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B1 - Vocabulary Story - A New Lifestyle - Daway
B1 - Vocabulary Story - A New Lifestyle - Daway
I never liked to cook. For breakfast, I always ate very sweet cereal with milk. To
make the cereal healthy, I would buy a bunch of bananas and cut them into
pieces for my cereal. When I arrived at the office, it was always someone's
birthday and there were many snacks, (never healthy ones either, of course).
Last week, there were at least 5 office birthdays. Literally a birthday for EVERY
DAY of the week! One guy brought in cake, another one bagels, a lady in the HR
department made pizza for everyone...How on earth are you supposed to resist
that? You wouldn’t believe how many nights I came home and promised to start
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For lunch, I would go to the snack machine and get a bag of chips and a candy
bar. The only thing that would stop me from eating this unhealthy of a lunch is if
my food got stuck in the machine. My already poor lunch choices also went good
with a bottle of lemonade. I always “”tried”” to bring some fruit for a snack like
pears, peaches or melons but I never ate them. Ok, don’t judge me. Who really
likes pears? Dinner was similar. Go to the supermarket, get a burger, a can of
cola or another soft drink. (Just so you know, the burger always had pickled
cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots on top. Every little bit helps, right?)
I did very little sport. I sat at work on the computer, at home on the sofa and in
my car to get around. I only got exercise when I walked the dog (but the poor
thing was fat too). Even at the superstore, I used to use one of those motor carts
they keep for elderly people. I know what you’re thinking, but I am POSITIVE
that I was not the only lazy person on one of those. As I said, I WAS
Two things.
Firstly, “I” changed. After I took a trip to the Mediterranean Sea I started to hate
situation.
Regarding my life changing trip, no matter what country it was, when I left the
boat in Spain, Italy, Greece, I always saw the same story. Very healthy, active
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people. There were old people riding bikes with no problems, some worked in
the fields on a hot day and drank no refreshments except for mineral water
with ice. Gray haired people swimming, fishing, laughing, enjoying life.
For me, I was always tired, even after 9 hours of sleep! (Though, I often woke up
to look at my phone). I was always thirsty (no matter how much coffee or juice I
drank!) and, I HATED taking the stairs to my flat. (Why use the stairs when
there’s a lift?).
Finally, when I got to the last place on my trip, Cyprus, and saw the same healthy
A friendly waiter at a restaurant started talking to me and I told him how I liked
the Mediterranean coast. I said that I was amazed by the people. “Where I’m
from, people are always tired, stressed and poor diets are normal. Here,
everyone looks happy and healthy. Why’s that? ” I asked. He told me, “It’s the
Mediterranean diet. Here, we eat a lot of olive oil, vegetables and fruits, fish,
fresh dairy and even wine! Pasta and rice are important too.” “I eat a lot of those
things…” I said, “I don’t think it’s so healthy.” “It is,” he replied. “Everything we
eat is all fresh, not from a factory. The food we eat stops us from getting many
illnesses common in your country. Also, as you noticed, we are very active…”.
You know, I never understood people in my country. Why maintain a lifestyle of
BAD food and habits that make you feel WORSE instead of learning to live with
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good food and good habits that make you feel BETTER!?” I thought about his
I didn’t care before but now, I did. My clothes didn’t fit well. I spent a lot of
money on junk food. I couldn’t remember when I last had real, fresh, air...
I thought about all of this one morning. I don’t know why. But I knew, I needed a
change. A change of heart, change of mind, change of lifestyle. Yet, one more
About a week after my trip, I got a call from my mom while I was at work. I
wasn’t able to answer the phone but on my lunch break I read her text message.
It took me 45 minutes from the time I read the text message to get to the
hospital. It took me twenty minutes from my arrival at the hospital to learn that
my father had had a heart attack. It took about 15 more minutes before the
doctors said there was nothing more they could do, my father had passed
away….
Time is so short in those scary and terrible moments of life. My bad lifestyle
It took my dad 63 years of bad living to die in 2 hours. In sadness, you begin to
think about a lot. Mainly, that you want your family member back. When you
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realize it’s an impossibility, the second thought is, if it’s possible, I don’t want to
At first, I improved small things in my life. I went to bed and woke up at a normal
time, turned my phone off every night, drank more water….Then, bigger changes
came. Exercise in the morning and biking to work, staying away from office food,
very easy things. But the most important change was my diet. I began to eat
healthily.
After I read a lot of blogs, watched many videos and learned enough information,
I got started. I decided to try and eat more foods like people living on the
Let’s see.
Monday-Friday:
Breakfast - Fruit salad with apples, grapes, strawberries and yogurt. Yum.
Lunch -Cooked tuna with lemon and garlic. Olive oil roasted potatoes with
broccoli.
Dinner - A piece of turkey or chicken on top of a lettuce or cabbage salad.
Every weekday was similar. Maybe instead of a fruit salad for breakfast I had
tropical fruits like banana-coconut yogurt. For lunch, I could exchange tuna for
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salmon or any fish, even beans. Dinner was also usually the same, though,
The important thing was to eat fresh, in small amounts and to make little
changes in the meals from day to day. Also, always drink a lot of water in
between meals (with the occasional cup of tea, of course). At the weekends, I
Weekends:
Breakfast - An egg omelet with slices of cheese and small pieces of onions and
peppers, (I always added a little spinach to have some green in my omelet) with
Lunch; Pasta with mushrooms and onions cooked in olive oil or butter.
Dinner at the weekends, I’d have steak or sausages usually with rice, vegetables
and a little red wine (hey, if they drink it in Spain, why not me?).
My weekends I would spend doing fun things like hiking, playing basketball or
walking the street markets with my friends. I realised walking for a long time is
not so bad once you get momentum, and it makes you so tired you just CRASH in
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It’s only been a month, but I have a lot more energy, save a lot of money on food
and have even lost some weight. I WAS unhealthy but I focused my mind,
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VOCABULARY LIST
FRUIT
- apple (manzana)
- banana (banana/plátano)
- coconut (coco)
- grape (uva)
- lemon (limón)
- melon (melón)
- orange (naranja)
- peach (durazno)
- pear (pera)
- strawberry (fresa)
VEGETABLES
- beans (judías)
- broccoli (brócoli)
- cabbage (col)
- carrot (zanahoria)
- corn (maíz)
- cucumber (pepino)
- garlic (ajo)
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- lettuce (lechuga)
- onion (cebolla)
- potato (patata)
- spinach (espinacas)
- salad (ensalada)
- tomato (tomate)
MEAT
- burger (hamburguesa)
- chicken (pollo)
- duck (pato)
- fish (pescado)
- salmon (salmón)
- tuna (atún)
- lamb (cordero)
- steak (filete)
- turkey (pavo)
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DAIRY PRODUCTS
- butter (mantequilla)
- cheese (queso)
- egg (huevo)
- milk (leche)
- yoghurt (yogur)
BEVERAGE (bebidas)
- cola (cola)
- coffee (café)
- lemonade (limonada)
- refreshments (refrigerios)
- tea (té)
- ice (hielo)
QUANTITY
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- a slice of (una loncha/rodaja de)
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