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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 a good book your mind feels pleasure, it is the same with good food. Your body responds to what you eat and repays you with a beautiful appearance. It does not mean you have to look like a model, but when we have glowing skin, shiny healthy hair combined with stylish clothes, suitable makeup and dazzling smile and … you are beautiful inside and out!

It’s important to feel like that. To give thanks for all your assets and beauty and also to emphasize them. Good food is the way from the inner world to the outside world no matter how many pounds we weight or how tight our pants are on the hips or how many spare tires your tummy has. When we learn to eat healthy and balanced and drink clean water then the battle with your weight and calories will end. And the most important thing is to like yourself first– then the others will like you too.

How I managed to lose 66 lbs is the big question. I won’t say it was easy or happens with a magic wand, because it will be a lie. The truth is – it’s very difficult but as you can see not impossible.

The basic and most important thing is that I changed my way of living and eating. Allow me to give a brief description of my previous life. I promise this won’t turn up in an autobiography of the difficult life of an MP.

My routine a year back was reckless running from task to task, from meeting to meeting and constant mobile conversations at the same time. Consequently, my eating habits were chaotic. My choleric life reflected on my weight and appearance. The main priorities were to do as much as I could do in as little time as possible, to be at as many places as possible, and to meet as many people as possible. Spending quality time with my family wasn’t on the agenda and when I was there I was constantly on my mobile. If I was home, cooking for my son it was like Christmas.

Analyzing my way of life, one week after Election Day in 2009, I gave myself a postelection promise. This was something like the New Year’s resolutions that one makes every year and as result of an internal struggle one doesn’t keep them. My resolutions were:

•Priority # 1 – spend more quality time with the family

•To cut down on the mobile usage

•Not to eat randomly

•To see more friends

•To read more literature

•To start home cooking

•To be more engaged in sports

•To avoid having meals with unpleasant people

•Not to eat when I am angry or sad

Essentially, I got back to basics and it was pretty much straight forward. Of course, I’m not mentioning my work due to the fact that it equals with Priority # 1. I have to say that sticking to the above mentioned list it wasn’t easy. I reorganized my daily routine, even my life, in order to get it together. For this purpose I had to bring some of my work home, mainly reading and writing documents. As it happens, the most difficult thing was cutting down on mobile conversations and eliminating snacking on unhealthy, high in calorie sugar products that you have with tea, coffee, between conversations or for just because you feel like it. I have to admit that I didn’t manage the active sport part well but I do hope that I will before the next elections.

Consequently, I can safely say that your life rotates around your meals. Every second person on the Planet has weight issues, no matter if it’s a man, woman, or child. We are constantly on a diet, trying one thing or another in order to lose weight, losing a few pounds at first and one month after that discovering with horrid that we gained more weight that we have lost. Another diet follows and another disappointment and depression and so on and so forth. We are constantly thinking about food – what we must or mustn’t eat what we want to eat and with whom we want to eat. I was one of those people on a constant diet, under constant stress by the hunger and the kilograms on the scale. I was very annoyed with my mom when she gave me a scale for a Birthday present. Horrible. I thought she was having a laugh. This is a personal item and if you need one, you get it for yourself. She didn’t catch my drift and got angry with me insisting that it was such a useful gift.

After I started implementing my resolutions I bought some books on the subject, like: “Superfoods” by David Wolfe, “The Complete Book of Food Combining” by Cathryn Marsden, “The French Diet” by Michel Montignac, “Dr. Well’s Optimum health Plan” by Dr Andrew Well, M.D. I have read plenty on the subject on the Internet. Of course, I have read and applied Dukan’s elixir and got a reasonable result, but I gained the lost weight immediately after stopping the diet. The materials on the topic were useful to me and laid the foundations for my own personal nutrition system.

I’ve been applying my system for more than a year now and as a result I have lost 66 lbs. My system isn’t a classical diet but a nutrition system combined with eating habits.

Following my system took the stress of being on diet away, made the yo-yo effect disappear and I wasn’t constantly hungry anymore. On the contrary, I have adopted the principle that you can eat anything, just in the right order, combination and preparation and most importantly with pleasure.

For more than a year, I feel joy before, during and after having a meal and absolute satisfaction with the numbers on the scale.

I have named this guide The Joy of Eating due to the fact that my eating habits developed into a lifestyle and I’m not permanently hungry and upset. The rudimental principle of my system is food combining. I’m not sticking my meal philosophy in your face, but I’ll be pleased if you consider my long term experience with diets useful.