Crazy Sexy Life » Corinne

Column 1

Corinne — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:36:50 +0000

Tina Mannino

Corinne Bowen
Mary Ann Bastian
Jennifer DiSanto
Katie Carrus
Maria Mooney
Rebecca Fowler
Martha Amaya
Jen Kluczkowski

Column 2

Corinne — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:18:44 +0000

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The Scoop: Kathy Freston’s Quantum Wellness Cleanse

Corinne — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:20:50 +0000

What was your inspiration for adopting a vegan lifestyle and how has it impacted your life?

I always considered myself a spiritual person, someone who wanted to live by principles that would better hone my personal evolution: kindness, compassion, alleviating suffering when I saw it. When I saw, through videos and in books, what was happening to animals as they became food for my plate, I realized I was not living my principles at all. It was a tough realization, and an immediate challenge to my choices. I knew I wanted to be someone who didn’t eat animals, but I was still so attached to my food. So I leaned into the shift, gradually cutting out one animal product at a time, until over a few years, I became vegan. This shift has not only been hugely beneficial to my health – I lost weight and lowered my cholesterol, and my skin cleared up – but I also felt an inner alignment that I’d never before experienced. Like I was finally living my prayer. I felt clear and clean, energetically, and this clarity empowered me creatively.

What is the largest hurdle you see for people going through your 21-day cleanse and what advice can you give them?

The biggest hurdle is getting through the first few days without your comfort foods or drinks! For me, 3 cups of coffee in the morning and a nightly glass (or 2.. ok, or 3) of wine were habits that I loved. I got very cranky when I tried to abstain, so believe me, I know it’s not a breeze for a lot of people. But my advice is to be gentle on yourself; if you have to ease out of caffeine (one of the Big 5 things to give up for 21 days) by cutting your coffee with decaf and gradually moving to herbal tea over the course of the 3 weeks, that’s just fine. And if you slip and have a glass of wine, say to yourself that tomorrow is a new day. Mostly, though, remind yourself that you will get through the withdrawal symptoms usually within a very short time; they are only temporary, and they only show you that your body is indeed addicted. Do some light exercise, like a brisk walk or a hike, and you will assist your body in the process of detoxing.

How is your 21 day cleanse different from the vegan lifestyle you live everyday?

In the cleanse, you give up sugar, alcohol, caffeine, gluten, and all animal products. Being vegan only means not eating animal products, so the cleanse takes the health program a bit farther. By giving up the Big 5, your body gets to relax and recover from what it often reads as toxic. When I’m not on the cleanse, I do have some coffee or tea (but not nearly as much as I used to!), and I have a glass of wine 3 or 4 times a week. I don’t have a problem with gluten (many people do though, which is why it’s good to test yourself by giving it up and seeing if you feel better in your gut without it), so I eat bread and seitan sparingly. I very rarely have refined sugar, as I think it inflames the body. It wreaks havoc on my insulin/blood sugar, and is simply not worth the momentary pleasure. I love agave, however, and stevia is totally benign.

What are some of the detox symptoms that your readers can expect and what is your advice for getting through these challenges?

You might feel headachy and sluggish, which is usually from caffeine detoxing. Light to moderate exercise will help you get through this, as it oxygenates the body and the resulting endorphins perk you up.

What is your favorite recipe from your book?

The tempeh “tuna” salad is phenomenal. I missed my tuna sandwiches, and Tal Ronnen’s recipe is better than anyone I’d ever eaten from the sea!

What are you working on now?

I’m blogging a lot, and doing a couple of tv shows which feature stories on health, healing, and miraculous medicine. One of them is called Renegade Doctors, and it’s made by the producers of EXTRA. I will start writing a new book on Weight Loss and Healing from Disease soon.

Channeling the genius of James Lipton from Inside The Actor’s Studio, we would like to ask you a few of his famous interview questions:

What is your favorite word? Luscious

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Being around nature, being quiet and absorbing the beauty

What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally? City noise and aggressiveness

What sound or noise do you love? Birds, especially in the morning. An evening breeze

What sound or noise do you hate? Horns honking, people yelling at silly things, being rude

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? If I weren’t so focused on health and healing, I would want to be a hospice worker. I think it’s such a profound and deep time to be with someone as they move toward their crossover. It’s about as truthful, poignant, and insightful as we get, I think, when we near the end of our lives.

What profession would you not like to do? I would be terrible in a corporate setting because I’m not good at politics.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Don’t worry, everything you wanted to get done, we will finish for you. Consider your mission accomplished!”

