Gooood morning everyone and happy Monday! I hope you're all having a lovely start of this new week! I've decided to create a blog category called "Motivation Monday", where I will talk about goals and challenges to kickstart the new week with. This way I hope to motivate both you and me to try out new things and learn about different topics by simply going for it. I can't think of a better way to start the week with, than a new challenge. Lately, I've been very excited to try out a lot of new things, like yoga, meditation, and vegan food! I have been a vegetarian since May 2013, but up until this summer I had still been eating fish every now and then. I went to Greece a couple of weeks ago, where one night, I was sitting in front of a plate with two big pieces of salmon. But, all of a sudden, I just felt like the biggest hypocrite. I was so serious about not eating meat, but there I was, eating the meat of a fish. It reminded me of something I once read in a book. Something that made me lose my appetite. What if instead of pig meat, we would be eating dog meat? Only the thought of it.., right? We think it's so normal to eat pigs, cows, chicken, sheep, and so on, only because it's decided by our culture and society that this is "normal", whereas dogs are our pets, that we consider our friends and family... But in the end, whether they are dogs, cows, pigs or fish, they are not that different, are they?

I have always been interested in vegetarian food, but lately, with the rising amount of vegan options and alternatives, I can't help but wonder what it would actually be like to go completely vegan. So, that's why I have decided to give it a try! This whole week, I will only eat vegan foods. I already bought lots of plant-based and vegan foods last week, like lots of fruits, avocados, tofu, seitan, and, believe it or not, vegan eggs. Yes, you heard me. Vegan eggs. I have to say, they don't taste quite as good as normal eggs, but it's a nice alternative and, well, we do need our proteins. There are though, a lot of things that are surprisingly tasty! I found vegan candy the other day and I literally think it tastes a million times better than regular candy (with gelatine). Isn't that just amazing?! However, there's, of course, a downside to everything. I just really hope that I can resist cheese for a whole week. That's going to be the most difficult food for me to cut out of my diet, because, well, I'm Dutch. We love cheese. 

Anyways, I'm super excited and I can't wait to see how it will go. I will try to update on here, too, after a couple of days! If you're vegan and have some great tips, please let me know! Oh well, time for some breakfast!♥

LOVE, Michelle

P.S. I've never been the kind of person who pushes other people to eat vegetarian food. I do it for myself, and even though I wish more people would do the same, I want everyone to feel free in their choices. So, please don't consider this as me trying to make people go vegan or vegetarian. I'm just trying to inspire! Also, I'm still new at the whole avocado-slicing-thing, so excuse my wanna-be art on a plate, haha.