The health & wellbeing industry is full of some pretty amazing people & we're excited to have had the opportunity to chat with our friend Liv Kaplan for our 'Talking Straight' series.
Liv is a Nutritionist, Foodie & Presenter who has a passion for being in the kitchen & whipping up incredible sugar-free & gluten-free recipes. Liv has recently launched three e-books featuring some of her delicious recipes & also regularly shares cooking demonstrations on her youtube channel Lush Eats. Here's Liv.
SUPR: What does your morning routine look like?
LK: Every morning I wake up, as I open my eyes I express gratitude for the day and for my life... I like to have a little trigger that reminds me to do it and for me, it’s the little plant I have sitting on my window as I watch the sun come up. Then I check my phone (a bad habit I know!) and get up and make a green tea and have a big glass of water. I sip on that while I get changed and head out the door for some kind of exercise, which can be anything from a class to a walk or a swim in the ocean.
SUPR: What does ‘health’ mean to you?
LK: Waking up every day happy to be alive and excited for the day ahead. If I have that, I know everything is going well.
SUPR: What are five things you’ll always have in your fridge/pantry?
LK: Extra virgin olive oil, a good quality sea salt, tahini, coconut butter and kimchi!
SUPR: What’s your favourite form of movement?
LK: Dancing! For me, it’s so expressive and feminine and feels totally right in the moment. Growing up I was an avid dancer, always running from ballet classes to hip hop to jazz classes. For a while, I wasn’t doing any dancing and I’ve recently rediscovered my love of it and nothing compares to that feeling!
SUPR: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
LK: Bondi! Where I live now. I love the energy, the people and everything I experience here. I’m a big believer in loving where you are and honestly every day I wake up so happy that I live here.
SUPR: What is one fun fact most people wouldn’t know about you?
LK: I eat out more than I do at home! And unless I’m recipe testing for a project, I don’t keep a lot of food in my fridge and don’t even really grocery shop haha. I’m a foodie, I love going out to eat, trying different foods and restaurants, and I also love the social aspect. I think a lot of people think I never go out and eat everything at home haha. Most of my friends are pretty shocked at how empty my fridge is most of the time.
SUPR: Why is it important to you to be Straight Up and authentic? Have you ever struggled in the past with being your true self?
LK: Yes! Being a teenager is so hard and confusing. I look back on that time and can totally see I struggled to figure out who I was. Now I feel much more secure in my life and my choices and a big part of that has been getting more in touch with my true self, which I call my centre. I think a lot of anxiety these days can be resolved by being in line with your true self and values. The problem is most people don’t know what that is!
Being straight up and authentic is so important, because at the end of the day if you’re not, you’re the only one who’s at a disadvantage.
SUPR: The health industry isn’t perfect. If you had the power to change one thing about it, what would it be and why?
LK: I could talk for days about this! But I think one of the biggest problems is the amount of negativity out there - a lot of people have an “I am right, you are wrong” attitude which makes no sense. And even with food, one of my biggest missions is to bring back the positivity around food and eating, it’s a beautiful and amazing thing we have access to and should be treated as such! So many people interact with food in such a negative headspace - that something is wrong or naughty or whatever it may be. I’d love to see more people appreciating food, enjoying the process of eating it and preparing it and having it be an experience filled with love instead of fear.
You can follow Liv on Instagram at @livinbondi