How to be a healthy Musician (and a healthy person)

I am going to focus on the practicality of getting good food into yourself. I know, as a musician who has been touring and playing shows so much in the last year, that it is often very hard to eat the right food. So I’m going to make it very simple for you:

DRINK A SUPERFOOD SMOOTHIE EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE!

Really, it’s that simple (well, it’s an easy way to begin and maintain a healthy lifestyle)

I know this article is aimed specifically at other musicians but of course anyone can benefit from smoothies!

Here’s Peter from my favourite raw company Soaring Free Superfoods, spreading his epic wisdom on what superfoods are:

What you need to be a mobile smoothie master:

• a hand blender 
  • braun 450w hand blender is my favourite, it comes with a container too
  • hand blenders are easy to transport and you can use them anywhere there is a power source.
• fruits of choice for blending.
  • no excuses, bananas can be found almost everywhere!
  • good base fruits are mango, bananas, paw-paws (nice and creamy)
  • anything goes, if you like the taste add it in (keep it simple)
• superfoods
  • these are foods which have an extremely high concentration of life-giving nutrients, minerals and antioxidants.
  • A few are Goji Berries (life extender), Maca (stamina enhancer), Cacao (heart health and ant-depressant…and yes, it’s raw chocolate), and plenty more you can find on the superfoods website.
• Dates or honey
  • dates are a great natural sweetener!
  • honey is also awesome, lots of goodness there
• water
  • fresh spring water ideal, but anything which is as close to natural as you can find…
  • we have a beautiful spring in Cape Town. In Newlands, drive to the end of Springs Way (off Kildare) and there it is. Fresh, pure, tested and FREE!
  • tap water is NOT ok (the chlorine kills all the good bacteria in your tummy)
• fun additions
  • cinnamon
  • fresh vanilla
  • kalahari salt/himalayan salt/natural sea salt (plenty of good minerals in whole salt)
  • tahini (even a teaspoon of tahini can make your smoothie so amazingly creamy)

Making Your Smoothie

1. add 1 or 2 bananas (or equivalent fruit of choice, or a mixture of fruits)
2. add recommended amount of superfoods (it’ll say on the packet)
3. add dates or honey to taste (experiment)
4. add any delicious additions of your choice
5. add water to cover
6. blend until it’s smooth as you want
7. drink and enjoy the life it brings you

• experiment, be inventive, break the rules. Whatever works for you, it’s got to taste so delicious that you want it EVERY DAY:).
• avoid dairy and soya milk in your smoothies (trust me, they will be creamy enough)
• if you are desperate for a white liquid in your smoothie, I can teach you how to make almond mylk, or nut milk in general, it’s EASY:)

the go-to-guys for everything healthy in this country

Honourable mentions: Earthshine

There are some other incredible health-food masters around in our fine city of Cape Town who I would like to mention. They are Nat and Noel of Earthshine. They make the most incredibly delicious raw pizzas I have EVER tasted! They are passionate about simple, healthy foods and their raw-food prep classes are well worth visiting. When I put on gigs at my house (Pincushion Cottage) I always try to have them catering for the events. Check them out and be amazed…mmmm, making me so hungry thinking about it, time for lunch!

A Brief History of Nate the Health Nut

From about the end of 2007 I worked in the raw-food, healthfood industry. My Mum introduced me to Peter and Beryn, who own Soaring Free Superfoods. They are the people who introduced the raw-food movement to South Africa in a huge way! They run courses, import superfoods and since I’ve known them have written a book and released an incredible DVD.

When I met them I was in quite an unhappy and unhealthy space in my life. I began buying their goji berries and raw cacao and making myself smoothies every morning. Within a month I felt such a huge change in my morning energy -vs my afternoon energy after eating my usual sandwich with cheese and mayo on (basically put me to sleep)- that I went back to them and said “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I want to be a part of it.”

For the next two years I assisted them at their courses, worked the superfood stall at the Old Biscuit Mill Neighbourhood Goods Market and made myeslf useful in whichever ways they needed me. All the time I was learning more about superfoods, juicing, smoothies and many other exciting things (healthy raw ice-cream being a highlight). In august of 2009 I moved to London and spent the next year working in various raw-food/vegan cafe’s and kitchens. I even gave a talk on the benefits of juicing to a cancer charity.

I’m telling you all this so you know I know what I’m talking about…although I haven’t studied in a recognised government establishment, I have done my own learning and research (one of the things I’ve learned is that often the people who have studied the most through the usual doctor channels are the ones who know the least about real healing, which is sad because many of them really want to help people).

Yours in smoothie love and music
Nate

Imagine my incredible surprise and excitement when I wake this morning to the sight of me as their featured artist on the FRONT PAGE of their website!

I am OVER THE MOON! I can’t believe how awesome this is! Thank you reverbnation for picking me out of the 2 million other artists…I’m overwhelmed by excitement!!!!

YAAAAAAYYYY!!!!
Beautiful days to you all
Love
Nate

PS: you can go directly to my reverbnation profile here

PPS: here are a couple videos of two of my newest songs, I love sharing them, one written for the love of my life, the other written for the village I come from:)

Two Festivals in One Weekend

I’ve got such an exciting weekend of musical occurances ahead. I would so love to see you there, so please do come hang out, life is too short not to sing:)

Parklife – An Afrika Burns Gathering

I’ve been invited to play at this awesome gathering in Vredehoek, Cape Town, this Saturday. It’s a gathering for Burners to get together and be inspired by what is to come at this year’s Afrika Burns festival (ok, so it’s technically a pre-festival party, but anyway). If you don’t know what Afrika Burns is, my suggestion is you go and find out now!

