Only touched the surface

I want to quickly tell you of an interesting moment I experienced earlier today. I was in a room that had reddish coloured curtains that were drawn shut, allowing the sunlight to shine through, tinting the colour of the room. As I sat in the room I saw some obvious blue veins on my leg which I’d never noticed before, I then shifted my focus and noticed that bright blue veins were showing up all over my body due to the light. Although I’d always known that there were veins all over my body it was the strangest thing actually seeing them, I felt rather like a picture out of my high school biology textbook.

It got me thinking, in a slightly more metaphorical sense, how many other aspects to myself I haven’t yet seen. I wondered how much there really is to me just under the surface that hasn’t yet been able to come to light, but would given a change of circumstance. These veins keep me alive, they never stop working and I’m covered in them, they’re a truly fundamental part of who I am yet I'd never given them a second thought before. It all sounds very silly, but for me it was fairly symbolic and I learnt a lesson; there are so many aspects to ourselves which we haven’t yet discovered or even acknowledged to be there, both physically and I suppose too within our personality. They showed me that there are endless bounds of self-discovery that I have to do and really I’ve only just touched the surface on getting to know who I am.

love, bean xx

Are we really the intelligent ones?

When I look around nowadays, irrelevant of where I may be, I see people who are trying to give themselves a purpose. When young we are taught it's a vital thing to do, from being a toddler we're asked ‘what do you want to do when you're older?'. I walked around a city this afternoon for 3 hours just observing; mobiles, suits, rushing around, everything and everyone looked so serious. But if everything were to be stripped back, hypothetically you weren't able to recall anything prior to this moment, what would you be left with? Primarily you are simply left with your body anything else like the makeup, clothes, relationships and jobs are just what you've decided to add to your life. These other additional factors we can survive without, but what about an integral organ such as your lungs? You can survive without your career but lungs are a vital part to your survival. Yet people smoke in hope of maintaining and balancing their stress levels to excel in their career. Effectively, people are willing to literally die for their jobs. Of course, this is only one scenario I could go on forever listing the different harmful things that people do to their bodies in order to keep these impermeable parts of their lives thriving. Fascinating; this is human behaviour.

Our one true responsibility I believe in life is to look after our bodies simply in order to keep on living, I wonder how many people out there sacrifice things to do this job justice? It’s probably a good thing that our heart doesn’t rely on us to consciously keep the blood pumping around our body. Evidence from observing other human decisions would suggest that we’d probably all be dead in days due to our bizarre priority lists. Soon to be mothers tend to be very cautious to not smoke or drink and to take in extra nutrients all in order to care for their growing foetus. Then the baby is born and everything normally goes back to how it was before for the new mother. And as we grow up and have to look after ourselves this care for our ever-growing bodies gets thrown out the window too.

If you were in a house on fire your instinct would probably be to run as far away as fast as possible from the life threatening circumstance. It’s our animal instinct. Actions such as smoking is actively and consciously walking into that burning building. It’s slower but it will inevitably harm your body and ultimately it’s a death sentence. I often think animals are the more intelligent creatures because they listen to their bodies, they're happy to feel what they’re feeling and they do things in their best interest to thrive and stay alive. Animals only eat the food that they were designed to eat. Although humans can digest meat if you look at our teeth, as an example, they aren’t similar to those of a true carnivore, they are blunt and good for nibbling on foods such as vegetables. We can survive on a 100% plant based diet but we cannot survive on a diet composed purely of just meat. Interesting… I hope that you aren’t one of these people I have spoken about in this post, I hope you're somebody who takes care to nourish your body everyday and respect it for all that it does for you.

love, bean xx

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Miranda Kerr Inspired Makeup

For my latest YouTube video I did a makeup look, using vegan products, inspired by Miranda Kerr. Now, I think she is so naturally beautiful and thankfully she is very open about her many secrets to looking so good. She vows by yoga, eating well (she studied nutrition) and 'being beautiful from the inside out'. I personally think she is a wonderful role-model (especially considering the current media which tends to be filled with surgically enhanced 'celebrities' checking into rehab) it's so refreshing having somebody like Miranda who always appears just at peace with herself.

Her usual makeup look is relatively simplistic, she tends to wear a soft brown eye but with a splash of colour on her lips, you'd certainly never see her with big false eyelashes and caked on foundation. Below is the picture which I used as inspiration for my video as I knew that I wanted to incorporate a bold pink lip in order to use my new Bare Minerals lipstick which is part of the 'Marvelous Moxie' collection in the shade 'risk it all'. I think, however, without the lipstick and with just a nice lip gloss that this is a perfect everyday makeup look. 

