So last night I was honored to be invited to attend The Bill and Melinda Gates/Microsoft Gala in Seattle. I can’t even tell you how blown away I am by the work that the Gates are doing in the world. It truly shows that when you are very personally sucessful, the more you can help others. The Gates’ foundation has already given away $21BILLION, and plans to give away all of the $37 BILLION more in its fund in less than 100 years. Wow!! There are 482 billionaires in the world. If they all did what the Gates and Warren Buffett do for charitable causes, the world would be a dramatically different place.
The highlight of my night was participating in a discussion with Bill Gates about soil and nutrition. He fully understands that feeding the soil is vital to improving nutrition and stronger plants. I was actually surprised (!) and delighted to learn how much he knows about plant soil, and how passionate he is about improving the food needs of all around the world. I also got to meet and talk with the CEO of the Gates foundation, who has the last say in how every dollar of the yearly funds’ distribution is spent. I am completely inspired and determined to do something BIG with them one day, to improve worldwide nutrition and sustainable agriculture!
I didn’t know that much about Melinda before last night, but being around her and hearing her speak, I must say that I like and admire her very much. She is brilliant, poised, classy- and most importantly, has a huge heart. What an amazing experience! And a great reminder that making lots of money is nice, but making lots of money and helping lots of people with that money is REALLY amazing. The overall theme of the night was “Go Big or Go Home.” Since we (anyone reading this!) are in a position to help each other- we really and truly must.
Hi Loves, This was a quick video we took Friday in the editing room before I left LA. We were in there for so long we needed to entertain ourselves somehow because we were all getting a little stir crazy. I just want you to know that the project is still ongoing.
I’m about to leave for the airport AGAIN! But I will write more later or tomorrow.
Hi Guys! I thought I would post this just in time for Thanksgiving, in case you want to incorporate something raw but still DELISH! into your Thanksgiving meal.
Pecan pie always conjures up memories of being made and given with love. There is something very nurturing, and loving, about pecan pie! This is definitely one of my own personal favorite creations. I think you will really like it- even if you are not usually a pecan pie fan. I made up 3 different fillings, and this one was voted the favorite!
Crust:
- 2 cups walnuts
- 3 cups of pitted dates
- 1 cup coconut flakes, finely ground
Pit the dates yourself, extracting each pit and discarding. Add the dates, coconut flakes and walnuts to the food processor and mix until thoroughly blended.
Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of a pie tin. Set to the side.
Filling:
- 2/3 cup filtered water
- 1 cup raw pecans, soaked about 15 minutes
- 1 cup organic Thompson raisins
- 1 Tbs. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. nutmeg (optional, I really like this spice!)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp. Celtic sea salt
Blend all ingredients together in the blender until smooth. Pour onto the crust of the tray, and garnish with fresh, raw pecans into a pretty pattern.
Set in freezer overnight, or for at least 5 hours before serving.
Slice up and enjoy!
Have a great week! And again, as I mentioned below, please remember to follow me for lots of fun food, beauty, and health tips on Twitter. My Twitter name is: KimsHealthTips.
TWEET! I saw this beautiful duck on this trip, waddling around happily in his little pond. Now I too can TWEET!
The day has come that I have finally joined the ranks of the latest 21st century’s technology. My dearest friends, I am happy to announce that starting last night around 1:00 am PST, I started Twittering, and will be sending regular Tweets. When Twitter came out, I didn’t pay much attention to it, and I do still think the word “Tweet” is ridiculous!
I started to Twitter a while ago, but admittedly it was a fake attempt and I regularly went about 4 months between Tweets. (Who doesn’t smile when they hear that word??). But now I have a new phone with an even better camera, and the application is all loaded up. So I’m ready! Ready, Set…Tweet!!! Okay, sorry I’ll stop saying that now.
I realize that Twitter is a way I can give all kinds of great little tips and ideas that come into my head all day long, which is much different than writing blogs. Plus, since I move around so much, I think you may have fun coming with me on my adventures and seeing even more fun pics on the go! So please join my Twitter Feed in the right hand column, and please share with your friends and anyone that you think might be interested in Health, Eating for Beauty, Raw Food, Natural Eating, Yoga and more! Thanks so much for helping me spread the word.
My Twitter name is: KimsHealthTips.
In Health and Love! Kimberly
More birds from the trip. These parrots are more like SQUAWK!!- rather than sweet little bird Tweets.
So I’m still here in La and things are going great. How is your week? It is not as hot here as I would ideally like- but it isn’t freezing either. I was secretly hoping to get more sun time in though, since I’ll be heading back to NY soon. Oh well!
Last night I had a dinner party that went pretty late, so I am officially entrenched in West Coast time. Actually I’ve made dinner for dinner parties the last 2 nights in a row! I’ve been going and going, and there are moments when I feel thrown off. During those times it just seems that things are a little harder to deal with and work out that normally aren’t. And I know EXACTLY where it relates to- my backed up belly! When I travel and my bathroom schedule gets even slightly off, it really makes a huge difference in everything, including my yoga practice, my mentality and my appetite.
There are energy lines in our body that run up and down, and interconnect. In Oriental philosophy they are called meridians. My friend Yvonne who is an acupuncturist is the real expert in meridians, and acupuncture can help opening these lines of energy. However, we don’t have to resort to acupuncture to immediately remove major blockages in our bowel- but we need to resort to something! Otherwise we will really start to feel the effects- even if they are subtle and even if we don’t necessarily equate them to our bowels.
The secum of our intestines, which is on the right side, is connected via meridians to the skull. And so on and so forth throughout the whole body. I know I am backed up immediately when I start getting a bit, um…testy shall we say. Agitation, headaches, feeling overwhelmed, overly nervous, etc. can all be related to this. Part of the yoga practice is maintaining equanimity, and I definitely consider how I choose to eat and keep my body clean as part of my practice. It sure helps keep the mental equanimity- which is not always easy. Authentic and ancient yoga books discuss various forms of keeping the bodily temple clean along with asanas (poses).
This was one of the best weather days I've had here. I love all the plants in Southern California!
So I can’t stress enough how important it is to not let yourself get to the point where you feel backed up. It can and will energetically affect all areas of your life. Energy permeates, everything is full of energy, and stuck energy will not allow the life force to flow through you. You will not feel as vibrant, and you will certainly not feel your best. We can not have stuck waste in our bodies and except to be on top of our game- and right now I’m not even talking about the old toxicity, I’m talking about stuff from yesterday, and possibly the day before!
Oh- so back to the trip. I was feeling okay at the beginning, but hit a little low point a few days ago of being a bit backed up. For me, the best quick fix is downing some Kombucha on an empty stomach. Out here I get the bottled kind. There is something about the liquid delivery of a hefty dosage of probiotics that really helps rebalance everything, usually pretty quickly or at least in 24 hours or less. So yesterday was a great rebalancing day, and I feel great again today, even when I am up late at night and up early in the morning the next day, like I was this morning, with lots of stuff going on. If you have access to coconut kefir, which is also liquid, that would be amazing also! I had some of that last night also, courtesy of my friend Jon Biel, and it was great. There are many foods of course, such as spinach, which is said to have somewhat of a laxative effect on the bowel, but these foods will not usually be as immediate.
So please be conscious of how important of an issue this is to deal with when it comes up, and do what you have to do to stay clear-minded!
Okay, this is just one of the occasional Hollywood blogs I throw in, just for kicks. Last night I went to the world premiere of Old Dogs, which was in LA. It was a really fun family movie, and it opens Thanksgiving weekend! Lots of laughs for the fam.
Admittedly, I was just the tiniest bit starstruck to run into some of my favorite actors. First of all, when I grew up Splash was like my favorite movie ever. Mermaids!! So I love Tom Hanks (his wife Rita Wilson is in the movie)…
And Robin Williams…I love Dead Poet’s Society. What a nice guy. If you look to the left, that is him with the glasses. (Still took this sneaky picture!).
And at the party afterward, which is always much smaller than the movie premiere itself, I chatted with the absolutely lovely Kelly Preston.
I started the night with a slick ponytail but half way through the night went to the bathroom and took it down. Have you ever done that when you’ve been out? Not been entirely happy with your hair?? I realize I don’t like myself that much in a ponytail- or maybe I am just not good at making it look good myself. Okay, I’ve thought Seth Green is one of the funniest young actors since Austin Powers, and what a nice guy he is. I didn’t realize how um, petite he is (in a good way!). So I think this picture is funny because next to him my head looks HUGE!!
Okay, that’s all. Thanks for doing that little red carpet tour with me. Back to food stuff next post!
Here's a shot from MY perspective, with like 50 camera people on set making everything look smooth. I use frying pans myself very, very rarely, but doing this segment made me think about this topics...
Hey Guys!
I hope you had an amazing weekend!! I’m still out here in Cali, and I must say that this New Yorker is sure having a swell time.
I was thinking about this topic when I did my egg white demo, and also because the holidays are rapidly coming upon us. It’s a time when many of us are going to be making some cooked food. We discuss topics like switching to healthier oils, upgrading into more organic ingredients, and consuming more greens. But what about the cookware we use??
What’s scary is that using Teflon or other nonstick pans will make any dish you are making in them, with even the most organic and natural ingredients possible, suddenly toxic. I know- What the heck!??!! How lame is that?? As if there isn’t enough to worry about with the quality of our food itself.
The fact is that there are dangerous, toxic chemicals in non-stick pans, and they can cause the leaching of dangerous heavy metals into our food and into our bodies! The slick, nonstick surface is made of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). PFOA may cause toxic alterations to our body’s organs, and have been linked to stimulating tumor growth.
Over time, the nonstick surface breaks down and flakes off into your food, PFOA accumulates and remains stored in our bodies. Yes, stored in our bodies! These types of chemicals are very hard to detox out of the body, even when you have been engaged in methods of very deep cleansing over long periods of time. Toxic fumes from Teflon™ and other non-stick cookware release into the air at relatively low cooking temperatures, adding yet another entry point of this dangerous chemical into your body.
