Where are you from?
I was originally born in China, in a city called “Fuzhou”. I immigrated over to Australia when I was about 5 years old and grew up on the beautiful Gold Coast. I then moved to Brisbane to study at university and now I mainly live in Brisbane as I just started a full time job here.
What made you choose to go vegan?
I was first exposed to the concept of veganism when I attended a vegan potluck with my friend about 4 years ago. That’s where I realised just how amazing plantbased food could be and also connected with the kind compassionate souls who embrace the lifestyle. Following that, I worked at a health food café over my summer holidays, where I was further introduced to plant-based options on a daily basis and making them. This really sparked my interest and I began to do my own research. After watching a few documentaries, I was convinced that going vegan was the least that I could do and I haven’t regretted it since.
Looking back, I feel like I was destined to be on this journey because I’ve never really been a big “meat-eater”. For example, when I was little, I would get scolded because I would only eat the skin of my dumplings and not the meat inside, or I would pick only the vegetables out of a stir fry and leave all the meat behind. As a teenager, I was an athlete and I used to force myself to eat big slabs of animal protein because I thought that I needed it to be fit & strong. Fast forward to now, I’ve been vegan for just over 3 years, put on 6kg of muscle, and I am the strongest & fittest that I have ever been!
Where do you get your recipe inspiration from?
People inspire me to create. Nothing inspires me more than the thought of people trying my recipes or creations and loving them! If I am making a dish for a particular person, I will always tailor the flavours and ingredients to their liking so I know for sure that their face will light up when they eat it. Other sources of inspiration would be: my asian heritage, seasonal produce I see at the markets, new products I see in the supermarket, cafes/restaurant dishes and of course, the awesome creations that other talented bloggers make. I am also a huge gym junkie, so I love thinking of recipes which incorporate various flavours of vegan protein powders.
What do you eat in a day?
The food I eat varies from day to day. But I really try to make sure that at least one of the meals that I eat is packed with whole plant foods, especially green vegetables!
When I construct a meal for myself, I like to incorporate every macronutrient: protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats as these types of meals keep me nourished & satisfied.
Obviously I’m a huge foodie too, so I often go out to eat with friends. When I’m out, I always order whatever I feel like eating that is vegan and try not to stress about the nutritional value or calories etc. as there’s really no point!
Do you exercise everyday?
Not everyday, but I would say most days! I just love starting my day with some movement and it leaves me feeling energised and ready to take on the day! I am totally a morning exerciser – I very rarely do afternoon/evening workouts because exercise stimulates me too much so I like to slowly unwind my body as the day progresses.
My mindset around exercise has changed drastically over the last decade. Initially it was an unhealthy relationship where I saw exercise as a means of getting thinner. But once I dug myself out of that hole, I made a goal to use exercise to make myself more muscular and stronger! Now, I exercise to maintain my fitness and start my mornings feel fab! I’m about to start work full-time which means I realistically can only exercise 3 days a week, it will be a huge drop but it’s just something I’ll need to adjust to.
What is your height and weight?
I am 160cm (~5 ft 2)
I prefer not to disclose my weight, but I can say that it is probably heavier than you think I would weigh as I have a lot of muscle. Weight is really just a number and fluctuates depending on muscle mass, water retention, hormones, whether I’ve recently consumed fluids or food etc.
A few of your recipes have macros listed – do you track macros?
Nope I don’t track at all. The main reason I have the macros listed is because I want to create recipes that tailor to everyone! I understand that some of you guys are tracking for whatever reason it may be, so I wanted to have those options out there for you!
In saying that, I do have solid knowledge of food so I know what foods to eat when I want to consume more of a certain macro-nutrient e.g. avocado for healthy fats, tofu for protein, oats for complex carbohydrates etc.
What camera do you use?
I use my trusty iPhone 11! All my photos were taken on my phone. I would like to invest in a proper camera one day, but a part of me thinks that either I’ll drop the camera and break it or I will just forget to bring it to places with me… for now I’m happy with my little phone!
