The Get Healthy and Happy Project – The Merrymaker Sisters

Hello and welcome to week three of my series called the “Get Healthy and Happy Project”. The aim behind the series is to demonstrate that there are many and varied approaches to “healthy” eating and lifestyle. There’s no one-size fits all way to live – food choices included! The most important thing is just to do something to move towards finding a healthier and happier you.

If you missed my first post, each week I will be interviewing people I follow (and love!) in the “health & wellness” field. As you will see, each has a different take on diet but all are healthy and happy!

Who are you featuring this week?

This week in the series we have the lovely Merrymaker Sisters Emma and Carla Papas! To pinch their tagline, “we’re Authors, Holistic Health Coaches, Paleo Recipe Developers and Social Media Nerds. We’re Aussie, real life sisters that are fun, vibrant, creative and on a personal mission to make the world a healthier and happier place”. Sounds like my kind of sisters! I should add they are super nice as well. I hope you enjoy their answers.

What was it that made you decide you needed to change your diet?

We were sick of feeling sick, fed up with counting calories, beyond tired from the guilt we felt after eating, with low self-esteem and super confused as to why we felt this way. We were in this obsessive whirlwind of fad diets, quick fixes and negative body image. When Emma was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance this gave us the catalyst to search for a way of living and eating that worked for our bodies. In 2012 we began our paleo journey, 4 weeks in and we’d never felt better and there was no looking back.

How would you summarise your view on food now? Also – for anyone who doesn’t know, what does Paleo actually mean?

We now eat to nourish! We feed our bodies nutrient dense delish foods… plus we eat when we’re actually hungry! It’s all about listening to what your body really needs, it generally will tell you the right thing!

‘Eating paleo is eating food in its most natural form.’ When we heard this, we knew we had to try it. It was one of the best decisions we EVER made. Not only did it lead us to create the merrymaker sisters but we’ve never felt and looked better.

How do you feel now you have made your diet and lifestyle changes?

During the first 3 months of living a paleo lifestyle, we experienced some amazing benefits, including higher and longer lasting energy levels, weight loss and clear skin. While also ditching 3pm sugar cravings and bloated bellies. Woohoo! These benefits are all amazing but the most exciting one of all is our new positive relationship with the food we eat. Long gone are food binges and the guilty feelings that follow afterwards. Instead, we eat when we’re hungry and choose foods that are going to nourish our bodies and make us feel our bests. We now believe and promote that changing what you feed your body has the power to change your entire life. We know this because it happened to us.

What do you do now that makes you feel really “happy”? Did you always know this made you happy? If not, how did you work that out?

We merrymake full time, which = just crazy amounts of happiness! We had no idea merrymakers would lead to our full time jobs but oh boy are we glad it did! To find what makes you happy, our advice is to just begin! Take action! What ever that action may be, it will lead you toward your bliss, or the thing that makes you happiest. This could be going for a walk, writing, painting, rock climbing – anything! If there’s something you’ve always wanted to try, go and do it! It might take a while but if you continue to take action, eventually you’ll find your bliss! It’s out there!

For someone who is looking to change their diet, how do you recommend they start?

– Don’t be intimidated by the ‘no list’ concentrate on what you can eat and filling your plate with good stuff.

– Try new food, recipes, paleo websites, cook books, cooking styles and make the whole process fun and enjoyable.

– There isn’t a one-size-fits-all when it comes to paleo or being healthy. Find what works for you and  what makes you feel good!

 

Thanks lovely ladies!

Thank you so much to Emma and Carla for taking the time to answer my questions! I hope you have all enjoyed reading their responses. Check their site out and have a read! They have some awesome posts on how to follow your passion, mindset tools and some delicious recipes! I’ll sum up this post with a quote from above:

‘To find what makes you happy, our advice is just to begin’

 

Food Time

If you would like to make one of Emma and Carla’s awesome recipes, I have published their delicious Choc Chia Zucchini Bread today.

 

Next week we will have Jenine from Foodness for Goodness Sake! And if your’e on Instagram don’t forget to to add #healthierhappier to your pictures that show how you live “healthy and happy”!

Previous posts in the series: Week One  Week Two