Beach body vs beach clothing

I have been quite furious the past few days, about this burkini bullshit in France. Policemen forcing a woman to take her clothes off. I don't need to finish that sentence. Because who cares what is their reason. If your blood pressure doesn't rise from the fact, that armed men walked up to a woman and forced her to take her clothes off in public, then please give back your "I am a human" card, because you are not bloody one. 

People are saying, that she shouldn't wear that to a beach. Well let me tell you something. My body wasn't touched by a swimsuit for almost a decade. Because I was so ashamed of it, and I didn't want Greenpeace to come up to me thinking I was a beached whale. So whenever we went near water, no matter how roasting it was, I wore my jeans and a T-shirt. In July. Because that is what I felt comfortable in. And no one ever came up to me and asked me why I wore that. It was my choice. 

An other story, me as well. I was 11, went on a school trip to Lake Balaton, and got burnt in the sun so much, that I had one massive blister starting from my left shoulder, going through my back, to my right shoulder. So from the next day on, I wore a T-shirt over my swimsuit, to prevent further damaging of my skin. I swam in that as well. That wasn't proper beachwear either. But I needed that. 

Also, I have a friend, who has sun allergy. She wouldn't go to a beach in a tiny bikini, because it would be torture afterwards. There are so many people with scarring, stoma bags, cellulite, bruising, you name it, who wouldn't feel comfortable showing these things in public, so they cover themselves in clothes that hide them. There are people who are so pale (raising hands here!), that are afraid of skin cancer, and don't want to expose their skin for the sun for too long. There are also people, who are currently battling skin cancer, but still would like to enjoy the rays of sunshine on a lovely day, by the water. 

Oh yeah, and there is an other reason for not having traditional swimwear on. Religious beliefs. Which is also a choice by the way, and should be fucking respected. I am sorry for swearing, but I just don't want to live in a world, where a woman has to take her clothes off, which gives her comfort, just because someone can't tolerate the fact that she wanted to wear them. It is no difference from stripping a fat girl into her underwear. Or forcing someone with sun allergies to go and sunbathe without clothes on. It. Is. Her. Choice. To. Wear. What. She. Wears. 

And I am not religious at all, but I respect everyone, and they can believe in whatever they want to, from the flying spaghetti monster to Cthulhu. And if they choose to wear or not to wear something, then go on and do it. No one moaned when I saw a grown woman walking around in a Pikachu onesie in broad daylight. It covered the same amount of her body as a chador would have. 

Let people wear whatever they want to wear. Please. 

How did I become a vegetarian

In my previous post I promised, that I would write a whole post about my decision in becoming a vegetarian. So here we go. :) 

First of all, just a disclaimer at the beginning. I am not preaching about what is right and what is wrong. I don't have a problem with people who eat meat. With people who only eat fish. Who doesn't eat meat. I don't have a problem with vegans, planteaters, rawdieting folks or anyone for that matter. We are all adults who are responsible for their lives, and should know what is good for them. If someone is happy eating meat, good for them, I am no one to tell them otherwise. This is only my story. So no hate please. :) 

I was a meat eater my whole life, and I come from a culture and country, where meat is the expensive food, therefore even though it is not luxury, it has to be on a table on weekends and holidays, special occasions. I liked meat, but only the type that is easily edible. I didn't like eating chicken legs, wings, anything around bones, where I had to "hunt" avoiding the veins or tendons or cartilages and that. So I was picky. It was the same for me with seafood, I loved fish and clam, but the second the "clammeat" opened, and I saw the whole inside of it, I just couldn't continue eating it. Same with fish though, could eat a slice, but wasn't really happy about a whole fish on my plate, tail, head and all. 

Now I kinda realized, that I didn't like these food, because I saw the animal in them. If you give me a slice of bacon or a breaded chicken breast, it doesn't resemble an animal. But if I see the little intestines of the clam, or the eyes of the fish on my plate, or the legs of the chicken, I see what it is. 

Anyway, back to like 2 years ago, when we moved here. I would have sworn to anything, that I hated curry, and people gave me funny looks for saying it. :D We tried it like the first week we moved here, and I kept on trying and trying different kinds, but just didn't like it. I always thought it was about the sauce. It turned out it was - surprise - the meat. Since I don't eat meat and order veggie curries, I can't get enough of it. It was always the Mr asking if we could order some curry and I kinda agreed but was never really happy about it. Now it is me initiating it, since I love it so much. 

The idea of not eating meat came to my head at the end of last year, I was thinking about it a lot, but kept putting it aside. I noticed it though, that more and more often I went for something vegetarian when we went out for a meal. I am a sucker for cheese, especially goat cheese, so whenever I saw something with it, it instantly beat anything meaty. 

It was in May when I accidentally realized, that I don't crave meat anymore. The Mr went to London for a conference for 3 days, and after I dropped him off at the airport I went grocery shopping for myself only. 

