Hey Guys!
Wanted to share this awesome mention in Star Magazine that came out today!
I’m with the gorgeous Hilary Duff, from The Beauty Detox Solution launch party in LA a few weeks ago.
I’ve had a whirlwind trip to LA and NY the last 3 days- with Access Hollywood, European press, book signings and more! Headed back to N’awlins early tomorrow, and I’ll write more soon.
All my love,
Kimberly
Hey Guys! Check this out on E! which ran Thurs night! We have a lot more coverage which I will share soon. Very exciting!!!
I send my love, Kimberly
Hey Guys,
Hope you are having a great week and happy Friday!! This week has flown by for me. The weather has been sunny and beautiful here in LA, and I’ve been hard at work! I am going to be traveling for work in the very near future, sooooo even given the glorious weather here I did go and buy my first pair of this season’s winter boots this week! Don’t you just love the first shopping purchase (or 2) for the new season? 
When I was recently in Hawaii I was talking to a friend about grocery store codes, and someone recently asked me about it here yesterday in LA. Hence this topic was on my mind! When shopping at the market, most individual fruits are labeled with stickers. Not so at the farmer’s market, but all regular markets. Have you ever wondered what all those little digits mean? And wondered if there is any rhyme or reason to them? Maybe you’ve never really paid attention to them, except to think they were a nuisance that you had to rip off so you wouldn’t accidentally bite into them!
I used to think they were random and only corresponded to each grocery store. But then I discovered that there is actually a uniform system! It is set up by the International Federation for Produce Standards. Doesn’t that sound so official and serious?? There are only a few basics you have to be aware of, and then you can always be sure you are buying organic produce. Buying organic ensures we are getting the highest quality produce with the greatest amount of health and promoting minerals. It also supports sustainable farming practices that don’t use pesticides. Buying certified organic produce is the only way to ensure that we are not consuming genetically modified (GMO) produce, which unfortunately does not have any labeling codes to abide by (!). Genetically modified foods have been altered from their original form, and may introduce allergenic or toxic characteristics to foods. The way GMO foods are grown is detrimental to the environment.
Here are the basics:
Organic produce: Always begins with a 9 and has a PLU number that is 5 digits long.
Here’s an example: Organic Bosc Pear #93296
Conventional produce: Always begins with a 4 and has a PLU number that is 4 digits long.
Here’s an example: Conventional Bosc Pear #4568
So always check to be sure that you purchase produce that begins with a “9″ on the PLU code on the sticker – as much as possible!
Now that you’re aware of the number system, it is kind of fun to know that you know a little something about the coding for grocery stores! You can feel like a grocery store “insider.” Go ahead and check it out next time you are at the store!
Take care and have a wonderful weekend!! I’m going to my best to get my butt hiking again this weekend.
I send my love,
Kimberly
Hi Guys!
Hope you are feeling and doing amazing!
I am in Maui right now for 9 days, here with friends and some people I’ve been working with. Doubly fun!! It was a bit hard to pull away from work in LA but I’ll be back there soon. Sometimes you have to just go! Otherwise more time will pass and you still haven’t gotten to go to places you wanted to go!
I’m staying right on the water in a beautiful space built around coconut trees, far away from resorts and tourists. Today we went hiking through a magical place on the property of a friend that owns over 60 acres of undeveloped land, surrounded by lots more undeveloped land. It was full of radiant and people-free waterfalls, barely marked trails through a lush rainforest and hidden rock beaches.
One of my favorite discoveries of the day was monkey grass, which is this spongy, bouncy kind of grass that you can jump in, and I certainly dove in! I love when things have an element of an unexpected dimension, like the loss of gravity in two fun activities I’ve done and loved- scuba diving and sky diving. There was also that unexpected feeling in being able to bounce on grass like on a trampoline on the middle of a tropical island. The grass seemed that it would be the static, dense surface of grass that most of us are used to feeling. Instead it was incredibly soft and bouncy!
