Living a SPIRITED life filled with wanderlust, emotions and everything in between

Tag: lifestyle

Live Life Well with Wellness Warehouse & Spirited Mama…Part 1 + WIN

Why I choose to Live Life Well

***Disclaimer – I received a gift card to purchase products at Wellness Warehouse. However, if you follow my social media accounts you will see that I often use their products in our daily lives. The views and opinions expressed are my own.***

Wellness Warehouse is for ordinary/normal/conventional/traditional/etc people. Everyone. The very people you pass in the streets who are trying to make better lifestyle choices.

I’m not skinny nor am I a health guru/expert but I am a parent, trying my best to give my family some wellness, balance and healthier lifestyle choices.

As a mom, I’m always looking for ways to #LiveLifeWell and naturally I was intrigued and drawn to Wellness Warehouse, who encompasses the very essence of living life well. Wellness Warehouse not only caters for my needs but my entire family benefits from my wellness expeditions.

Background snippet to Wellness Warehouse or simply click here for more information. Did you know that you can also shop online 🙂

Established in 2007, Wellness Warehouse is the combined inspiration of brothers Sean & Carlos Gomes.
Sean is a medical doctor with a passion for preventative health and Carlos is a pioneer and health-obsessed visionary with a lifetime of retail experience.
With their combined skills in retail and medicine they created the first store in South Africa with the sole purpose of offering a comprehensive list of health and wellness products to help you to live life well.

I decided to feature a series of Wellness posts to find out how other moms #LiveLifeWell

Part 1 – LiveLifeWell with Wellness Warehouse & Spirited Mama

I am NO expert, neither am I a food/fitness fundi. I am a woman as well a mom looking for ways to get my and my family’s wellness on track.

I was first introduced to Wellness Warehouse on social media and then at a media event at one of their Gauteng branches. Well, it changed my thinking.

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spiritedmama quotes

Not only will you find organic and plain old fashioned just good for you products but all sorts of interesting goods you may not even have known existed. There is no way of popping into a store quickly. You will spend a fair amount of time inside the Wellness Warehouse and you will want to go back as they always have new products to try. From superfoods to body wash, toothpaste to an organic baby range.

Did you know they have a wellness consultant in store to answer any questions you have and to advise and/or recommend products for you, to suit your lifestyle?

An added bonus are the in-store wellness cafés, where you can recharge with a smoothie, fresh pressed juice, coffee and even some delicious gluten free florentines or just good old chocolate cake. In my opinion, both are equally delicious. If you happen to visit one of the bigger stores you are in for a treat as they have a buffet station too. Be it breakfast/brunch/lunch, you will enjoy their healthy yet homely foods on offer.

In our home we have made small changes which are yielding big results. Some of our favourite Wellness Warehouse products are:

Milk Thistle capsules for me

Superfood shakes for Dudie, I use these as post recovery drinks as this child has a very active lifestyle with sports. Recently, I started adding moringa powder. It doesn’t alter the taste so the child is non the wiser BUT he just seems like a better version of himself. These shakes are also my go to drink when I’m having a crazy day trying to get my eldest to his extra murals.

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Gluten free flapjacks as well as Gluten free chocolate cake for Dude. If you offer him anything healthy, he’ll turn his nose up BUT these two specific items are the ones that he generally wants more of.

 

Troll, currently 22 months old, just eats whatever is on offer. Although, these orange chocolate bliss balls are a favourite as well as the dried cranberries. *Troll and I are the only two, in this house, who love dark chocolate. It’s my little treat just for the two of us to share 🙂

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Want to WIN a R500 Wellness Warehouse voucher?

  1. Comment below with either your favourite product from the Wellness store, or a wish list item if you haven’t been to or experienced a Wellness Warehouse prior to this post.
  2. Like Wellness Warehouse & Spirited Mama on Facebook.

NB! Remember to subscribe to my blog to catch the other parts and giveaways in this series.

Additional entries:

  1. Share the post on Facebook and tag a friend, remember to tag me @spiritedmama1 so that I can validate your entry.
  2. Follow @spiritedmamablog  on Instagram. Follow the steps outlined in the post. I will link the post to my bio.
  3. Follow @spirited_mama1 on Twitter. RT the competition post, I will pin this blog post on my profile, and make sure to tag me and use #LiveLifeWell and #spiritedmama so that I can validate your additional entry.

Spirited Mama

x

T’s & C’s

**Competition closes Sunday 9 December 2018 at 23:59. Winner will be announced on my social media accounts, 10 December 2018.
Open to South African residents only.
Winner will be randomly selected. 
No correspondence will be entered into once a winner is selected. 
I reserve the right to disqualify invalid entries. **

 

Comfortable in my own skin and body image

I used to be the “skin”ny girl

Once upon a time, I was the skinny girl. In fact all throughout my schooling. BUT I’ve always loved food. There is WAY too much good food in this world to NOT try it.

