Healthy Vegetable Stew Recipe + Personal Health Tips

Hey guys!

Yeah long time no chat even though I keep making fake promises 😂. Anyways, let's continue.

A little note I wanted to share is that this post was written on air and God knows where I am right now and if you don't believe me then here you go...

But of course it will be uploaded once I'm safe and sound back on Earth.

Some of you may know I was away for the holidays back home and being in an Asian country while you're on a diet is not easy at all, especially when their main source of food is RICE and all them CARBS. I'm currently pretty anti-carbs and actually feel better from inside with the benefits like losing a fair amount of weight over the last 2 months (how much I lost is personal but it is a lot).

Since I was away I had to find strategies to be on a no carb diet but also not starve myself to death which is something anyone should NEVER do. It harms you more on a long term. I took help from a trained health and beauty specialist and she said that some things had to be removed from my diet and some to be kept. To remove was the obvious carbs, fats & oils, sweets & SUGAR, chips, meats, confectionery and all that crap. To be kept was definitely a lot of WATER, eggs, milk, low sugar fruits, vegetables, tea (standard or green tea but no sugar) and certain legumes. Basically it's all about making sure you are tricking your mind that your belly is full but with foods that are low in calories. You need to keep your belly full and not starve because when you starve or feel hungry, certain neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) are triggered and then released which changes your body into survival mode. When your body is in survival mode, it tries to retain as much energy as possible hence minimal energy is released and you don't end up losing the fat. Therefore when you do eat you pile up more energy, converted into fats.

A little bit of diet science for you but that's not what this post was about so apologies hahahahaha. Back to the main point once again. Following the lady's advice I had to come up with healthy but tasty meals to make sure it wasn't your plain steamed or blanched veg which would make me cry more than wanting to diet my life out.

Here's a really tasty one for you to try...

Cooking time: 30 mins approx.

Ingredients:
1/2 Carrot
3-4 Cauliflower Florets
1/4 Aubergine
1/3 Cup Lentils (Preferably Red)
Salt to taste
1/2 Tsp Cumin Powder
2-3 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Small Onion
1/2 Tomato
1-2 Cups Water
Pinch of Turmeric
1-3 Green chillies (if you want a bit of heat otherwise forget it)
*If you really want a bit of meat or seafood add a tiny tiny bit but once in a while, like once in a few days. Options can be chicken, prawn, fish, beef, etc.

Method:
1. Wash the lentils thoroughly and leave it to soak in clean water till it takes you to prepare the remaining of the ingredients.
2. Cut all your veg into medium edible sizes and give it a thorough wash. If you're back home wash them thrice to get all those chemicals out of your food.
3. Cut your onion and garlic as small as possible so they act as spices and don't end up biting into them.
4. In a pot throw ALL your ingredients together and let it cook over medium fire of your stove. You may close the lid if you want as closing lids tend to retain more water and moisture than no lids as it evaporates the water.
5. Once the lentils are cooked and the vegetables are boiled, removed from the stove and enjoy on its own or some salad.

I hope the recipe was helpful for you and you give it a try at home. I personally like the taste of it which is why I suggest you try it too and I would not encourage something if I did not like or enjoy it generally.

Thank you for taking out your time to read the post and keep an eye for future posts soon 😅

Till next time

Yours, Nafiza

Food for Thought: Maturity

Hello

I hope you are all doing well. I do realise the quality of my blogs have gone down from when I started back 2 years ago. I can tell myself because I read those ones and I can tell it was much better before because the passion and effort were greater. All I can say is that I will try to improve them, if not then apologies in advance.

I have a new food for thought today after so long. It is a subject that is quite important for everyone, but it is overlooked, or it is avoided because nothing can be done about it.

It is an unspoken matter in my opinion and we may use it for jokes every now and then. It is also something that nothing can be done as it is part of the human nature.

That’s right as it says above I am going to talk about maturity. If you try to find in Google the definition of mature or maturity, it will actually tell you that it’s “fully grown or developed” without any context or explanation. It can also tell you that maturity is something to do with insurance policies which I don’t know what that means and that is definitely not what I mean in here.

I am talking about the mentality or the personality characteristic in a human being and this can be broadly discussed. This time I am not by myself. I will be honest and say that I asked around a couple of my fellow friends and some very special people. By special people I mean young people. I got my friends to ask their siblings for a definition of maturity and the results are rather very interesting as you will see in a bit.

When I asked around, I got answers like maturity is the end of childhood, realising what is right and what is wrong which you can tell the differences from inside. Some people told me that maturity is ending your wishes and thinking of settling down and building a bright future. I have also received answers such as being in a state of mind when you are in uncomfortable position situations and you contribute to the best choice, not to running away from hard things in life and that maturity is more to do with outlook than actions and appearances. Surprisingly a response I received was that “Full maturity doesn't exist because nobody can actually say they're mature all the time. Everyone acts stupid makes decisions but are there people who can make good thought out decision in particular circumstances…? Yes. It varies on life, not in age but it is an attribute and dependent on the situation. Often times the youngest child or the child who does the least is the least mature because they're not burdened with the responsibility the other siblings have”.