This is what I got. I didn't have a plan for shopping, I just went in and bought whatever I felt like eating. Not a single meat product. I didn't want them anymore. So I kinda knew from this point, that I am going to become a vegetarian, but I didn't want to break it to the Mr yet. He just recently found out that he couldn't have anything with dairy in it, as it made him very ill, and it was a hard enough change for him, didn't want to upset him even more. 

An other thing that made me think about meat: I noticed, that whenever I went running, it felt the best and easiest on days when I didn't eat meat. So I had this habit, that whenever I knew I was going to run in the afternoon, just had porridge or a porridge pie for breakfast, a fruit bowl or smoothie for lunch, and that was me. If I had some meat, even some ham in a panini I just had cramps while running, had to have walking breaks, etc. It didn't feel nice.

So I kinda ate meat when we had it, sometimes I didn't, but it kept building up in me, that I have to make this decision and I need to tell him as well. The last drop in the glass was a lorry I saw driving past me about a month ago, with loads of pigs on it. I just started crying, I don't want animals to be killed just because I want to eat. So since then I was avoiding meat, and it was on the 24th of July, while we were eating home made curry (with tofu, because we both like it! :D) I broke it to the Mr that this was my decision. I reassured him, that he can eat whatever he wants to eat, because I am not going to force my things onto anyone. This is my decision, not his, and I am not afraid or disgusted to prepare meat for him at home. We had a couple of meals, where I cooked separately for myself, but now he said that he is happy to eat the way I eat now, and will just eat meaty stuff when we go out, to make things easier. Isn't he the best. :) 

I have to say it is quite easy to be a vegetarian nowadays, Quorn does amazing products, their wheat protein sausages and patties can easily confuse a meat eater, because there is almost no difference. It is mostly about seasoning anyway. :) And I am not a fussy eater when it comes to vegetarian dishes, as long as there is one thing on the menu for me, we can go. This is how we had a meal at KFC the other day. (I was probably the first one to order a veggie rice box in ages though, because they put a chicken piece on it as well, and when I took it back the just looked at me like I was an idiot. Nevermind.)

Since I am a vegetarian, I have been on a couple of runs, and what a difference! As I said earlier, I didn't eat meat on running days anyway, but now since I stopped entirely, I am almost 30 seconds faster on a km! On my last 2 runs I felt that I can actually run faster now, so far I felt like I always ran on my highest speed, but yesterday I could differentiate  between just jogging and speeding up for a while, then jogging again. Never experienced it before. And it is not because of further weight loss, because I am on the same weight for a good couple of months now. Had an other bit of stagnating, but now I feel it is going to start going down again. My body does this every now and again, but it is normal, and I don't have a date when I have to be "finished" so I am not rushing anything. 

So this is me now, and I am very happy with it. I still eat eggs (I only buy free range happy eggs, 90% of the time from the locals), and eat/drink milk as well, but I go for organic British products, try to be as conscious about it as I can. The best would be to have half a dozen of chickens in the garden, and a cow named Daisy, so I could be a 100% sure that they are not mistreated, but this is the best I can do now, and it makes me happy. 

I don't consider myself anything because of this, and I am not an activist, not going to spill paint on people for eating whatever they eat. I actually think vegetarians and vegans who attack on as many platforms as possible sometimes make more harm than good. Being cruelty free is one thing, but we can't be just animal friendly and not human friendly at the same time. So if you want to take me out for a meal go ahead and enjoy a juicy steak, you are not going to hear a word from my mouth saying it is murder, you are eating a corpse or you are horrible. I will just enjoy my vegetables next to you. And we can share pudding. :) 

Please excuse the silence

Oh wow, I did actually sit down and started writing an other post.

Sorry about being this quiet for a while, I just never really had the inspiration to sit down and talk. Write, even. I know, how weird from me, I basically never shut up in real life. I guess I just needed some quiet time. However if you follow me on Instagram, I am still very active there (no surprise!), and I am still on my pathway, doing what I can to be healthier and more fit. 

I posted a couple of new before-after pictures on insta but let me just share a couple in this post as well. 

This is the most recent one, the one on the right side taken on the 5th of August

I also did my 10k race in June, and I would pretty much like to train for a marathon in the future. My main goal is a half marathon just now, there is one in Edinburgh next spring, so let's get there! :)

I am still practicing yoga, although not as often as I would like (working on it!), and I run of course, oh yes, and the most important, almost forget, I work as a midwife now!

Maybe this is why I was so quiet, job hunting was hard, as I had a couple of unsuccessful interviews, but finally I started my journey as a Scottish midwife 6 weeks ago in a midwife led unit, and I absolutely adore it. 

My diet has recently changed as well, since I decided to be a vegetarian now. :) Will write a full post dedicated to this decision, so keep your eyes peeled for that. 

So this is me, trying to get back to the routine and write a bit more often, I hope I can stick with it. Let me know in the comments if you are still here, reading, hopefully I am not just talking to a brick wall. ;)