Why Natural Is Better – In The Garden With Laura Scherian

This season, Bioweed has teamed up with Laura Scherian from the Sunshine Coast Lightning and they sat down with Laura to ask her why she believes living naturally is better!

Being a professional athlete, Laura understands how important it is to be conscious of her nutrition. The food she consumes plays a vital role in ensuring that she performs at her very best during training and matches, and also aids with recovery.

The team at Bioweed sat down with Laura recently, and got a few of her insights as to why she prefers natural alternatives – both at home, and in her garden.

Have you always lived a natural lifestyle?

Growing up, My mum made sure that we always had wholesome food available. Home cooked meals and lunchbox snacks were the norm in our family.

I remember begging my mum for a roll-up one day. That afternoon, she pulled out the dehydrator and made some home made fruit straps. Looking back now, I am grateful that Mum had the knowledge, awareness and time to put some love into our food.

I have fond memories of preparing, cooking and eating food with my family. The TV was off, we sat at the table, discussed our day and ate together. I believe that nourishing your soul by eating in a relaxed environment with others, is just as important as providing quality nutrients to your body.

As my knowledge and understanding of nutrition expanded, my passion for food and cooking developed even further. In 2007, I began studying a Bachelor of Health Science in Naturopathy.

The knowledge that I gained from study was enhanced when I commenced working at Flannery’s Organic and Wholefood Market nine years ago. From there, I moved on to create “Shez’s Kitchen” – a platform to share my love of food, cooking and nutrition.

How can someone live a more ‘natural’ lifestyle?

I think it is about making small adjustments to your lifestyle. Gradually adding or changing little things will not be a massive interruption to your life, but will make a big difference in the future.

An easy example is using a reusable coffee cup, or buying a compost bin for your food scraps. Even being aware of the day-to-day products that you use in your home or garden and consciously choosing organic or natural alternatives. It’s not just about the benefits for you and your family, but also for your community and the environment as a whole.

As a professional athlete, how do you think that eating and living more naturally correlates with how you perform on the court?

Firstly, the food that I consume plays a vital role in ensuring that I perform at my very best during both training and matches.

I need to have the right balance of macronutrients, such as protein, fats and carbohydrates. This ensures that I have enough fuel and the right ingredients for my body to recover. It’s also imperative that I consume plenty of fruits and vegetables. I need to get plenty of vitamins and minerals, as physical exercise increases the demand for these massively.

In addition, I feel that pursuing a more natural lifestyle supports both my general wellbeing, along with having a positive impact on the community that I live in.

Outside of the kitchen, how do you aim to live a more natural lifestyle?

I try to minimise the amount of chemicals I use in my home, garden and on my body. I opt for products that have natural ingredients for cleaning, and ensure that my personal care products such as body wash, moisturiser and make-up are natural and organic whenever possible.

A couple of years ago my partner Josh and I built our own house. While we only have a small garden to work with, we have started growing our own herbs and some vegetables. We try to use as little third party products in our garden as we can, and the ones we do use are organic. That is why it made sense to partner with Bioweed this season and I look forward using their range of natural products in my garden.

Their natural weed killer looks like it’s going to be great to use around my garden. Made from natural and sustainably sourced hand tapped pine oil it can be used safely around areas where my nephews play and I am looking forward to trying their Biotic Booster in my veggie garden.

Stay tuned!