The Joy of Eating. Petia Raeva

      “I dedicate this guide to a healthy life to all my friends who have always wanted to lose weight and to those who have succeeded. More important than losing weight is to feel happy and good about the way you look and the most important thing is to be healthy. I want you to eat well and drink water, so that your body will be satisfied and mostly to have the confidence of a healthy, beautiful and happy person.

      The ideas, thoughts and the advice in this book do not replace a consultation with your doctor. Seek medical advice on all your health related questions.

      In this book you will not find absolute truths. Nor does it seek to impose an artificial set of values upon your lifestyle. Eating right means to naturally follow the ancient codes embedded in every cell of your body. Take it as a celebration of your health and personality.”

      Petia Raeva

      Preface

      Life without love is not life. Do not ask yourself what love to strive for - spiritual or material, divine or earthly, eastern or western… If you begin to divide these things, new divisions arise. Love has no labels, no definition. It just is what it is.

      Love is like living water. The man in love is a soul on fire. The world revolves in another way, when the fire falls in love with water.

      Elif Safak

      Love is my definition of the attitude a person can experience about themself about their body and soul. It is not only the definition of our inclination to another human being. Love is what makes us complete.

      I do not assimilate love with selfishness, but to love what you are and make your goals in life to be self-improvement and self-giving; is the path that I have chosen. Very often the people ask me: “What is the secret of success?” The answer is simple and unfortunately quite incomprehensible: To see yourself as a wonderful creation (no matter how much you weigh) resonates to others and communicates a message, to give and receive love with others, for me these are the means to achieve peace in my soul and keep the beautiful shape of my body.

      The main reason to be overweight (or to think that we are fat), to think that we are ugly, that nobody loves us, to complain that our life is not the way we want it, that the person next to us is not what we really want, is simple: Unconsciously we hate ourselves and our life! And the easiest way to punish ourselves is to binge eat with something delicious or overdo it with alcohol. To experience brings momentary relief but then we continue to hate ourselves for what we just did. To blame ourselves and feel hatred towards ourselves and wallow in self-pity about the poorly distributed cards life has dealt us. And all this provokes aggression towards yourself and others.

      Since I lost weight I found very direct correlation between how I feel and how I look. People's attitude towards me has not changed (with a few exceptions related with lustful male glances).

      My family is influenced mainly by my mood and energy rather than my weight. My friends are the same, I'm just Petia. My colleagues perceive me basically according my work. When we meet up we try to stay positive no matter how hard we live in Bulgaria; we find a spark of joy. My appearance for me exists only in the mirror. I am happy the way I have changed my appearance mostly because I have changed my attitude towards myself. I believe that we have to equally take care of our soul and our body. My life is a balance in my mind and my nutrition. I take care of everything by myself – I raise and educate my son, feed and walk the dog, pay the bills, make sure I arrive on time to meetings, listen to people’s problems and try to help, clean my son’s muddy sneakers, load up and wash my car, take part in a social committee, sew buttons on my coat, iron my son’s shirts for school, make him breakfast, take on the morning traffic and nervous drivers on the streets, and meanwhile do some shopping before the supermarket closes. Does this sound like you too? It’s the kind of life a normal busy and dynamic person lives. But there is a secret that gives me strength and pleasure in this hectic life. The secret is in the love of life - most of this love I carried into nutrition and food preparation. For me this was the key for success everywhere.

      I will offer you a pleasant experience with the great taste and ingredients of food and its preparation and most of all with the joy of eating. I will offer you a trip into the world of water - wonderful and unique that I hope you find useful and fun.

      Introduction to The Joy of Eating

      The reasonable man adapts to the world, the foolish man is trying to adapt the world to his own wishes. So progress depends on the foolish.

      George Bernard Shaw

      My Personal Motivation

      Five years have passed. I have now fulfilled one of my biggest dreams – to be slim. To look as I had always imagined that will look. My book “A Quick Guide to Weight Loss” became a bestseller; the bestselling book of the year on the Bulgarian market. If had been in the United States I could have become very rich, just like Oprah Winfrey. When she lost weight and wrote a book, she made millions of dollars and then… again gained weight. Big success! Isn’t it?

      But let’s get back to reality. With my achievement I did not become more happy and loved. I became more satisfied with myself. Now I know that if I want something I can do it. Nothing can stop me on the path that I took. No matter how difficult it is and how many times I got into despair and self-pity – I can overcome these moments. It is not only about maintaining my figure and my appearance; it’s about everything else too. Including the difficulties of being a single parent and being a politician in a country where politics is a “dirty” business. And to change things is almost impossible, where there are no rules and all normal human principles are trampled on. The worst now is that all this is seen as normal. Society accepts what happens as natural and we teach our children the same – malice, envy, distorted human relationships, deprived of love. The ambition to succeed is the engine of all human progress, but unfortunately our reality degenerated to the point of simplicity. And how does a person often try to hide from pain and suffering? By surrounding themselves with calorie greasy takeaways and over indulgence, zoning out in front of the TV like a zombie or pounding beers and large portions of food in the local bar & grill.

      That is why I decided to write this book. It is not necessary for everyone to look like the perfect models on the cover of a magazine. The most important is to be healthy and satisfied with your life. And this depends solely on you. No external factors could create a feeling of happiness. Or if it does, it will be temporary. It is important to look inside ourselves and to take care of our body and soul. Both go hand in hand. When you read

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