Wellbeing Journal
VASHTI WHITFIELD ON WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
As part of our Jurlique Mindfulness Challenge, executive life coach and mindfulness expert Vashti Whitfield has created an exclusive four-part series of guest blogs for us. In part one, she explores what it means to be mindful and practice mindfulness.What does practicing mindfulness mean to you? Is it sitting quietly for a couple of minutes, taking the time to feel the breeze on your cheek, or slipping off your shoes and bringing all of your attention to how the ground feels beneath your toes? Or diligently meditating for at least 10 minutes, switching off your mind and washing away the chaos running riot inside your head?However you choose to be mindful, the process of reconnecting to your breath and senses as you actively clear your thoughts can allow you to recognise what your mind is trying to focus on, and scale back the intensity of how you feel about it. By giving yourself this clarity and distance, you are able to view what worried you with a clearer perspective and a calmer mind.When you sit in the silence of the moment, it is far easier to experience the magnitude of stress that our excessive thinking puts on our bodies.Three-minute practice: Rebooting your mindBefore you read any further, I want you to take three minutes to try it for yourself.Think of your mind as a laptop. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got multiple programs, files and documents open. After a while, everything is not only running slower – it’s also becoming a bit of a mess.In this practice, you’re going to close each of these programs or thoughts down. And once your mind is clear, you’ll only reopen the thoughts you REALLY need.Close your eyes, inhale for 5 seconds, then slowly exhale for 10 seconds. Repeat three times. Then sit absolutely still for at least two minutes, concentrating only on your breath and the sounds you can hear around you. Once you open your eyes, notice how you feel.I call this “rebooting”, and I do this exercise multiple times throughout the day. It helps me reduce overwhelming feelings and prioritise my focus. Most importantly, it helps me clarify if I am wasting time thinking about things I cannot predict, control or change.More ways to be mindfulOften when people are doing something creative or active, such as cooking or playing music, they’re able to experience a disconnection from the busyness of their mind. This physical or creative practice can also leave you feeling more calm, clear and inspired.Learning to think and feel through the senses is a remarkably simple and straightforward approach to slowing the mind. This one of the most effective ways to learn to be present in your life, calm your overactive mind, and use the clarity of distance that a moment’s pause can give you to reconnect.The benefits of mindfulnessPeople often use different mindfulness techniques to deal with stress, anxiety, or even insomnia. These practices are hugely beneficial for anyone caught in up in the stress and strain of modern-day living.And those ‘aha’ moments we rely on for inspiration or problem-solving don’t come when we overthink something. They almost always appear when you’ve let go a little and are in a completely different headspace.Think of the times when your best ideas have come to you while you’re in the shower, on holiday, or watching a movie. A daily Mindful Practice is also a wonderful way of bringing more clarity, insight and awareness to your life – along with more of those ‘aha’ moments.Practicing mindfulness dailyThere are two important aspects to consider when we explore the concept of mindfulness. First is the daily and consistent practice of moving out of your head and back into your body. This about letting go of your thoughts, and giving all of your attention to the sensations in your body, your breath, and the stillness of your mind. Then and only then are we able to distance ourselves from the freight train of thoughts our brains are hardwired to create.The second and even more powerful aspect of practising mindfulness is being able to do it when you’re in the midst of your busy life, and not just in the sanctuary of your dedicated practice space. This is when you’re able to actively stop and reflect on what you’re thinking about, explore why you’re thinking about it and whether it’s having a positive impact on you, and then – as an act of will – change your thoughts to better serve you.The key is to start small and do what you can – and most importantly, define your intention for getting started. We often reactively move into doing or trying something and yet fail to set a clear objective or goal around, making it far too easy to let ourselves of the hook for not seeing it though. Be clear and honest with yourself about what you’re really committed to – and write it down.Over the next month, we invite you to cast aside any scepticism and openly explore how being more mindful can vastly improve your quality of life.Explore the Jurlique Mindfulness Challenge for tips, tools and a step-by-step plan for transitioning from mindful-mess to mindfulness. Download the Jurlique X Vashti Whitfield Mindfulness Challenge here
