How does one come to have 774,000+ followers on social media? Ask Mimi Elashiry.
The 19-year-old Byron Bay-based hottie is one of Australia’s popular AF ‘Instababes’, a special subset of models with an Insta/Twitter/Tumblr following that rivals traditional celebrities.
Just launched my very own line of swimwear… @cheekyswim_ ?? available at Glue Store 10/15 pic.twitter.com/TLT5e9RR8h
— mimi (@mimielashiry) September 6, 2015
While the Egyptian-Australian‘s 9-5 job is to look ~fly~ in various modelling campaigns, Mimi harbours a not-so-secret passion for health, nutrition and holistic living, so we decided to take a peek into her kitchen, fridge and shopping basket to see exactly how she #cleaneats.
PEDESTRIAN.TV: Have you always been a healthy eater?
Mimi Elashiry: No, not al all! I didn’t always eat healthy. I used to love McDonalds when I was very young and dancing a lot (five days a week and ballet competitions on weekends). After the comps, all the ballerinas would go to Maccas and eat the angus beef burgers and fries. But I think the turning point for me was when my mum introduced me to a friend of hers, a naturopath, five years ago, and he always had natural things in the kitchen and he’d do blood tests on me and say, you should be eating these kinds of foods. And it all made sense, because used to have all these stomach problems. Then, four years ago, I received a copy of the book Hippies In The City by Rita Balshaw, and the second I opened that book and read the first page, I was like OH MY GOD – Holistic Living. YES. That book is basically my bible.
Talk us through your pantry; what are some of the products we’d find in there?
The things I go through ridiculously quickly are organic vegetables, and Apple Cider Vinegar – I go through one of those big bottles in a week and a half. I guzzle that stuff! In the morning I’ll add it to some warm water, or I’ll put it on my breakfast eggs or salad. Also, Nutritional Yeast Flakes, which are like cheesy flakes – they make everything awesome. And, Coconut Kefir Yoghurt, which they’ve recently started stocking it in Byron. It’s this probiotic yoghurt with coconut cream – you only need about two tablespoons a day (though, I skip it some days because my stomach is a bit sensitive).
I eat a lot of purple carrots, too, and recently discovered and started eating raw red capsicum with my homemade vegemite!
KEWL! What’s in your homemade vegemite?
Yeah! It’s the best thing ever, and I think I’ve gone through four jars of black tahini in the last week because I’ve been making it and giving it to my friends because they love it so much.
So here’s the recipe: I put one small jar of black tahini (about a cup) into the food processor, then I half a cup of nutritional yeast flakes, and I splash some Tamari sauce in there to make it salty, and some apple cider vinegar to taste and I blend it up. It’s the best.
Where do you go grocery shopping and find all these exotic ingredients?
I go to the Byron Farmer’s Markets every Thursday, and I also go to this little shop in town called Santos where all my friends work. It’s this organic market/grocers kind of thing. I also go to this place called Peace Love And Vegetables. They’re headquarters is actually just around the corner from mine, and they’ve got this amazing, big recycled shipping container complex and with vegetables growing, so I go there and get my kimchi and sauerkraut, and they have really good cashew cheese – the curry flavoured one! And the guys from Bare Blends, I like to use their maca powder and their cacao powder because they give me a crazy energy kick, and they also have a really nice protein blend with Sacha Inchi protein.
How much would you say you spend on food every week?
Between my boyfriend and I, we spend maybe $120 and that lasts us an entire week. We don’t really eat out anywhere and cook all our own food. When I was living in the city, I was eating out breakfast and dinner and it was costing me something like, $60 a day. So yes, now we save a lot of money, eating healthy produce that’s locally sourced and grown.
Your modelling jobs take you everywhere – is it hard to stay healthy when you’re on the run?
With travelling, I’m pretty good at maintaining like a healthy, whole foods diet. Most places you go now, you can get that kind of thing – gluten free bread, etc. I tend to just take things like freeze-dry greens that I know that aren’t perishable and things that I can travel with like seaweed snacks. Or If it’s a one-day trip and I’m unsure about the food [at the location] I might just juice for the day.
Follow Mimi on Twitter: @MimiElashiry.
Lead Image via Life Without Andy/all other images supplied.
