.png)
Anytime I hear John Cena by Sho Madjozi the first person that comes to mind is Nimu. One of the most driven and level-headed people I've had the chance to cross paths with.
She's a young, stunning, recent law graduate and now solicitor in the making, with a brilliant mind; who is passionate about all things health and wellness. She always and I mean ALWAYS, yaani without fail, has some nuggets of wisdom to share on diverse topics.
I got to chat her up on some things mental health, fitness, skin care, health, blogging and wellness. I was also thrilled to find out that I was amongst her favorite bloggers.
Get a pen and paper.
Why ‘aunty Nimu’?
A friend started calling me aunty Nimu whilst at uni. I loved the nickname and it just stuck!
Could you tell my readers a bit about yourself and your blog?
I am currently doing the LPC course to become a solicitor.
The blog is mainly about health and wellness, I don’t generally believe in diets I feel that the diet industry and mentality is incredibly harmful to people. Not just to your physical health but to your mental health. The process of gaining and losing weight due to a program is something that I have issues with.
That’s what the blog is all about; wellness in general. My aim is to get people to understand their bodies and exactly what they need we should all be eating clean and healthy and getting in a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio exercise every single day but what we are most concerned with is sustainability and that’s where the wellness aspect comes in.
My blog is trying to help people understand where they fit in into the spectrum, the portions of food they should be eating and how much exercise works for you within the week.
My blog gets rid of all the guilt and shame in the fitness industry. It teaches you and others how to love the body that you are given, and how to maintain it in the most healthy way.
How did you first get into blogging?
I got into blogging when I started taking my own fitness seriously and I figured out that people want to know the certain things that help me grow and help me maintain my healthy lifestyle.
I also wanted to put out into the world the positives of eating healthy without guilt or remorse.
I first opened a Wix account and started posting about recipes that I had discovered as well as skincare tips
I realized that I could take it further and made it all about wellness
Can you think of any of your strengths that helped you in blogging?
As a future lawyer I’m in love with researching. I love to look into things that interest me in depth and understand the different perspectives about them and come to my own conclusions. This helped me so much in blogging because I was able to actually look into the issues that I want to speak about and look into them in depth.
When I’m interested in something I automatically become incredibly passionate about it. This drive was poured out into my blogging.
What prompted you to start living a healthy lifestyle?
I had a very unhealthy relationship with my body for many years. I know exactly how it feels to start and stop a diet and to feel guilty and the binge.
I realize that I wasn’t alone. That many people were going through what I went through. Most people don’t really know that it’s a problem.
Diet schemes are so harmful to us and we don’t realize it because it’s in the name of health.
I wanted to make my healthy lifestyle something that I could be proud of and not something that I was showing publicly but not practicing privately.
Most people have the notion that living a healthy lifestyle is expensive, do you agree?
No I don’t agree that living a healthy lifestyle is expensive.
Being healthy doesn’t mean that you need to completely throw away everything that's in your fridge. That’s diet culture.
Being healthy is taking what you eat on a day-to-day basis reducing the oils, substituting processed for whole-grain, and eating more fruits & vegetables.
As a Kenyan if you eat Canyon foods majority of Kenyan food is actually quite healthy.
The only alteration need to be done in Kenyan food is reducing the oils, and substituting white grain foods for whole foods.
What is clean/healthy eating to you? Does it have to involve being vegetarian, vegan, etc.?
Eating clean and healthy has something to do with it including more vegetables into your diet, but that doesn’t mean you need to be vegan or vegetarian.
Whilst being vegan or vegetarian is a good life choice, for some people it’s not sustainable. Although having days where you exclusively eat plant-based foods can be very good for you.
A lot of people don’t know that lentils beans and many vegetables are high in protein. Incorporating those foods into your day-to-day meals is a very easy way to be healthier.
The reason why people are so hyped about vegetarianism and veganism is because you put extra care into making the recipes. You add more spices, use less oil, you use different ingredients, making your meals more exciting and flavorful.
What do you do in your spare time?
I mostly read, I go to the gym, I cook (I love trying out new recipes), I binge watch a lot of series and movies, as well as YouTube videos.
When I am in the UK I take days where I discover our galleries and museums which is one of my favorite things to do.
How do you manage your time to run your blog efficiently?
I would love to say I do but I don’t. I really struggle with incorporating blogging into my life. When I’m on holiday it’s very easy to blog because I have so much free time.
When I get extremely busy I sometimes schedule blog post in advance.
Most challenging moment in your blogging journey so far?
Being accountable to regularly posting.
GIRRRRRLLLLLLLL. Your skin. Spill the tea !
I honestly attribute my skin help to my eating. When I was in high school I had terrible acne. I mainly think that was due to hormonal imbalance as a teenager as well as the food that I was eating. The food was incredible but often very oily.
When I started cooking for myself, I limit the amount of oil that I put in my food.
I also began to realize that I reacted to dairy products that would cause me to break out whenever I ate or drank them.
This is a really repeated tip, but I drink a lot of water.