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SLEEP GOAL: NOURISHED AND PEACEFUL REST BY JACQUELINE ALWILL
Jacqueline Alwill’s philosophy at The Brown Paper Bag is about nourishing the body inside and out with a delicious wholefoods and a plant-based diet. Over the course of two weeks, Jacqueline’s Challenge will help you find your inner glow by learning to commit to healthy and wholefoods eating.If you’ve ever had one night or more of poor sleep, then you can truly appreciate the quality of a good night’s rest. Good sleep can be hard to come but there are a few tricks here and there that may help achieve a restful night and improve overall health and wellbeing as a result.There are two major phases in sleep – REM and non-REM sleep. REM, is the “dreaming sleep” and the early stage of rest whilst non-REM is our “quiet”, deep sleep. When we have a good night of uninterrupted rest, and consequently more non-REM cycles, we wake feeling energised, alert and can function at our best.Different factors may affect an individual’s ability to move into peaceful non-REM sleep. Stress, exercise, stimulants, alcohol and the food we eat all play a part. Within our diet alone, it’s important to consider these key factors…Understanding how we consume… A range of elements play into this so let’s start with the first step. Breakfast. It’s an easy meal to miss and many actually do, or simply don’t feel like breakfast when they wake up. However, the effect of not having breakfast often leads us into eating more in the later stages of the day and reaching for stimulating food and drinks (coffee, energy and soft drinks, sugar). So it plays into an unhealthy cycle… Late breakfasts, necessary caffeine pick-me-ups, later lunches, even later dinners and ultimately later to bed. With this delay comes limited time for our body to digest food appropriately at the right times of day and to produce hormones for digestion when we are sleeping. If you’re a night owl and not hungry in the morning the chances are it’s because your body isn’t being given the opportunity to reproduce vital hormones to keep you charged during the day; digestive hormones being number one.The ideal situation as a regular sleeper or a transitioning night owl is to put your body into a flow of regular eating and sleeping patterns. Rise with the sun, hydrate and nourish, eat 3-5 meals throughout the day, with the last and latest by 8pm, this allows the body to digest and wind down for rest by 10pm. It really has such simplicity, and the beautiful thing is that there are ingredients we can add and subtract from our diet to help take us there.The presence of stimulants… Stimulants have the interim effect of helping us turn “switch on”, they also have a powerful effect on the quality of our sleep. Coffee, tea, energy and soft drinks, tobacco, drugs and alcohol push the body into a longer awakened period. Alcohol, despite being a depressant, forces the liver to work overtime, which can disrupt sleep in the early hours (3 to 4am) of the morning. To reduce these players in the diet focus on halving your intake week-by-week and swapping for more nourishing alternatives as you go. Herbal teas, sparkling water with lemon, orange and lime spritz, and limiting alcohol to 1-2 nights per week at the most will all see your sleep and your health move into flow.Nourishing our rest… The ultimate goal to achieving a nourished and peaceful rest is by supporting the production of our sleep and mood stabilizing hormones and replenishing the adrenals as we rest. Enriching the body’s stores of melatonin and serotonin, both sleep and mood modulating hormones and reducing the levels of cortisol, our primary stress hormones, can be simple with a good night of sleep and foods to support. Bananas, almonds, whole milk and dairy, protein rich food (vegetarian and animal based proteins), oats, chamomile and passionflower tea in the diet will boost the body’s sources of tryptophan, magnesium, essential fats, protein and potassium. These nutrients relax our muscles and body, aid the action of melatonin and serotonin, and help the body wind down into restorative rest.WARM SPROUTS, QUINOA, CAULIFLOWER STEAKS AND HALOUMIGF : SF : VServes 4 1/2 cup raw quinoa 2 tablespoons olive oil 4 spring onions, white part only sliced 1/2 cup mung sprouts 1/2 cup chickpea sprouts 2 stalks celery, finely diced 1/2 cup coriander leaves and stalks pinch chilli flakes Zest of one lemon / approximately 1 tablespoon 1 kale leaf, stalks removed, leaf shredded 1 red apple, cored and cut into strips 1/2 cup walnuts 2 teaspoons cumin 1/2 head cauliflower (400g), sliced crossways into 1.5cm pieces 1 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric 250g haloumi, cut into 8 slices Sea salt and black pepper Dressing: 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons honey 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric DIRECTIONS Place the quinoa and 1 cup water in small saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiling, cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the majority of the water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and allow to stand for five minutes before fluffing with a fork. Next heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add in the spring onions, sprouts, celery, coriander stalks, chilli and lemon zest and sauté for 3 minutes. Then place the cooked quinoa, shredded kale, red apple, walnuts, 1 teaspoon of cumin and coriander leaves into the pan. Season well with salt and pepper and saute for a further 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover with foil and set aside. SPICE MIX To make the spice mix for the cauliflower steaks combine the cumin, paprika and turmeric in a bowl with a pinch of salt and mix well. Evenly spread the mixture onto one side of each of the cauliflower steaks. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a fry pan on medium heat, place the cauliflower steaks (spice side up) into the pan. Cover with lid and cook for 5 minutes on each side. While cauliflower is cooking heat a few drops of olive oil in a fry pan and cook the haloumi on a high heat for 2 minutes on each side. Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Divide the quinoa and sprout mix across four plates and top with cauliflower steaks, haloumi and a drizzle of salad dressing. Discover all of Jacqueline’s recipes and download the full Wholefoods Challenge hereblog-wellbeing-button-downl-challenge
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SNACKS TO FUEL AND THRIVE BY JACQUELINE ALWILL
Jacqueline Alwill’s philosophy at The Brown Paper Bag is about nourishing the body inside and out with a delicious wholefoods and a plant-based diet. Over the course of two weeks, Jacqueline’s Challenge will help you find your inner glow by learning to commit to healthy and wholefoods eating.What to eat in the mid-afternoon slump? This is probably on of the most common questions regarding energy that comes my way. The morning is productive, boxes are ticked, lunch is done and then three o’clock hits and we subsequently and habitually feel like we’ve hit a wall. There is reason for this. The circadian rhythms, governing wakefulness and sleep, program our bodies to hit downtime between 12-3pm each day. We are physiologically programmed to rest in the afternoon. And whilst in an ideal world we would take twenty and close our eyes for a quick power nap, in reality this isn’t feasible for most. So throughout our day, we need to eat foods to nourish our bodies, rise above the slump and energise throughout the day. The more common picture however, is that instead of reaching for the nourishing pick me up we go for the quick fix… sugar and caffeine. Sound familiar? It’s time then to take a break, make a change and focus on eating to energise.MAKE THE SWAPWe can’t expect to improve energy levels if we’re going to feed our bodies food that causes a spike in blood glucose and/or adrenaline levels and then a rapid fall. This is the result of quick fix foods such as coffee, confectionary and sugary treats. Their effect on the body’s energy is only momentary and if you tune in to your body when you eat them they have a similar effect on mood. If some of the ingredients to your afternoon pick me up involve the likes of the above then it’s time to make the swap to foods to nourish. Scale back and make the swap:from coffee initially to black tea then green, followed in time by herbalform refined confectionary and to fruits and nourishing treats made with nutrients to help you shine from pastries, cakes and sugar laden mouthfuls to protein rich snacks that stabilise energy levels for the remainder of the dayENERGY FOODUse the slump as an opportunity to fuel the change in your eating habits. Think about these nutrients to up the ante when you feel the low.Water: a well hydrated body is a well nourished and energised one. We cannot disregard just how important good hydration is for energy. If you feel tired and lethargic upon waking, water is your first step to flush and hydrate the body. If hunger strikes you at unexpected times, and a less than ideal snack is tempting, then a glass of water is your friend before anything else comes into play. And most certainly if you’ve relied on the quick fixes (caffeine and sugar) to see you through the 3pm slump, then water is going to be your partner in crime to improve energy for the long term. Have faith in this old trick it’s been touted in health for centuries for good reason.Magnesium: This is an incredible mineral for improving energy, not to mention helping us focus and consequently relax when we need to. Magnesium plays a vital role in the reactions that generate and deliver energy to our cells. Augment your diet with these magnesium rich foods such as dark leafy greens, nuts and seeds, quinoa, legumes (beans and lentils) and best of all good quality dark chocolate. Integrate these foods as snacks with: Green juices or smoothies A handful of raw nuts and seeds Quick crunch on vegetable sticks with hummus High quality dark chocolate made without refined sugars B Vitamins: Our friends niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, B6, B12 and pantothenic acid work as a little team within the body to metabolise energy from protein, carbs and fats. Fortunately we find them in abundance in our foods but when we need to up our game and improve energy to see us through our lows then we can hone in on the B snack factor with a few little tricks: Natural yoghurt with crushed almonds, pecans and a serve of fresh fruit