Most people in Eastern Europe don’t eat junk food and maintain a positive way of life.
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The healthy lifestyle in Europe: Eastern European diet
I went to a dinner party in Ukraine last month and I was impressed by how healthy the food was: no sugar, no soy, no grains, no diary and no sweeteners of any kind. The dinner table was full of fish, meat, vegetables, seeds, nuts and fruit as well as some very healthy oils and healthy flavoring such as herbs.
“Because we have a sweet life, we don’t really need to import as much sweetness through our food as we used to,” says Anna, my Ukrainian friend, “I find blueberries, fresh nuts and creamy avocados very satisfying!”
Anna is a 35-year-old woman, but she looks like a 25-year-old girl. She is probably the most energetic and youthful lady I’ve ever met in my life.
“The right food looks after the entire body,” says Anna, “healthy foods are yummy, not repetitious, boring or lacking in texture and taste. When I feel better physically, I also become better emotionally and psychologically.”
Clearly, the lifestyle in Europe has made Anna a happy person. Suddenly, I became aware of something very important – reading books about positive thinking won’t truly solve mental issues; living the right lifestyle is the key.
Indeed, awareness itself starts to heal the problem. After that dinner party, I went to see a nutritionist who gave me a plan: I’ve started to implement the plan and have seen great results within a few weeks!
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What I learned from the lifestyle in Europe:
I remember I used to eat lots of chocolate, cakes and bread. I thought I had a sweet tooth – I sometimes bought a birthday cake from the bakery and ate it all by myself! I know, I know – that sounds crazy. But that was exactly what I did. When I bought a birthday cake, the salesgirl gave me some candles because she thought it was someone’s birthday. But in fact, it was nobody’s birthday; I just wanted to eat the entire birthday cake for no reason!
Well, not quite. Actually, I didn’t know the real reason why I was eager to eat an entire birthday cake. But now I know it. Let me explain.
As an adult, I oftentimes try to nurture myself through food when what I really want is love, affection and attention. This is the uncomfortable truth that most people don’t want to talk about.
When I was living in Ukraine, my friend Anna introduced the lifestyle in Europe to me: it begins with eating a healthy diet while looking after my emotional needs.
“If your grandparents cannot recognize it, probably you shouldn’t eat it,” says Anna, “at least that’s my rule when it comes to choosing what to eat. Basically, I never eat processed food.”
Now I read labels and understand them very well. These days, I prepare foods by myself with ingredients I trust are fresh and whole. It’s hard to be healthy if I don’t cook my own food, right?
After switching to a whole-food, organically grown diet, I feel so much better physically and mentally. As I see it, eating organic food is just like breast-feeding from the earth herself! Improving the quality of the food that I eat is just like a rebirth as the earth produces the very foods I need to flourish!
In the past, I loved ice cream and chocolate cakes, but then I realized that the more stressed I were, the more my body would cause me to crave fats and sugar at the same time. Fortunately, that belongs to the past.
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How the lifestyle in Europe eliminated my food addiction:
I was a sugar addict for many years. Sad but true. Luckily, after learning from the lifestyle in Europe, I discovered a way to get rid of my food addiction –
The only sustainable, long-term cure for food addiction is to generate natural feel-good chemicals in my body & work on my emotional wellbeing as well as the issues of my soul.
When I was craving sugar, I didn’t know what I was really craving – in reality, what I was truly, madly, deeply craving was sweetness of life. Therefore, nowadays each week, I go to the movies once or twice; I dance to the music; I read a good book. All of these activities have helped me to cope with food addiction. And I’m very grateful for Anna who shared her wisdom with me and changed my life forever.
I’ve also stopped drinking coffee and hot chocolate. Now water is my main beverage; sometimes I drink some herbal tea such as chamomile tea.
“The lifestyle in Ukraine is very inspiring – it has transformed my life permanently, so I’m grateful!”
