Hi guys..!
Just a quick message to say that I need a lil blog time out for the moment.. 
I’ve been super uber bizzy and I’m not sure yet If I want to continue blogging in the future for many reasons..
Keep you posted soon!
Take care everyone!!
Love,
Nathalie
Hi guys!
Today I wanted to do a little post about the photoshop phenomenon.. As a model, I’ve experienced myself that a lot of photos are being photoshopped.. Sometimes just a little to make the skin appear more healthy and to remove freckles, but sometimes the entire body or face of a model is being altered..
I’ve experienced this personally when seeing new pictures of fellow models and thinking “OMG she just lost a ton of weight” & ” What diet is she on, I must give it a go”! About 2 weeks later I see the same model at a casting and she looks perfectly normal and healthy.. And when I ask her about those certain pictures, she admits it’s all just photoshop..
I don’t like this phenomenon at all because it creates an unhealthy image about how a woman should be and what a woman is supposed to look like..Models aren’t freaks of nature with some kind of super genes ( ok there are some out there , but few) but the industry is defenitely creating that mindset..
For myself, I have to watch what I eat and try to eat healthy 90% percent of the time but I do eat icecream or chocolate once in a while..I’m only human
Before and after Photoshopping pictures:
I have one picture in my portfolio where my legs are lenghtened about 10 cm or about 4 inches –>
Ultra long legs? Not so much 
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I was reading Julie’s blog PB fingers and she made salmon burger for dinner last night.. I thought this would make an awesome lunch for me and the boyfriend..
Salmon burgers on whole wheat bread (adapted from PBfingers)
Ingredients:
Combine all the ingredients in the food processor and blend awaaaaaaaaaaay!
Questions:
- Do you ever compare yourself with models or celebrities?
- Do you often believe that the photoshopped pictures are real?
- What’s your favorite salmon recipe?
Hey hey
I’m back with another fashion post! Here is my wish list for the summer.. Hope you guys like it!
What is on your fashion wish list?
Hi Guys!!! Guess who’s back?
( And then this song popped into my head:
Guess whos back, back again
Shadys back, tell a friend
Guess who’s back, guess who’s back,
guess who’s back
Guess who’s back…nanananananananananana
Alllllrightie then..)
I got back from Paris yesterday evening.. Unfortunately I didn’t even see Paris this time ( I have been there already 3 times, so I’ve seen the city already but damn, I wanted to see something! )
After I arrived there Saturday night, the taxi took us straight to the hotel.. I decided to go to bed early because the next day we had to work from 9 am until 9pm.. And believe me, trying out 300 wedding dresses and standing on heels for 12 hours isn’t a breeze.. I really had a good night sleep that night
After that long day, the team went out to a Italian restaurant very close to our hotel.. I was so happy when everyone was in the mood for fish so the owner started to prepare some grilled tuna and white fish.. They gave us 7 plates to divide over our team and served everything on big dishes.. Very family style, I kinda love that!
On my plate: Grilled tuna, grilled peppers in olive oil, grilled zucchini and rucola salad..
After dinner I went straight to bed because the next day we had to work from 9am until 6pm and then catch the train back to Belgium..
The team decided to go to mac donalds, I really don’t like to eat there so I got an unpictured salmon wrap.. Much better
Here are some piccies:
My colleagues
Acting goofy woofy
Having a 10 minute break because our feet were killing us
Acting silly again.. Try to find my colleague somewhere
A fan is very much needed if you’re trying on a zillion dresses.. we’re feeling hot hot HOT!
Our little hang out space
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I also wanted to write a little piece on consuming dairy and veganism.. I know that in previous posts I wanted to eliminate dairy completely from my diet and subbed this primarily with soy products..