The event is on Saturday 25 Feb, starting at Midday, I am playing first as I have another event to go to, so aim to be there for 12pm and you should catch me.Entrance is FREE. Oh, and Plush is playing after me, so stoked to be opening the stage for one of my favourite South African musicians, Mr Rory Elliot! Yay!

Check out the facebook event for more details, this is so exciting and family oriented, I’m very amped!

The Harvest – A Brand New Festival 

Then, this brand new festival out on the Themika Wine Farm in tulbagh is happening all weekend, and it has some of South Africa’s most amazing singer-songwriters and bandsplaying!

Join in for a weekend of grape picking, crushing, stomping, drinking and Bacchanalian Festivities. Based around the festival of Bacchus, the wine god; whimsical nymphs, fawns and Gods and Goddesses will dance under the stars to the Sound of wonderful South African music.

It sounds truly epic and I will be driving up at some point on Saturday night after my friend’s wedding party. I’m playing at some point on Sunday, but if you can go for the whole weekend I strongly recommend you do so!

Some of my favourite SA musos are playing there, including Miles Sievwright, Shotgun Tori, Gary Thomas, We Set Sail and many more! They’ve also got a Sunday Market going on, tshirts to give away, there’s camping all weekend. It’s basically everything a festival should be and more!

Check the facebook event for more details.

I leave you with a smiling goodbye and I look forward to connecting with you again soon, so please do come say hello, sing along and share a hug with me!

Thank you:)
Love
Nate

Now that I have more time, here is a translation which I put together for you all! Thanks so much to the incredible people at diffuser.net! This review has really touched me very deeply.

The Album To Discover This Week: Nate Maingard – The Wild Land

I’ve just read such an awesome review posted about me here: The album to discover this week: Nate Maingard – The Wild Land | @ diffuser.net.

It’s in  French, which is a great start as I’m helpless for everything French! When I translated it using google translate I was blown away by the beautiful things they had to say about my album!

Yay! Anyway, must go get ready for tonight’s show at Alma Cafe!

Ciao for now
Nate:)

Just before bed I clicked a link…and spent the next while drifting gently through a haze of soft pleasures. I’m very happy to introduce you to Amy Seeley…all I can say is, enjoy:)

PS: free download on bandcamp

There’s a new kid on the block of social streaming music websites and it’s name is This Is My Jam, a music sharing website. This is My Jam is a simple kid, content with the timeless joy of sharing songs with friends in an uncomplicated and easy environment. For me, an admitted audiophile and eternal lover of all things music, it’s the perfect way to let people know about the song which is currently spinning the most in my head and in my music player.

Once you’ve created your account, it’s as simple as:

1. once a week get an email saying it’s time to update your current jam
2. go to website and search for your latest favourite song (it even pulls suggestions from your lastfm account)
3. choose whether to share it on facebook and twitter
4. and that’s it!

So, for anyone who loves music and loves sharing it, this is about the simplest way I’ve seen. Sharing music online just got a whole lot easier and they’ve just been released into public beta, so you can be a trend-setter; get jamming right away and find me here.

Yours in Music
Nate

PS: my jam for this week is my own song I Will Devour, which was pulled from youtube. I’m impressed they can find music as obscure as mine, which also makes this a great way for musicians to showcase their own music! As a very indie folk musician, this rocks my world!

PPS: the only shortcoming of This Is My Jam so far is that if it’s pulling the audio from youtube, it comes with the whole video, which sucks for me because my South African internet connection is nothing if not SLOW. I blame South African internet more than This Is My Jam for that though:)

PS: she’s only 17!!!

Reblogged from art-profiles.com:

Earth is a beautiful place, people. We live in a tiny rock that has plenty life, awesome nature, stunning colors, and most times we don’t appreciate it at all, losing time complaining about insignificant little things. Whenever you get crazy about your routine, simply take a walk. Go on a trip. Get to know your city, your state. There’s plenty beauty around you, and it just takes your will for you to see it all. These are a set of beautiful photographs to remind us how Earth is awesome, and that we’re …

Epic photos of our beautiful planet, couldn’t agree more with the awesome sentiment to go with them (today I swam in the ocean, cycled to buy organic veg and had a surf with my dad, as well as building a web-site…it’s all about balance)

yes please!

SO awesome that Carla Kreuser was at Lievland Wine Estate last weekend and drew this illustration of me and my dad playing my dad’s song Back To The City off his new album Swing Chair.

Thanks so much Carla, yay!

Oh, and I’m playing tomorrow evening (thurs 09 Feb) at Mojo’s Jazz & Cocktail Bar in Observatory, Cape Town. Come check it out if you’re keen, it’s only R20 to get in, and there’s myself, Jon Shaban and Josh Riley all on the bill!

Epic song by Of Monsters and Men: incredible indie musicians, with such a beautiful music video, passed on to me by my friend ScarletNguni. Love this comment on it: “So this is what it’s like in Iceland?”

Yay for great music on mondays!