Small piece of poached chicken wrapped in spinach with fresh herbs Couple of teaspoons of natural (preservative/additive free) peanut butter spread on a banana Half serve of green salad such as tabouleh Quick boiled or fried egg with chilli and paprika Cacao smoothie with greens Half an avocado with lemon and pepper And if you’re still hungry for inspiration, these wholesome energy rich icy poles are a wonderful in the right direction.RASPBERRY MANGO AND VANILLA ICY POLESMakes 6 small icy polesRaspberry Layer: 1 cup coconut cream 140g mango pieces 1 banana, peeled 1/4 cup raspberries 2 teaspoons honey Mango layer: 1 banana 1/2 cup mango 1 teaspoon vanilla bean To make the raspberry layer combine all of the ingredients in a high powered blender or food processor and blend until combined. Divide the mixture across the base of the icy pole moulds. Tap the moulds against a counter to ensure no air bubbles remain. Make the mango layer by blending all of the ingredients together. Pour the mango mix into the moulds and place a paddle pop stick into each. Place in the freezer to set overnight.Discover all of Jacqueline’s recipes and download the full Wholefoods Challenge hereblog-wellbeing-button-downl-challenge
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HOW TO MAKE EXERCISE A LIFESTYLE CHOICE BY LEAH SIMMONS
As part of our Jurlique Wellbeing Challenge, pilates teacher and fitness guru Leah Simmons has created an exclusive fitness plan for you to take on over the next four weeks. As part of this challenge, she guest blogs about her own personal fitness journey, relationship with food and some great tips along the way.*There’s a widely-trusted ideology that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. For some reason, 21 is the “golden number” that will switch something from being a conscious thought to being part of your everyday life. Want to get up at 6am? Do it every day for 21 days and you will start bouncing out of bed before your alarm goes off. Trying to drop that 3rd cup of coffee? Avoid it every day for 21 days and it’s gone.But what about exercise? Something that you need to make time for in a life that is already stretched beyond what we think we can manage? How do we turn exercise from being a chore into something that we actually look forward to? I mean we know it’s good for us. We are fully aware that we should be doing it. So how do we turn that THOUGHT into an ACTION?Let’s look at some of the most common reasons people come up with why they CAN’T exercise. “Oh… such and such goes to the gym 5 times a week… I couldn’t possibly do that.” “Mrs X has a personal trainer… I just can’t afford it.” or (my personal favourite) “I JUST DON’T HAVE TIME.”In a society that is overrun by 24-hour gyms, personal trainers and in-your-face social media it’s easy to get disheartened and feel unmotivated. But let me remind you what exercise actually is: the act of MOVING your body… Let that sink in for a minute. MOVE. YOUR. BODY. So…. walking? Yes. Swimming? Absolutely. Dancing? Yeah! As well as running, skipping, surfing, skating, jogging, stretching… need I go on? The amount, how much you do and how you do it is entirely up to you.Change your thoughts about exercise and you will change your relationship with exercise. The more you do things that you enjoy and that make you feel good, the more frequently you will do them. And slowly but surely you will start to incorporate them into your everyday life. You’ll have more energy, you’ll feel great and it won’t feel like a chore. And it just might give you the motivation you need to seek out something more… whether it’s a specific gym class you’ve wanted to try, or a sports team you’ve wanted to join. You will soon realise that it’s actually not that hard to make time for the things you want to make time for.Leah’s Top 5 Ways to Incorporate Exercise into your Daily Life Plan a walking meeting at work. Suggest taking a walk to a colleague and have a chat around the park instead of sitting in a stuffy meeting room! Make this a regular thing! Park 500m further from your office than you normally would and walk the rest of the way. That’s an automatic extra 5km you’ve then walked per week (1km to and from your office) Play a game where you hold a forearm plank for as long as you can during the ad breaks of your favourite TV show. Challenge yourself to hold your plank longer each time. Use 2 x bottles of water or 2 x cans of soup as hand weights and do this mini arm workout in your kitchen. Try going for 10 x bicep curls, 10 x straight arm raises to the front then 10 to the side, 10 x shoulder press, 10 x bicep curl to shoulder press combo, then hold both hands over your head and do 20 x tricep dips. Repeat sequence 3 times. Put on 3 of your absolute favourite songs from when you were young (the daggier the better) and dance to them like no one is watching. Check out the Jurlique Fitness Challenge for fitness tips, how-to’s and a four week calendar to get you started.Download the Jurlique X Leah Simmons Fitness Challenge hereblog-wellbeing-button-downl-challenge*The views contained in this Blog are those of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of Jurlique. You should seek medical advice before commencing any exercise regime.
