Some recipes are too good to share only once.

Yesterday was the first day of the Spark! Wellness + Choosing Raw Spring Detox. On my menu was a lunchtime salad featuring my Asian dressing, and let me tell you: the level 3 forum was abuzz with glee!! I couldn’t get over the reaction: people l-o-v-e this stuff. So in case you missed it the first time, here’s a little slice of heaven:

Creamy Asian Dressing (Makes 1 1/2 cup)

Ingredients:

1 inch ginger (you can add a bit more if you love ginger, which I sure do!)
1 cup olive or flax oil
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp mellow white miso (you can add a bit more of this one, too, if you like the saltiness)
6 dates, pitted
2 tbsp tamari or nama shoyu
1/3 cup water (add more if you like the dressing looser)

Blend all ingredients on high till creamy and emulsified.

Serve this crack dressing over vegetable crudites, as a dip for appetizers, as a salad dressing, or just lick the blender.

Or, you can serve it over zucchini noodles and chopped veggies, and it’ll look something like this:

(That photo is borrowed from my raw “peanut” noodles, but the idea is the same!)

Banana soft serve. Chocomole. Guac. Carrot falafel. These are the kinds of recipes that make me want to grab you by the shoulders and push you into your kitchen. I’m going to go ahead and add this dressing to that list. Try it, and try it soon. You’ll thank me

xo

Hey all!

So it appears I’m not the only coffee lover among us. Glad that post struck a chord!

Since we’re getting real about our “gentle imperfections,” it’s the perfect time for me to announce the second Choosing Raw + Spark Wellness 10 Day Cleanse. You may recall our last cleanse initiative, which was in January. I’m happy to report that it was a tremendous success. Our cleansers (and we counselors, who were participating too!) felt unanimously more energetic, more confident about our food choices, more balanced, and more savvy in the kitch. Here are just a few of the testimonials we gathered after the cleanse:

“The best thing about the cleanse is that I saw amazing results. My joint pain became almost non-existent, my energy level was through the roof and I felt clear headed and happy! I don’t know if I would have had the stamina to go 10 days on a cleanse without the support of Gena and the forum. This cleanse was definitely worth every penny. I can’t thank Gena and Spark Wellness enough.” –Cleanse participant, January 2010

“I had a wonderful experience doing the level three cleanse. Gena was warm, supportive, well-informed, and professional. the on-line forum was fun, informative, interesting. the group phone calls were fun and informative. The food was delicious!! I would not have had the courage and confidence to eat a raw vegan diet on my own, this cleanse gave me the structure and guidance I needed to try it.  I can’t recommend this program highly enough and that’s the truth.”  –Cleanse participant, January 2010

“I realized, the best testimonial I can give is telling you how I feel. In a word – amazing. I cannot believe how much more energy I have. I feel lighter, and my exercising habits have improved. The meal plan helped so much, and Gena’s recipes were delicious. I’m incredibly grateful.” –Cleanse participant, January 2010

Andrea, Hadley and I took such joy in helping to guide people towards a gentle, healing break for their bodies. And we’re delighted to be doing it again — this time, as a celebration of spring! Spring is the season of new life and new growth, of renewal and new beginnings. So what better time could there be to offer your body a tiny fresh start?

What’s different about our cleanse is that the focus is on real, whole foods, along with a manageable shift to a healthier lifestyle. This is not a “fad” cleanse where you drink juice or lemonade every day. You’ll be eating — and good food, at that! No starvation here. We also understand that everyone is different, which is why we’ve designed three unique programs for our participants. I lead Level 3, which is all vegan; descriptions of the three levels can be found here, at the Spark! website. As with our last cleanse, support will be offered in an online forum and a support call.

If you’re interested in joining us, mark your calendars: we are hosting a free teleclass on the benefits of a cleanse, as well as details of the program, on April 28th at 9pm EST. E-mail us to register and get your dial-in info.