Interesting fellows from abroad have mentioned that maturity is your norm of talking, sitting down, your thinking and more or less everything is linked to maturity, especially if you are thinking like an adult or a child. (Apologies if some of them do not make sense because I had to transliterate them from other languages).

The responses I received from my special young people have said thing like when you grow up and start acting sensible, acting good and not being stupid or not being neglected (sad; shockingly they even know words like melancholy). Others have said taking responsibility and learning from your mistakes, you would know when you make mistakes and you try to improve them also you try to improve yourself, when you are emotionally vulnerable and that it’s all about emotions. Funny reactions I got are like talking about periods and growing your chest.

I really loved all the responses and I received a lot more responses. Unfortunately, it’s hard to squeeze it all but I tried my best to add most of them. Thank you for all your responses.

Back to discussing about this matter… I want to point out some stuff from the responses and from what I face in my daily life.

First of all, why is it considered “immature” to buy or own plushies? (soft toys, not your urban dictionary definition). All it does is give me comfort and happiness. I cannot express enough how much this lovely soft stuffed animal has helped me recently when I hugged it when other human beings have done nothing but give me emotional pain. You will often hear about this “immaturity” in certain households. Little do they know their real effect on people like me.

The matter of maturity is very subjective, as you may have seen above with the great range of answers. Question is, why are some people called out to be “immature”? What may feel right to one person may not necessarily feel right to the other person and vice versa. What may feel wrong to you may feel right to someone like your friends. Following this point… do you handle this matter with enough maturity?

From a comment above, who said that maturity is when you end your wishes and you start thinking about securing a stable future for yourself. My point is… don’t you think a lot of children already do this? You may be wondering Nafiza what nonsense are you on about. Let me explain. Children from around the age of 5 (varies) start to go to school and attempt to excel in education. If you ask a lot of children, what do you want to become in the future? They may give you answers of professions like pilot, police, scientist, actor, etc. Hence, at this age they have an ambition and they want to become something successful in the future. However, they are often being pointed out to be “not mature enough”. I agree that a part of maturity may be thinking of building a future, but think about this conflict…

I may have some responses above mentioning that maturity may be about self-improvement. Again, I agree with the point. Have you ever thought how many people out there actually carry out self-reflection and attempt to improve themselves?

Yes, I understand that I am making contradictory points over other points… and this is mainly my aim. My food for thought posts should leave you thinking about the matter. You may be wondering what maturity may necessarily mean to me. This is what I think…

Maturity is taking full responsibility of your actions as long as you are old enough and are aware of your surroundings. Accepting the fact that something is right or wrong. Behaving sensibly at serious matters like societal issues as an example (and not end up laughing or making fun of such things). Ensuring or at least trying to make sure your words do not hurt other people, along with that ensuring you are not speaking insensibly towards someone or something because you really do not know what the second person is going through in their life. Respecting other people regardless of their differences and accepting people for who they are. Not distrusting other people regardless of their gender, race, religion, age, etc. (as sometimes parents can go a bit extreme “while thinking of their children’s safety). Finally, but not least… Having a balance between being selfish and selfless.

These are just some of my opinions and I could probably go on, but I won’t do so. Note out that I am fully aware that I may have mentioned it correctly or incorrectly, but this is totally subjective depending on the individual, so I will not necessarily bother seeking approval as these are my opinions… Could it be immature of me mentioning this last statement to you…?

You may have realised that I am highly interactive about such matters, trying to make sure not to spill out why I am randomly asking them “Hey, what is maturity?”. Since that was not enough for me, I went out and posted a poll on Instagram. I asked my Instagram followers the following question… “Do you consider yourself to be mature?” The results were rather interesting and left me thinking a lot… I had 57 viewers on this post. Only 20 answered my question. 75% of the voters said YES, while 25% of the voters said NO. As you can tell the others 37 viewers did not answer it… Why? Could it be that they were not bothered or simply ignoring me? Are they not sure or still questioning it? Could they be afraid of answering it wrongly? Although there is no set answer and there is no right or wrong. Think about it…

For those of you who did answer me, thank you so much for taking the time to answer me, I really appreciate it.

In conclusion, what is maturity? If needed re-read the points above and have a deep thinking.