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LEAH SIMMONS TOP 10 TIPS FOR A BETTER WORKOUT
As part of our Jurlique Wellbeing Challenge, pilates teacher and general fitness guru Leah Simmons has created an exclusive fitness plan for you to take on over the next four weeks. As part of this challenge, she guest blogs about her own personal fitness journey, relationship with food and some great tips along the way.*My workout hour is my place of solitude. It’s kid-free, work-free and phone-free. I’m un-contactable for those precious 60 minutes and fully able to immerse myself into what I am doing at that very moment. It’s my heaven. But what makes it so good? And why do I crave it every day? Because the prep I do beforehand ensures I have the best workout experience I can… and I’m about to share it with you.DO A BRAIN DUMP.Ok. What the heck is a brain dump? It’s probably one of the most important gifts you can give yourself prior to working out. You know all those little thoughts that are flying around in your head at the moment? Meetings, deadlines, shopping, meal prep, school pick-up, that fight you had with your friend / spouse / child? Write them down, plan them out and then forget about them for the next 60 minutes. Get your body and mind to a neutral state where you can concentrate on the task at hand (because exercise does require concentration)!WARM UPI feel this one is obvious but it’s amazing how many people don’t do a proper warm up before they launch into their workout. Hellooooooo injury! You have got to get those muscles firing before you load them up with a 50kg squat. Start with 3-4mins on the treadmill or a few rounds of some bodyweight squats that will help your heart rate elevate safely and get your muscles into workout-mode.COOL DOWNSee above. Ever just run out of the gym after the mother of all sweat sessions and made a bee-line for the couch? (Yes don’t worry I’ve got my hand up too…) The Cool Down is just as important as the Warm Up as it helps to disperse the build-up of lactic acid in your muscles. You’ve probably woken up the next morning feeling like you didn’t even go to the gym but come the day after that and even the slightest cough can send your abs into meltdown mode. This is called DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness… yes it’s a thing) and although it can’t be removed altogether, a good stretch session after your workout will help you a lot.HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATEWater, water and more water. Can’t get enough of that good stuff. We are made up of roughly 60% to 70% of it. You should be drinking between 2 to 3L of it per day. Look at the colour of your urine. That will tell you whether you’re getting enough (Lighter and clearer is obviously better – I think you all know what I’m talking about here.) I like to kill two birds with one stone in my daily water intake and also add a few drops of Zinc and Selenium to my water bottle.HAVE SOME PROTEIN WITHIN 30 MINS OF YOUR WORKOUTYou’ve just done a mammoth workout and pushed your muscles to their limit. But do you know how muscles actually grow and shape? Each time we work them we make tiny tears in them. So they are constantly repairing themselves with new lean muscle fibres. And where do these fibres come from? Protein of course! If you have a protein shake or eat some protein-rich foods within 30 mins of your workout you are giving your body the goodness it needs to start repairing and building your muscles. Check out my post on Fitness and Food for more information about macronutrients.MAKE SURE YOUR TECHNIQUE IS ON POINTThe owner of the gym I train at applies the same amount of concentration and discipline to a 20kg squat as he does to a 250kg one. If your technique isn’t correct then you will not only hinder your progress, you may well hurt yourself in the process. Go back to basics, ask a professional and make sure your technique is PERFECT.PLAN YOUR WORKOUTSMy weekly training schedule looks like this: 2 to 3 x strength days 2 x circuit days 2 x mobility sessions (pilates or yoga). Sometimes I double up a strength day with a mobility day but generally I like to know what I’m doing and when I’m doing it. Planning allows you to make sure that your whole body gets a work out over a designated period of time without the stress of having to try and squash it all into one session. It also gives your body the best chance of recovery if you plan say, a yoga class the day after a strength day.BUY A NEW OUTFITAs silly as this sounds, nothing spells motivation to me more than a killer new outfit. Who doesn’t want to strut their stuff at the gym in the hottest new crop and the latest pair of kicks? New gear is a must – use it as motivation to start training and to reward yourself when you have hit some of your training goals.PUT TOGETHER A KILLER PLAYLISTLike a new outfit, the right music is also a no-brainer. Your workout will seem to go that much faster if you are enjoying the music you are listening to while doing it. Make a few playlists for different days. I have everything from upbeat dance music to R’n’B to daggy 80s. I’ve actually been known to go flying off the treadmill during a particularly enthusiastic rendition of “Eye Of The Tiger” – just make sure you watch what you’re doing…!MIX IT UP!We don’t eat the same foods every day so why should we do the same workout every day?? There are so many different types of exercise that you can be doing from outdoor activities to dance classes to boxing and martial arts to a good old gym session. Get out there, find a few things you love and shake it up a bit! Mixing it up will also allow you to get the most out of your training as your body won’t become used to the same movements. And it’s also an amazing way to meet new people… so go on…. give it a go!!!Check out the Jurlique Fitness Challenge for fitness tips, how-to’s and a four week calendar to get you started.Download the Jurlique X Leah Simmons Fitness Challenge here*The views contained in this Blog are those of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of Jurlique. You should seek medical advice before commencing any exercise regime.