We’re also offering a special discount for people who sign up before April 24th. Register today and pay only $69: this price includes detailed detox packet, menus, grocery lists, delicious recipes, a group telephone support call, and an online group form for additional support throughout your cleanse experience. Bloggers who participate and promote on their blog receive additional $10 off and Health practitioners receive an additional $10 off. (Again, you can e-mail us to take advantage of these special rates.)

If you have questions about the cleanse, please check out the detailed page on the Spark! Wellness website, which includes FAQs, sample menus for each level, and testimonials. We hope to have many of you along for the ride!

Before we move into the freshness of spring, though, it can be lovely to savor the last of winter’s vegetable bounty (if that doesn’t sound too oxymoronic). I love summer produce, naturally; I never met an heirloom tomato, red pepper, avocado, or zucchini I didn’t like. But in many ways, I’m first and foremost a lover of the fall and winter veggies: winter squashes, potatoes, kale, cabbage, and broccoli and cauliflower. I also love the hearty soups and grain dishes that winter calls to mind. As gleeful as I am to see asparagus appear at the farmer’s market, or to blanch some fresh green peas, I also love to use March and April as a last hurrah for winter produce, making all sorts of dishes with beets and turnips, and (now that I’m fast becoming a fermenting fiend) putting sauerkraut into jars.

This tasty, savory sweet grain dish is just one of many dishes I’m using as my farewell to winter. It’s appropriate that I cooked it up this week, as temperatures shifted from cold (with a side order of torrential rain) to springlike and sunny. All hail transitional food!

Quinoa, Cranberry, and Roasted Cauliflower Salad (yields 4-5 servings)

1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets and pieces
1-2 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/4 cups quinoa, rinsed
1/3 cup dried cranberries
Lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Roast the cauliflower by tossing it in 1-2 tbsp coconut oil and dusting it with salt and pepper. I also like to squeeze some lemon on it! Place in the oven, uncovered, and roast until the top of the cauliflower is slightly brown and crispy.

While it cooks, combine the quinoa with 2 1/2 cups water in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy.

Transfer quinoa to a bowl, and add the roasted cauliflower and a little squeeze of lemon. Toss in the cranberries, and season to taste. Serve warm!

The best thing about this dish — well, the second best thing, after it’s delicious taste — is how simple it is to prepare, and how satisfying it is to eat. Minimal time and maximum enjoyment: it doesn’t beat that.

While I’m not a truly seasonal or local eater — for reasons I’ve explained here, it isn’t entirely possible within my lifestyle — I do take joy in following the general rhythm of the seasons. This means not only celebrating new life and new crops, but also celebrating the end of previous seasons, and bidding some winter faves a fond adieu.

I’m sure I’m not the only one: tell me, what dishes are you preparing more than often, in anticipation of a summertime hiatus?

xo

Thank you to all the lovely ladies who participated in last night’s Spark! Wellness + Choosing Raw Cleanse teleclass! Hadley, Andrea and I were blown away by the intelligent questions and comments you all threw out, from “how do I explain the cleanse to my husband?” to “how much exercise is recommended while you’re cleansing?” Hopefully we helped to clear up some of these issues. For those of you who are already signed up for the cleanse, the call was recorded and is available for listening; details here.

For those of you who are still considering signing up for the cleanse, which was just featured in VegNews magazine, the deadline has been extended to this Sunday, January 10th, which is the day on which cleanse materials (including meal plans, recipes, and tips) will be sent out to participants. I, for one, can’t wait to lead the program and to follow it along with my cleansers. The level 3 forum is already abuzz with wonderful conversation about the cleansers goals and intentions, and I’m looking forward to more dialogue with these smart and motivated women!

On to food. It’s been a while since I did a product review, so I thought I’d share with you all my latest taste test. The lovely folks at Divine Foods were kind enough to send me samples of their Boomi and SuperCharger PranaBars!

I’ve been hoping to sample PranaBars for a long time. They’re certified organic and gluten-free, sweetened with organic agave nectar, and (this is my favorite part) the nuts are slow cooked at low temperatures to denature their enzyme inhibitors, making them slightly more digestible than other nut based bars. The new SuperCharger line is infused with so-called superfoods: maca, goji berries, acai, and the like.