I have thought about it a lot and I swear I can keep on thinking on it. I could keep on writing about this matter forever, but I won’t because it will be too long and believe or not… if you are reading till now, you read a 1.6k essay so congratulations! Again, what do you think on this matter and what are your thoughts and beliefs… Let me know as I love to hear other people’s answers more than thinking of my own.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post as I genuinely enjoyed writing it out. Till next time

Much love

Yours, Nafiza

Eyeliner: Artist of Makeup vs Lancome

Hey!

I am back again believe or not (😂). I think at this rate I won't justify myself for my disappearance. However, I know so many of you have asked about my blogs and if I will actually ever come back. Yes but it will be casual, maybe not so common. Can I just say uni is finally over, waiting for graduation and all that (yipee).

Anyways... Since I did have some free time and still do binge watching shows, I have also been testing some products which are new to me, but they may have been out in the market for quite some time. I am still testing some and seem to be good and not so impressive at the same time.

Today I have 2 eyeliners to present to you... And to give you an insight of which one might be a better option if you are thinking to invest on a good eyeliner. There way better eyeliners out there that I may or may not know, but these are my commonly used ones so I thought you might be interested.

*Disclaimer*
*This is a simple and honest review, not taking sides or bashing anyone or any of the products*

Artist of Makeup Extreme Art Eyeliner pen was introduced by a friend who was interested to purchase it as she heard good reviews of it. Hearing from her, it got me curious and got myself one along with one for her in IMATS 2018 (London). Since I got it, I have been using it for any occasion I had so far (since I am not a frequent eyeliner user). I must say, it is a good eyeliner and I guess it should be due to the price considering the brand Artist of Makeup is still in development.

It is a felt tip liner with an ultra fine brush tip. Since it is a felt tip, it is fairly easy to use and you can buy refill cartridges if you run out of ink like some refill pens out there.

• The eyeliner is quite waterproof and it is tested to be waterproof (quite impressive to be honest).
• It is also oil-proof. It may be a good thing but also not so good when it comes to removing makeup.
• The eyeliner slightly lacks in its boldness compared to Lancome, meaning it does not provide a dark effect and may seem like it will blend with dark eyeshadows.
• Although is it surprisingly waterproof, unfortunately it easily smudges under your eyes due to sweat. Hence it does not last you for too long and could get messy. However this is fairly common within the use of eyeliners.
• The fine tip allows you to create the thinnest lines on top of your eyes or even underneath.
• The end result provides a sheer look (suitable for a shimmery look).
• Price: £24.95

This is very random... I purchased the Lancome Artliner through Fabled.com. My friend was telling me there was a first purchase 15% off on Fabled online. The main target was to buy the Nars Sheer Glow (which ended up being the darkest colour and had to return it for a refund). On the side I don't know why I decided to get the liner... (weird).

However, when it did arrive, I really loved it and used it for quite some time till I got bored of using eyeliners. I must say before it arrived, I did not know what to expect. When it arrived I fell in love with it because it was so good and much better than my expectations.

It has a soft foam tip on the liner for smooth lines and gentle on the eyelids. As you may see in the image above, it is in a separate section similar to a lip gloss type of packaging, meaning the brush and the ink are separated. I think since they are separated, it makes it helps you to apply on top of your eyelids with ease and comfort.

• The eyeliner is not waterproof, tested by myself. It removed the liner when lightly rubbed using some cotton bud with water.
• However, the ink of the liner was oil-proof. Again it may be a good aspect as well as a bad aspect when it comes to removing makeup.
• The actual ink is very bold and it looks amazing on the eye when you use it for dramatic and dark looks. This part is better than the Artist of Makeup one.
• This one, compared to the first one, is smudge-proof. It will last you for a long time without smudging it or without needing to disappear or top up. It will not smudge in the presence of sweat as well, adding it to the plus point.
•  A small disadvantage that you will not be able to produce very fine lines like you would be able to with the Artist of Makeup one (which you won't really realise to be honest). It will help you create dark bold lines to go with your eye looks.
• The end result will provide you with a beautiful matte look, just exactly how I like it. I recommend it with a smokey eye or even just a normal look so it pops up.
• Price: £20.70 (£23.50 at some places so just keep an eye from where you purchase).

You can tell at the end that my friends are guilty of making me buy the drastic amount of makeup I already do (you know who you are if you are reading this). I have stopped now I promise 😂

In conclusion, both liners are amazing in their own respective ways. However there comes a decision of "if you had to pick one, which one would you pick?"

In all honesty, I would pick Lancome Artliner anytime before the latter. I really like both of them, which is why I am presenting them to you. But Artliner suits me more for what I prefer in my makeup looks and it is more affordable/cheaper than Extreme Art Eyeliner Pen.

I hope this quick review helped you and gave you an insight of both liners. I hope I can present to you more content like I used to do before as I do have some ideas and drafts in mind. Also feel free to suggest me anything I should write that you would like to read. Till next time...

Much love

Yours, Nafiza