegetables and fruit on a weekly basis forces me to do something with them. And because I cannot choose what I am getting, I have to leave my comfort zone and get creative.

Rice with leek: organic and gluten free

And like a miracle, I find myself getting exciting about the results of my experiments. I am still a Can't-Cook, but for the first time in my life, I feel as there is hope for me.

This week was a very productive one with me staying home for a couple of days. I did some green shopping and brought home some new toys to play with. Since my purpose is not only eating healthy, but achieving a specific physique, I cannot lose sight of combinations and balance in all my meals. This includes smoothies too since fruit juices are a healthy choice full of sugars and that can cause unnecessary fermentation in the gut.

Smoothie Lunch

To make sure I am doing it 'right', I use Calorie Count to login all my recipes. This way I am learning how to make use of the food that is good for me to reach the result I am looking for.

The best part of is seeing my body reacting positively to all changes. I am not going to lie, but there were days when I truly doubted I was ever going to be able to workout as I used to. I had lost hope after going through medical exams with perfect results while my body was crashing.

Left: November 20th, 2013. Right: November 29, 2013.

Even though we do not celebrate Thanksgiving in Belgium, neither in my home country Brazil, I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has helped in my fitness path so far. Each single person taught me something which guided me to this continuous better version of me. This is just the beginning, but I am confident that I will get there. Thank you!