Now, you guys know that I’m a devoted fan of LaraBars. But I will confess, I was excited to add some variety to my bar options. And overall, these guys hit the spot!

The pros: Flavor! So far, I’ve tried the Raspberry Pomegranate and Goldenberry Goji flavors. Like  LaraBars and Clif Nectar bars, they taste simple and clean. But their flavor is slightly more complex and rich than LaraBars; the Goldenberry Goji flavor, for example, tasted of fresh vanilla. It was delicious! These guys are sweeter than some other bars I’ve tried, so I’d suggest them for when you’re in the mood for a dessert-like snack. I sampled by bar along with a large tahini-romaine salad (pictured here–nothing shouts “scenic photo op!” more than a desk lunch), and found that the bar held my hunger nicely all afternoon—a big plus!

The cons: The bars all contain puffed amaranth in addition to nuts, which means that they’re miscombined. In fairness, they didn’t upset my stomach in the slightest, and amaranth is absolutely one of my favorite grains, so I was psyched to see it on the ingredient label. That said, it’s present in a very small amount, so part of me wishes they’d leave it out altogether, for a well-combined treat.

The mix of grains and nuts was more evident in the Boomi Bar, which contains crisp rice. I didn’t love this bar as much, to be honest. It was mostly a question of texture: I enjoyed the density of the PranaBar more than the crunch of the Boomi Bar (I also see on the company website that some Boomi Bars–not the flavor that was sent to me–contain Whey Protein Isolate, which I’m not a fan of, primarily because it’s not vegan, and secondarily because protein isolates are highly processed and some are suspected carcinogens).

My other quibble here is that I tend to cringe at too much hype about “superfoods”—I think it’s a highly misleading label for foods that are simply nutrient-dense (like many other foods). Goji berries are not going to save your life, and the effects of such plants as maca still demand more study before they can be considered conclusive. I have no problem with people enjoying superfoods; certainly, they’re far more nourishing and tasty than many other foods that our society has deemed health-promoting! But I think our obsession with superfoods is a part of our search for quick fixes–foods or supplements that will magically serve as cure alls for weight loss, sickness, and low energy–rather than doing what we should be doing, which is to eat a clean, balanced, plant based diet every single day.

The cult of superfoods, though, is not the issue here. The issue is, how did Gena ultimately like her PranaBars? And the answer is, a lot! I’m not a BoomiBar convert, but I am a big fan of the PranaBars, and encourage you to give them a shot. They’re delicious, healthy, made with great integrity, and (from what I experienced) highly digestive-friendly.

Thumbs up.

Speaking of products, there is a stevia giveaway going on here. And speaking of delicious snacks, I’m sending a giant hug to my dear friend Nelly, who made me chocolate peppermint donut holes for Christmas!

I’ve been enjoying these treats all week, Nel: thank you so much! May everyone have friends as thoughtful and culinarily gifted as Ms. Nelly: attorney, crusader, ultimate Frisbee champ, vegetarian, hottie, and newly-initiated food processor addict.

On that note, I wish you all a great night

xo

P.S. It’s Thursday. Everyone check out my friend Katie’s awesome Vegan Thursday Challenge!

Hey all!

Terrific responses to my post on labels. I’m glad we were able to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I’m here to share a quick, tasty recipe that I whipped up over the weekend. It was inspired by a Nomi Shannon recipe. For those of you who don’t know her work, Nomi Shannon is a raw foods chef, cookbook writer, and educator (she was the winner of last year’s Best of Raw winner in the vegan educator category). Her recipes are simple, clean, easy, and healthy, and they can be found in her excellent cookbook, The Raw Gourmet.