I think the following quote by Miranda is really beautiful and says a lot about her mentality when it comes to real beauty; 

“A rose can never be a sunflower, and a sunflower can never be a rose. All flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that’s like women too. I want to encourage women to embrace their own uniqueness.” 

I will hope to do a more in-depth post about Miranda, a think she's a real positive inspiration, which tends to be a fairly hard thing to come by nowadays.


love, bean xx

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Where's the big Vegan Community?

So here I am, it's god knows what hour in the morning but there is something on my mind. I'm currently trying to create a YouTube channel specifically for vegans and aspiring vegans to learn how to apply this lifestyle in the modern world. I want it to be for teenagers, and adults, who want to know things like what vegan makeup there is out there, what ready meals are available at supermarkets and how to have things like a vegan pamper evening. These are all scenarios which I think people need to have the answers to in one place instead of bits and bobs here there and everywhere. I think there are so many people who share the same vision which is good but instead of there being lots of different smaller groups I think to be great, and to share this message we believe in, that it is vital to unite.

It is really frustrating sitting here and realising that there doesn't seem to be a spokesperson, a personality driving this force to bring together what I think is a huge community of people who currently don't seem to be interacting with each-other, at least not to their full potential. I reckon if the general population knew how to apply this lifestyle in a realistic way, not just knowing why they should do it (for example what PETA offers), then lots more people would be content with making that shift to 'veganism'. But I am beginning to see that it's going to take a lot of effort to initiate that push in bringing a whole lot of people from all the corners of the world together. How am I going to try and make that effort in beginning that driving force? I have no idea. But I'm ready to do it. 

love, bean xx

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD4otT45t00

Becoming a Vegan

Before I initially became a vegan it dawned on me as being a level of commitment that I aspired to have but never found myself in the right environment or possessing a strong enough incentive to make that big transition. My initial diet change came when I became a vegetarian a couple of years ago, however, during a crazy experience in Australia I found myself in the outback where the term ‘vegetarian’ was a complete foreign concept and eating meat was the only option. A year after returning to England I started to be home educated and I was no longer surrounded by farmers' daughters at school and living as a vegetarian was a much more achievable goal.

Due to the fact that I make my own dietary choices the obvious next deliberation for me was whether I wanted to go a step further and become a vegan. I had observed my sister and Mum, who are both vegans, and the idea seemed a lot of hassle in comparison to what it was worth but it still played on my mind. I decided, however, that I wanted to make an informed decision over what I was putting into my body. When I was doing some research I was watching an interview of ‘Ellen Degeneres’ and I heard her mention that the documentary ‘Earthlings’ was what had turned her vegan, and seeming as I love documentaries I had to watch it. It was the biggest eye opener I think I have ever had. It screamed the truth about the treatment of animals and factory farming which left me beyond the point of upset and in a state of shock. There was no way I could eat animal products with the same naive attitude that I had always maintained.

The next day I went to dance classes completely clueless and bewildered as to what I was going to eat. I had always cheated whilst being a vegetarian by eating bits of fish here and there but I was keen to be strict, as I didn’t want to feel responsible for the mistreatment and death of that animal. Due to being completely unprepared I think I ate some chips from the chippy and a bit of fruit. It was quite hard that day but as soon as I told my Mum my decision I then became fully introduced into the wonderful vegan world. Without her there is no way I could keep it up as I have no culinary skills in the slightest.

A couple of days later, following my documentary experience, I read the book ‘Skinny Bitch’. I'm really happy that I read it once I had made the transition as it was just a final confirmation for me, giving me plenty of practical facts to think about without concentrating too much on their information they give about animal welfare. I am constantly learning about this lifestyle choice I have chosen to adopt, another great documentary is 'forks over knives', and reading posts on the the 'PETA' are also very interesting.

I have not particularly missed any foods, partly due to the fact that there are such fantastic replacements for everything which I loved – they are also often more healthier and better tasting in my opinion too. Physically I feel so much more healthier than before. For example, my skin has always been fairly problematic and within a very short space of time my spots began to fade. My diet is constantly evolving, such as I'd love to cut out as many refined products as possible but it is a journey and I have to kep on reminding myself to take it one step at a time.  


I am so pleased and proud to be a vegan and it takes every bit of my inner strength not to preach about my new found wisdom to everyone in the world at every single opportunity! I have realised that being vegan isn’t just a diet but it is a lifestyle, an enlightened way of thinking and a new perception towards the world.

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Joyful Juices!

Juices are an incredible invention; something incredibly nutritious whilst tasting yummy. If I drank these more often I would definitely be the epitome of health.