The hike today was an incredible adventure- truly magical.
I’ll check in soon. Take care!
Love, Kimberly
PS: Just found a 5-inch centipede on the floor of my bathroom right under the sinks. Eek!! But it is part of living in the jungle!
Hey Guys!
Hope all is well with you during this beautiful month of September! I just got back from Vegas, which was a lot of fun. I was working a lot, so I didn’t see get out to see toooo much, but I saw a really great show and thank God I brought food for my clients!!
Everything is energy. Consequently, we can therefore classify everything as either emitting a positive energy or a negative energy. Good quality food, clean air, pollution, and toxicity in the body are physical entities that contain energy, but the energy of the company you keep, your co-workers (since you are around them all day) and friends and your thoughts are also energy. Things that we can not see with our two eyes have energy as well! If you intuitively feel that someone is negative or an “energy suck”, avoid them or situations that you have to be around them for a long time! It WILL affect you.
In order to increase the positive energy in our body, it is key that we increase the quality of our food, and consume as much natural, organic and whole food as possible. Our diet should be anchored in plant foods.
However, the other side of the equation is that we must be sure that we are consistently removing (cleansing) the toxicity from our bodies, which is negative and has disintegrative qualities. Pollution, waste and acidity are constantly building in our systems. We must work to eliminate them as much, and as efficiently as possible on an ongoing basis.
Our bodies have several different systems and organs that are involved in our body’s cleansing mechanism. Pooping is the obvious way, but it isn’t the only way!
Here are some of our body’s major cleansing organs and mechanisms through which toxins are released from the body, and how to support them and avoid things that impede them:
Circulation:
Support:
- Organic, high plant food diet
- Exercise
- Dry skin brushing
Hinder:
- Excess fat
- Cholesterol (from consuming animal products)
Kidneys/Urination:
Support:
- Clean drinking water (never drink tap water!)
- Foods that contain a lot of liquids
- Watermelon juice
- Coconut water
Hinder:
- Holding in (pee when you have to!!)
- Coffee
- Alcohol
Colon/Bowel Movements
Support:
- Eating the right foods, in the right combination and way
- Colonics and enemas
- Drinking plenty of water
Hinder:
- Dairy
- Too many (other) animal products (they contain no fiber)
- Overeating
- Having a mental disposition of not “letting go” of things
Lungs/Proper Respiration:
Support:
- Consistently being aware of taking deep breaths through the nose, and expanding the entire lungs (the belly should rise but the shoulders should not go up, which could restrict air flow)
- Exercise
- Meditation
Hinder:
- Short shallow breaths
- Getting angry, stressed out or agitated often
- Not exercising or meditating
Skin/Perspiration
Support:
- Drink a lot of water
- Using non-toxic skin products and not too many of them!
- Exercise
- Infrared sauna
Hinder:
- Anti-perspirants. No one should be using an anti-perspirant as it blocks our sweat channels and holds toxins in !!
- Deodorants that contain mercury and other toxins
Hope this helps you to keep your precious body, and those of loved ones, more clean.
I send my love!
Kimberly
Hey Guys!
Hope you had a great weekend!! It’s still only the end of August dammit- we can still hold on to summer!! I love my apt. now in Santa Monica!
I headed down to Newport Beach to visit some clients at a beautiful spa there, and had some nice beach walks.
I also caught up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while. She was a travel buddy that I met in Australia, and we would periodically meet up on the road. Some adventures we shared include camping on frozen ground in Nepal in January (!), sharing a bungalow in Thailand and having a zillion dead bugs rain down on us when we let down the mosquito net, exploring some random deserted islands in the Philippines with only a few fishing families living on them, and taking a small plane around Mount Everest. She almost killed me when her ocean kayak flew right by my head when we were getting huge air kayaking in Byron Bay, up the coast of Australia, and we also touched the Great Barrier Reef in Australia together for the first time… she also came back to visit me when in Sydney after I was working there after college. With all the craziness we’ve been through- or should I say survived- we’ll always be super close, and when I see her its as if no time has passed!