This is a new addition to my cookbook collection, and I couldn’t be enjoying it more! Ms. Shannon, like me, creates recipes don’t require a great deal of planning, soaking, sprouting, or dehydrating. She emphasizes eating a majority of vegetable foods (rather than nuts or desserts), and she creates the tastiest of meals with super-simple flavors and ingredients. I’ve already made such winners as Cabbage Roll-Ups, Tip Top Turnip Salad, Orange Tahini Dressing, Indonesian Yum-Yum Dressing, and Spinach Mousse. This weekend, I decided to put my own spin of her Vegetable Pate (Garden Pate, in my own language). Describing this pate, Shannon says, “Pates are often comprised of a high percentage of nuts. They can be difficult to digest and high in fat, so many people avoid them. This savory and attractive pate contains only one cup of sunflower seeds. It’s density comes from ground flax seeds and dehydrated vegetables which absorb moisture and add flavor.”

Amen! Many nut pate recipes are excessively heavy or dense, and while there is a time and a place for rich food, it’s always nice to have some alternatives. Shannon’s recipe calls for olives and an entire head of cauliflower, neither of which I had on hand. I also chose to omit the scallions and onion (of course!), and to use slightly less vegetable add-ins than the original recipe called for, but I added a cup of green juice pulp (kale, cucumber, celery). My ultimate creation, then, was fairly different from Shannon’s own, but it preserved her original idea and flavorings. Here’s the simple and tasty recipe:

Garden Pate (yields 2 cups, at least)

1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked at least 2 hrs and drained
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
2-3 tbsp Bragg’s liquid aminos
1 1/2 tbsp flax oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 cup vegetable juice pulp
1 small red pepper, cut into small cubes and dehydrated for 2-3 hrs (raw is fine, too)
1/2 zucchini, shredded and dehydrated for 2-3 hrs (raw is fine, too)
1 carrot, shredded and dehydrated for 2-3 hrs (raw is fine, too)
4 tbsp chopped parsley

Blend the sunflower seeds, flax, Bragg’s, flax oil, cumin, curry, and coriander in your food processor, adding watter in a drizzle until the mixture is completely smooth and creamy.

Add the vegetables, parsley, and pulp and give it all a few good pulpses, till the veggies are incorporated but not blended. Stop, transfer the mix to a bowl, and then mix in the parsley with your hands.

The result? Fresh, tasty, herb-y goodness:

This makes a terrific salad topper, wrap-stuffer, or, as pictured here, dip for crudites.

Hope you all give this one a try, and check out more of Nomi Shannon’s work (there are some free recipes up on her website!).

In the meantime, don’t forget that the free teleclass for those who are still considering joining the Choosing Raw + Spark! Wellness January 2010 Cleanse is tomorrow night at 8 p.m. EST! Whether you’ve already signed up and have questions about the cleanse, or you’re considering signing up but want to clear up some questions first, please join us!

To call in, dial +1 (712) 432-0111. When prompted, enter your “Participant Access Code” 403732, followed by the # key. And you’re in. I look forward to hearing from you all!

xo

Hey guys!

I continue to get really terrific responses to the Spark! Wellness + Choosing Raw January cleanse. While I can’t answer every question in detail, Hadley and Andrea and I have posted a sample day from each level of the cleanse on the Spark! website. This should give you a good sense of how the program will look at each level. Keep in mind, of course, that the meals and recipes provided will vary quite a bit from day to day. Check it out, and if you’re still wavering on which level to choose, please join our free conference call on January 6th (details TK)!

In the meantime I thought I’d give you all a chance to get to know the lady behind Level 1 a bit better. Hadley, who blogs at Hadley’s Holistics, is a Holistic Health Counselor who specializes in helping women to regain a sense of self-worth and to actualize their goals. In our own ways of eating, she and I differ somewhat (Hadley emphasizes moderation, and doesn’t exclude any food groups, while I fly the vegan flag), but we both agree that Pure Food and Wine rocks, that stuffed squash is a beautiful thing, and that vegetables are everybody’s best friend. Choosing Raw readers, meet Hadley!

1)   Many of us who work in nutrition are motivated to help others because of personal struggles we’ve faced, either health or food related. Does your passion for wellness emerge from personal struggle, and if so, can you share your story with us?