I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted, I even had cake for breakfast on most days, until my metabolism kicked my ass and slowed down tremendously. Now that extra piece of chocolate shows up on my hips/thighs/tummy and/or ass. But I am comfortable in my skin. I like who I am even though those dressing room mirrors are very unflattering. My Dude loves my muffin grip. Me not so much but it is a part of me and I do love myself.

Why do we say we need to accept people as they are but we can’t accept ourselves? Is this struggle greater for women that men? Actually, I’d be quite interested in a male point of view. Dude is so proud of his “Dad” physique. He says I took years to get into his shape.

 

Becoming comfortable in my skin

At this stage I am in between sizes😁 Well that’s how I term it. So I don’t have a standard size. One particular cut might be smaller/bigger. I can never just take a size without fitting the item first… I mean come on ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL. I buy what fits me. My body. It reminds me of when I bought my wedding dress 10 years ago. I bought an imported dress but it was too big in some places and needed to be altered. The resident tailor in this Boutique store almost had a heart attack as I was drinking a Coca Cola and eating a BarOne…all whilst she was taking my measurements. Her exact words, “What are you doing? You should be drinking water and eating vegetables!” I responded “Excuse me! This dress will fit me NOT the other way round“.

That statement of hers always reminds me to laugh out loud, literally😂. And to NOT take life so seriously. My kids don’t care whether I’m skinny or not. They care that I spend time with them. My husband doesn’t want a skinny wife. He wants a happy wife. And reminds me ALL the time that he loves me and he loves my body just the way it is. Oh, and did I mention that I grew 2 babies with this body?

Body image and what we portray as normal

Back to the point. Kids are so hard on themselves about what the perfect body image is or should. Why? Aren’t we preaching that we are supposed to love ourselves just the way we are? Believe me, I am my WORST CRITIC. I too was in a space of “I need to look a certain way and I’d be happier/enjoy life more/etc”. Blah blah blah. Thankfully, as I get wiser, I seem to care less and less about what I see on TV/Magazines/Instagram/Twitter etc. I do love seeing the “real” people, you know the #nofilter images, no editing. I have nothing against anyone for living a healthy lifestyle and keeping fit. When people ask me if I go to the gym, I aptly respond with I lift 8kgs daily. But it’s not in a gym, it’s at home when lifting Troll. What gets to me is when you are pushed to the point where you feel:

“I must eat this or that”

“I must be on a diet”

“I must go to gym”

“I must lose weight”

The pressure for some is just too much. Some people are just not strong enough to BE THEMSELVES. Some people are blessed with great genes…others not so much. I see the craze about #wellness trending all the time. But what is YOUR wellness? My #wellness is being the best I can be, in whatever shape or form that suits ME. And another thing “who are these people judging you anyway?” What merit do they have? Do they live YOUR life?

Being a wife/mom/employee/etc takes up ALL my time. I’m just happy at the end of the day to sit down and eat my chocolate in peace… Let me be. I’m a fuller version of myself right now🤘

GO LIVE YOUR LIFE. Whichever way you see fit. In the end, only YOU will be answerable for your life anyway.

I am BEAUTIFUL. I am ME. I am UNIQUE.

I don’t want to fit in. I want to STAND out.

Spirited Mama

x

He embarrassed me….

Ok so Dudie is a talker… more like talk your ear off talker….

We really do enjoy how well versed he is. And he can hold his own in a conversation. But….Those little remarks about what mom & dad do and what he doesn’t do sometimes has my cheeks slightly rosy.

Exhibit A: Checkers Wine Ad on TV

Dudie: Mommy – What’s that?

Me: Wine

Dudie: Only mommy drinks wine. I drink juice and water… And nesquick but mommy drink wine.

Me: And Daddy?

Dudie: Daddy drink cooldrink…..

<The Dude gave the Dudie and extra hug just for that statement>

Exhibit B: Beer Ad Billboard

Dudie: Only Daddy & Mommy drink beer. I drink juice and water.

Me: Yes boy Daddy drinks beer. Not Mommy!

Dudie: YOu did!!!!

 

Exhibit C: Public Declaration

(I fetched him earlier yesterday and the playground was full of kids and staff)

Dudie: Only Mommy and Daddy drink Beer! Not me. I drink juice and water.

I gave up trying to salvage the situation. This kid will say what he wants to when he wants to. When I got home we did a run through the shops. Went out for dinner. Got home and bathed and put Dudie in bed within record time.

As I plonked myself on the couch, I just don’t have the energy to study right now, Dude brought me an ice-cold Brutal Fruit and a box of Ferrero Rocher 🙂 Luckily Dudie was already asleep…… 🙂

 

 

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