So back to thoughts around the kitchen… I started drastically cutting back on agave over a year ago, and stopped it cold turkey a few months ago. Agave is highly processed and is a very high percentage fructose. Despite its being advertised as being low-glycemic and a “natural” alternative, it really isn’t a viable option for those of us that want to look and feel our best. I recommend you cut it out completely as well! Also, be sure to check labels. I was in Wholefoods in Venice the other day looking at the labels of raw food products, and almost every single one had agave in it!! If we all start to shun it I think hopefully eventually manufacturers will have to switch!
Stevia and xyletol are good dry, powdered sweetener alternatives. Liquid stevia is very concentrated and you drop it out with a little dropper. But how to replace agave for liquid needs?
Organic dried or dehydrated fruit is a great source of natural sugar that comes right from nature off the tree or the bush! Be sure to purchase varieties that are free of sulfites and other preservatives, and don’t have any additional added preservatives.
Lately I’ve been using dates, figs and raisins, and I make a syrup/paste by adding water. I start with 1-2 Tbs of water and blend with the dried fruit, then add more depending on how thin I need the syrup to be and what I’m using it for. Soaked nuts combine okay with dried fruit, so depending on what you are making, you can also add some of the oilier seeds and nuts for texture. These include sunflower seeds, hazelnuts and almonds.
Dried fruits should be used in moderation (or avoided altogether for those with Candida or sugar issues), as they do have a high concentration of sugar, but they are easy for our bodies to digest and break down. They also have some health benefits as well:
Dates: High in calcium, also contains copper, iron, amino acids, Vitamin A, and some riboflavin and thiamin.
Figs: High in potassium! Contains mucin and pectin, and have detoxifying and blood-cleansing properties. Also contains calcium and magnesium.
Raisins: Contains iron, potassium, calcium, silica, magnesium, Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, zinc and amino acids.
Give these little “candies” of nature a go, and see how you do!
Have a wonderful early part of your week!!
See you soon.
Love, Kimberly
Hey loves!
Hope all is well with you.
LA to me is a combination of the wonderful nature all around (desert and all!) and of course the obvious and enormous entertainment aspect of the city. What is so interesting to me is that most people I meet here are either really into the natural elements and ocean, OR are highly involved in the entertainment world and sometimes seem to be oblivious or don’t really pay attention to some of the natural wonders around.
I enjoy the balance of both! I love the trees and flowers, and interesting plants. I love being able to pick scrunchy looking natural lemons from the local trees in all the various shapes and sizes nature created them in, and being able to go down to the ocean every evening to watch the sunset.
But I do enjoy aspects of the entertainment world here, of course, which is part of what I do. On Monday night I went to the premiere for the film Going the Distance. It comes out Sept. 3rd. It was great and you should go see it! Very relatable and real!! I loved it and thought it was adorable. Since a lot of the movie takes place in New York, seeing the scenery really made me miss it!
PS: If you scroll down you might notice I wore the same outfit to the Emmy’s party the night before. Oops! I just moved into a new apt. in Santa Monica and I couldn’t be bothered to go through all my stuff and find my dresses and other clothes. Hee hee….our secret!! Very NOT Hollywood I guess to be seen at two events in the same outfit!! (gasp!)
I have to say I thoroughly enjoy the drum circles down at Venice Beach. I love percussion of all types, especially since my long journey through Africa where I could hear drums everywhere I went!
Plus I love seeing people like this um Native American-eque (?) guy!!
Rock on my friends!
Life is so interesting! I am taking in my new surroundings, and I am starting to really love it here!! There are always positives and negatives to anywhere you go, but there is so much beauty around everywhere in creation if we pause to feel it.
Have a great rest of your week!! Keep seeing the beauty all around… and in each other- we are all the ONE.
Love,
Kimberly
Heeelloooo there!!