Growing up, I always equated ‘health’ with ‘thin’. In my late teens and early 20s, I didn’t focus on healthy eating as much as I did the latest fad diet that would keep me thin. About four years ago, all that changed. I was misdiagnosed with a pretty serious disease—and it took doctors about six weeks to realize the mistake—so during that time, I was faced with the prospect of a life filled with hospitals and drug regimens that had serious side effects. I was absolutely terrified and felt so stupid for not taking my health seriously beforehand.

As you can imagine, it was a very difficult period in my life, but it opened up so many new and exciting paths for me professionally and personally. As soon as I found out I was in the clear, I vowed that I would pay more attention to my overall health; however, I was absolutely terrified of the medical profession and couldn’t even go the dentist—much less a doctor’s office! I started working with a fabulous holistic health counselor named Melissa, who helped me regain balance in my life and taught me everything she knew about natural medicine. I was so inspired by the work that she did—and the impact that it made on my life—that I decided to become a health counselor myself.

2)   If you had to sum up your dietary perspective in a few sentences, what would you say? What’s your basic dietetic vantage point? What philosophies (ie, Ayurveda, macrobiotics, raw, vegan, blood type diet, McDougall, the list goes on) have influenced it?

So many things have influenced my dietary perspective! I’m very lucky because my school, the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, trained us in every dietary theory imaginable—everything from South Beach and Atkins to macrobiotics and Ayurveda. I use bits of many of them in my daily life, but try not to get hung up on any one theory. My overriding food philosophy is not to restrict entire categories of food from my diet. I spent the first twenty-four years of my life doing that and it just doesn’t work for me. Instead, I believe in guilt-free moderation. I eat healthfully most of time, so don’t feel bad when I indulge in foods that aren’t as healthy.

3)   In my experience, it doesn’t take long for a nutritionist or health counselor to find a strength that is uniquely their own. Oftentimes, this strength emerges as a particular kind of empathy or insight. For instance, I’ve found that much of my strongest work has been in helping women with eating disorder histories regain a love of eating and body image through whole, plant based foods. What would you say your unique talent is as a counselor, and how do you market it?

I was overweight until I went to college, so I know what it’s like to feel like you’re at war with your body.  It’s so hard to overcome that feeling! My strongest work has been helping women call off the war with themselves. My goal for each client is to get her to the point of trusting her body, trusting herself around food, and trusting the choices she makes about food.

4)   What do you think are the most common pitfalls that keep your clients from achieving their goals? How can they work around them?

For most women, the biggest pitfall to achieving any goal is negative chatter. It’s like the TV in the background that you can’t turn off–even if you’re not focusing on it, it’s distracting. The most common culprit is the ‘as soon as…’ mentality.  We all create agreements with ourselves: “as soon as I lose weight, I’ll buy clothes that I love” or “I’ll start dating”; “as soon as I go to business school, I’ll feel worthy of respect”; “as soon as I get a new job, I’ll have time to eat more healthfully.” We all have our own version. This mentality creates excuses, drains us of energy, and ultimately creates barriers to success and happiness. Instead of making your goal conditional on something first, instead make it happen now! Buy clothes that you love, sign up for online dating, learn how to respect yourself, eat more healthfully . . . whatever it is, you can work on the goal now instead of waiting for something else to be fulfilled first.

5)   You talk a lot about emotional eating. How do you define emotional eating? Where does it emerge from?

Emotional eating is using food (or the act of eating) to fill a void. We all eat emotionally sometimes. It’s a primordial urge that stems from our earliest instincts to nurture ourselves by drinking our mothers’ milk. As we grow older, we repeat this pattern by turning to food for comfort, support, nourishment when we don’t get it elsewhere. We eat to fill a gap in our lives.

When a client comes to me to explore her emotional eating, I see it as an invitation to delve deeper into her life to see what’s really going on. Generally there are one or several elements that are consciously or unconsciously causing her distress. What’s missing from her life? Are there any uncomfortable feelings she’d rather not acknowledge? For example, the most common reason for sweet cravings is a lack of sweetness in your life—defined broadly, that can cover everything from a romantic connection to friendship to an adequate support system in you life.  Over time, I work with each client to balance her diet and her life so cravings aren’t as strong and the compulsion to eat emotionally decreases.