Thanks, Kathy! Read more of Kathy’s blogs…

Cast Your Votes: VegNews Awards 2009!

Corinne — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:48:07 +0000

Who doesn’t love receiving their fresh copy of the VegNews Magazine’s Veggie Awards issue each year? You find out about the latest and greatest of all things vegan! If you check out our amazing Blog Posse page and our Super Special Guests, you’ll see that many of these gems have graced the VegNews pages. This year, if you’ve found a place in your heart for the Crazy Sexy Life blog/website or the My Crazy Sexy Life online community, you can show us some love by nominating our websites in some of the categories (just fill in our name!).

So do something patriotic this holiday weekend and VOTE (plus you could win a sweet prize)!

Happy Veggie Voting,

Corinne

CSL Interviews Raw Chef, Matthew Kenney

Corinne — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:04:20 +0000

1. In your new book, Entertaining In The Raw, you write “On my own journey with raw food, I found challenge, excitement, flavor, health, and a new sense of creative direction.” What are the main differences you’ve noticed in your health since discovering a raw food lifestyle?

The principle difference is the lifestyle itself. Raw food introduced me to new worlds on both a personal and professional level. In these past few years, meeting and working with so many talented and inspiring people that I’ve come to know through my association with raw food has been life changing. I’m also incredibly thankful to have found a renewed passion and creative energy for my work, which all came about through being so personally connected to what I am doing.

2. You write about the influence of the seasons on the types of raw dishes you prepare. What types of dishes are you most excited about preparing this Spring?

I’m really interested in modernized techniques that allow us to enjoy raw vegetables that are easier to digest and full flavored. With Spring arriving soon, I’m thinking about fiddleheads, asparagus, leeks, ramps, Spring lettuces…among other methods, I am researching Sous Vide, low temperature cooking to create new dishes.

3. We read in your blog about a project that you are involved with in Oklahoma City. Can you give us the scoop?

105degrees is a dream project for a chef like myself. It has every element that I could ever wish for in a raw food venture – a beautiful, modern structure, great location, and what will be an extraordinary, state of the art facility. There are 3 components to the business – an upscale raw food restaurant, outdoor cafe and wine bar, a boutique living foods culinary academy, and a retail shop, which will also host an e-commerce site. I have amazing partners, Mandy Canistelle and Dara Prentice, and couldn’t be more excited about our September opening. This will be the most advanced raw food project I’ve ever been involved in by far.

4. In the last section of Entertaining In The Raw you write, “Over time, my style of raw food has become influenced by three factors: seasonal ingredients, various forms of art, and history.” We’ve already picked your brain about the seasons, but we are curious about how art and history have influenced your raw food recipes.

History and food have always interested me – I once opened a restaurant in New York called Monzu, which was inspired by the Italian Chefs who were taught French Cuisine after Napoleon’s invasion of Sicily. Without an understanding of where food originates (and this means not only historically and geographically, but also understanding the procurement of the ingredients themselves), I don’t believe that food can reach its highest level of potential. Art is another story – in the past, I would look to great chefs and restaurants for inspiration. However, most of them now promote food and a lifestyle that is hard for me to relate to, so I look where I can for inspiration. I find it in art, nature and all sorts of places actually. The freedom found in the work of great artists is something I aspire to achieve when writing about, or creating, food.

5. Lastly, what special tips can you give our readers on integrating raw food recipes like yours into their everyday lives?

Raw food, like any other cuisine, is really two-dimensional. There are everyday recipes that work for busy days when we’re on the go, and more upscale ones that are better suited for special occasions or entertaining. Smoothies, juices, salads and quick preparations like hummus and guacamole are the best for those hectic times – they are easy to make and still delicious. I find it really helpful to have a lot of staples, crackers, bases and even desserts, on hand at all times, just like one would with any other lifestyle. That way, its always easy to put together a quick meal, a travel picnic or a snack. I won’t pretend that great raw food comes easy – its still more work than fast food, but worth it in so many ways.

6. Channeling the genius of James Lipton from Inside The Actor’s Studio, we would like to ask you a few of his famous closing interview questions.

-What is your favorite word? “challenge”
-What is your least favorite word? “problem”
-What sound or noise do you love? birds in the morning
-What sound or noise do you hate? alarm clocks
-What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? formula one driver
-What profession would you not like to do? bus driver
-What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? My creative juices flow best when I am working on something so original that I know for a fact its never been done before. That represents most everything I do these days, so I’m quite satisfied on this level. Spiritually, I’m finding many lessons in patience, my own and that of others. Emotion turns me on, period. It didn’t always.

