Photographed in Iceland.
Kindly supported by Herbalife.
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New year, new challenges, new chances. Dear Heima is back with full force and turned somewhat magazine. You might notice a few more differences - well, that's cause there are. ;) After five years of writing in German we finally decided to switch to English. Since there are more and more readers coming from the UK, US and Iceland and us speaking English on an everyday basis we felt like this is the most natural and logical thing to do. The other change is that we went back to our old platform - with a few design weaks (more to come, soon). We had high hopes for the new concept/site and put quite (!) some money in layout and coding. With the sad result that we got scammed big time and nothing really worked the way we needed it to. However, this is not the time to complain but to look forward to a working webpage and tons of pictures that are piling up in our folders which we just can't wait to release. All of this gave us time to think and we came to the point where we sincerely missed writing. It's about time to get back at it. More than a month has passed since the beginning of a brand new year and we are currently forming all the plans and ideas for what to accomplish in '18. Like fully immigrating, for instance. Or that one big move where you buy a forever home and settle down, for good. It's been a great few weeks so far filled with so many thoughts and changes. (We love changes, in case you haven't noticed). Sometimes we do feel quite overwhelmed by the amount of work we would love to get done and the limited amount of hours a week has in store for everyone. (168, that is.) Work/life balance can be a bit of a struggle. But hey, that's life for everyone, right?

This post is a sponsored post we worked on with Herbalife but as always all the views and words are our own!

When we're the most driven we unfortunately forget to eat every now and then, we have to actually force ourselves to step out of the door and the laundry keeps piling up. For years we even left out breakfast, completely. But if you ever want to get rid of afternoon fatigue and get your grip together to tackle those dreams then breakfast is of utmost importance. And (you might know this annoying phenomenon, as well) a certain afternoon fatigue has been our best friend forever. 1pm and we just hung over our desks, having one huge coffee after the other and trying to concentrate while all we wanted to do was SLEEEEEEEEP. We finally changed that, too. (Yay to changes, seriously!) We are no breakfast people, especially not during the week and that probably will never change. But we need need NEED some good nutrition in the morning. So a month ago we switched from no-breakkie to Herbalife shakes. Before you get your lecture finger out of your pocket: hear us out. No, we are not on a diet. No, we don't wanna lose weight. No, we are not gonna start lifting weights and also no, we didn't join a cult. (Why is everyone so tense when it comes to Referral Marketing, by the way? You don't have to be a part of it if you don't want to - it's always completely up to you!) Anyways, we did not join in on referring we just joined in on drinking. And it did a lot for us. We had a little presentation of the products by the awesome Icelandic team and even if there is a wide range of products, we only got what we were in need of. Some healthy breakfast choice, that is. (And Aloe Vera Concentrate to add to your water, which honestly is the best stuff, ever). So what we are doing these days: we get up, brew some fresh coffee, mix a shake of Protein, Formula 1 in Vanilla, Chocolate or Apple Cinnamon and add some banana, peanut butter or frozen raspberries - tadaaaa, breakfast is served. Takes literally five minutes and we have all the nutrition we need. There are people that don't have any problem to eat early in the morning but there are others that can't swallow a single bite until 10 o'clock. We are of the latter. So now we drink our breakfast and take it onto our daily morning walks which is just so convenient for us. On.The.Go. We can sit down at one of our fav spots and have a few sips and then we are fueled for the day. Fresh air, beautiful view and some energy. We have been doing this for a month now, and can feel our energy levels rising. No kidding, we are energetic all day and it's the best change in a while. We get more things done without stressing - win win! The Aloe Concentrate is a perfect addition since it tastes absolutely great and so we've changed another thing we have been struggling with forever … drinking. We NEVER drank enough. Ever. It is bad for the skin, bad for your overall health (and bad for the figure, too). Seriously you guys, if you don't drink your body will pay the toll! We are up to two liters a day now and we are kinda proud of ourselves. 