6)   This fall, you and fellow practitioner Andrea Moss opened a holistic healing center, Spark! Wellness. Tell us more about your vision for Spark! Wellness.

Spark! came out of an idea I had last year after reading The Four Hour Work Week, which is all about how to avoid duplicating services. I realized that I knew so many health practitioners who were doing the same thing for our clients—teleclasses, workshops, blogging, tweeting, etc. I thought it would be terrific if we could join forces and provide much more value for each client. We currently offer nutrition, acupuncture, personal fitness, pilates, yoga, and massage therapy.

Right now we’re a virtual wellness center—we don’t have a physical space, rather we see our clients all over the city. Every Spark! client gets access to monthly teleclasses, special in-house referral rates, and—starting January 2010—can participate in a health food store tour. Andrea and my nutrition clients also have access to an online community where they can ask questions and get additional support from their peers.

It’s been a great journey so far and we’re excited for the future. I’m particularly excited for a group cleanse we’re going to do in January.

7)   OK, Hadley, time to get honest: how do you feel about raw food?

I love raw foods, but don’t think I could be 100% raw year-round.  Though I love green juices, I do crave a steak every now and then. That being said, my favorite restaurant in New York City is Pure Food and Wine. Everything there is so good and amazingly satisfying. I especially love their raw ice cream sundae. Sometimes in the summer, I’ll make a meal out of it!

8  )   Any raw recipes you love to make?

I think the last raw recipe I made was your banana soft serve, which was delish! I made it for a friend who is lactose intolerant and she was in heaven. I also enjoy zucchini pasta with pesto. My goal in 2010 is to make the coconut macaroons from the Pure Food and Wine cookbook.

9)   A question I get asked very frequently is whether or not I recommend taking dietary supplements. I think that this question depends 100% on the health of the person who’s asking, but I do think that most vegans should consider a B-12 or D supplement, a calcium supplement if needed, Omega-3s if needed, and chill out about everything else. I’ve spoken to other counselors, though, who really recommend a multivitamin daily. What’s your take on this?

I think multi-vitamins can’t hurt and for most people they can definitely help. Studies have shown than 92% of Americans are deficient in a vitamin or mineral. Our bodies are finely tuned machines, so any imbalances can slow down the thousands of chemical reactions that happen every second. So unless you’re eating 100% local and organic, living a stress-free life, drinking 100% purified water and breathing 100% unpolluted air, a multi-vitamin will probably benefit you. If you’re going to take one, make sure it’s high quality. My favorite brands are Metagenic’s Multigenics or Trader Joe’s Women’s High Potency.

Another essential supplement is fish oil (or, if you’re vegetarian, flax oil). I don’t eat fish, so I take 3,000 mgs a day. I’ve also been taking D3 since daylight savings time (to help with seasonal depression) and ashwaganda, an Ayurvedic adaptogenic herb that helps with low-level stress.

10) What are some of your favorite recipes to share with your clients, Hadley? Could you share one with us? My clients would love, I’m sure, to see some cool, non-raw recipes.

I love to cook but rarely follow recipes. I usually use them as inspiration and then improvise as I go along. I recently made a terrific roasted winter squash filled with a tempeh-mushroom stuffing. It’s perfect for a cold winter night!

STUFFED WINTER SQUASH

1 winter squash of your choice

2 c mushrooms, roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 red onion, chopped

6 oz tempeh (half a block), cut into 1/4-1/2 in cubes

olive oil

salt and pepper

dried rosemary

1/4 c white wine (optional

1/8 c Roquefort cheese (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 345 degrees. Cut squash in half and remove any seeds. Rub lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake cut side down for 40-45 minutes. (This will vary on the size and type of your squash–Keep checking it to see when the flesh is very tender).

While this is baking, in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft. Add garlic, saute 1 minute. Add mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add wine, if desired, and cook down for approx. 3 more minutes. Add a bit of salt, pepper, and dried rosemary and cook 1 more minute. Put into bowl and set aside.

