I’ve been on this health and fitness journey for about 5 years now, i’m an avid believer in a healthy active lifestyle but that isn’t only going for a run or to the gym but also what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat it.

Growing up my family has always been very active and fairly healthy. We would eat steak and salads, roasted vegetables and roast chicken but with that said there are definitely many things that we could do to improve our eating habits in and around the kitchen.

I think that every person is subject to their own ‘diet’. I’ve tried many things to see what works for my body and what doesn’t, what leaves me fuller for longer and what makes me feel fatigued really quickly – i’ve been vegetarian, i’ve been paleo, i’ve been ‘eat whatever you want and hope for the best’ but over the years i’ve really got the hang of what I love to eat and what fuels me the right way. Nowadays I’d say i’m more of a paleo based eater – I don’t eat many grains, however I do enjoy the odd rice bowl here and there. I don’t have lactose, although I am not lactose intolerant I find that having milk or yoghurt makes me extremely nauseous and so I prefer to steer clear of it.

After years of understanding my body and food I like to call myself an intuitive eater, I listen to my body and I give it what it needs whether that’s fruit, veggies, nuts, chicken or meat, smoothies – whatever else, even sometimes chocolate! You don’t have to eat how I eat but I hope it inspires you to find out more about what your body enjoys on your fitness journey!

I was home for 3 months on holiday before going back to uni and I think that was the most difficult part about eating healthy. My mum loves spoiling me and buying me my favourite chocolates and feeding me my favourite meals however, it’s also the easiest way to derail from the point of the healthy lifestyle. (It’s okay mom, still love you!)

I find that in my area there really is a shortage of farmers markets and places to get food other then the supermarkets so when I go, I definitely try to keep it as organic and as free range as possible (as much as the budget can allow ofcourse) but if you live near food markets that offer these then go for it! You’ll probably save a bunch too!

I would say healthy snacks are one of the easier ways to keep it healthy whether you are at home or not, I always like to make sure that i’m fully stocked on those so when I am feeling peckish and go to the fridge or pantry – there is always something good and wholesome for me to eat.

FIRST GROCERY TIP: Go shopping with a snack or some water, never on an empty stomach or else you’ll end up buying the whole shop and getting things you don’t really need! Trust me, I’ve been there!

SECOND TIP: I’ve learned that it’s best to stick to the parameters of the supermarket just because that’s usually where all the fresh produce is, the stuff in the middle can get a bit confusing and seem healthy when it’s not but there are a few things I do get from the middle but then I know there is a plan and a purpose, not just wandering around aimlessly.

THIRD TIP: Don’t fixate too much on labels. Although its important to understand what you are buying and are going to put into your body – I find that the more people fixate, the less enjoyable it comes. Start small and grow from there.

FOURTH TIP: Keep it sustainable. The way 2019 is going, it’s shameful to not try and reduce, reuse and recycle EVERYTHING. I would highly recommend keeping already used grocery bags / material bags in your boot so that when you go to the shops, you don’t have to purchase some more!

This grocery shop was a stock up of the big one I did last week. Other things I add to my list is Almond milk and Kombucha, which I find really helps with my digestive system / IBS, Gluten free choc chip cookies (guilty pleasure), Spinach – the darker the green, the better it is for you! I also add fruits such as banana’s, strawberries which are high in a antioxidants and grapes. Although I don’t eat it often, I buy the brown and wild rice for those days where im craving something hearty!

FIFTH TIP: Do your own grocery shopping. I always find that when I do the shopping, there is less chance of me buying things I shouldn’t be buying.

Getting healthy definitely is a personal thing, you have to make the decision and commit to it but once you get the knick of it, it’s so much more inviting and exciting!

Second year Sports Science, here we go!

For those who know me and are yet to know me, there is one thing that i’m pretty good at (if I say so myself) and that’s organizing, whether it’s my wardrobe or my uni books you can bet it’s colour coded and in alphabetical order.

I know things can get a little crazy, very quickly as university starts but there are a few things I do to help minimise the chaos. Although this may just work for me, maybe it’ll spark some ideas on how to keep you on par with the happenings of work, notes, tests and yourself! So with university just being a few weeks away; here are some things that help me stay on track of my work and help me stay a little sane too!

First, let’s start with the exciting stuff: Stationary.

I am a sucker for a good stationary shop, It’s got to be one of my most exciting things to do before going back to uni (I know i’m not the only one). Last year I had a way of organizing all my uni work that worked for me so that’s what i’m doing this year, if it’s not broken why fix it right!? So here are my stationary essentials for 2019;

Black files; I only have two of these – one for each semester. Although I have quite a few more subjects this year, I like to have one space where everything is. There is honestly nothing worse then scrounging around in a hurry trying to find something just because you can’t remember where you last placed it! I find that having one for each semester just makes the whole process easier and much more convenient!

If I do run out of space, I would separate my files into terms rather then semesters. That way all the necessary subjects and modules for that specific term is in one place.

Pastel coloured highlighters, dividers and side stickers.

I’m the type of person that feels organized once everything is colour coded, so I always make sure that my highlighters, dividers and stickers all have similar colours so that each subject has its own colour. I use the highlighters to help me focus on the important information rather than the lump sum and the dividers do what their name implies, divide my subjects from one another. I use the side stickers for each chapter that Ive made notes for and it also makes it easier to see whats what when the file is shut. Im honestly a sucker for this stuff!

This may be an obvious one but definitely a necessary one. A diary. I find that this is the most important thing to help me stay organised and on track for the year. I use it for everything from birthdays, exam dates to blog posts and ideas – it doesn’t leave my side. Sometimes things make more sense when they are written down rather then typed into notes on your phone, well for me in any case!

Because self-care is my number one priority in 2019, what’s uni essentials without some beauty essentials, am I right? Here are a few things that help me stay relaxed during the most stressful times at uni.

A face mask, its no news that if you want to feel like you remotely have everything together you should just put on a face mask, right? Well truth be told, there were been many times where thats exactly what I did to help me feel a little bit more put together then what I actually was!

I love this L’oreal face mask because it’s quick, only 10 minutes and it leaves my skin feeling so smooth and much brighter. I know it only said up to 7-10 face masks but I’ve honestly used it way more than 10 times and I still have a way to go – you don’t need to have a thick layer of it on, even the smallest amount makes the biggest difference!

I am a firm believer that your productivity is determined by your routine. From eating, gymming, even showering etc thats why when I give myself some ‘me time’, I make sure it is with products that I love. For Christmas, I got this gorgeous smelling body wash by iwori, Beauty of Africa – Ive honestly never smelt something so good before and so I have especially saved it for when I go back to uni.

This may seem like a bit of an odd one to some but if i’m having a bit of a stressed day or just need to relax for a second or two, I light some candles and switch on my himalayan salt lamp – it instantly relaxes the air and I instantly feel better. I love the aura these two things combined, project. 10/10 recommend both! This candle is a bit of a 2 in 1. It’s the royal botanicals Ditch Iris soy massage candle, first of all it smells like what dreams are made of and secondly, once it has been lit for a while – once you’ve blown it out and the wax has cooled, you can use it and massage it into your skin – amazing.

I would love to hear what your uni essential are? I have plenty space on my ever growing list 😉 

Rolling over into the new year has got to be one of my favourite feelings. There is so much hope and opportunity for what’s to come, for what you can create. If things didn’t pan out the previous year, you get another chance to achieve whatever you want!

I don’t know about you but I’m definitely guilty for writing out a whole long list of New Year resolutions and not getting past the first one. When writing out a full list of goals and resolutions, it can seem quite daunting and overwhelming and could quite possibly be why most of them don’t see the light of day. That’s why I want to help you create measurable New Year Resolutions for yourself (and myself, let’s be real!) We all know the aim of these resolutions is to carry them out throughout the year and in turn, hopefully start a new healthier lifestyle for ourselves, here are four simple steps you can follow to guide you into the right path for the New Year!

It starts with you.

No goal will begin or end if you aren’t in it 110%. When creating your resolutions you have to be inspired about it, when you are motivated and excited to start doing something it’s going to be a lot easier to continue them instead of it feeling like a chore. You can take a goal that has been lingering at the back of your mind for months if not years and use that to your advantage – if it has been there and it’s something you still think about then it’s something you need to go and grab (sounds like something I say to myself when I see a cute bag at the shop) and use that motivation. It’ll manifest itself into greater things!

Make sure your goals are realistic and measurable.

This is something I live by, whenever I create goals for myself throughout the year I try my utmost best to make sure they are realistically achievable within my specific timeframe. The goals you want to create can be as big or as small as you want them to be, just make sure that they aren’t so overwhelming that you don’t want to try at all! (I’ve been there all too many times). I like to create a main goal for myself and then break it up into smaller segments, I find this helps not only to make things seem less cluttered but also helps me stay accountable to my goals.

Find an accountability partner, whatever the goal.

There are going to be many moments throughout that you are going to feel uninspired and unmotivated, as though you’re getting nowhere so you may as well quit – don’t worry, that’s normal! That’s why on days where you’re finding it difficult to get yourself out of the house, knowing that someone on the other side is also counting on you to help achieve their goals makes it a lot easier! Plus; once you’re there you’ll be thanking yourself for it. With that said, it’s important to be kind to yourself and remember that slow progress is still progress. Although it sometimes seems easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, every small step counts towards your goals and still makes a difference. Keep going, you got this! You’re capable of great things, believe it.