After trying this for a few months I have to say that I don’t necessarily feel better doing this.. When on the road or traveling as much as I am, it is soooo difficult just eating healthy and I feel like eliminating dairy all together is too restricting for me at the moment.. I haven’t touched any meat though in the last 2 months, because it is very easy to find fish everywhere and I really don’t like eating it any longer after watching food inc and reading skinny bitch.. So if you guys see some greek yoghurt appear on the bloggie, sorry but that’s the way it’s gonna be.. I don’t like to label myself.. I just try to be healthy, whilst eating a variety of foods ( I will keep buying almond milk/ rice milk/ oat milk and soy milk because I think variety is very important in a diet + I really like the taste)
That’s all for now folks..Have a nice day!!
Questions:
- What does your diet look like?
- Do you eliminate certain foods or avoid them?
- For what reason?
Hi guys!
Tonight I’m leaving for a two day work trip to the wonderfull city Paris!
I’ll be working there for a bridal fair, where we will do some fittings of bridal gowns and some catwalk shows..
I’ll definitely will have a lot to look at! All those nice gowns and jewellery ) We’ll be staying in a super nice 4* hotel and the fair is starting on sunday from 9am until 9 pm until monday from 9am until 6pm.. I think I’ll be tired after this trip Fortunately, I have a day off on tuesday.. I’m starting to miss my Bikram yoga!
I was planning to go to Bikram yesterday and this morning, but I just got spraytanned for the bridal fair ( they want their models to be tan instead of the Vampire look I got going on ) The lady from the spraytanning place specifically told me to NOT shower or do any exercise, because the formula really needed to dry a couple of hours.. Preferably a day or so.. I guess sweating your ass off with Bikram isn’t an option!
I did however win an unlimited class card of Bikram for one month, so I might take the opportunity to do a lil modified Bikram challenge.. I’ll put running on hold for a bit ( my 10 k isn’t due until september) so I can go to Bikram as much as I can before heading to the USA on the 12th of july for our roadtrip.. I’ll keep you posted on how it feels to do Bikram 4-5-6 times a week instead of 2 times a week..
Before heading off to the city of love ( without my love *boehoe*) here are some recent eatsies:
Chocolate oatmeal with protein powder and raw cacao nibs..
So psyched I found these in the store! Organic vegetable mix to steam in the microwave.. Perfect for quick and easy suppers!
Cheerios with chocolate protein powder, banana, raw cacao nibs and almond milk..
Lunch! Pink lady apple, multigrain bread with banana and coconut butter..
Yesterday, the boy decided to go to mac donalds so I made a healthyfied version of burger and fries.. Ovenfries(baked for about 20 min in the oven), mixed salad and a veggie burger.. The sauce was a mixture of yogonaise and ketchup.. hmm.. This feast clocked in at about 550 kcal ( I was curious comparing it to the meal my boyfriend had, the mac do meal had about 1200 kcal in it.. scoreee!)
This morning’s breakkie: strawberries with coconut butter and raw cacao nibs, whole wheat toast with melted cheese and whole wheat toast with nanner..
See you guys from Paris!
Questions:
-Have u ever been to Paris? If yes, did you like it?
- Favorite breakfast meal?
Hi there,
Here is my first ever Fashion post! I’m planning on putting some random buys and outfits under this tab
Yesterday I was thinking that I needed some new sandals for our trip to the USA this summer so I went to look on the fab site http://www.asos.com..
I found some very cute ones, one pair was in gold and the other one in white.. What to choose huh Fortunately the ones in white were on sale so it didn’t take long to decide I think the white ones will look great on some tanned legs..
Product name: Asos-Fantasy-Leather-Swirl-Toe-Post-Sandals
Colour: white
Price: On sale for 29.31 dollar or 21.79 euro
Hi guys! How is everyone doing? I hope you’re fine and dandy
Recently I ordered a bag of Raw cacao nibs from iherb.com.. I saw many bloggers using them and since I consume a lot of chocolate chips in my eats ( But really.. a lot :p ) I thought it would be interesting to try..
When I first dove in and tasted some, my face pretty much looked like this:
But since I’ve used them in some eats, I kinda love them now!!! If you eat them straight out of the bag, they taste really really bitter.. But if you incorporate them in a sweet dish, the bitterness really complements the sweet in the dish..