The products we use

- Aloe Vera Concentrate Mango flavor

- Protein Powder for the Shakes (Protein Drink Mix)

- Formula 1 Shake in Vanilla, Apple Cinnamon and Chocolate

- Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Tea

Just to clear a few things up: we did a lot of research before we started with nutritional shakes. There are tons of products on the market and everybody who wants to change their lifestyle and add such products to their diet should find what fits best for them. We tried a lot of meal replcements over the years and we most of the time felt good doing so but the taste threw us off, again and again. To us, taste is highly important and Formula 1 simply tastes awesome. No difference if you drink "Vanilla" with some fresh fruit or a regular smoothie. Also, we struggled with the fact that some of the previously tested products just didn't fill us up or, even worse, made us feel full all day. It's super important that you are hungry again after a few hours. Like we said, the intention is not to quit eating and get ridiculously skinny but to live balanced. We went as far as that we read letters between eco testing websites and Herbalife, educated ourselves about possible negative side effects and after two weeks of really evaluating if that's the right choice for us we decided this is what we want to try next. We would say we've made the right decision. When you come across problems with nutritional shakes in general during your research then keep in mind that some people do not take nutritional products as recommended and just aggressively try to get rid of weight. When looking to control one’s weight, It’s important to remember to follow the label on the product and not just blindly eat nothing but powders and pills. (That is just common sense.) It will not fuel you for the day and not change your lifestyle to a healthier one. Whether you go for shakes or no shakes in the morning - make sure that your diet is balanced! With Herbalife, you also have the possibility to become part of a community (if you want). Here in Reykjavik, there is quite the big health club where you can shoot if you have questions, share recipes and meet for workouts. If you feel stronger in a team and need some guidance to get started - this might be just perfect for you. 

We are taking eating habits and our health very seriously. We cook a lot, we buy fresh ingredients, we bake our own bread and we educate ourselves. We aren't vegan but we still eat a lot of soy, prefer oat milk over dairy and opt for the veggie course whenever we eat out, (vegan even, if available). We try to get rid of refined sugars and replace it with date syrup or ingredients alike. We sure love ice cream and we are suckers for a good cake, yet we think that you absolutely "are what you eat". We find it a little funny how many people are highly suspicious when it comes to nutritional shakes or meal replacements in general but feel like it's no big deal to head out to some fast-food restaurant where you basically eat what they scraped off of the floors. ;)

We don't wanna lecture anyone. "You do you" - we agree with that saying A LOT! We don't wanna convince you, we just share own experiences. If you overall don't feel energetic enough, if you constantly skip breakfast - then shakes like this might be a great solution for you. They are easy to mix, taste delicious and fuel your every morning. To us, Herbalife became a real routine and is especially great for those days when we head out for some outdoor adventures and are in need of a lot of energy. Balance truly is key to a healthy lifestyle and that means eating at least three times a day, drinking a lot of water and trying to opt for fresh fruits and veggies, to quit on refined sugars and to go for walks, daily if possible. We live in a time of change. Where we keep our lives organized with cellphone apps, where artificial intelligence gets more and more integrated into well, basically everything and where we have smart solutions and options for whatever you can think of. Smart light, smart electrical devices and an Alexa that turns our music on and reminds us when to take the bread out of the oven. We feel it's weird how many people still make a fuss about meal replacements even though at least every third person struggles with having normal eating habits. People aren't scared to try even the weirdest and obviously most unhealthy diets but to just change your meal plan and make it easier for yourself to balance it out is still considered suspicious. (Maybe it's because of the referral marketing bit that comes with most of such products but like we said in the beginning - you don't have to be a part of that!) We personally aren't and we sure won't be but we are super happy with finally having a three meal day instead of a two meal day and more energy to concentrate on what makes life truly amazing instead of constantly worrying about food. Do everything in moderation. Take good care of yourself. It's actually really easy. 

'The greatest wealth is health.'