Why I Moved To Sydney And The Power Of Surrounding Yourself With Like-Minded People

Why I Moved To Sydney And The Power Of Surrounding Yourself With Like-Minded People

I thought it was time for a more personal post about my journey over the last couple months. After all, lots has happened! Many of you have asked why I came to Australia and how I am liking it, so I thought I would share some of my experiences here.

As you may know, I had never been to Australia before and had not yet found a job or apartment to live in when we arrived, though we had a lovely friend who accommodated us for the first three weeks. So it was a pretty scary and bold move, to say the least.

A bit of a background on me: I guess you could call me a third culture kid, having moved around a lot and never having lived in one place for longer than 2-3 years (except when I went to uni). I was born in Germany and I feel very connected to my home country, but in the end, home for me is wherever I feel comfortable. Because of this, I'm pretty used to the constant moving around, adapting to new cultures, learning new languages, finding new friends etc.

It's been exactly four months since I stepped into a plane that would bring me to Sydney, and I can say that I already feel pretty darn comfortable here. Sydney is my home now.

The luxe leisurewear online boutique Mode Sportif opens it's first store in Paddington

The luxe leisurewear online boutique Mode Sportif opens it's first store in Paddington

To me, Australia is the mecca of active wear. Even back when I lived in Switzerland, I used to order most of my workout clothes from Australian online stores. But not only have they perfected the active wear trend, but they are also on top of the athleisure movement. Leather jackets casually worn over crop tops, sweatpants paired with a stylish blazer, sneakers worn from home to the office to the gym - I'm not sure what it is, but Aussie's definitely have a hand for rocking luxe leisurewear.

One of my favorite drool-worthy leisurewear Instagram accounts has always been Mode Sportif, a luxe, leisurewear online boutique founded by Deborah Symond in 2013. Believe me when I say I've spent hours browsing through their feed wishing everything I see would magically appear in my closet. Their online store is filled with stunning pieces made for the contemporary woman looking for a wardrobe that takes you from studio to the street (who doesn't want that?!). Think a mix of international ready-to-wear designers and athleisure brands like Adidas Originals, Nike, The Upside and Olympia Activewear. Essentially, Mode Sportif is one of the few where you can pick up a new pair of sneakers and a new designer dress in the one place.

And now Mode Sportif has opened it's first ever bricks and mortar store at The Intersection in Sydney's Paddington, where it will stock a curated edit of their online offering. Open since the beginning of July, it's been receiving heaps of attention from the press, and rightly so.

Self Love Is Not Selfish: How to take time for yourself without feeling the guilt

Self Love Is Not Selfish: How to take time for yourself without feeling the guilt

I had the honor of connecting with Jenna from You Aint Your Weight a couple of weeks ago and we immediately bonded over one common goal: helping people back out of dieting and into a body and life they love.

What do we mean by that? Well, we all know by now that diets just don't work. They just DON'T. (If you want to fight me on this, I'd love to hear from you!) We are both advocates of finding a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable in the long run and will help you become the healthiest and happiest person along the way, minus the deprivation. We are all for losing unnecessary weight, but please without losing your mind along in the process.

Why is Jenna so passionate about this? Because, just like me, she's had her fair struggle with dieting as well and has an inspiring story of how an innocent diet turned into years of deprivation and body dysmorphia.

Today I invite her to the blog to talk about how self love is the first and most important step in living a healthy life and how you shouldn't feel one bit guilty for pampering yourself.

Bulletproof Coffee

Bulletproof Coffee

Coffee. Butter. Oil. Separately those ingredients don’t exactly sound like they could make a balanced breakfast. But if you've been around the paleo world, then you will have undoubtedly heard of the so-called bulletproof coffee, the ultimate upgrade to your normal cup of joe.I know it's already somewhat old news, but I have never tried a BP coffee, until now.

I was out and about and wanted to grab a normal coffee, when I saw the bulletproof coffee on the menu for the first time. I hadn't had breakfast yet and was pretty hungry, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to give this much-touted drink a try. My first thought? Frothy, smooth, and incredibly filling. Besides the unique taste, I had heard of it's many health benefits, so I decided to take a closer look at what this drink is all about.

