Happy FriYAY fit fam! This Friday is an exceptionally "happy" one indeed!
Because we have a little inside information to share with you!
If you have already purchased our Nutrition Guide - then you're in on the secret already. If not, what are you waiting for? Get your hands onto our Nutrition Guide today and change your relationship with food for the better, for ever!
Today we have super exciting news to share with you guys! Who still remember that we've said there are 5 major announcements to come from #TeamFitBest?
Number 1 was the ambassador search; Number 2 was the announcement of our HiiT Hype program that we have planned to launch in September 2020. But we then decided to go BIIIIG or go home and we started with the development of our very own FIT BEST Training APP. So, we're keeping the HiiT HYPE program on hold until January 2021 - to launch it with our amazing new app!
Announcement number 3 was about the Nutrition Guide which have been released two weeks ago! Seriously, go get your hands on it if you haven't done so already! With announcement number 4, we've share that Lara, one of our former ambassadors has joined #TeamFitBest as a official Fit Foodie. Since then, Lara has been sharing yummy yet healthy recipes on our blog!
And fiiiinally, after what feels like a very long wait... We are finally able to revealAnnouncement Number 5! From all 5 announcements, this was most definitely the one I was most excited about! Good things take time they say hey!
So without any further ado! We are so happy to announce:
We will be launching a recipe guide called F.E.A.S.T early next year!
F.E.A.S.T stands for:
F E A S T
Flexible Eating And Sustainable Traditions
We are so excited to share what we as FIT BEST Training and Boesmanland Langtafel have been working on for the past couple of months! We told you there was more to come!
From where the inspo?
Marli Visser, the owner of Boesmanland Langtafel was one of our very first Brand Ambassadors in 2019/2020. And I think it is safe to say if you know #TeamFitBest, you’ll recognize her as well!
Me and Marli went to primary school together in Kakamas (Northern Cape). And no! It’s not close to Cape Town (unless you call 900km close). Marli was a few years younger than me, but in a tiny “plattelandse dorpie” everyone knows one another. We’ve known each other since 2003 – freaking 17 years! And to crack your brain just a little further, my dad and her dad went to school together as well!
After primary school I went to high school in Upington and she stayed in Kakamas. And with the age difference, we kind of lost contact. We both studied in Potch after school, so we saw one another from time to time and waved as we’re passing by. But other than that – we didn’t have much contact.
And then one cold wintery morning in May 2019 – Marli popped onto our website. She placed an order for my very first online workout program – the Winter Home Workout Challenge. I was delighted to have someone from Kakamas actually joining my programs haha!
And the rest you can say is history! Ever since, Marli has joined every single program, every challenge and everything and all things FIT BEST! She’s honestly such a trooper! And my heart is actually overwhelmed by the amount of gratitude I have for her!
It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give you a little detail about Marli!
Marli grew up in the Boesmanland. You know the song “Boesmanland vat my hand, en lei my oor die rand se kant. As jy vir my kan sê waar die Boesmanland lê, Boesmanland vat my hand!” Well, I’m here to tell you – in case you didn’t know – the Boesmanland does exist! Not only in songs!
She studied consumer science at the NWU and she now lives in the Boesmanland again – in a small town called Pofadder, Northern Cape – approximately 150km from Kakamas where we went to primary school together. Marli, who now goes by the Instagram name @thethankfulfarmwife, is married to her best friend – Theunis who is a sheep farmer. And we could not have thought of a more suitable Instagram handle for who Marli is to the core!
Marli’s story is a food story! She loves cooking and baking. Basically, she loves anything and everything she can do in the kitchen! Even a few burpees from time to time! Marli’s passion for the kitchen is rooted in her childhood memories. To her, food isn’t only food. It’s a lifestyle of sincerity, abundance and simplicity – or as she wrote it in Afrikaans on her blog: “dis ‘n leefwyse van opregtheid, oorvloed en eenvoud.”