Start small.

Success doesn’t happen overnight and neither does progress. It’s something you have to work on every day, little by little. Easing yourself into achieving your goals, doing one small change every day and practicing those changes will make the whole process a lot easier and a lot more maintainable for the rest of the year. Eventually it’ll become second nature, just persevere and have patience!

I know this isn’t me telling you exactly how to achieve your goals and make them realistic but if you take your inspirations, follow these steps and trust yourself – I promise you, you’ll reap the rewards you just need to be mindful and also remember that it is a lot easier to write 10 goals down on a piece of paper than go out and make them happen. You’re only human, don’t set yourself up with disappointment, it’s not fair on you!

With that said, I hope that you all have had a Merry Christmas and that you have the best start to the New Year!

2018 has been a year full of growing, learning and helping. We are becoming more aware of our environment and the need to protect it, with the festive season just around the corner and christmas literally almost a month away (where has this year gone?) I thought it’d be a great idea to give some environmentally friendly wrapping ideas.

As we all know, christmas paper isn’t recyclable, and hundreds of thousands land up in our bins and in the landfills every single year. I think it’s important for us to make a conscious effort this year, even if it’s a small one to try and reduce that!

Brown paper bags

I don’t know about you but I have always been one for the more natural, rustic look – depending on the occasion of course but I think this is a perfect idea for those gifts that are a little too big or a little too small to wrap. They are inexpensive and can be dressed up or down for the look you are going for!

Cloth

Is this not so beautiful? This is one I don’t believe many people will think of but I absolutely love the idea of wrapping a gift in a gorgeous type of cloth! This would also be more convenient for those oddly shaped type gifts that are a nightmare to wrap with paper. What is also lovely about this idea is that the cloth can be reused, whether it be to wrap another gift or to be used as something around the house. Definitely a unique way of wrapping a gift. There are many ways to wrap a gift in cloth, you can find tutorials on Youtube and Pinterest.

Brown wrapping paper

This one pretty much speaks for itself! I think this would be a more obvious route for a more environmentally friendly approach to wrapping Christmas gifts. There is just something so pure about wrapping a gift in brown paper and adding some ribbons with leaves from your garden.

Newspaper

Does anyone else’s mom have a cupboard where she stacks newspaper? I swear, we have newspapers sitting there from before I was born! This is the perfect time to make use of all of that newspaper and if you’re like me and have an abundance of newspaper sitting around, its also the most adorable and inexpensive route to go. 

Printable Christmas tags

If you haven’t noticed already, I get all my inspiration from Pinterest. It honestly is the best platform for any and all ideas you have. They also have a huge variety of free printable Christmas cards, you can get them printed and its another way to save money and the environment or you could even make your own, I like to use canva.com when designing my own little things!

I know that having such a minimal look when wrapping gifts isn’t usually tradition but they can be personalised and spruced up in so many ways, from gift tags to ribbon, drawings, leaves, acorns. It really can be so beautiful and just as much fun to do. I hope you are now inspired, like me to be a bit more cautious when deciding on buying wrapping paper. Our environment can’t protect itself, thats why it’s up to us. Tag me on instagram if you decide to try any of these out! 

Have a safe and merry season! 

Disclaimer: The images that have been used in this blog post have been sourced from Pinterest.

The last month of the year is here! I don’t know about you but this year has felt like its been three years in one. Its had the most incredible and most difficult moments I have ever endured!

This post is hopefully to inspire those who are trying to make progress, become more fit and healthy whilst also having a good time during the holidays, like myself! I’ve recently been a little out of whack with my fitness regime because I have been busy writing exams. Exam time is a time where I don’t put pressure on myself to exercise daily or to be picky about my eating habits, I eat pasta if I feel like pasta and I workout when I can fit it into my studying schedule. So although I have been working out and eating well majority of the time, it’s time to get myself back into gear and time for a change!

Anyone that knows me knows that I take my health and fitness lifestyle seriously but not to the point where I allow it to dominate and control my life, that’s just not fun. December is a time for giving, indulging and spending time with family and friends.

My goals for the rest of the year are fairly simple; to enjoy myself whilst looking after myself.

I really want to get back into gym, 5 days a week 4 at least and to just be conscious about the food that I am putting in my body with that said, it’s December I don’t believe it’s necessary for you to be overly concerned with the amount of calories that are in certain meals or how long your workouts are. One unhealthy meal really isn’t going to set you down the wrong path, it’s important to enjoy your time with those whose company you enjoy without having to worry about the logistics of every meal or every activity. The new year is coming, it’s okay!

What I do believe isn’t the best idea if you are wanting to change your fitness and health lifestyle this holiday is don’t go overboard in one day. If you know you’re going to go out for dinner and have a good old pasta then try and eat well throughout the day, don’t have pizza for lunch as well. Enjoy everything in moderation, you’ll appreciate it more that way too!

Cape Town is a beautiful place and seeing as though i’m not going away these holidays, I definitely want to become a tourist in my own city. I can’t tell you how many times one of my friends from JHB or Durban tell me they went somewhere in Cape Town and i’m like “oh that sounds so cool, i’ve never been there” meanwhile they’ve been here 11 months and me 21 years, it’s sad really!

Being active is an important part of who I am and my lifestyle, when i’m stuck inside all day I go a little insane so if I don’t get to the gym one day, i’ll go for a walk on the beach or a hike up the mountain.

I feel like most of the posts or things I see on social media around this time puts a lot of pressure on people to live up to certain expectations and to live according to what they see on certain platforms but I want to tell you that it doesn’t have to be like that, you can enjoy yourself this season while making progress in your fitness and health journey just don’t allow yourself to have certain expectations or to make yourself feel bad when you don’t eat as well as you’d hoped one day. Always remember that the sun will rise and you can try again!

Recap of goals for December:

Enjoy yourself

Look after yourself

Eat well

Spend time with those who matter!

Be active

Hello September, thank you for joining us.

Just over a month and a half ago I was lucky enough to be treated to go and experience swimming with the ocean exhibit as a birthday gift from my brother. It was such an incredible thing experiencing life from the perspective of a sea animal. Sounds so cool, right? Well, it was!

Before our morning had even begun I was lucky enough to be greeted by a pod of common dolphins in the marina, next to the aquarium. Of course, the dolphins shouldn’t have been there as it’s not entirely safe for them but authorities were alerted early and the dolphins made it out safely! It was still a beautiful sight to see.

Two Oceans aquarium offer an ocean experience for their visitors where they take you through the ins and outs of the aquarium, they show you where the food is prepped for all the kinds of sea life and so much more! Did you know that the aquarium cultures their own jellyfish? ME NEITHER! My mind too, was blown. The lovely lady, Thalita who took my brother and I on this excursion was telling us how jellyfish have very set stages of their life just like a butterfly, it’s quite incredible actually.

Moments before we got into our wetsuits to go swimming in the ocean exhibit we were taken to the turtle rehab and quarantine where they have baby turtles that were saved off the coast not so long ago – it was a very precious sight. Upon entrance we had to sanitize our hands so we didn’t bring all the germs we had on us with us, protocol. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to touch the turtles that were in quarantine because they were still too young and susceptible to diseases but we still admired them from afar! What I found really cool was the rooftop garden that the aquarium has to feed their turtles, they had lettuce and spinach, leafy greens – all the good stuff!

One of the great things about the two oceans aquarium is that they don’t force the animals to come to you through bribing them with food or anything like that, they say that if the animals want to come to you, they will and when they’ve had enough they’ll mosey on out. One of my many favourite parts of the day was engaging with the sea turtles and getting to experience the sea life from in the water. II didn’t realise nor did i think turtles were so loving. Sandy and Bob, the turtles in the exhibit absolutely loved being cuddled and getting scratches on their bellies and back. I very quickly got attached to these creatures so I can just imagine how the in-house experts and workers feel about them!

Then after a little bit of play time with the turtles we got the privilege to put on our snorkel and mask and look at the other sea life in the exhibit. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit petrified of the short-tailed stingrays because they appear out of nowhere but I quickly overcame that fear when I realised that they aren’t harmful and really are beautiful creatures! There are over 200 different types of fish swimming around the ocean exhibit, it was honestly such a spectacle.

The whole experience was about an hour and a half long, being in the exhibit for roughly around 30 minutes, although it really was too short definitely worth it! The in-house-experts really have all the information they need to answer any questions you have and they also enlighten you about the threats that some of these animals face, including their turtle rehabilitation and release-work that they do constantly.

It was an honor having experienced something so incredible as that. I think back to it now and am still in awe of how lovely the staff were, how loving the turtles were and the feeling I got experiencing all those animals up close and personal.

I 100% recommend you to put this on your list of to-do’s in Cape Town! It was honestly one of the best days of my year so far! If you’d like to check it out you can go onto the Two Oceans Aquarium link here and it’ll give you all the information you need regarding bookings and what to bring etc.

I hope this has made you want to go and experience the ocean exhibit for yourself, it definitely has me wanting to go again! If you enjoy more lifestyle type blog posts, comment below or send me a dm on my instagram telling me what sort of lifestyle posts you’d like to see in the future!