Thank you, Matthew! We’ll be giving away Matthew’s new book, Entertaining In The Raw to the winner of our Monthly Recipe Contest. Send your recipes to info@crazysexylife.com by Friday, March 27. We’ll announce the winner on Monday!

TIME Talks Veggie Power

Corinne — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:48:45 +0000

Check out this amazing article from Time Magazine. Its packed with cool facts about the positive impact of a plant-based diet on the environment and your health! Even if you take baby steps, find out the awesome ways you can benefit your body and the planet just by making some lifestyle changes.

Eat Your Greens by Bryan Walsh
Time Magazine
Thursday, February 12, 2009

If you really want to go green, the conventional thinking goes, buy a hybrid. Practically speaking though, there is a faster and cheaper option: shift to a low-carbon diet. The meal plan of the average American family accounts for 2.8 tons of CO2 emitted annually, compared with 2.2 tons for driving. Worldwide agriculture contributes some 30% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, far more than transportation. So when it comes to cutting your carbon footprint today, the truth is that what you eat is as important as what you drive. “If you can’t buy a Prius,” says Jonathan Kaplan of the Natural Resources Defense Council, “you can certainly eat like one.”

And here’s better news: eating green is good for you. The very foods with a high carbon cost–red meat, pork, dairy products, processed snacks–also tend to be laden with fat and calories. A green diet would comprise mostly vegetables and fruits, whole grains, fish and lean meats like chicken–a diet that’s eco- and waistline friendly. “[Eating green] can make a big difference for the climate and be more healthy,” says Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist for the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

It may be hard to believe that a meal at McDonald’s produces more carbon than your trip to the drive-through–until you consider just how vast and energy-intensive the global food system is. More than 37% of the world’s land is used for agriculture, much of it ground that was once forested–and deforestation is a major source of carbon. The fertilizer and machinery needed on a modern farm also have a large carbon footprint, as does the network of ships and trucks that brings the food from the farm to your plate. On average, it takes seven to 10 times as much fossil-fuel energy to produce and ship food as we get from eating it.

The most efficient way to shrink the carbon footprint of your menu is to eat less meat, especially beef. Raising cattle takes a lot more energy than growing the equivalent amount of grains, fruits or vegetables: most produce requires about 2 calories of fossil-fuel energy to cultivate per 1 calorie of food energy; with beef, the ratio can be as high as 80 to 1. What’s more, the majority of cattle in the U.S. are reared on grain and loads of it–670 million tons in 2002–and the fertilizer used to grow that feed creates separate environmental problems, including surface runoff that leads to dead zones in coastal waters like the Gulf of Mexico. Those grain-fed cattle then belch methane, a greenhouse gas that is 20 times as potent as CO2. “Reducing beef is the first step to a green diet,” says Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

That one step can make an enormous impact on the atmosphere and your arteries. A 2005 study by the University of Chicago found that one person switching from a red-meat-based diet to vegetarianism could save about the same amount of CO2 as trading in a Toyota Camry for a Toyota Prius. There’s no shortage of evidence that reducing red meat–Americans eat more than 60 lb. of dead cow annually–is also good for your health. CSPI estimates that replacing one 3.5-oz. serving of beef, one egg and a 1-oz. serving of cheese each day with an equivalent amount of fruits, vegetables and grains would cut your daily fat consumption and increase your fiber intake, all while conserving 1.8 acres of cropland and reducing animal waste by 11,400 lb. each year.

And while locally grown has become some eco-eaters’ mantra, what you eat matters more than where it comes from. Our food travels from 1,500 to 2,500 miles on average from farm to supermarket, but that journey typically accounts for just 4% of a food’s carbon footprint. “Focus on eating lower on the food chain, with more plants and fruits and less meat and dairy,” says Kate Geagan, a dietitian and author of the forthcoming book Go Green Get Lean. “It’s that simple.” Installing solar panels or buying a hybrid may not be possible for many of us, but we can change today what goes into our bodies–and those decisions matter, for the health of our planet and ourselves.

Feeding the Earth. Foods with a low carbon cost tend to be healthier as well

Foods that require a lot of energy to produce–like beef–leave bigger carbon footprints

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

4 oz. serving of … Steamed Vegetables Pasta Grilled Chicken Cheese Grilled Steak Calories 74 150 188.5 456 347 Grams of Fat 0.13 1.2 4.17 37.6 24.5 Carbon Footprint 0.18 lb. 0.39 lb. 1.27 lb. 2.26 lb. 10.5 lb.

Read the article online here.