5 Foods For You to Check Out (That I’ve Been Really into Lately!)

Photo courtesy of gardenaction.co.uk

Hi Friends!

I hope you are having a wonderful week! To my friends on the East Coast dealing with all the snow- I hope that it is warm and toasty wherever you are, and that you have some time to just snuggle up with a good book (by the way I just read Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, which was written in a very interesting way).

Here are 5 foods for you to check out this winter, which have been finding their way into my kitchen of late and are particularly intriguing to me at the moment. I just peeked into my fridge and cabinet, and there they all were, smiling up at me. It is really important to eat a wide range of plant foods, as much as possible.

1.Parsnips. The truth is that parsnips look like albino, anemic carrots. But looks can be deceiving! Parsnips contain a bevy of important nutrients, including vitamin C, vitamin E, fiber, pantothenic acid, copper, manganese, and are a great source of niacin, riboflavin, B6, thiamine, magnesium, and potassium.  And let’s not forget folic acid!

Parsnips are a true winter vegetable, and they need the low temperatures to develop their flavor. I steam them in their skins until tenderized. These types of starchy vegetables are not recommended to be eaten raw, though you could eat the very tender ones if you really want to. Sure you may may lose some of the vitamin content by heating, but you will still benefit from the fiber and minerals, and in my opinion starchy vegetables digest best when they are cooked.

Parsnips are great detoxifying vegetable, helping to clean out the digestive tract and have a beneficial effect on the liver. They also are slightly diuretic.

Photo courtesy of all-creatures.org

2. Asparagus: Asparagus is not truly a winter vegetable, it is a spring vegetable, but it seems to be widely available in grocery stores at the moment, and I must confess that I have been indulging myself. I’ve been using it in dishes a LOT lately with my clients, as it is loaded with potassium, which is cleansing and supremely detoxifying. Asparagus is also rich in vitamin A and folate. It is also very high in glutathione, which is an amino acid that has anti-aging properties and fights free radicals.

Chart courtesy of healthyfellow.com

3. Xylitol: Okay, this one is not really a food per se, but a sweetener. If you read my blog regularly you already know that I’ve given agave the smackdown. It is highly processed, a high percentage fructose, and is not recommended. Stevia is a great option, as it is from a natural South American plant. But sometimes I’m not in the mood for it. It is a bitter friend, with a bitter aftertaste. Still a friend. But sometimes a bitter one. So on those days, I like to use xylitol instead, which is a naturally occurring sweetener.

Xylitol is found in berries, fruit and vegetables, and is a crystalline substance that looks and tastes like sugar. It is not an artificial sweetener filled with chemicals like Splenda. Be sure to purchase pure xylitol without any fillers or additives. I like the Emerald Forest brand. Xylitol even helps reduce tooth decay and cavities. How? Well sugar feeds bacteria in your mouth and causes them to multiply. Cavities start to form from the acids the metabolic process produces. These bacteria however, can not ferment xylitol in their metabolism, and the amount of acid-producing bacteria falls with the use of xylitol and xylitol-containing products.

 

Photo courtesy of applepiepatispate.com

4. Butternut Squash. I love the shape of this bulbous gourd, but the real joy is when you slice it open and see the beautiful orange within (as a random aside, did I tell you that orange, along with green, is my new favorite color?) The orange color indicates that we’ve hit the jackpot for a food containing carotenoids, which have very important health properties. It contains very high levels of beta-carotene and vitamin C. It has anti-inflammatory effects because of its high antioxidant content, so is great for those suffering from inflammation-related disorders like RA (rheumatoid arthritis). It is high in folate, fiber and potassium.

Choose one that feels heavy for its size. Do not store in fridge. You can just chop it in half, place the cut side down, and bake for about an hour. Again, I do recommend cooking the starchy vegetables.

