Cara Frew is a South African-born singer-songwriter with a passion for health, music and horses. She attributes her glowing good health and energy to her vegan lifestyle. Longevity LIVE’s Gisèle Wertheim Aymés spoke to Cara on Insta @longevity_live about her health and wellness journey.
Wellness Wednesday ft Cara Frew
Now, while there are a few celebrity ‘health’ routines that we would never encourage you to follow or emulate, Cara Frew is definitely not one of them. In fact, there’s a lot we can learn about health from the vegan songstress.
Cara Frew/Instagram
The vegan journey
About 10 years ago, Cara Frew made the decision to transition to a vegan lifestyle. Now, because she was living in L.A., the transition was quite easy, especially because being vegan was the current trend. Unfortunately, other parts of the world have yet to catch up to this trend,
“There was a lot of options and variety in LA, which made the transition quite pleasant. Unfortunately, moving back to Europe and then South Africa made it quite tough.” As a result, Frew made a pact to herself that if she found a brand that was likable and tasty, she would support it as this is the only way to grow the vegan and plant-based lifestyle. Therefore, when the opportunity came to support Nescafé’s new plant-based lattes, she didn’t think twice about representing the brand.
Living vegan
Veganism isn’t purely a way of eating, but it’s also a lifestyle. However, Frew does admit that being a show jumper, her tack is leather, and thus she can’t say that she’s 100% vegan. That said, she does try to live a plant-based lifestyle and do as much as she can.
A man was walking along the beach and hundreds and thousands of starfish were washed up on shore. He bent down, picked one up and threw it into the water. A gentleman came along and said, “Why are you doing this? You’ll never save all of them, you’re just wasting your time.” The man replied, “I may be wasting my time and know I won’t save all of them, but I’ll make a difference to this life.”
Photo by Taryn Elliott from Pexels
Frew adds that by encouraging each other to adopt more plant-based habits, just that little bit can help to make a difference and this, in turn, is great for our health and bodies.
How plant-based are your options?
One of the areas of concern when it comes to plant-based eating is whether one can get enough protein from plant sources. However, Frew has proven that one can perform at an optimum level, even when being a vegan. She also shares that she monitors her iron levels by visiting her doctor when she’s feeling fatigued.
“We need to ensure that we get the right food groups and that we understand what our food is giving us.” Frew adds that it does take a lot of dedication, and it is definitely a lifestyle change, “It can affect other areas of your life, like your social life as you don’t always have the freedom to go to whichever restaurant that your non-vegan friends choose.”
That said, Frew is excited about the steady growth of plant-based meat options in recent years,
“It’s great because in the past there were limited eating options that led to people eating the same thing over and over and most people can’t stand that and that’s why they don’t stay vegan for a long time. But now that we’ve got these brands coming out with a lot of variety, it’s incredible because it helps people stick to their plant-based diet.”
Cara Frew/Instagram
Horsing around
In addition to being a music lover, Frew is also a renowned rider, all while maintaining an illustrious music career. So, how does she do it?
“Dedication. However, there might be those days when you’ll feel like sleeping in and not doing anything, so it’s important not to be too hard on yourself, and be realistic.” shares Frew. That said, if you’re curious about a day in the life of Frew, it goes something a little like this:
A day in the life of Frew
- Wake up at 07:00
- Walks around the block for 15 minutes
- Grab a coffee
- 30 (really slow) sit-ups
- Make a smoothie with bananas, pea protein, strawberries, and oats/ Overnight oats with almond milk, butter, and chopped bananas.
- Off to riding horses
- Goes to the gym 3-4 times a week (Low-intensity exercises like Pilates/ Treadmill)
- Cooks a quick plant-based meal once she arrives home
- End off with some dark chocolate.
What Is In Your Bag Back When Going To Ride?
- Bananas
- Avocado
- Nuts
- Guacamole
It’s a lifestyle, not a trend or weight loss program
“It’s not about losing weight. If we want to become vegan and if we want to go down that plant-based lifestyle route then let’s educate ourselves so that we can make healthy decisions.”
WATCH THE INTERVIEW
The video interview with Cara Frew contains the entire dialogue of this interview, and you can watch it below.
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