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THE BENEFITS OF AROMATHERAPY
Jurlique was founded on the deep belief in the healing power of nature, and aromatherapy has been a vital part of our holistic approach to skin care since we began.What is Aromatherapy?Aromatherapy involves the use of aromatic plant materials, particularly essential oils, to alter one’s mood and promote wellbeing.As the name suggests, its primary benefits come from inhaling the scent of these essential oils, which have a predominantly psychological effect.The history of AromatherapyWhile the word ‘aromatherapy’ was only coined in the 1930s, the use of aromatics is as old as civilization itself. Ancient Egyptians used incense for celebrations and ancient Romans for healing purposes. The 1950s onwards saw the development of holistic aromatherapy.This increasingly saw essential oils being used not just in massage, but as psycho-therapeutic substances capable of changing one’s mood.Benefits of AromatherapyAromatherapy is a holistic treatment that enhances wellbeing by treating the mind, body and spirit.It works by stimulating the body’s olfactory system or sense of smell with essential plant oils. When the olfactory receptors in the nose detect the aromas of these oils, it triggers the brain’s limbic system, which controls the emotions.The benefits of aromatherapy vary depending on the essential oils used. Some will soothe and relaxe while others will energise.Aromatherapy MistsDesigned for all-over use, our Aromatherapy Mists contain a blend of specially selected Pure Essential Oils to transform your mood anytime, anywhere.They draw on our rich heritage of promoting wellbeing by making it easy for all of us to reconnect to nature.How to useClose your eyes and mouth and spray your Aromatherapy Mist from above your head. Inhale deeply and let it transform your mood and wellbeing with a Revitalising, Calming or Balancing scent.Prepare for a good night’s sleep by spraying Calming Blend Aromatherapy Mist on your bed linen before you climb into bed. Spray your Aromatherapy Mist around your rooms to infuse them with scent.
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5 MINUTES WITH GEORGIE ABAY FROM THE GRACE TALES
Georgie Abay is Founder & Editor of The Grace Tales, a website for the stylish mother that features inspiring style and even more inspiring stories. We chatted with Georgie to learn more about her blog, being a mother, and what beauty and skin care means to her. What inspired you to start the Grace Tales?It all happened very organically. During my first pregnancy, I was searching for an online destination that was a mix of all the things I loved pre-baby (fashion, beauty, lifestyle…), but that also covered things like how to dress your bump or the best beauty products to use when pregnant. I couldn’t find anything I really liked. I also loved sites such as The Coveteur, The Design Files and Into The Gloss, which take their readers into people’s homes. I’ve always loved looking at how other people live, how they decorate their homes, what skin care products they use, their fashion essentials.So when Arabella was five months old and I started to get some sleep, I began producing content for The Grace Tales with an amazing photographer called Julie Adams. We spent a week shooting profiles together. A month or so later, the site went live. At first, it was just a passion project that I worked on after Arabella was asleep, as I was working part-time at VOGUE so I didn’t have a lot of time to spend on it. Gradually, it grew and grew, and here we are!You’ve had an exciting career, working for magazines such as VOGUE and Harper’s BAZAAR (most recently, as the Deputy Editor & Fashion Features Director at VOGUE Australia). Has the concept of ‘beauty’ changed for you, from working in fashion magazines to becoming a mother of two?Working in fashion magazines, you’re faced with pictures of beautiful models and celebrities every day, but these days I look at the models that feature in magazines and they just look like young girls. As a woman in her thirties and a mother of two children, I can’t relate to them. I want to see real women! Also, while it’s important to take care of yourself, beauty to me is about having people you love around you and loving yourself. Beauty is about style, intelligence and grace – beauty really does come from within. There’s nothing more beautiful than motherhood and I love showcasing this inherent beauty on The Grace Tales.Describe your beauty and skin care routine.It’s very, very rushed and my two year old is usually emptying out the bathroom cabinet while I’m trying to get ready! I’ll cleanse and moisturise morning and night then apply sunscreen. Every other day, I use a very hydrating foamy face mask from Japan that’s like shaving cream and soaks into your skin, that my mother introduced me to. I love my Jurlique Rose hand cream. My mother has always taught me to use hand cream – I’ll be driving with her and she’ll start putting it on the top of my hands. Occasionally, I go for micro-dermabrasion. I’d love to spend more time on my skin but with a 2 and 3 year old, I keep things pretty simple.How do you relax and reconnect with yourself at the end of a busy week?Mediation is such a powerful relaxation tool. In 20 minutes, I can feel reconnected and calm again. I need to mediate as the girls can be pretty challenging at times (I’m talking epic meltdowns because one of them got the pink cup instead of the purple cup). I also love watching a good TV series with my husband – House Of Cards, Homeland etc. – and a glass of red wine. Or champagne, if it’s the weekend.The Grace Tales pairs inspiring style with inspiring stories for modern mothers. Is there a common thread that you’ve discovered, in how multi-tasking mothers can achieve balance and be happy?I think happiness is something that comes and goes. I’ll feel great one week, then have a bad week if my workload is more than I can handle, or I have a sick child and haven’t slept much. All the mothers we profile say that balance comes and goes. Life is never totally balanced and there’s always something or someone vying for your attention – I’malways so conscious that I need to visit my grandmothers more, spend more quality time with my husband, read more, eat better, work out more etc. But I make sure the things I value – being present with my girls, for example – are prioritised to help me to feel as good as possible.What’s the most rewarding thing about what you do?I’ve always loved telling stories. It’s exciting and rewarding – creating fresh content for The Grace Tales is what keeps me inspired. What’s even more rewarding is the fact that I’m raising my girls while also pursuing a fulfilling career. It is very hard to find a balance between work and motherhood, and for me, I needed to start my own business to achieve that.I tried to go back to VOGUE after my first daughter was born and it just didn’t work. The corporate world wasn’t for me anymore. I was stuck in an office all day and missed the little things going on at home that are important to me – stories, bath time, ballet classes, walks to the park, mornings at the beach. So I resigned after my second daughter arrived and The Grace Tales started to really take off. I often work late into the night, but it’s worth the hours I get during the day to be with my children.