Add more olive oil to pan and saute tempeh until crispy and browned. (The smaller the pieces, the crispier they’ll get).

Once squash is very tender, remove from oven, add stuffing to the middle and serve immediately. Sprinkle the roquefort cheese if desired.

Serves at least 2, depending on the type of squash. This stuffing will be a generous serving for 2-3 people.

Wow! What a terrific interview. I love Hadley’s description of a woman being “at war” with her own body: this, I’m sure, hits home for so many of you. I also love that Hadley encourages her clients to focus on the “now” mentality—begin change today, not tomorrow! It’s a very good dictum, and one that we all need to take to heart once in a while.

And as a special gift for Choosing Raw readers, Hadley is offering $25 off of her January “realize your resolution” two-part program. Details of the program can be found here, and you can also email Hadley at Hadley@sparkyourwellness.com  if you’re interested in more information, or if you’d like to join.

Have a great Thursday!

xo

Hey all,

Thanks for the kind words about my little tree!

I’m excited to share early news of a special New Year’s initiative I’m participating in along with two fellow health counselors. One is my friend Hadley, a Holistic Health Consultant whom I was fortunate enough to meet over a year ago, as I was just beginning to set up my own practice. Hadley is a fellow blogger (at Hadley’s Holistics), and she’s a founding member of Spark! Wellness, a collective of health practitioners (two holistic health consultants, one acupuncturist, and one massage therapist) who emphasize whole body wellness, self-empowerment and positive, lifelong change. I’ve watched proudly as Hadley and her partner, Andrea Moss (who also writes a blog), expand Spark! into a uniquely supportive and collaborative resource for men and women here and around the country.

While Hadley and Andrea and I each have different approaches to our work, we all focus on helping our clients to achieve self-empowerment, renewed energy, freedom from emotional eating, and vibrant health through clean, plant-focused diets. And so I was thrilled when Hadley and Andrea asked me to be a part of their 2010 New Year’s cleanse.

Now, you all know by now that I have very, very ambivalent feelings about words like “detox” and “cleanse.” Certainly, I believing in cleansing, and in detoxification – these are processes to which I devote a great deal of my energy as a counselor. But I believe that they’re processes that take a long time, and a lot of patience, and consistency. They aren’t processes that can be completed over the course of days or weeks. I also cringe when I see the exact protocol that’s recommended in so many “cleanses” or “detoxes.” Grapefruit diets, cookie diets, master cleanses, poorly supervised juice fasts, cabbage soup: these sorts of radical protocols are not the way to internalize and jump start healthy eating patterns. Why? Because they don’t show you how to eat!! They show you how to take extreme measures that aren’t ultimately sustainable. And it’s learning how to eat healthily, day in and day out, how to plan and organize, how to recover from missteps, and how to maintain consistency that helps people achieve permanent change.

My final issue with terms like detox and cleanse is that they often emphasize short term goals, rather than long term change. Each New Year’s, we’re bombarded with immense pressure to set resolutions. I have always been of the mind that each new day is the time to set goals, and to achieve them: hold yourself to a high standard all the time, rather than seesawing between three week spates of perfectionism and then alternate periods of indulgence.

In spite of these many cautionary words and reservations, I do also understand that short-term goal setting can be an important part of effecting change and improvement. Many of my clients have told me that they find the siphoning off of a discreet time period (four weeks, three months, six months, whatever) a helpful means of self-motivation. Setting a goal (such as, “I’ll be eating mostly vegetarian by February”) can be a really useful way to initiate change. And the idea of a “challenge” is very, very heartening to many people.

