I created this blog after the new year as a place for me to express my thoughts, share experiences, and give advice. I really loved it until I felt as though I ran out of things to talk about and became extremely busy with school work. Since winter break, I have dramatically changed my diet as well as my lifestyle. I spoke about this in my last post, but Cameron Diaz's The Body Book really made an impact on me as well as helped me see food in a completely new way. I now look at food as a wonderfully delicious way to fuel our bodies, nourish our souls,
and feed each and every cell in our bodies.
Before, I had been counting calories, eating nutrient-poor foods, feeling bloated and deprived, and hating every second of it. I would scrupulously plan every single morsel I put in my mouth, only to binge eat at night because I felt so deprived. The binge eating then lead to obsessively going to the gym as soon as I woke up or even twice a day to get rid of all of the extra calories I had ingested. I was sad and ashamed, in a really bad mental place.
Fast forward a few months, one amazing book, a great counselor, and some really inspirational people on social media, here I am. I feel better than I have in so long. My binges have reduced significantly, although I still face some issues. I have begun to love my body, to realize that my view of myself is skewed and inaccurate. I have realized I am my biggest critic and I need to be kinder to myself, because this is the only body I have and will ever have. I have found myself falling into a plant-based lifestyle (mostly with a few exceptions) and I am absolutely loving it! I have discovered a love for yoga, for meditation and mindfulness, for being in the present moment and expressing my independence from things I leaned on before as a crutch. Now I go to the gym because I love to and I enjoy challenging my body and improving my health, not because I feel like I have to or I need to burn off the calories I ingested.
I have begun an Instagram account (@roseinthe_kitchen) where I post recipes for a lot of things I make for myself as a college student on a budget. Through doing this, I have found my love for nutrition as well as my passion for cooking. Now I am looking to get my Masters degree in Nutrition and Dietetics and eventually become a Registered Dietician! This whole journey I have gone through and am still working through has shown me that there is truly a silver lining to every situation, never give up because giving up is not an option. This blog will now be an outlet for me to share recipes, post about my favorite nutrition inspirations and accounts on instagram, and post about my life and life in general. Oh how beautiful it is, this wonderful, amazing, scary journey life is, and I am still really in the beginning.
xoxo
Samantha