Photo courtesy of cliqueclack.com

5. Raw Kelp Noodles. These raw noodles are made of the healthy, mineral-rich sea vegetable kelp. They are free of gluten and fat, and contain virtually no calories (not that we count, because we don’t when we eat a greens-based diet. Just saying!). You just rinse them and they are ready to go- no cooking. They have a neutral taste so you can throw sauces and dressings on top of them to dress them up. The only thing is that they are a bit crunchy, so I like to let them soften into the sauce at room temperature for a while before serving. I like the Sea Tangle brand.

Enjoy the week!

See you here soon.

With love, Kimberly

Happy Holidays!!!!

On this Christmas morning, I just wanted to send my LOVE and best wishes to you and your family for a beautiful, wonderful, holiday season filled with JOY!!!!

I’m so grateful we are in each others’ lives. Remember that there is no limit to your dreams and goals!! Let us keep supporting each other and spreading love in the upcoming, exciting year ahead!

IN HEALTH, PEACE AND LOVE,

Kimberly

Detoxing Through Our Most Important Organ in the Cold Months

 

Hey Guys-

I am now in New York, and I was thinking of this topic.

Our skin is our largest detoxifying organ, through which a great deal of toxins and impurities are flushed out on a daily basis. Sweating is a really great way to detox, as it helps open up our pores to assist in the releasing of these toxins. Since living in LA for the last few months, because it is so dry I notice that I don’t sweat very much. Even this past weekend when it was in the 80’s (not rubbing it in to my East Coast friends! 🙂 ) and I went hiking, I didn’t really sweat very much.

Hmmm…some people might like it and find it more “comfortable.” Me, I welcome the sweat because I know how healthy and beneficial it is!

Here’s how to get your sweat on in the cold months:

1. Check out an infrared sauna in your area: An infrared sauna will heat up to high temperatures, definitely making you sweat. But it goes even further than a regular sauna in that it has the ability to penetrate deep down into the subcutaneous tissue for even deeper cleansing, helping to chelate heavy metals and foreign toxins that are trapped in our fat cells. Sunlighten in a popular infrared sauna brand that is found in spas or natural health centers. I like their saunas very much. If you have a choice between a 1-person sauna and a 2-person sauna, I do find that the 1-person Sunlighten saunas heat up much faster- generating more sweat during your session! Sessions generally last about 45 minutes. I try to go when I can…sometimes I get busy. But I would like to make an effort to go once a week here in LA.

2. Get thee to a hot yoga class. I’m not necessarily talking Bikram here, or even a heated “power” vinyasa class. Just a class in a studio that has rooms that naturally heat up- perhaps because the class itself gets really full, or that the room is a cozy size. It also combines deep breathing, which is in and of itself detoxing as well.

3. If you have a water filter, take a hot bath. If you don’t- then I don’t recommend it. Seriously! When we take hot baths and showers our pores open up, and you can absorb heavy metals and toxins in the water supply, such as chlorine. But if you have filtered water, then it is also a great way to open up your pores. Plus you can use a cloth or loofah to exfoliate your skin at the same time, promoting detoxification even more! I installed a filter in my LA apt. within the first few weeks.

We may have to go out of our way to sweat more in the winter…but it is well worth the effort to promote detoxification on an ongoing basis in our bodies, to look and feel our best.

Love, Kimberly

Meet my Beekeeper: Something all Vegans Should Read

Hey Guys!

Hope your week is going well. I am bracing myself for a quick trip for meetings to New York this Thursday and Friday (brrrrrr!!). I have to take the red eye tomorrow night and since I have to work Saturday, I have to head back to LA very early in the am. So thank goodness I eat the way I do- for strength without much sleep!

I’ve been wanting to write about the bee issue for a while now. I personally refrain from eating all animal products, except bee products. I occasionally enjoy honey, which contains important nutrients and antioxidants, and I love bee pollen. I will also use candles and beauty products that contain organic beeswax products that were obtained in ethical ways.

There are strict vegans out there that shun all animal products – including bees. I totally respect that. But I wanted to share my perspective on way I do support the aforementioned type of bee products. And no better way to get the buzz (ha! That pun is a bit cheesey I know) than from my beekeeper himself: Mike Bruen. He has the most amazing bee pollen I’ve ever had, and his beeswax candles are beautiful. His beeswax won first place at the 2010 State Fair! His honey is incredible as well. Let’s  all have a conversation:

Photo courtesy of hummingbirdappetite.blogspot.com

Kimberly: So Michael, tell us how you came into the bee business?

Mike: Hi Kim, beekeeping has been in my family a long time. My grandfather had bees, as did my father and I turned it into a full time job after I got out of the US Navy.

Kimberly: How many bees do you care for? Do you treat them well?

Mike: Right now I am caring for around 400 awesome hives. I can definitely say I treat them well. I probably treat them better then a lot of people treat their employees. I give them the best of food by planting flowers they enjoy and not pollinating at farms that spray any type of agro-chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, fungicides etc. I keep them healthy by not using any chemicals to treat for mites and breed for hygienics and good genes so they stay healthy naturally. I also keep their homes in proper repair to maintain safe and clean hives, and I never over stress them by traveling far distances or making them do more then the actual bees is capable of or wants to.

Kimberly: What products do you make- or should I say, what products do your bees make for you?

Mike: The bees make a wide variety of products, I collect royal jelly, propolis, various honeys like wildflower, clover, apple blossom, buckwheat, blueberry, bee pollen, and after the extraction of honey I’m left with beeswax which I use for candles, lip balms, hand creams, and salves.

Kimberly: What makes your honey and products unique? (I’ve had your bee pollen and it is amazing!!)

Mike: My honey and products are unique because of the time and care that goes into the production of a pure safe and healthy product by both my bees and myself. I treat it as a biodynamic whole and focus on quality over quantity. I keep all my consumable products raw, and as organic as possible which is more time consuming but shows in the quality of our product. When you avoid the factory farm mindset your product becomes a real food again.

Kimberly: Some strict vegans are against the use of bee products, as they feel that it exploits the bees. What would you say to them?

Mike: I would say that in some apiaries bees can be exploited, but when you treat the bees as a worker and not a tool, those mistakes don’t need to happen. A worker bee will generally have a 6-week lifespan, and its only desire is to work from the moment it is born, and basically horde honey. 99% of the time that will result in a vast excess of honey un-consumable by 1 hive. That uneaten excess leads to other problems of bees robbing each other, wax moths laying eggs, hive beetles destroying comb, to mice etc… When we can work together as a whole to provide them with all the tools they need for success and not harm any bees in the process then we have a beautiful symbiotic relationship that works. There can be no exploitation when both parties are happy.

The desire of a bee is to help the hive survive and that’s no different then a farmer growing produce for his family and selling the excess. It is just as unethical to take advantage of the many hard-working American farmers by demanding rock bottom prices for food at the supermarket.

I don’t focus on quantity and stress the bees, some years I wont even take honey because the bees need it and I don’t. I charge more for my product (Kimberly note: Mike’s products are more than reasonably priced!!) so we can both survive off of what we produce not what we have to produce to compete, because neither the bee nor myself need to bee pulled into the failing industrial agricultural model any time soon. And I can honestly say the bees are happy because I have yet to wear a bee vail when I enter my bee yards and they often come over to say hello when they land on my shoulder. The day I will need to wear a bee vail to enter my bee yards because of bee stings I’ll know I’m doing something wrong and change it, but at this point we both have a great relationship that works on both ends.

Kimberly: Wonderful!!! (Now that is a beekeeper we can all believe in!!) Where can we get your products?

Mike: My products are available at a few select places in New York and Connecticut along with seasonal farmers markets. You can also purchase them by calling myself or visiting my website at www.WhiteOakApiary.com

Kimberly: Anything else you’d like to add?

Mike: I’d like to thank all of the people that care about where their food comes from and how it is produced. It is an important part of our lives and future as a planet, and if anyone would like to contact me i welcome it and hope some find the inspiration to do so.

Mike is definitely one of the most ethical, honest bee keepers out there and it comes through in his fantastic products. For stocking up on candles and bee pollen and honey, etc. I urge you to check out his amazing buzz-worthy (sorry I couldn’t resist! 🙂 ) products! Again, it is www.WhiteOakApiary.com.

Wish me luck on this busy, but important trip to New York!

Take care. Love, Kimberly

Herbs for Beauty

Hey Guys!

I hope you had a great weekend! Since it is the beginning of a new week, I wanted to suggest really early on that next weekend you should go see Tron when it hits theatres. Not only is it awesome, but the female lead, Olivia Wilde, is a really lovely and warm person. I like her very much. And she is a vegan!

Today I got to engage in one of all-time favorite pastimes: hiking. It was about 85 degrees today! It is a joy that here in LA I can drive 15 minutes and be in the beautiful forest. There is an abundance of interesting plants and flowers out here in LA, and I love exploring, smelling, and taking a close look at the many remarkable natural wonders that are around. (I also saw an adorable bunny and a majestic hawk- but alas the living creatures in nature are usually too fast and sprightly for me! After I stare for a few minutes I’m too slow to get to my camera!)

There are lots of amazing wild weeds and plants that have beautifying properties. Here are a few of them:

Nettles: This incredible wild herb is rich in natural minerals and is great as an astringent to help tone the skin. When rubbed into the scalp it is said to help stimulate circulation and promote hair growth.

Horsetail: This natural herb is very high in silica. It helps strengthen hair, and can be applied to hair after washing. Place a few tablespoons of dried horsetail (you can add nettles as well) in a glass mason jar, add some boiling water and place cap on. Allow to infuse for a few hours, then straight out the herbs and rinse hair with the infused water.

Red Clover: These blossoms are great for dry or sensitive skin. They have anti-inflammatory properties and are great for steaming the face. Here’s the best way to do an herbal steam: Place red clover and other wild herbs (like wild rose) in a large glass bowl, and place very hot water over the herbs. Cover with a towel over the bowl so that the oil from the herbs will infuse into the water. Allow to steep (like tea!) for 5-7 minutes. Then place face near the bowl and cover your head over with a large towel. Be sure that the steam is not too great or that you are not overheating your skin in any way. Breathe deeply, and gently steam your pores for about 10 minutes or so.

Wild Rose Leaves: These leaves are great for using in facial steams as well. They have astringent properties which are particularly useful for oily skin, or skin that is combination with oily “T zone” areas.

Comfrey: The root and the leaf both are great for dry and sensitive skin. Can be used as a toner or incorporated into creams.

Yarrow: An infusion made from the flower blossoms is a good natural treatment for acne. As an astringent, it is quite strong.

Chickweed: This herb is rich in minerals and has medicinal properties to sooth the skin.

If you are being adventurous and harvesting your own wild weeds, be sure to use a detailed field guide with pictures to help ensure you are properly identifying the correct plants. And please be respectful so as not to hurt the local environment. You can also get dried herbs from specialty health stores.

Have a healthy start to your week! Do your best to make good choices, even in the midst of the holidays.

See you soon!

Love, Kimberly

Bag the Habit!

Hey Guys!  I hope you are having a wonderful week. I can’t believe it is already Friday! As you may be in the midst of holiday shopping, I wanted to give you a super cool gift idea! Created by two great gals, Bag the Habit creates eco-bags that are as good-looking as they are good (and very important) for the environment. I think these cool looking bags make great presents for family members, co-workers… and yourself! My favorite is the Chrysanthemum line. Plus we’ll be supporting two great, entrepreneurial young women that are looking to make a positive difference in the world. And we all only have each other to count on for support, right?! Read below my interview with co-founder, Liz. Let’s meet the lovely ladies. Here’s Liz! Kimberly: Tell us about yourself a little bit, and what your inspiration was to create Bag the Habit?

Liz: Bag the Habit started as a little dream while I was working at a tea shop in college. I had this idea for a brand and that our goal would be to make the best reusable bags on the market, so that people would want to carry them anywhere and everywhere. When I met Holly, Bag the Habit’s co-creator, she was a customer at the cafe and working at a graphic design firm. She agreed to work on the logo and we spent 6 months figuring out the first bag… 3  years later we have a full line of reusable solutions and our products have replaced millions of single-use bags! We’ve also created premium textiles made from 100% consumer and industrial plastic waste. The first bag samples were sewn with staples, so using technology like this is pretty amazing.

Here’s Holly!

Kimberly: Wow! Tell us more about your products, and what they can be used for. Liz: We want to create products people love.  A simple concept, but we put a lot of thought into making our bags more loveable… unique features like the comfy padded handles…our commitment to using only eco-textiles…how much they all fit! We design BTH bags for specific shopping functions – the Market Set for big grocery trips or our Gift Bags for waste-free wrapping – but people have some really creative uses. For example, filling the mesh produce bags with fruit from a local orchard and giving them as wedding favors! I just love that.

Kimberly: I love that too. 🙂 How exactly are disposable bags a huge problem for us?   Liz: Every day we throw out millions and millions of single-use bags, usually after just 20 minutes of use. But before and after those few small moments, there are many lifecycle steps and impacts! In the case of a plastic bag you have to go out and drill for oil, refine the petroleum, create plastic resins, assemble and print on the bags (all of which produce chemicals and pollutants), package and transport them, and then choose to recycle, dispose, or litter, none of which are great options. Recycling rates are extremely low, bags sit in landfills for hundreds of years releasing the same chemicals they were made with, and in the case of litter, the plastic ‘photodegrades’, breaking down into tiny and tinier pieces that are eventually absorbed by the soil and water. In some areas of the ocean right now, the plastic to plankton ratio is 6:1. This means there are 6 times more toxic plastic pieces than there are plankton, the life-giving stuff our oceanic food chain depends upon for sustenance. That is so incredibly sad…

Kimberly: Where can we get your bags, and do you have any holiday specials? Liz: On bagthehabit.com we have 10-15% off of gift packs and bulk buys right now. They’re great for gifting to friends, teachers, co-workers….energy-efficient shopping!

Kimberly: Anything you’d like to add? Liz: Yes….thank you to you and all your awesome wellness work! The world needs more of it 🙂

And thank you to you Liz and Holly, for creating a cool, earth-loving company! Please be sure to check out the Bag the Habit website.

Have a great weekend and see you soon!

Love, Kimberly

Let’s Get Muddy!!

Hey Guys!

It’s that time of year again where the wind is harsh, the temperatures are dropping (okay, well not really here in LA but I know for most of us! Not that I’m rubbing it in), and our skin may be more raw and dry.

It’s important to keep your skin nourished from within, and consume beauty fat in the form of avocados, acai, flaxseeds, coconuts, etc. Just as important is keeping your body from getting clogged, by way of not ingesting clogging foods, which can prevent your tissues from adequately absorbing the nutrients that you are consuming. Please stay away from all dairy- notice how muscusy and drippy it makes you, and imagine what it is doing to the inside of your body. And of course avoid the obvious culprits: refined starches, refined sugars and excessive meat.

One of my favorite beauty practices is clay masks, which is a time-honored ritual utilized worldwide. When I travel around the world, if I happen upon a beautiful pile of mud, especially on beautiful volcanically-formed islands like the Phillipines, Bora Bora and Hawaii (pictured here. Yes I know, I posted pics from that trip last post too. Apparently I miss my hiking expeditions there!), without hesitation- of course if I’m in a place that it is culturally acceptable and where there isn’t anyone around 🙂 – I will strip down to my bathing suit and cover my whole body in mud. Then let myself dry in the sun like a big walrus!

Photo courtesy of desktopnature.com

Bentonite clay in particular is known for its healing properties. As a mask, it will pull impurities and toxins from the skin, refining your skin and cleaning out your pores. The result? Your skin will look more radiant, smooth, and over time more clear. But what is great about the bentonite clay masks is that they will not dry out your skin at the same time they are purifying your pores.

A feeling of tightness is common, and leaving them on for half an hour is good. I try to do one mask a week.