Hope you had a great weekend! I just finished my first week here, which was amazing! It was busy, but very successful. Again, the past week sort of feels like a month, because so much happens and my days are so full. The days never blur together. Isn’t time funny how it can seem to fly by or slow down?
I have noticed my skin freaking out a bit since I’ve gotten to LA. I am not a huge fan of the dessert climate, but what are you going to do? In the summer I usually don’t put any lotion at all on my body, but here my legs started getting flakey, almost immediately. I feel the moisture being leached right out—–eek!! I’ve been doubling up during the day with coconut oil as a lotion. Use this code to receive 5% off your entire purchase, KIMBERLY.
I really love the Artisana brand’s coconut oil, which is free of pesticides, artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, stabilizers, added oils, GMO’s. Coconut butter is the coconut meat ground up, but coconut oil is only the oil pressed out, and that is what you want to use on your skin rather than the coconut butter.
By the way, the Artisana has a great raw tahini! I used it yesterday to make my Raw Chickpea-less hummus for a party yesterday.
I was given a bottle of Burt’s Bees Naturally Nourishing Milk and Honey Body Lotion, which is decent. It sort of creeps me out that there is milk (dairy!!) in there, and I found that I had to keep applying it to make my skin feel anywhere near “naturally nourished.”
The quest continues to find a good paraben-free body lotion! For now I’ll just stick to the coconut oil.
I managed to squeeze in getting to the steamroom at a very luxurious, organic spa the other day, because I miss the humidity of Chicago and New York so much!! Call me crazy, but I love the moisture on my skin. It makes me feel moisturized, rather than my skin is being choked of every last drop of its precious natural water!
And speaking of Sephora, you know how everybody gets those little tins of lipgloss/moisturizer that they sell at the front? They seem so innocent because they are strawberry flavored (I think) and are labeled as “natural.” I can’t remember the name because I never use them…because they are all petroleum-based! Terrible for the collagen in the lips. My advice? Chuck ‘em right now!
When I was working on a movie in April in Atlanta, I found a great brand down there called Sally B’s Skin Yummies. I now use their B Glossy Organic Lip Gloss, which not only moisturizes, my lips, but it is a pretty color and has a great smell/taste. Check out the ingredients: Organic Castor Oil, Organic Shea Butter, Organic Beeswax, Vitamin E, Carneuba Wax, Organic Lecithin, Mica, Peppermint.
I use Ruby’s Red. I keep one in my purse and one in my bathroom. Love!! Their website is www.sallybskinyummies.com.
Enjoy! I’ll write more soon!!!!
Lots of love, Kimberly
Hi there,
I hope you are had an awesome weekend!
I’m writing to you from my parents’ house outside NYC, where I had a relaxing weekend of hiking and just hanging out. It was like a mini calm in the eye of the storm! I got back from Chicago Friday morning and had a crazy day running around New York that day, trying to finish a million errands and fit in a bunch of meetings. Now I’m leaving for LA tomorrow morning…for an indefinite amount of time.
In so many ways, I am unbelievably grateful and excited! I am living my dream and my passion as a nutritionist. I get to teach others about my nutritional philosophy and being healthy from a holistic standpoint, and the difference I see in others is incredibly rewarding. I get to work with amazing and fascinating people who do interesting and creative things in the world in film, music, etc.
But in order to really soar, I have had to cut ties and leave behind some things that I really love in New York. The first and hardest was giving up my group yoga classes, which I have been teaching for 4 years exactly this month. I love my students so much, and all these new opportunities came up so quickly I didn’t really have time to say goodbye. If any of my students are reading this, please realize that I went to Chicago for only a week, and then my clients and movie work really took off, and I couldn’t come home until now, a month later. I will always love you all and will come visit when I can! And I still get to teach clients privately.
Now some amazing opportunities have come up that are dreams come true for me out in LA. I am still going to keeping my apt in NY, and I am staying in a hotel the first week in LA, then looking for a place in LA for after that… I also had to give up my yoga classes that I love to take myself, some of which are from my very dear friends in NY and which I love very much. I am giving up seeing my friends, teaching Sunday School at my meditation center, visiting my favorite parks that are always playing live music… really my life as I know it now in New York.