She finds joy in the smell of sourdough made from scratch in a farm kitchen, reading recipe guides and making “mamma kos” as she calls it. The kind of food your mom used to make, you long for even after you have your own kids. To Marli, food is linked to stories. And as per her words “want elke storie wat rondom ‘n bord kos gedeel word, is ‘n mooi storie.” Meaning every story that’s told around a plate of food, is a good story (helping out our raw English #TeamFitBest members)!
I could not agree more! Growing up on a farm myself, meal times where something we looked forward to every single day. Because mom made delicious food and dad always had a story to share of something that happened on the farm that day! Till this very day, when visiting my parents – meal times are big! Even if we’re munching on a quick lunch or a simple sandwich. The “kuier” around the kitchen table lasts way longer than the meal.
When my husband (André) and I first met, he could not fathom WHYYYY anyone would like to sit around a kitchen table for literally hours after the meal was finished – simply chatting about all sorts of things. Luckily, after almost five years of marriage – he’s gotten used to it. Adapt or die I’d say haha!
I think my connection with Marli goes way deeper than a mere friendship level. Our days growing up looked similar, even though they were very different. But growing up on a farm – it’s simply a different way of living life. I’ve always been so thankful that I could have grown up on a farm. And the older I get, the more grateful I become. It truly is a blessing one cannot possibly describe to anyone who haven’t experienced it themselves!
When I wrote this little exciting announcement which is included in the Nutrition Guide, it read like this: I’ll admit – I haven’t made a single one of Marli’s recipes! Because I am completely useless in the kitchen! Like completely!
[However, since then - I have actually made Marli's Microwave Mustard Sauce and my hubby can't stop telling me how delish it was! Just for the record, I'm still useless in the kitchen, that hasn't changed.]
But what I can tell you – is that despite knowing I most likely (aka definitely) won’t make it – I have read every single blog! From top to bottom! Even the list of ingredients (don’t ask me why)! The way Marli writes about the dishes she makes; her heart and soul are evident from the ingredient list to the end product!
As you know by now – I don’t believe in the exclusion of any food groups. Probably because I grew up on a farm and most “plattelandse” people don’t do diets – thank goodness! To this day, when we go visit my parents – my mom asks us what we want to eat when we get there. I ALWAYS request my mom’s spaghetti bolognaise. André says mine taste better than my mom’s – but he obviously has really bad taste then. Or maybe his pallet became accustomed to my bad cooking skills!
[Side note: that’s the only dish I make that tastes better than my mom’s according to him. Faith restored! Haha.]
With all of that being said! If you know me, you know I like colourful, detailed stories. I probably could have cut straight to the point. But the effect wouldn’t be the same! And it would most definitely not do this project any justice!
So, when I decided to do the nutrition guide (this one), I asked Marli if she’d be keen on doing a recipe guide in collaboration with Fit Best. And obviously, being the trooper she is, she yelled YESSS (via WhatsApp, but I could hear her)!
With F.E.A.S.T we want to teach you (after working through the nutrition guide) – that you can still enjoy all of the traditional food your mom or your aunt who lives on a farm loves to make.
Marli will be sharing traditional recipes with you. And alongside the recipes – we’ll be giving you a Macro Breakdown of each meal.
It would for instance say: Lasagne, serves two people: with the Protein, Carbs & Fat breakdown. So, you will easily be able to eat the food you love & still stay well within your calories!
This recipe guide can even be used as meal prep ideas as you’ll be able to do your planning and macro calculation ahead of time.
It’s time to break the stigma that you have to chew on kale leaves and salads for the rest of your life if you want to be healthy. You can have all the food you want and allow yourself to enjoy meals – like they were supposed to be enjoyed!
Keep an eye on our social media pages for more information regarding the launch date of F.E.A.ST!
@fitbesttraining
@boesmanland_langtafel
And in the meanwhile - here's some serious #foodspo for you: