By Victoria Q

There’s a phrase saying “You are what you eat. Which is the reason so many of us feel like rubbish.” And it was true.

A few years back, I never really take care of my health. I don’t exercise, I don’t eat vegetables and I sleep late at night. I felt like crap most of the time – I was tired and lethargic, I had constipation and lack of energy. So, I often spent my day off at home sleeping the whole day.

Today, I feel the best of my life ever. I feel refreshed, energetic and lively every single day. So, I’m sharing with my readers how I made it.

Food: Nowadays, my diet consists mostly of meat, vegetables and fruits – a very less amount of processed food. I eat a fair amount of fruits and vegetables: I’m especially fond of broccoli, romaine lettuces, avocados and papayas. I also eat chicken breast and fish 4 days a week. I’m practising no-animal products for the rest of the 3 days.

My regular ‘meat’ meal looks like this:

Lunch: A plate containing steamed broccolis and boiled or grilled chicken breast.

Dinner: A plate containing salads (usually romaine lettuces and purple cabbages), fruits (usually papaya, sometimes watermelon or honeydew), a piece of meat (usually chicken breast or salmon) and a small portion of rice. If I have avocado, I’ll add it.

My regular ‘no-animal’ products meal looks something like this:

Lunch: A plate containing steamed broccolis, grilled tempeh or tofu and any kind of beans (I love baked beans and kidney beans).

Dinner: A plate containing salad, fruits, homemade burger patty made with beans or chilli soya chunks and a small portion of rice.

I don’t usually measure all of my food but I do measure my protein to make sure I meet my daily protein intake.

Avoid: There are quite a few foods I’m reducing from my diet – packages and processed food and sugar. Also, I completely eliminate a few foods from my diets: animals’ milk, peanuts and eggs. I’m allergic to peanuts and eggs, and I don’t enjoy drinking animals’ milk. I do love yogurt and cheese, just not animals’ milk. Since I can’t eat eggs, I would need to eliminate all kind of food containing eggs such as cookies, crackers, cakes and some kind of dishes. This leaves me no choice but to make my own food especially cookies, crackers and cakes in a vegan version. And, I enjoy making them, knowing what I’ll put in for better health.

Drink: I drink plenty of water every day. Besides, I also love teas. It can be true teas – green tea, oolong tea, pu er tea, black tea,  herbal teas – peppermint teas, chamomiles teas or flavoured fruit teas – raspberry black teas, apple black teas, mango black teas. I drink 6 to 7 cups of tea almost every day. I have about 10 to 15 types of different teas in my pantry and each day, I’m so excited to choose which tea to drink. Each tea gives me different effect such as relaxation, calming, energize, refreshed or warming. So, I tend to choose based on what I wanted for the day. If I overeat, which I sometimes do, I’ll choose green tea or oolong tea for their benefit of helping indigestion. If I overworked myself and feeling overwhelmed, I’ll prefer chamomile tea or peppermint tea to help ease my mind with its calming benefit.

Supplements: Although I eat plenty of nutrient-rich food, I find it important to take daily supplements especially for ladies as we lose a lot of blood during the menstrual cycle. I take evening primrose oil (for skin, hair and ease PMS symptoms), B-group vitamins (to support nervous system function – healthy stress response in the body), iberet folic (to reduce anaemia symptoms as I have thalassemia disease) and glucosamine (for bones). Depending on your diet and health condition, everyone has different needs for supplements.