Who is Leila?

Leila is a pal of mine from the University of Guelph. Recently I discovered that she shares my passion for food and wellness, and so, of course, I decided to interview her for the blog. Leila, like myself, subscribes to the idea that health does not necessarily correlate with weight. To her, healthy living means feeling comfortable and confident in your skin, no matter your size. In the following Q&A, Leila and I chat about all things related to personal well-being, and though neither of us is qualified to give professional advice, there are some great messages here about self-love and body positivity!

Let’s start by defining the word “healthy”. What does healthy mean to you?

Leila: I think health means… It's not a number on the scale, and it's not how you appear to other people. It's that you are confident in your body. You're as mobile as you need to be without getting out of breath too much from, let's say, climbing the stairs. You can eat what want as long as you're, you know, paying attention to food groups and stuff. I think that's what matters. At least for me, and I try not to worry too much about it. It's really hard to get away from the media sometimes, especially ideas such as fatphobia.

Rebecca: Fatphobia is something I'm trying to deprogram my brain on. Like fat does not equal bad.

Leila: Exactly! I think you can be fat and healthy at the same time. One of my favourite American makeup bloggers is Loey Lane on Instagram. I don't know if you've heard of her, but she's plus-size, and she's a model, and she's so beautiful. She works to dismantle those ideas surrounding fatphobia. I think she's super cool.

How do you live a healthy lifestyle? What does a typical day in your life look like?

Leila: I'm a morning person. I usually get up around 7:30 ish. I start my day with a workout because I know that if I don't do it that morning, I probably won't do it. I have a “personal trainer” who releases six unique workouts a week. Maybe we can plug her in this post. Her website is trainwithtracy.ca, and she has an Instagram, it's @train_with_tracy. She's super bubbly and energetic. She pre-records these videos for folks to watch/listen to while they're working out. In the summer, I was only doing three days a week. I just wanted to be kind to my body and was like - “it's summer; I'm going to let myself relax a bit.” But I'm trying to get back to more like four or five days a week. In the winter, I think that I'll need to increase that just because we'll have less sun and I kind of get the winter blues. I don't know if you get that too. But I know that it'll affect me. So if I keep the endorphins high and everything, I think it should help.

Rebecca: Do you pay a fee for your personal training?

Leila: It's $40 a month. Since there are six workouts a week, you do the math - that's roughly 24 unique workouts a month. She's based out of Stoney Creek. My mom and I really love her, and she has two little girls at home. It's nice to be able to support not only a small business but someone with a family.

Rebecca: Normally, personal trainers work with you one-on-one, and they get to know you and your goals. Does she work with you one-on-one?

Leila: No, but she does have private clients. You could book like an hour with her on Zoom and then go through whatever you want to work on - she'll support you through achieving those goals. But as far as one-on-one time, I haven't had any with her. Because every workout she has, she treats it as if you’re brand new. As such, she demos every exercise. And she'll give you reminders. Like when you're squatting, you should have your head up and your chest up. She'll say things like, “A lot of people who start workout programs end up quitting. So what's the secret? You gotta be consistent.” She's a cheerleader.

Rebecca: Why do you work out? What’s in it for you?

Leila: I feel that I have better mental health if I do. I'm a more patient version of myself. Throughout the day, I'm very jittery. I'll be the one that shakes their leg at the table. I find it just helps me settle. And then, when I need to sit at my desk for eight hours a day to do work, I can.

What else is in it for me? The change I've seen in my body is… Like Rebecca, I've gained like 15 pounds since I started. And now I'm excited when the scale goes up. Cause I'm like, “Oh my God, I got muscles.” It's exciting. Pre-COVID, I worked out, but not nearly as often. It'd be once a week or twice a week, I'd go to the gym and do random machines, and it wasn't structured at all.

You’ve mentioned to me before that you have a few favourite food bloggers. Who are they?

My favourite is Madeleine Olivia. She’s vegan. And you might ask me, “Well, you're not vegan. So why do you follow her?” I think it started at first with me being really intrigued with how aesthetically pleasing it was to watch people cook vegan because the food is so vibrant. It has lots of bright colours. I think that’s what attracted me to it originally. And then, from there, I thought, “Oh my gosh, I want to be a more conscious eater and maybe cut out meat one or two days a week.”

The second person is Mina Rome, and she's based out of Germany. She does really accessible meals.

Another one I sometimes watch on YouTube is called Pick Up Limes. Have you heard of her? She does the most aesthetically pleasing videos you've ever seen in your life. And sometimes I'm not in the mood for these because of how perfect they are. Sometimes they seem over-glamorized. Scarily perfect.

From My Bowl is awesome. Also vegan. Her whole house is super sustainable, and she converted her fiancee to be vegan. She makes great videos and reels. Her’s are also a little bit too perfect. And I fear that for content creators - that they get on this exponential quality increase of like, “Oh, I have to do better. I have to make it even crisper. It has to be even prettier.”

Rebecca: I feel that. I have purposely unfollowed a lot of too-perfect accounts. Like this is very nice and beautiful, but there's no way I can make something like this. I think a lot of people might feel that way.

Advice for people with busy schedules trying to cultivate a healthy lifestyle?

Leila: Find a groove that works for you in terms of your schedule. I have a calendar that works really well for me. I like using a paper one because I get sucked into my phone if I have one on there. To avoid getting sucked into social media, I've been doing this thing where I only check it purposefully. So unless I have a goal in mind, I should not be going on Instagram.

What else? Do things that aren’t just school or work. Go have fun, hang out with friends and also spend time doing things you enjoy by yourself. I like being outdoors, playing guitar, and doing paint-by-numbers.

Rebecca: What about food? How do you make sure you’re eating right?

Leila: I try to have at least three food groups on my plate. I think this is in relation to the old Canada Food Guide, but you know how they have dairy and then meat and then veggies and then carbs? I try to have at least three in a meal. Or, I do this automatically without even thinking; if I have something that's hot and salty, I try to combine it with something that’s cold and sweet. So if I have Mac and cheese for dinner, I might eat it with a salad with dressing. You know what I mean?

What else? Know your peak productivity times for your work and block those off from other people. I'm my best at reading and writing from 8:00 AM to noon and then 8:00 PM to midnight. I don't know why, I have no clue why, but that's when I'm most productive. Silo off those spaces for you only and get your work done in those periods.

Anything else you want to add?

Leila: Listen to your hunger. If you already had breakfast, and it's 11, and you're hungry, eat again.

Rebecca: I still fight with diet culture. Well, not even diet culture, just toxic food-related mindsets.

Leila: I eat almost five meals a day. I'm not joking. I eat all the time. Whatever makes your body happy is what matters. There are so many hormones in our body, too, and I am on birth control, and it's hormonal. So I know that there's stuff going on in there, and it's just a matter of keeping it happy.

Rebecca: Something that I feel I’ve come a long way on, though, is like being cool with how much I'm eating. Like at a restaurant, when people stop eating, and I'm still eating. I don't care. I'm going to eat all my food, and I will probably eat yours if you offer it to me. And sometimes, my boyfriend and I will have pizza, and I will eat more than him.

Leila: My boyfriend is thin, and I eat more than him always, and that's okay. And it's okay for anyone to eat more than their partner. Life is too short to worry so much about what we’re eating.

Rebecca: Exactly. Great messages.

Thank you, Leila!