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RECIPES FOR THE WOMEN IN MY LIFE
Jacqueline Alwill is Jurlique’s Wellness Warrior! She is a qualified nutritionist and owner of one of the most in-demand Sydney nutritional practices, The Brown Paper Bag.When asked of the women of influence in my life both now and in the past, it goes without saying that it is family first. My mother (Elizabeth) and two sisters (Dini and Romy) have been an incredible force of love, wisdom, loyalty, friendship and honesty all throughout my life and I have these women to thank for where I stand today. We have a beautiful friendship and love between us and have shared a journey in motherhood too. I feel truly blessed they have guided me so much through this life and that we share so much, including the love of good nourishment.A recipe for my mum… LEMON AND POPPYSEED CAKEThis recipe carries so many beautiful memories of sitting in a little coffee shop with my mum, scooping the milk from her cappuccino and sharing a small slice of cake too. It’s an old favourite remade with ingredients to nourish… almond, coconut oil, lemon, honey and poppyseeds.LEMON POPPYSEED CAKE RECIPEServes 8GF : DF : SF : V 1/2 cup (125ml) coconut oil, melted 1/2 cup (125ml) maple syrup 4 eggs 1/2 cup lemon juice (approx 2 lemons) 3 tablespoons lemon zest 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda 1 cup (100g) almond meal 1/2 cup (80g) gluten free flour 2 tablespoons milk (nut or dairy is fine) 1/2 cup (65g) black poppyseeds Frosting: 1 cup (250g) coconut or natural dairy yoghurt 1 tablespoon raw honey 1 teaspoon lemon zest To serve: finely sliced pieces of lemon rind and edible flowers (optional) Preheat oven to 180C, then grease and line a 20cm round diameter spring form cake tin. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together coconut oil, maple syrup and eggs. Add lemon juice and zest, bicarb and baking powder and whisk again. Fold through almond meal, flour, milk and poppyseeds. Pour into greased and lined cake tin and bake for 40 minutes. Rest in cake tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. To make the frosting, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Once cake is cooled, slice through the middle and remove top layer. Spread half the frosting over the bottom layer, place top layer over and ice the top. Sprinkle with lemon rind and edible flowers and serve. A recipe for my sister Dini… TOFU BOWLOur family spent time living in Japan when I was young, and my sisters would come to visit from Australia frequently. From those years together we formed a love and connection with the Japanese culture but in particular for my sister Dini, the design and architecture was such an influence to her creative success to this day. A simple bowl of plant-based goodness including tofu, sesame, radish, carrot, avocado and ginger, brings those moments we shared in Japan to life all over again.TOFU BOWL RECIPEGF : DF : SF : V : VEGANServes 1 1 cup ice berg lettuce, shredded 1 carrot (125g), sliced in fine sticks 160g firm silken tofu, cut into 2 cm pieces 1 rainbow radish, finely sliced 1 spring onion, white part only, finely sliced 1/2 small avocado, diced 1 tablespoon pickled ginger 1 teaspoon sesame seeds 1/2 cup cooked teff/quinoa or brown rice 2 tablespoons kimchi (optional) Ponzu dressing: 1 teaspoon acv 2 tablespoons tamari 1 tablepsoon lemon juice 1 tsp konbu dashi granules 1 teaspoon maple syrup DIRECTIONS Place lettuce in a noodle bowl for one and top with carrot, tofu, rainbow radish, spring onion, avocado, ginger, sesame seeds, your choice of cooked grains and kimchi if desired. To make the ponzu dressing, whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle over the top of the tofu bowl and serve. A recipe for my sister Romy… ZUCCHINI PASTA VONGOLEOf all the people in my life, it is my sister Romy who has been in the kitchen with me most, cooking, talking, playing and enjoying heavenly food together. As sisters, together we share a wonderful passion for fusing health and life in all that we do. This absolutely sensational take on a traditional pasta vongole is a dish made to share with the wonderful people around you. And this encompasses what this gorgeous sister of mine and I do together, always.VONGOLE WITH ZUCCHINI NOODLES RECIPEGF: DF: SFServes 4 as a starter ¼ cup olive oil 4 garlic cloves, sliced 250g cherry tomatoes, halved 1 kg vongole, washed well and beards removed 1 small bunch parsley, leaves picked and stalks finely chopped 1 cup stock 4 (600g) zucchini, spiralised 1 teaspoon chilli flakes Sea salt Black pepper Heat a heavy based casserole dish over a high heat and add in the olive oil, parsley stalks and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the chilli flakes and cherry tomatoes. Stir everything around constantly and as the garlic starts to brown, add in the vongole and stock. Shake everything around and cover with the lid. In 3 – 4 minutes the vongole will begin to open. Continue shuffling around the dish until all the vongole have opened. Remove from the heat and toss through the zucchini noodles and parsley leaves. Remove any unopened vognole and discard. Serve immediately.
