The World by Us

…And we’re pinning! We might be a little late to the party, but we reckon we’re not the only ones. If you aren’t yet privy to the hot new social network, let us fill you in:

First off, here is a Beginners Guide but to give you the short hand – Pinterest is a handy way to organise images you come across on the internet. You might be an artist gathering inspiration, a foodie on the look out for new recipes, a bride-to-be planning a wedding, or about to remodel a home.

You can ‘pin’ images you like to your customised ‘boards’ which might represent different cuisines, different rooms of your house, a wish-list, or your motivation to get fit. If you’ve got a purpose or even a business to promote, it can be a great tool. Though beware – as with other social networks, it certainly has the potential to waste valuable hours of your day…

Yesterday, while filling our ‘eats’ board and looking for a healthy new recipe for dinner, we were repeatedly distracted by mouth watering-yet-disturbingly-sweet things like this (nb. these are NOT sugar free):

"Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie and Oreo Fudge Brownie Bar"

 (Some of the above recipes were actually pinned from a site aptly named This is why you are fat)

You might remember our previous rant about the evils of sugar…and we’ve been slowly cutting it out of our diet since. We’ve got a serious sweet tooth, so of course we still indulge in our favourite chocolate chip cookies from Bondi’s Earth Food Store (and probably always will) but we’ve successfully cut it out of our morning coffees, have cut back on the evening wines, and are trying to avoid those cheeky sugar-laden condiments like sweet-chili sauce.

For help visualising the levels of sugar we put into our bodies every day, check out Sugarstacks - which documents the amount of sugar in common food & drink items. We would be genuinely frightened to see the count for our 3 little friends above!

If you find yourself drooling over the above images but not keen on death-by-sugar, fear not. Today we bring you some sugar-free alternatives! As well as some fascinating wisdom circa 1964 from Japanese doctor Nyoiti Sakurazawa:

“I am confident that Western medicine will admit what has been known in the Orient for years: sugar is without question the number one murderer in the history of humanity – much more lethal than opium or radioactive fallout. Sugar is the greatest evil that modern industrial civilization has visited upon the countries of the Far East and Africa (genocide)…foolish people who give or sell candy to babies will one day, to their horror, that they have much to answer for.”

Sugar-free, Grain-free Cheesecake

(Recipe & photo via Sarah Wilson)

• 100g of dessicated coconut
• 110g of shelled pistachios
• 150g of almond meal
• 4 “generous” tbls of butter…which is to say, keep adding more butter till you get a nice gooby consistency

Preheat the oven to about 160 C. Stab-mix or blend pistachios until they are semi-fine chunks, add to a mixing bowl with the coconut, almond meal, and room temperature butter and rub until the mixture is an even, thick consistency. Then press into a baking paper lined spring form pan. cover the base and sides with your mixture to an even thickness  - you may need more or less of the mixture depending on the size of your pan. Try to keep it an even thickness – about 1/2-1cm.

Place in oven for 8 minutes or until slightly firm. Don’t wait for the base to brown as it will continue to cook once the filling is in.

The filling:

• 2-3 boxes (250g each) of Philadelphia cream cheese
• one egg
• a dash of natural vanilla essence or vanilla powder
• 2 tbls of natural yogurt
• 1/4 cup coconut cream
• 1/2 cup-ish of rice syrup (or add more/less to your individual taste). And, yes, rice syrup is fructose-free.

In a large bowl add the cream cheese (room temp), egg, vanilla, coconut cream and rice syrup and yogurt. Mix until it’s an even, thick consistency. Don’t over mix and try and keep aeration to a minimum while stirring – it will make the thing puff up, then collapse. Add your mixture to the base and return to the slow oven for 20-30 mins or until the mixture is puffy on the edges and the centre slightly soft and custard-like – (don’t overcook). Put in the fridge until it’s firm, otherwise it’s way tooooooo egg-y.

Sugar-free Rhubarb Macaroon Slice

(Recipe & photo via Scandi Foodie)

Today we bring you a little reminder of the beauty of the world around us. Just the motivation we all occasionally need, to take a breath from the daily grind and get out there and grab life by the horns…

Gnarly Bay Productions‘  A Story for Tomorrow documents a couple’s travels through Chile & Patagonia, narrated by ‘the future’ who at the end of their path, asks them, as he will some day ask us:

Is it possible to be happy with this life? 

and

Did you enjoy your story?

Give 5 minutes of your day to this. We’ll be surprised if you’re not planning your next adventure  :)

Also check out Spring –  capturing the same couple’s travels through Thailand & Cambodia:

With the Marilyn flick finally making its way to Aussie shores…we thought it appropriate to share this little gem we  recently stumbled across - A fascinating peek into the ‘blonde all over’ bombshell’s fitness & food habits.

  Click on the photos below for the surprising secrets to that gorgeous hourglass figure – including ‘bust firming’ exercises, raw eggs for breakfast and regular hot fudge sundaes!

via Glamournet

Growing up in a community just outside of Nairobi in Kenya, Wawira Njiru was fortunate enough to have educated parents who were able to provide for her family and ensure they never went hungry. Wawira’s childhood playmates however, were not so lucky.

“From a young age, I learnt to feed those in my community who had no food,” Wawira remembers.

Years later, most people in her community still live below the poverty line and struggle to make ends meet.  For Wawira, it has not been easy justifying the privileged life she leads (particularly as she completes her university studies in Australia) while the majority of the families in her neighbourhood cannot afford two meals a day and children are forced to choose between begging for food and attending school.

But today, Wawira is doing something about it.