It is not that I am moving to LA permanently, it may be just a few months, but there has been a major shift in my life where I have to cut out ties so that I can really soar. I can’t be attached in any way with any ongoing weekly commitments…so I can just move and fly around with my clients as needed all around the country and world! I’ll also be moving a lot when my book comes out early next year! It is sort of like how I felt like when I was backpacking… but now I am staying in one city for at least a few months at a time. This is why I can’t have a dog! And I love and am incredibly grateful that by the grace of God I can see and do so much, and I will live it up until the day that I decide to have children…which will maybe be in a few years.
I think as humans, and especially us women, it is really easy to get attached to people and things, even when we are yogis and conscious of the idea of attachment. I know I do! So tonight, on the eve of leaving for my next big adventure, I am feeling a bit jittery. I am excited, sad, nervous, thrilled, joyful, overwhelmed with gratefulness and sort of feel like I’m going to puke… all at the same time! I have to let go of everything, and trust that I am on the right path. It feels right, and I know that I am following my dream, and yes, standing in my truth.
Lots of love to all, and especially my beloved yoga students that I will always love and who will always be in my heart!
Love, Kimberly
Hey Guys!
Hope all is well and this week is going awesome for you.
Sometimes people ask me if it hard for me to eat in certain situations out in public…and I always say no! Why? Because I always plan ahead. Interestingly, last weekend I went to TWO classic examples of events that one might think would be difficult to eat at: The baseball game and a concert. I’ll show you how I deal!
Here I am at the Cubs game in the press box, with the wonderful Ron Howard (over my left shoulder in background) , who sang a great rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” for the 7th inning stretch.
And here I am at Lalapalooza, which is a huge 3-day music festival with 95,000+ people a day. It went all day into the night, so it did require extra effort to bring food and plan for the long haul.
The options at ball games and concerts are not really options for me (!), so you can be sure I thought it out in advance!
Blast from the past- Green Day! I loved them when I was in middle school.
Through the movies I’m working on, some of us got all-access passes, which was great because we got free water and beverages all day, and got to hang out in the lounge areas designated for the bands and their crews.
There were free food tents in these areas- with buffet lines full of items like pork chops, baked potatoes, rolls, butter and baked chicken. As you’ve probably guessed- you weren’t going to find me in line at that buffet!!
I had a backpack full of my own goodies, so I didn’t have to starve, and as an added bonus I didn’t have to feel like crap either. I certainly didn’t feel deprived- actually I felt extremely grateful that I know what to eat to feel satisfied and great.
First I started off with a bunch of cherries, which are my favorite summer fruit and in full abundance here in Chicago. I also brought a bunch of cherries into the Cubs game. Fruit first!!
I packed a few collard green wraps with a raw mushroom “burger”, which was a pate I made with mushroom, onion, celery and spices I made in my food processor and then put in the dehydrator. I topped it with mustard, sprouts and veggies. Yummy!! Great concert food. At the Cubs’ game I knew we had fridges in the box so I had a ginormous salad instead.
And you know I wouldn’t go without my travel staple- an avocado!! I love it when I cut them in half and they are perfect and not mushy and that gorgeous green color with no splotchy brown pieces. I like having it because it is fatty and creamy and really feels like I’m eating. I just spoon that sucker right out of there!
No need to indulge in the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream truck that was in the lounge giving out free ice cream~ Just say no thanks to pasteurized and homogenized and clogging and mucus-forming dairy!!!!!!! In ALL forms.
Here’s my old time love Chirs Cornell and the rest of Soundgarden walking through the lounge and getting on stage. Still a total rockstar!
More adventures to report soon!
Take care, stay hydrated…and SENDING LOTS OF LOVE RIGHT AT YOU!
xx Kimberly