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EAT CLEAN
Whole foods for energy and beauty There are a lot of words that buzz around diet, food and healthy eating at present…gluten free, wholefoods, sugar free, paleo, vegan, pescetarian, the list goes on. Admittedly, when you are looking at reshaping your health, sometimes it can be hard to decide what direction is the ‘right’ one to take.With that in mind, remember, you must always do what is best suited to you. What a friend, partner, sister or colleague might be practicing in their diet and lifestyle may not suit your individual needs. Keep in mind that you are unique and must respond to your body accordingly.So you may be sitting here and thinking, well what next? Well, broadly speaking it is simply moving back to basics in food and learning how to keep it clean, natural and wholesome. The more you scratch things back the better you feel. From there you tweak to make it right for you.Eating ‘clean’ means you enrich your life with beautiful nourishing whole foods, with the aim to eliminate those foods that are processed, refined, high in sugar, sodium, preservatives and additives. In another column I speak of how to build a wholefoods pantry and lay the foundations for health with your food. About clearing out some of the clutter in your diet and lifestyle so you have room for the new.Let’s take an average day on a plate and transform it a little so you can see the difference. This is often the type of eating I might see when I ask clients to describe their diet for me. Below you’ll see some examples of what is happening and then I’ll provide some nourishing alternatives.BREAKFASTThe Norm:Instant coffee with skim and a sugar, glass of juice, bowl of commercial cereal with skim milk and banana or piece of toast with butter and jam/honey.The Nourishing:Warm cup of water with a squeeze of lemon (to start), cup of green or regular tea (no sugar), bowl of whole oats as a bircher or porridge with fresh berries/grated apple/banana or piece of toast with avocado and lemon/boiled egg/tomato, herbs and tahiniMID MORNINGThe Norm:Coffee with a sugar, packaged biscuit, muesli bar or piece of banana breadThe Nourishing:Coffee no sugar or better yet herbal tea, small handful of raw almonds or a Citrus Bliss Ball you’ve brought from homeLUNCHThe Norm:Chicken wrap, store purchased or a sandwich with deli meats and vegetables or nothing at allThe Nourishing:A bowl made to nourish including quinoa, avocado, tomatoes, carrot, sauerkraut, zucchini, seeds, kale, spinach, capsicum, poached chicken/fish/boiled egg/legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans) and a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juiceMID AFTERNOONThe Norm:Chocolate bar, sometimes a coffee or soft drinkThe Nourishing:Apple with some almond butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon or vege sticks with hummusDINNERThe Norm:Stir fry, grilled steak, bbq chicken with vegetables/salad or take awayThe Nourishing:Stir fry, steak or chicken above are good, adding grilled fish (salmon/trout) or some purely meat free meals are wonderful to include in the repertoireDESSERTThe Norm:Ice cream or milk chocolateThe Nourishing:Piece of raw choc mint barkCan you spot the difference? There’s nothing overly complex about The Nourishing, simply you’ve scratched away the elements that don’t fuel your body in the way it yearns to be, you’re giving it the pure unadulterated nutrition it loves for good energy and glowing skin. There’s alternatives in there that are quicker and easier than the norm and will nourish you so well that you’ll crave more of it.Fun isn’t it? That is precisely what good health can do for you. It can enrich your life and make it even more fun because you have the energy to bound through it. Ready to make some changes just for you?
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