There are lots of other good things that can be added to masks. But for a basic bentonite clay mask, if you can get your hands on some bentonite clay, mix 2 tablespoons of bentonite clay with 2 tablespoons of water right in your hands. Spread over the whole face, but be sure to avoid the delicate eye area and around your mouth- don’t eat your mask! (Bentonite clay can be ingested for detoxification purposes, but it is a deeper detox that is not recommended for those just starting out, otherwise toxicity can actually compound in your system). You can add additional clay or water as needed to adjust the thickness.

Remove the mask with lukewarm water after it has dried thoroughly. Pat skin dry. There are commercial ones you can try also. The Jack Black Deep Detox Clay Mask and Spot Treatment is decent, at $25. It is paraben-free and fragrance-free. There’s one I really like that someone in Beverly Hills gave me, but it was in a sample bottle and I am not sure where they sell it. I will try to track it down and will share if I do.

Okay see you back here soon! Have a great day. Maybe have a mud adventure tonight!!

Love, Kimberly

My Newfound Freedom

Writing my book was a bit like my hiking expeditions in Hawaii this past September. First I identified what I wanted: to find the source of the waterfall after seeing the first, lower level waterfall pool. Or in this case to WRITE A BOOK.

Hello Guys,

I hope your weekend was enjoyable and recharging!

I had a weekend unlike any that I’ve had in a very long time. At least for 1 ½ years in fact.  I worked as usual on Saturday, as I do work 6 days a week with my clients. I wasn’t on tour though, and I didn’t have any family visiting me. But that is not what was different.

No, there was something that felt so incredibly different about this weekend that I almost hardly knew what to do with myself (!). It is not that I had so much free time. Or that I did anything so unusual. I had dinner with a friend visiting from NY, I went to my meditation center, I took a long walk along the beach, etc.

The difference was that I did not have to work on my book anymore. That’s right- I turned it in last week. For over a year I have been writing it, and six months prior to that working on its proposal and planning its structure. Think back to writing a long  term paper- as long as 20-30 pages or more. Unlike a test, which is quickly finished in a set number or time (for better or worse), a term paper can be rewritten and worked on for infinite amounts of time. There is always something “essential” to add, another study to quote or reference, or a new way to restructure a sentence. Well imagine that term paper is 300 pages, which is about as long my book ended up being. Now you start to get the idea!

There were untold writing deadlines and edits. Countless hundreds of hours writing and rewriting each sentence, section and chapter, editing to cut down, editing before page layout, and editing from page layout to proof reading, etc…but finally, last week it all came to an abrupt end. I will not be seeing my baby again until I see it as a fully bound and completed book! I admit it was a bit hard to let go. I read it not 1, not 2 but 3 more times before Fed Ex-ing it (yes I did physically kiss and hug the manuscript) off to NY to my publishing house. In the past, there was always a tiny bit of relief that I did not have to write or edit for at least a little while when I handed it off in each draft, but then I would usually run to do more research or plan more.

Second: Chart out a clear path to accomplish the goal and PROCEED. In one instance it meant a full day of scrambling down ravines and up hills through the jungle with no path or trail, suffering numerous cuts and minor flesh wounds. Oh yeah, and lots of sore muscles. In the other case it meant devoting most of my "free" time and weekends for over a year to writing and editing.

But not this time. It was the end, and there is nothing for me to work on anymore. I can also sit back with the satisfaction of knowing that I wrote every word myself, without a ghost writer or research assistant. Not to mention (okay I’ll give myself a itty bitty pat on the back), that I wrote the entire book on my laptop while I worked and traveled full time with clients as their nutritionist.

I am sorry to pontificate. You must forgive me that I’m not trying to be prideful in any sense, but rather share with you as a friend in my joy. Now back to the point: I no longer have that nagging “term paper” feeling, where in the back of my head I always felt that I could have been working or doing something to better the project.

The first real thing I did to celebrate was go to Barnes & Nobles and buy a novel. I haven’t read a novel just to read a novel well again, probably over a year and a half. All my reading efforts were directed towards nutrition-related writings. I bought The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo on Friday night, and finished it this (Sunday) morning. It was a fun and entertaining read, not very difficult from a literary point of view but exactly what I needed.