The way I got interested in them was by my Mum who introduced me (online) to an amazing woman called 'Mimi Kirk" who at the age of 70 was named the "sexiest vegetarian of the year". When I saw her I thought she was a good 30 years younger then 70. She has had an amazing life and things don't seem to be slowing down for her now she is 74! She lives a completely raw vegan diet and swears by juices (hence where I got an interest for them). I figured if she looks nearly 40 years or so younger by drinking juices and eating a vegan diet that there is no harm in testing her theory. I recommend you go and look her up, and watch some of her youtube videos as she will make you laugh as well as inspire you.

Mimi practices a full raw vegan diet to the extreme which I truly admire and wish I had such dedication and time for. However, I believe in balance and so I am going to try and incorporate some of her ideas in a more manageable, realistic way that suits me, starting with her idea of drinking juices. Over the past few days I have been making a celery, carrot, apple and spinach juice. If you would have offered me that a while ago I would have laughed you out of town but now I am genuinely looking forward to drinking it each day.

The types of juices that she has in a morning, and that I am adapting to suit me, are something I can easily see forming an integral part of my diet. If I drink them first thing in the morning I can almost feel the energy and positivity spreading through my body, it is quite remarkable (sounds rather dramatic but it's true!).

They make eating vegetables and fruit really fun and easy and they are also an easy way to obtain all the nutritious wonders that these foods contain. Not only this, but the nutritional value isn't dropped by having to cook the vegetables - plus no prepping as you simply shove it in the juicer! I have never been a breakfast person but they are something that are so easy, quick and tasty that I really would enjoy having them for breakfast too.

Another great thing about them is that there is no particular method or set ingredients you have to use to make them. They are good for using up any leftover veg you happen to have. It is your creation and choice; it's all down to your own indervidual tastes. It is a wonderful way too to eat some things you hadn't liked as much before, the reason being that by getting rid of the texture and pulp and by mixing the flavours with some of your preferred tastes it can get rid of the undesired part you didn't like whilst still obtaining all the nutrients from that particular food.

The benefits are quick to show, my skin was more glowing and I felt the benefits with my digestive too. Do make sure though that you drink them as soon as possible after making them so that you really get to drink all the good stuff. They are a brilliant new aspect to add to my new healthy diet that I am trying to create. And if you hadn't already noticed I would thoroughly recommend you joining me in this wonderful world of juices. I can think of plenty more to say on the subject but I think that is enough for today.
Much love, Bean xx

(NB Something to bear in mind when you start making them is that a pound of produce is roughly a cups worth of juice)

(PS Another vegan who my mum and I have found really inspiring is a woman who goes by "Chef Chloe". Her recipes in her book are truly tremendous. My mum and I cooked a few at the weekend and they were vegan heaven! Her book as well as Mimi's is definitely worth the buy!)

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Magnificent Manna!

Inspiration

My mum once decided to create a blog in order to write about the various aspects of her life but predominately for self development reasons. As always I have been inspired by her and have also come to the decision that it would be quite fun to do the same. She decided to base hers on 12 parts that she believed to be the main factors of her life & it got me thinking about what I believed to be my 'parts' that I would want to write about. I came up with the follow -

1) Performing
2) Discovery of health exercise (inc. being vegan)
3) The trials of being a teenager & growing up
4) Finding myself (inc. religion, life goals, etc)

I believe that being 38 years younger than my Mum, it is quite acceptable to have only a third of the amount in terms of the aspects of my life that I'd want to write about, which I deem to be important and influential in my life, in comparison to her 12. My 4 subjects are all relatively different and I think how 'deep' they are also varies quite a lot. I have been doing quite a bit of 'research' of different blogs and you-tubers and haven't quite found someone as of yet who has inspired me in the sense that they talked about all the things that I wanted to cover. So, as I have been told in the past - if you want something doing, do it yourself.

A brief explanation of who I am is that I am 16 years old and I left school at 15 to teach myself and entered the strange world of being 'home educated'. Before that decision of leaving school I had been to a total of 8 schools. I left each one for different reasons and I believe it is by going to so many schools that got me to the point where I felt ready to leave school a few years earlier then planned. I come from a strong, tight knit and supportive family of 6, with 2 dogs to fill in the spare space of our house. My parents run a successful and thriving company that is now 21 years old. My 2 sisters are both equally successful with one following into the family company and the other just starting a PHD in physics. My brother, is much like myself however, he has big dreams of making it in the performing industry without a concrete plan of how exactly to go about it.

I believe that different people have different forms of outlets to express themselves and I am hoping that through the Internet I may be able to express myself in this strong time of self discovery.

Much love, Bean xx

 

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-fOHtE1rXE