So the first step we must do is to go through our cabinets right now and throw away all our Teflon cooking gear! I know it might seem like a waste, but just remember that our bodies are much more important than a few bucks we put towards some crappy pots and pans. Aluminum cookware is not a much better option. Glass is better (though there have been reports of explosions!) and stainless steel is a better option also. There is even cookware now made from non-reactive ceramic, which may also be a better option.
So remember, when you do cook or bake, watch what you are cooking with! We have to think of all parts of preparing our food, and that includes what we are actually preparing our food in and with. Of course, we wouldn’t have to worry about any of that if we all ate only raw food…but that day is not yet upon all of us. Just teasing!! Eating some high quality cooked food is okay as long we we balance it with eating lots of Green Smoothies and salads, etc.
With Love!
Kimberly
Here is a beautiful carp fish to send you Good Luck for your week! I saw him at a Japanese garden this morning.
So last night I ate at a Vegetarian Thai restaurant and had my favorite soup of all time: Tom Kha. The base of this soup is coconut milk, and it is traditionally and usually made vegan (you could ask if you’re not sure at a particular restaurant). When I do eat some cooked food, this type of soup and some other Thai dishes are top of my list!
So now that cold weather is coming upon most of us- although no sign of that here in Southern California- soup sounds awfully tasty. It just calls to us on cold days, doesn’t it! And non-cream based soups can be great! I don’t recommend having any soups with any dairy (so be careful of even seemingly innocent old tomato soup), but clear soups like vegetable and miso can be great, easily digestible options.
How cute are these big fatties!!? I love seals so much. I went to visit them yesterday to watch them sun bathe and stretch their blubbery necks.
But here’s the thing with soup: Make absolutely sure that you eat it at the beginning of your meal! If you haven’t already, you should check out my blog called, “The Easiest Weight Loss Tip Ever.” It discusses how consuming liquids and water with your meals only serves to dilute the hydrochloric acid in ours stomach, as well as other digestive juices. What does that mean?? It means that our food doesn’t digest as easily, and it encourages weight gain. Yikes!!! So while we often remember this with drinks, sometimes we might forget that it also applies to soup. But it absolutely does! So have your soup be the first thing that you eat at a meal as an appetizer, and ideally there will some at least 10 minutes before anything else goes down the old hatch.
So, along with that…
- Don’t eat a salad with your soup as an appetizer. Be clear with your waitress that you want your soup delivered first.
- If you are having a soup and sandwich lunch, have all of the soup before you eat the sandwich! Don’t go half and half as far as a bite of this, a bite of that. Uh uhh!
- If you’re going to have a big entree soup, like a huge Thai Tom Kha soup, it would be best to skip the appetizer altogether. Otherwise you will get bloated and not feel so great.
So happy soup eating!!! And remember soup on an empty stomach is best.
My mini fridge is packed to the gills! I love olives, and I have those, plus triple washed arugula and spinach, Kombucha, coconut water, tomatoes, avocados, carrots, sprouts, parsley, cilantro, and more!
Hey Guys!
On the countertop I keep some fruit, onions, olive oil and my favorite herbal teas.
Since I’m staying at a hotel for 8 days, one of the most important things for us is to pick out a room with a mini fridge. I actually consider it essential! While I can’t eat exactly how I do at home, it helps keep me from getting very far off track at all!! For this amount of time, if I can’t be sure that I’ll have access to getting Green smoothies and drinks, I’d rather make sure that I can. I have no qualms about checking in all my luggage and bringing a large purse with books and a separate carry on for my blender or juicer on the plane. To me, it is SO worth it, because when I am eating well I am feeling great. And I want to feel great when I’m traveling! I probably wouldn’t do this internationally, but domestically sure! Actually- maybe I would carry kitchen equipment internationally, depending on where.
Sure there are dinners out that we all like to have when we are away. But at least I can control breakfast and snacks/meals during the day, and not have to resort to heavy hotel breakfasts that get the day started off wrong and heavy!
Here are the essential things that I love to keep in the mini fridge (even if you don’t bring your blender) :
- A bag or box of triple washed spinach. You can literally stick it on a paper plate and slice up avocado on it, with a squeezed lemon. This is great for a healthy lunch, or a light dinner if you were out all day long and just want to chill at your hotel with a healthy meal.
- Along with that, lemons and avocados.
- Unsweetened almond milk, which you can pick up at good ‘ol TJ’s. Great for adding a dallop to some herbal tea to feel nice and satisfied at night.
- Baby carrot sticks to snack on.
- Celery sticks, which you can snack on to get something alkaline in your stomach first even if you know you are going out and eating a heavy dinner. Better to start a meal with that than nibble on too much table bread when you are waiting on your dinner and hungry!
- Fruit galore!! Organic plums, apples, pineapple chunks, etc.
So next time you are on the road, you might want to check with your hotel and find a room with a little, life-saving mini fridge. I hope you had a great Halloween and weekend. Have a great beginning of your week!
I made up 3 different fillings, and this one was voted the favorite!
