By Guest Blogger on September 8, 2009

Organic Nectars: How It All Started

As the Co-Founder of Organic Nectars, the boutique raw, organic food company located just a hop, skip and a jump from Crazy Sexy World HQ here in upstate NY, I’d been feeling really guilty about having fallen off the ‘healthy living’ wagon a while ago. I hadn’t been to a yoga class since who knows when. Hadn’t had a real vacation in years. No time for meditation or quiet reflection. And my diet had gotten so bad that I felt like the world’s biggest hypocrite – talking up our raw, organic, healthy foods by day and stuffing my face with the worst of the worst at night.

Sure, the daily stresses of running a small biz especially in this economy are enough to make a saner person head straight for the McDrive through. But ME?!? I run a raw food company, for Chrissakes! I’ve been studying this stuff for years and know much better than all this. But as it turns out I’m…UM, well, human, and have found that in times of stress I jump right into old familiar patterns of behavior. And with my crazy unsexy schedule these past few years, it’s been a slow fall back to fast food and forgetting to take real care of myself.

Almost 20 years ago I was introduced to what we call today the “raw food diet” by an amazing woman I was working with. We were producing a nationwide tour for Nintendo and every day she would come to the production office with little baggies of assorted nuts, seeds and dried and fresh fruit and she’d just nibble on them all day long. No “meals,” just all day snacking. And since she was so slim, I wondered why she ate like this – certainly she didn’t need to lose any weight. And I just couldn’t understand how she could have so much energy working 10 hour days with no meat or bread! So one day I asked her about her diet and as she handed me a bag of sunflower seeds, she began to tell me the story of how she’d been diagnosed with cancer almost ten years ago.

Rather than pursue conventional treatment, she was somehow convinced by a nutritionist friend to dramatically change her diet and get rid of refined sugar, dairy, animal protein and begin a series of high colonics, meditation and exercise. Always loving a good BM discussion, I was fascinated with the whole thing and begged her to explain the gross details that would make any normal person squirm. So she went on to tell me all about the “hard black tar” that she eliminated from her colon over the course of about two years. After that, she wound up being cancer free. No medications. No operations. Just lots of fresh fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds every day all day long. No doctors would admit that her regime was the hero; they chalked it up to random luck.

Having lost both my parents to cancer by the time I was in college (both died before their 50th birthday) and after listening to her story, I knew that the “Rolls Royce” treatments being sold by the expensive NYC hospitals were NOT the answer – at least for many. Her inspiring story turned me around completely and real nutrition became a new found passion.

Instantly I began experimenting on myself, changing my diet and beginning my own colonic therapy regime. I felt great! I started to lose the extra pounds I’d gained from being on the road with the Beach Boys (that’s another story); my skin looked amazing; my energy came back. I began to read everything I could find about nutrition and told everyone who would listen to me about the truth of real food. And I began seeking out people with the same passion. And as luck would have it, that’s just around the time I began dating my musician boyfriend, now my life and business partner. An artist, amazing cook and self taught nutritionist with extensive knowledge of every world cuisine and dietary trend on the planet, Steve began making me the most beautiful, colorful, nutritious meals every day. He brought my knowledge to a whole new level and showed me how amazingly delicious, interesting, healthful and fulfilling eating like this could be.

And one post 9/11 Saturday at our upstate NY house, we got into a serious discussion about how so many things we used to find important didn’t seem so anymore. We both wanted a change from the NYC rat race and world of commercial entertainment. It was around that time that Steve renewed his interest in cooking and nutrition and began studying the raw food diet that people were starting to buzz about. He was making the healthiest, most delicious meals using nothing but vegetables, seeds, nuts and fruit and I was hooked again – this time, from a business perspective. Realizing how difficult it was to find truly delicious and healthy food, I thought we could make a difference. So we created Organic Nectars. We introduced agave to the many stores and restaurants in the NY area and began rolling out gourmet raw agave-sweetened yummies like our RAW AGAVE GELATO – last year’s Fancy Food Show winner for Outstanding Diet or Lifestyle Product and our CHOCAGAVE RAW CACAO – runner up for Outstanding Dessert or Dessert Topping. (Shameless plug, I know!)

And while I’ve never worked so hard in all my life, it really is worth it when you get that wildly enthusiastic email from a kid who was just diagnosed with diabetes, thanking you for enabling him to enjoy a sweet healthy pleasure again…Or when that woman comes running up to you at a trade show with tears of joy streaming down her face for having found a truly delicious frozen dessert she can eat without aggravating her lactose intolerance… When you KNOW you’ve got truly healthy, gimmick-free products that people love — that’s worth all the stress and the chance to “rediscover” the beauty of great, simple food!

I’m happy to say that thanks to inspiring friends like Kris Carr-velous, I’m back to a much healthier lifestyle these days, practicing much of what we preach, rediscovering the joys of exercise (when I’m pressed for time I do a quick fast sprint up and down my street), meditation (easily done right at my desk at the beginning or end of the day), occasional fasting, and some of my raw favorites like kale avocado salad (I could eat this every day), fresh citrus juices, and of course our own yummy raw desserts.

 

 

   
 

7 Comments