The Night That I Hit Rock Bottom

The Night That I Hit Rock Bottom

Someone recently asked me what the lowest point of my eating disorder was. What was the final straw that made you change? I immediately knew what it was and was catapulted back to that moment. And now I'm going to share it with you.

I already talked in some detail about this here, but I think that a lot of people who are currently struggling with an eating disorder may find some comfort and hopefully inspiration in this part of the story.

At the time, I was doing an internship as a service staff in a hotel in London. I had just moved there three months ago, and even though I enjoyed discovering this new city, I absolutely hated my job.

Putting a compulsive eater into an environment where you are surrounded by readily available food 24/7 and get to secretly eat the leftover pralines at the end of the night is like putting an alcoholic into a bottle shop.

I dreaded going to work every morning and more often than not, would spontaneously call in sick because I just couldn't deal with the food confrontation. I would wake up every morning, promising myself that today would be different. Today would be the day where willpower would succeed and I wouldn't even dare to look at all the tempting food around me at work. I'd have a tiny little breakfast, like 1/2 a kiwi, and hope that it would sustain me throughout the day (it's so crazy when I think back to that now!)  Sometimes I managed to actually not eat anything for the entire shift, but on most days my willpower would eventually fail me and I would eat one praline, then two, then tree and so on. By the end of the shift I would feel so guilty about failing yet again that all I wanted to do was go home and eat some more. I lived on a busy main road in West London, and on my walk home from work I passed an endless amount of fast food restaurants that were open until late at night. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how that story ends...

Healthspo Talk with Sami Bloom

Healthspo Talk with Sami Bloom

I love doing these #healthspotalks and I hope that you find them as inspirational, motivational and fun as I do. Isn't it great to see that there are so many like-minded individuals working on making this world a healthier and happier place? Gimme a hell yeah! This months' beautiful soul is Sami from Sami Bloom. I stumbled across her feed a couple of weeks ago and was (a) mesmerized at how she manages to make kale look like the most gorgeous flower and (b) inspired by her life story, having gone from working in law and advertising agencies around NYC and Sydney to  following your passion for health. Today she is a health coach, yoga teacher and is studying nutritional medicine to delve deeper into the topics she loves so much. Let's have a little chat with her, shall we?

My All Time Favourite Post Workout Green Smoothie

My All Time Favourite Post Workout Green Smoothie

I have a green smoothie almost every single day. Yet I realized the other day that I don't have a single recipe up on my blog. How can I rave on to you guys about the amazing benefits of slurping green smoothies without actually providing you with the tools to do so yourself? Shame on me...

So here it goes: my all-time favorite go-to  post workout green smoothie recipe.

As this is my first smoothie recipe for you guys, I didn't want to overcomplicate things and created a very simple recipe that doesn't require fancy smancy superfoods of any sort. I like to whip this one up either as breakfast or post-workout snack as it's beautifully filling and has all the nutrients needed to kickstart your day and/or to help your body recover after a good workout. If you're new to the world of green smoothies and are still in the stage of ewwww-but-it's-green-how-can-this-possibly-taste-good, then this is the perfect drink for you to get started on. I promise, it won't bite!

My Apartment Tour - Healthy Home Essentials And How To Go Chemical Free

My Apartment Tour - Healthy Home Essentials And How To Go Chemical Free

Many people try to live a healthy lifestyle by eating well, working out regularly and getting a good night’s sleep. But a lot of us never think about the chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis.

Whether or not we know it, dangerous toxins are everywhere. In the air we breathe, in the water that comes out of our showers, in our scented candles, in our make-up, and the list goes on...It's impossible to avoid all of them, but in our own four walls we at least have some sort of control over what we are exposed to. When Phil and I moved to Sydney we came with only a couple of boxes of personal belongings, so it was the perfect opportunity for us to be mindful of any new things that we bring into our home. Of course I jumped at this chance to create a space for us that is comfortable and healthy.

The process can be a bit overwhelming (because once you start researching, you realize how much crap there is in literally everything) and expensive, and there are so many more things I still want to do, but for now I am quite happy with having made some small changes.

That's why I wanted to give you guys a little tour of our new place and tell you about some changes that you too can make to your environment. I also snuck in some other healthy home essentials that I wanted to show you and some of my favorite daily rituals, so enjoy!

Why We Do What We Do When We Know What We Know + How To Stop Binging

Why We Do What We Do When We Know What We Know + How To Stop Binging

Yoga, meditation, journaling: all these things are invaluable tools to make me feel zen, yet I often struggle to do them even though I know I feel more in touch with myself afterwards.

It's not that the activities are hard in themselves (though yoga can be grueling at times). It's the internal debate that starts up every day when you know you should do them but there's a part of you that is holding back.

The same goes for our diet. We know we should be eating more fruits and veggies, but instead we go for the heavily processed stuff. Why is that?

I used to think that it was just me - that I was 'wired wrong' and that I was somehow incapable of learning from my mistakes. I knew I'd feel good after eating a light meal and that I would feel crap after eating crap, but all too many times I would still opt for what made me feel bad, both physically and mentally.

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5 Things I Learnt At The Kick Off of the ClassPass Winter Wellness Series

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5 Things I Learnt At The Kick Off of the ClassPass Winter Wellness Series

I am absolutely loving life right now. Like, filled to the brim with gratitude for everything that has unfolded in recent months. I moved to Sydney without a job, and even though job hunting and the idea of not having a regular income is somewhat stressful to me, it has also allowed me to fully immerse myself into this new city. I have been able to focus all my energy on my nutrition studies and also finally launched my health coaching practice. Thanks to my blog I have been invited to some pretty amazing events and had the chance to meet some truly inspiring souls. It's only been two months that I've been here, but I can honestly say that Sydney has become like home already. I feel like I fit right in, and people's openness and hospitality has been nothing short of heart-warming.

After last week's first Winter Wellness Series, hosted by ClassPass at the Nimble ActivewearStore in Bondi together with Jessica Sepel from JSHealth, I felt compelled to share some of the things that I have learned or was reminded of at all these events.

Why You Should Try Reformer Pilates in 2016

Why You Should Try Reformer Pilates in 2016

Ever since coming to Sydney, I've traded my weight lifting program for more low impact mat work, cardio, barre and pilates workouts (mainly because I've been excited to try out all the cool studios  and their different styles around town).

I'd always been rather skeptical, especially of Reformer Pilates because it seemed like you're not working out hard enough. If you're not breaking a sweat, it's not a real workout, right? But after having done many similar-type classes in the recent past, I can assure you that this is absolutely not the case. In fact, you're in for a killer workout.

A reformer class sits perfectly in the middle of the "hard core" versus "minimal pain" exercise spectrum, leaving you with just the right amount of achiness the next day. And since it's not a bootcamp-like atmosphere, it especially appeals to us gals who might be intimated by grungy looking crossfit boxes filled with sweaty grunting men. I'm not saying I don't enjoy those workouts, but I can understand how some girls might be intimated by that.

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My Favourite Bondi Farmers Market Stalls

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My Favourite Bondi Farmers Market Stalls

It's been almost two months since I moved to Sydney and I just realized that I haven't posted a single blog post about my experience here so far. I guess my excuse is that I've really been living in the moment, soaking it all in and just enjoying it. Mindfulness is what it's about, right? But I wouldn't want to keep all the amazingness that I've encountered from you, so I've decided to write about one of my best experiences so far: Bondi Farmers Market.

I had been meaning to go to Bondi Farmers Market months before even moving to Sydney as I had heard so many awesome things about it. And it certainly didn't disappoint. Beautiful healthy produce, amazing food stalls, cool chill out spots on the grass with live music and the beach right across the road. That has to be food market perfection!

The farmer's market phenomena may be partially because it's "fashionable" and trendy to shop there, but I'm just so excited to see more and more people becoming increasingly interested in where their food comes from and how it's grown and produced. Plus you get to support local producers and even reduce your carbon footprint.

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