I’ve used my raw cacao nibs in the following dishes so far:
- Cheerios with chocolate protein powder, banana, almond milk and raw cacao nibs spinkled on top
- Whole weat bread with banana and raw cacao nibs ( this tastes amazinghh! )
- Oat bran with raw cacao nibs
- Oat meal with raw cacao nibs
- Chocolate green smoothie with raw cacao nibs
Now what are some of the advantages eating Raw cacao? This article from “HighonHealth” sums it up perfectly:
If you can handle the bitter taste, then these little beans are definitely something awesome to incorporate into your daily diet.
Not only are they absolutely amazingly fantastic for our body, but they contain an unbelievable amount of:
So if you eat one of these little beans, you are getting a concentrated source of anti-oxidants, magnesium, chromium and vitamin C. More than any other food around and way better than popping a synthetic supplement or pill.
The word ‘cacao’ actually means ‘cocoa’. Apparantly the Brittish couldn’t pronounce the word cacao, so they called it cocoa instead. This food is so special, that a long time ago in Mexico City they even used it as currency. That’s how amazing and valuable the cacao bean was considered to be. Now you can just pick up a giant bag for around US$15. I guess we’re really lucky now how affordable and accessible this food is.
So apart from anti-oxidants protecting us from free-radical damage of the skin, they are really just a measure of the color pigment in a food. So essentially, the darker the color of the food, the more anti-oxidants it contains. You’ll notice in the video when I crack open the cacao bean that it’s a black or deep purplish color. This just shows how many anti-oxidants are present in the bean.
Now blueberries are quite dark too, and they’re often thought of as being fantastic for our skin. But while blueberries contain 32 antioxidants, and wild blueberries contain 61 ..cacao beans contain an unbelievable 621 anti-oxidants!!! That is an insanely high amount. Now you know why I’m putting up with the bitter taste of these little things, because I know how GREAT they are for my skin.
Seems like these little nibs are supah supah healthy!
Questions:
- Have you ever tried these little nibs?
- What are your plans for the weekend?
Hi guys! How you’re having a wonderfull day!
Damn it looks like everyone is getting pregnant lately! There is a babyboooom going on.. ( except for me, I don’t have any maternal feelings yet, I’m actually a lil scared of babies, everytime someone asks me if I want to hold the baby, I’m so scared i’m gonna drop it, they’re so tiny!! :p )
The fitnessista (Gina@thefitnessista.com) announced yesterday that she and the pilot are having a mini fitnessista/pilot.. So happy for them! My best friend from highschool/ college also announced that she’s 10 weeks pregnant ( I just wrote 10 months, damn she’s not an elephant 
) Hurrrrrrrrrray for her as well!!!!
Friday I’m leaving to go to Paris for modeling! I hope I get to see the city a little bit, but usually that never happens, gotta love model life Expect a full recap on monday
I also read a super interesting article regarding Bikram yoga and “locking the knee”.. I always have trouble with locking my knee, it seems that my leg just can’t stop shaking.. And if you can’t lock the knee.. you really can’t move forward in the posture..
In Bikram Yoga, many of the standing yoga poses are characterized by having one or both legs “locked out”.
As this concerns the knee joint (amongst other elements of the leg) and having had an aggravated knee for a while, I thought I’d take some time to debunk exactly what “lock the knee” actually means.
In so doing, I hope you will learn a little more about what steps you can take to:
Take a close look at the two photos below.
What do you notice?
See how the one on the top does not have the shadow of muscle definition around the top part of the knee joint as the one on the bottom does?
Good.
Now the leg in both these photos is actually “locked straight” and both knees are “locked” in the sense that the leg is straight.
However, one is good, the other most definitely not!
So what is the difference and why is it important?
It has all got to do with:
As it turns out, it is often not the knee cartilage causing knee issues or knee pain – it is the lack of surrounding support from the large leg muscles – calf, quadriceps and hamstring.
The quads need to tighten to help pull up the kneecap and in turn effectively assist the knee joint to function correctly..
Your quadriceps are your front thigh muscle between your knee and your hip.