Hadley Seward and Andrea Moss

With that in mind, I am so, so pleased to be a part of the Spark! Wellness and Choosing Raw January 2010 Cleanse. We–Hadley, Andrea and I–all hope that this will be the anti-fad cleanse. We’re not offering gimmicks, powders, products, or fasts. We’re offering three nourishing, reasonable, ten-day dietary programs (each developed with a particular audience in mind) that will help instill new and improved eating habits for 2010 and beyond. All three levels will exclude coffee, alcohol, nicotine, soda, and processed food. All levels will minimize or eliminate most common food allergens (dairy, gluten, soy, corn, wheat). And all will emphasize the restoration of bodily alkalinity through an increase in the consumption of plant-based, cleansing foods: think veggies, veggies, and more veggies! The result? Increased energy, the re-examination of un-ideal habits, and a sense of consistency and balance that will follow our participants into the new year.

The key to this program will be its immense flexibility. For those who have been eating more mainstream diets, Hadley has constructed a gentle, entry-level meal plan that excludes all major allergens and addictives. It’s primarily vegetarian, but a few animal protein options are offered, with the hopes that participants will get to experience the ease and fun of a mostly vegetarian diet! Andrea’s plan will go a bit further, emphasizing a filling, yet easy to digest morning meal (smoothie lovers, get ready!), and support in the form of a few recommended supplements. My level—level 3—will be an introduction to the world of plant-based eating. It’s an all-vegan, semi-raw plan that’s customizable to one’s own level of experience and comfort zone. I’ll offer three breakfast options (ranging from very light to more filling), a raw lunch, and either raw or cooked meals at night (again, participants can choose what to eat based on their comfort levels). It will not necessitate a juicer, dehydrator, or food processor, though a blender will come in handy.

All levels will include instructions on how to wean oneself off of addictives and allergens in the days prior to the cleanse, detailed meal plans and recipes, a shopping list, and general tips for troubleshooting. Upon signing up, each participant will receive instructions on how to begin slowly eliminating addictive foods, such as sugar and caffeine, from their diets before the cleanse.

Best of all, we’re offering our participants the chance to embark on these changes in a warm, supportive group setting. There will be two thirty minute conference calls over the course of the cleanse, as well as an introductory call for all those who are thinking about participating on January 6th at 8 PM. At that time, Hadley and Andrea and I will answer individual questions about the program and what to expect from each level. During the cleanse, we’ll have an online forum where participants can chat and share tips and recipes—as well as meet new friends who share similar health goals.

The cleanse will last from January 18-27. Regular cost is $60; people who sign up before 12/31 get $10 off; people who sign up with a friend each get $5 off. Bloggers who participate in the cleanse and mention it on their blog receive $10 off. Holistic Health practitioners receive $10 off. To sign up, all you have to do is email info@sparkyourwellness.com specifying the level you’re interested (Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3). You can also wait for the free teleclass on January 6th to learn more details of the program.

You may be wondering: which level is for me? Again, I encourage you to check in on January 6th to determine this for certain. But in general:

• Level 1 is designed for people who have never done a cleanse before or who currently eat a diet high in meat, dairy, sugar, processed foods, and/or caffeine.

• Level 2 is a great cleanse for those who already eat moderately healthy and are ready to take their wellness, energy levels, and metabolism to the next level.

• Level 3 is for those who have some familiarity with a plant-based diet, but who are seeking to enhance digestive health and break lingering addictions to processed foods and animal products.

So, is Level 3 for you? Well, I realize that my readers have a very wide array of diets and lifestyles. If you’re already rocking a high-raw lifestyle with ease, and if you’ve already found true comfort with a mostly or all vegan diet, then the cleanse may not be the best investment for you. But if you’re curious about a vegan diet, and need guidance and support to get over some of your lingering fears, then I think it’s a great program to try. It will be the gift of ten days of structured, sensible vegan eating, and it may be the motivation you’ve needed to make a lasting switch to veganism. Yay!

I’ve already talked your ear off, guys, but if you have further questions, please email info@sparkyourwellness.com, or feel free to ask me in the comments section of this post.

For some of us (and this includes me), setting goals within limited time frames doesn’t work. For others, having a particular goal or challenge to look forward to can serve as a much needed catalyst. No matter who you are, and no matter what works for you, I hope you plan to treat your bodies and healthy well in the new year—with good judgment, integrity, forgiveness, and care.

xo