Just last month, she launched Food for Education Trust - an initiative designed to feed the hungry bellies of Kenya’s children, so they can continue feeding their minds. The programme has begun at Ruiru Primary School, a public school catering for children from neighbouring slums, and is currently feeding 26 children from the neediest families.

 With plans to take the initiative right across the country and incorporate income generating projects for each school, Wawira and her team are dreaming big. And we can see why. With those beautiful, full-bellied, smiling faces staring back at you, what more motivation would you need?

“The reaction from the kids and the community has been overwhelming. Everyone is very excited and chipping in as much as they can. The kids we are working with come from such harsh backgrounds, some who have been orphaned or have to take care of their sick guardians (some who are affected by HIV) so providing lunch for them goes further than providing just food, it’s also providing hope.”

If you’d like to help Wawira create more of these beautiful smiles, get in touch with her here and ‘like’ Food for Education Trust here.

We’ll leave you with Jackson’s story…

“Jackson is a charming 12 year old boy who each evening has to make dinner for his 8 member family. His mother constantly struggles to put food on the table and provide for him and his siblings. Jackson says that it’s such a relief to have the Food for Education Trust make him one meal a day! Share his smile and our hope for a world where children like Jackson always have a reason to smile.”

To our wonderful readers,

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Whether you’re single or attached, we hope you feel the love today.

In the words of Johhny Barnes, aka. Mr. Happy Man:

“If we learn to love one another there will be no wars, there’ll be no killing, no raping, no fighting…because we’re loving one another. We human beings gotta learn to love one another. One of the greatest joys that can come to an individual is when you’re doing something and helping others, and you see the reaction on their face…”

“Have a wonderful day. I love you, I love you!”

(This will put a smile on your face today. We promise.)

Lars Von Trier darling & Balenciaga muse, Charlotte Gainsbourg, talks to Nowness about her latest live album - Stage Whisper (including 4 new Beck-produced tracks), fashion, and finding her unique artistic expression apart from her iconic parents – Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg.

Check out ‘Anna’ & ‘Paradisco,’ both off the new album:

You can also hear more from Charlotte on her new album & her recent role in Von Trier’s Melancholia at Interview Magazine

It’s the perpetual question – What makes us happy? - and according to author of The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor, we’ve got it all wrong. 

After 3 years of working with companies and schools across 45 different countries, Shawn discovered that most of the people and organisations he came across followed the same formula for happiness which informs our parenting styles, management styles and the way we motivate our behaviour:

Hard work –> Success –> Happiness

The problem is, as Shawn found (and we can certainly relate to!), we are constantly moving our target for success. How many times have you had a big win, only to set your gaze firmly on the next one? There is always something bigger & better to reach for and when we keep moving the goal posts, we are eternally chasing ‘success’ and happiness remains just out of reach.

But when we REVERSE the formula and deliberately foster an environment that is positive (or more specifically: not negative, neutral or stressed), then our brains are more efficient, work more intelligently, and in turn, allow us to work better and harder. Thus:

Happiness –> Success –> Hard work

Shawn and his team also found that when we are happy we open our brains to a whole new world of possibilities. Lucky for us, they also discovered there are ways that we can train our brain to become more positive, helping us to live more optimistic, successful and happy lives:

• Recording 3 new things we are grateful for each day focuses our brain away from the negative and onto the positive.

• Journaling about one positive experience we had in the last 24 hours.

• Regular meditation & exercise helps us focus on one task and teaches our brain that our behaviour matters.

• Send 1 positive email each day either praising or thanking someone (other random acts of kindness are also encouraged!).

Fabulous stuff. In fact, stuff we’ve harped on about here, here and here.

We are certainly up for giving these a whirl. You with us?

Hear more about Shawn’s formula for happiness via his funny & engaging TED talk:

Champions of micro-finance like the Grameen Bank and KIVA have successfully excited the world (though not without criticism) about the potential of micro-credit and small business to lift the poor out of poverty. Though, Chid Liberty – founder of Liberty & Justice,  the first fair trade garment factory in Liberia – is giving women a new lease on life with a return to a more traditional form of employment.

Prior to their involvement with Liberty & Justice, some of the factory’s employees were running businesses of their own. The problem is that while small business does a wonderful job of empowering women – providing their own source of income and the freedom to work on their own terms (often with little ones strapped to their backs) - business isn’t always good. Particularly if a flood wipes out your crop or your village is caught in a civil war, leaving you without an income for months.

At Liberty & Justice, women are paid $100 a month (an above-average wage in Liberia), receive health benefits, and a bag of rice each month to feed their families. The factory also provides:

• Advanced apparel production training
• A bank account, money management training, and the opportunity to have their  savings matched in the first year
• Management & leadership training
• Strategy & entrepreneurship training for those interested in pursuing small business after their time with the factory.

With such a strong focus on building capacity, autonomy, and dignity in their employees, it’s no wonder that in the first 6 months of the Factory’s operations, 6 of the 25 female workers filed for divorce from their husbands – freeing themselves from abusive relationships or marriages which they were sold into at a young age. 

This is the kind of thing that puts a massive smile on our faces! Women with incredible strength and courage who have often been through unimaginable hardship, given the chance to take control and build a better life for themselves and their children.

What also makes us smile is that we can help them do this. Liberty & Justice sells garments to fabulous fair trade labels like PrAna and FEED Project.  So go on, treat yourself to some new yoga gear or a sweet new bag and know that your hard earned dollars are improving the lives of hard-working women across the globe.

 Images via Positive Impact Magazine