You should be able to see some muscle definition around your knee joint simply by tightening the quadriceps (it might take a bit of practice – and can be far easier to practice laying down).
OK good. This is the action that does a couple of key things – especially for your yoga practice …
It took me a while to realize what was meant by “lock the knee”.
For ages I was simply straightening my leg and leaning on it.
Not good.
Rather than just straighten the leg in the standing poses, actively engage your quadriceps muscles and you will never have sore knees, your walk will feel lighter, you will be preventing any future issues – and as a side-benefit, your hamstrings will gain more flexibility and lengthen more easily, which is a boon for many of us with tight hamstrings from sitting at desks all day or from sporting activities!
Questions:
- Do you have many pregnant friends at the moment?
- What is your ideal age to become a mommy? Mine is around 29-30..
- Do you lock your knee properly in Bikram/hot yoga?
Hi guys!
Today I had an awesome shoot for a jewellery brand.. The jewellery was amazing, very simple but oh so classy.. Very much my style of bling bling Too bad my wallet can’t handle the bling bling because an avarage ring costs about 3000 euro ( 2000 dollars +-) and I wore a set of earrings worth 80 000 euro! Seriously, where do people get money to buy that kinda stuff.. Well I always lose my earrings so I better keep buying H&M
Looooots of outfits
The makeup
The view from the location, we did the shoot in an old colonial style appartment in old Antwerp.. So nice!
Backstage atmosphere
Photographer and makeup artist..
Waiting for hair to be done
Dinner: Grated zucchini with chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, veggie burger and hummus
I also received my order from iherb.. Hooooraaaaaaaaaaay!
Goji berries, raw cacao nibs and individual bags of artisana raw cacao bliss *droool*
Coconut flour and peanut flour: can’t wait to use those in my protein muffins!
Questions
- Have you ever tried raw cacoa nibs? How do you use them? Do you like the bitter taste?
- Favorite iherb item?
Hi guys! Hope you’re having a lovely Sunday..
Our day yesterday was super chillaxing, we went to a local farmer to get some fresh strawberries of the field and afterwards a nice BBQ with the basketball team of the boyfriend. There is actually one vegetarian playing in the team, so veggie burgers on the barbie for me! Hooraaaay!
Today also a little recap of the exercise I did this week:
- Monday : 3 k run in 18:55 min
- Tuesday : 4 k run in 27:27 min
- Wednesday: Bikram yoga 90 min
- Thursday: rest
- Friday: 4,5 k run in 30,55 min
- Saturday: Bikram yoga 90 min
- Sunday : 20 minutes Pilates
It was a good week exercise wise.. I also signed in for a 10 k race on september 25th.. So excited! I was planning on signing up for a 1/2 marathon but since I just recently got back into running, I though it was better to take it easy and see if I can do a 10 k in about 1h a 1.10 min.. We’ll see how it goes..
Running a 10k will also give me some more space excercise wise when we leave for the US of A the 12 of July! I’m sooooo excited.. We ‘re gonna do a major road trip starting in LA–> Yosemite–> San Francisco –> Winnamucca –> Salt lake city –> Yellowstone –> Bryce canyon + Grandcanyon –> Flagstaff –> Las Vegas –> LA
Sounds promising huh?
Well on to some recent eatsies!
Protein muffun galore!
Salad with Romaine,brocolli, cress, veggie steak, peppers and spicy hummus..
Njam!
Cheerios with oat milk, banana and chocolate protein powder..
Oat milk! Sooooo good, you must try this sometime!
Whole wheat bread with veggies steak and romaine, whole wheat bread with banana, choc chips and sunflower seeds..
And some extra veggie power: brocolli with salt and pepper!
I also went on a lil sushi date with the boyfriend, this was my outfit..
The resto..
I had some wakame salad.. An unpictured miso soup.. Some Sashimi and 1 tuna handroll..
Yes, I can eat with sticks
Questions:
- Have you ever tried Oat milk before?
- Do you guys eat a lot of bread? What kind of bread?