I enlisted the help of Sarah, my editor at my publishing house, who I now consider a dear friend after all these months of working together, to come up with some more book recommendations. Freedom! Reading about anything, just to read! (By the way I think my next book will be Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth. I loved The Namesake.)

Third: Reward for all hard work, which makes it all worth it! I don't think this picture needs me to spell out what that meant in my two paralleling tasks. 🙂

I feel so free. I had read my book so many times over so many drafts that I had begun to memorize certain sections, even though the manuscript was a few hundred pages. I would wake up sometimes in the night, and write on a whim from 1:00- 4:00 in the morning. On the weekends the manuscript would sit on my desk in a neat pile staring at me, a physical yet silent reminder that I could go out and practice yoga and do fun things, but I had better not ignore it for too long. It constantly demanded of me, from the back of my mind, that I was obligated to keep working at it.

I did write it with great care and I humbly hope that the information will really help people. (On a separate note- stay tuned for pre-sales soon! I am excited for you to read it.)

So yes, reading novels and fun books, more time to do yoga, more time for friends (I had to turn down so many events and get-togethers in honor of you know what)…maybe I’ll actually watch more than 2 movies this year, which seems to have been the average over the past few years. I do mean of course, fully produced films rather than watching them get made on set. 🙂

I will write about food and nutrition shortly in my next blog.

Take care of yourself.

With love,

Kimberly

Yogurt Replacement Product Recommendation

The tidal wave of yogurt and dairy propaganada is upon us- or should I say, has been upon us for decades now.

Hello Guys!

Hope you are having a great week. It is officially December!!!

This topic was at the forefront of my mind today, as I am weaning a special lady I am working with right now off her yogurt habit.

Wait you might say! Isn’t yogurt healthy? Well of course we all think so with signs like the huge banner (above) at Wholefoods I saw this morning.

Let’s start off by talking about probiotics. Probiotics, or good bacteria, are beneficial and very important to include in our diet. They exist in many cultures, such as in kimchi from Korea and unpasteurized kefir in Russia. Some of the many benefits of probiotics include helping to keep our systems in balance, keep toxicity in check, improve our synthesis of B Vitamins, strengthening our immunity, supporting digestion and helping to eliminate yeast issues.

However, just because a food contains probiotics doesn’t mean it is automatically healthy or beauty-boosting. My friends that frequent my blog here know that I in no way support the consumption of dairy products. Any dairy product. So guess what- yogurt is a dairy product! Yes it does contain probiotics, but it is also acid-forming in the body, and an acid imbalance in the body has actually been shown to cause a loss of calcium from our bones, leading to conditions like osteoporosis (ironic isn’t it, because you always hear the opposite about dairy products. But we have to look at absorbability and the net overall effect of a food, not just what is listed on the nutrition label). Dairy is also highly mucus-forming, which means that it is a clogging food. Any yogurt you buy in a store is going to be made with pasteurized milk, so your body will have to use a ton of energy to break it down.

I feel so strongly about it that I have a whole section in my upcoming book (!) about avoiding dairy. In my opinion, it is a highly aging food that destroys beauty. And you can be sure that I pull all my actors off it immediately.

So… um, no, I don’t recommend dairy yogurt!! There are so many other, better probiotic-rich choices that don’t have all those negative qualities! I do recommend probiotic supplements, consuming raw sauerkraut and other raw, cultured vegetables and high quality and non-pasteurized kimchi.

I like the vanilla flavor best, of the ones I've sampled.

I also like this coconut milk-based yogurt from a brand called So Delicous. It is dairy free and soy-free, and it tastes pretty good. It is sweetened with cane sugar, so there are no scary artificial sweeteners or agave in it, thank heavens, otherwise it would be on the outs too. 🙂 While it isn’t as pure as say, just eating plain durian, I think in this case the goods outweigh the negatives and I’ve been using it with my clients as a great transition and alternative.

But remember that your first food of the day should be a Green Smoothie, not any form of yogurt. The yogurt can come later in the day.

Have a great weekend!

Love, Kimberly