I found out what helps my skin in terms of my skin type is how to exfoliate properly, the moisturizer that I need and the cleanser that are suitable for my skin
I also realized that I must be incredibly gentle and patient with my skin in order for me to maintain healthy skin.
I also don’t obsess over my hyper-pigmentation and breakouts anymore because it’s natural, it’s normal, and it’s going to pass with a consistent routine
Has your skin been a work in progress or has it always been this good?
No. I had cystic acne throughout high school and hyper-pigmentation.
Do you advocate in trial and error/experimenting with skin care products till you find what works for you or seeing a dermatologist? Why?
I understand that going to see a dermatologist or an esthetician is really expensive; but what’s more expensive is buying a bunch of products that will only harm your skin.
I believe that we should first of all find out the skin type that we have, and if you have problematic skin see a dermatologist.
Skincare is an industry like all others, therefore a new skin phase will pop up every week. It is not your job to buy every new product that’s on the market. We should be discovering and identifying the products that work for us and stick to them.
What’s the most frustrating aspect of blogging?
Having creative block. It’s so frustrating when you want to blog about something but have nothing to blog about.
Some of your favorite bloggers?
Saadia on pick up limes
You, I find your posts very insightful
Tara on taramisu by Tara
Greatest achievement outside of blogging?
Getting my Law degree.
What’s your preferred choice of workout? (CrossFit, boxing, gyming, running, yoga, home workouts, etc.)
Crossfit and yoga 😍
How often do you work out?
When I’m on holiday, everyday.
When I’m working/ in school, I try to get at least 30 minutes each day or 3-4 times a week.
Most people get thrilled to start working out and when they don’t see results almost instantly, fall off the wagon. Any tips for consistency?
Change of mindset.
Once you accept that your working out is not for a certain body goal, that’s when results will show
I know it sounds weird but it’s like when you have a pimple, you keep focusing on it, worrying and it doesn’t go away because you’re so obsessed with it. Working out is the same. If you keep weighing yourself after every workout, you’ll be disappointed every time.
Whilst I’m not a fan of measurements I understand that it’s a way people keep track of progress. In that case, I’d advise to weigh yourself every month. Other than that, keep a rewarding routine of eating right and workout out consistently.
When you do that, the results won’t even need to be seen on a scale.
You’ll feel brighter, more alert, you’ll think clearly and quickly.
Your reflexes will improve and you’ll feel a general happiness .
Consistency
I always advise people to keep a diary exclusively for your health progress.
Part one: mention the food you ate.
Part two: describe how it made you feel.
Part three: encourage yourself, never punish yourself for eating a snack and never say "I’ll work it off tomorrow".
Part 4: keep track of your daily exercise including your steps if you track them.
At the end of the week, review it, set goals and congratulate yourself for making the week.
Who has impacted you most in blogging and how?
I guess I’d have to say all the people who support me on social media. The small comments of encouragement and also the stories I’m told of how something I posted helped them.
I also have a few friends who are new mums and who love the idea of not punishing yourself when you’re getting in shape.
My family as well, they encourage me a lot and allow me to help them with their health journey.
Where would you like to be in blogging five years from now?
I’d like to have been certified as a nutritionist in 5 years and giving real advice.
I want to have one on one sessions with people where I understand their problems and give advise specifically targeted to them.
What’s been the biggest difference in your life post-blogging?
A very strange thing that I’m getting used to slowly is people coming up to me in Nairobi and telling me that they like the blog. Or people coming to ask for advice or just people wanting to take a picture or chat.
I love that I’ve put out an image that makes people feel comfortable and relaxed when it comes to discussing their personal situations with me.
Mental health is a sensitive topic that most people either tip toe around or generally ignore. Is it something you’re open about/advocate for?
I am very very open talking about mental health. Specifically eating disorders.
There’s a stigma surrounding eating disorders that I want to speak about more and get people out of the mindset they have about what an eating disorder looks like. Also being ashamed if you have it or had one.
How do you stay sane while trying to balance everything?
I speak to the people close to me and stay honest in conversations.
I have a reminder to check up on myself every fortnight where I try and openly journal about how I’m feeling.
I use an app called moody every night to log in how my day went and how my hormones affected my day.
There’s this ‘expectation’ (read entitlement) people have that since one shares a lot of things publicly, they should share all aspects of their life. How do you filter what content to put out without sharing too much? Where do you draw the line?
I think as people who share an aspect of our lives we should set boundaries with ourselves and others.
I don’t speak about my family or romantic relationships because they’re not relevant in what I want to talk about.
I also don’t have the consent of everyone in my life to share their experiences and mine to the world.
I think it’s really important to be careful about what you put out. Because you will get positive responses but they will always come with negative ones no matter how sensitive they are.
What does self-care mean to you?
Reflection.
Checking in with yourself.
Resting doing things you love.
How do you want to improve yourself in the next year?
I want to teach myself more discipline and consistency in all aspects of my life.
If this post didn't make you want to get your life together ASAP, I don't know.
There was so much to take home. An aunty for real!
I'm ready to get that health diary to track everything and I'm sure as hell ready to have Nimu as my nutritionist in 5 years ! Also setting up that 2 week reminder to openly journal and see how it works out.