I love fashion. And I think that the most fashionable thing is to be healthy. How we feel on the inside will impact on how we look, and what energy we project to the outside. The prettiest is the smiling face.

Happy smile, I learnt, comes from the combination of these key three things; physical activity, eating healthy – meaning food made at home from scratch, and doing more of what makes you happy while being grateful for what is already there for you; like family, like living in peace, like clean water, like internet, or these beautiful flowers on my desk.

Throughout my life I was engaged in physical exercises in sort of on/off mode. When I was 17 I started lifting weights at the gym with the goal to lose weight (mind the fact that I was already fairly skinny then, but you know, teen age and all).

Everything changed one day, when the manager of the gym/coach asked me if I would to compete at the body building event. Right after that I stopped lifting weights, because I thought he suggested that I was looking maybe bulky enough, therefore ready for such an event, and I was not a fan of looking too bulky, but I didn`t know back then that it`s not how it works. I switched to aerobic classes instead.

Once I was out of school and started working, in times I`d go to the gym regularly, then I`d abandon it, then I`d come back to some different classes or exercise routines, but one thing I do remember, I somehow always liked to run.

In the last few years here in Toronto, in the midst of my big hands-on house renovation, and when I passed 35 years of age, I realized, I must make regular workouts mandatory.

My motivation to start, was the pragmatic side of me simply accepting the fact that at this age we are already starting to loose muscle at a rapid rate. I really wanted to start preparing for the days when I will need to relay on those muscles to carry my old bones so that I can continue doing what I love to do and stay mobile for as long as I can. I turned to strength training and lifting weights again. And besides, let`s face it; that bitch gravity doesn`t do us any service either, so squat away my friends!

Hand in hand with exercising goes what you eat. It is equally important if not even more important. And I did struggle with that upon my arrival to Canada ten years ago. I`ll explain.

You see, I was raised in a small Croatian town, just 40 minutes drive from the farm my grandparents owned, who had obscene acreage of fertile fields, all kinds of animals, and who were farmers all their lives. Our entire broader family lived off of that farm, and everything grown there was organic. We really had everything, from kinds of vegetable and fruits, to milk and milk products, also corn and wheat, as well as fresh and dried/smoked meat. The only thing we didn`t have from there was what we couldn`t produce due to unsuitable climate, for example exotic stuff like pineapple or bananas. Everybody in the family pitched in by working there on weekends and even afternoons after office hours, when there was a season for work which couldn`t wait. It was a hard work, and my grandpa worked the hardest, being completely devoted to producing the healthiest food for all of us. He wouldn`t even allow my uncle use the artificial fertilizer, instead he forced for manure to be transported to fields and then spread out. Yeah, I remember those days carrying something stinky in the air… Oh brother, save yourself! Ew.

This man never stopped, until he was 80 years old he worked just the same as a young man. When the latest Balkan war happened, the third war he lived through, when the entire village was leaving everything behind and running away to safety, he wouldn`t go because he had to ” take care of the cows”…

(Eh… all this sounds like a fairytale now, because all is gone. He was the last to leave that day, and after that all of it was gone. My grandpa passed away just few short years after, far away from his home, his farm and his cows, and on his death bed he was still dreaming out loud about his fields and forests and how he will sell everything and buy each one of us an apartment in the city and rescue us of the trouble of misplaced life. He didn`t know, that, by that point, strangers were taking his property without asking. It was free to take.)

No, I don`t wanna make you sad right now, so let me tell you one funny story about my grandpa that shows the best how hard working he was and pretty much had no idea what “vacation” meant. His son, mu uncle, who became a black metallurgy engineer with an amazing carrier, who also remained devoted to his parents and the farm, taking care of all of us as well, he took my grandpa one time to the Adriatic coast for a little break. They went to the beach. It was the first time for my grandpa to be on the beach. As soon as they approached the view of sun umbrellas, beach towels and unnumbered  relaxed bodies lined up next to each other in their efforts to catch sun strokes, my grandpa stopped in place as if he saw something miraculous. And then he said with the upsetting tone of voice; ” Oh My God, look at all these people, they are all lying around and NOBODY IS WORKING?!?!” Awe grandpa… we miss you.

Rare old picture of grandpa, circa 1960`s. His usual lunch break in front of the summer kitchen which was always starting with the shot of his home brewed plum brandy, you know “to open up the appetite” as he used to say.

So, as you can see, once you have such careful caregiver who always thought that the organic food is the most important, it is hard to adjust to something that it`s not. And that`s what happened when I moved to Canada.

I mean years after we left Croatia, to Montenegro first, then to Serbia, my mom always managed to find similar food sources, she always knew someone who raised and grown their own food.

My transformation started with one particular book, the “Dieter`s CookBook”, geared towards low caloric meals, but it actually happened to have pretty amazing recipes, some of them my faves still today. But this book taught me something else, and that is to read the food packaging and compare before buying. And no, I don`t necessarily cook no-fat, no-salt food, I like everything and think that everything is good, but in moderation. What is more important in my opinion is to know where the food is coming from and to make it from scratch, that way you know exactly what goes in it. Pretty much like my mom and her mom always cooked, except, I am now totally hooked on the cook books as I love trying new stuff, and love making meals always exciting.

And yes I like to share it, so you`ll be hearing about it!

As for the part of doing more of what makes me happy, well, just browse through the rest of the pages of this website, and you will get the idea!

Continue reading Blog Posts on my lifestyle choices below: