PUREgenius

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

I was sent a link to PUREmamas by a friend and instantly LURVED it!

I had to contact the absolutely glowing founder Juli Novotny immediately!

So here is the scoop:

Juli was a pro-baker at age 16. By age 24, she launched a wildly successful health company called Kookie Karma in Santa Monica, CA. Now 30-ish, living in San Diego, with her hubby and two gorgeous boys, she launched the super awesome site PUREmamas as a way to share ideas and start a mini-health revolution!

We asked her some questions, she gave us some great answers!

1) What inspires you to live a healthy, life-affirming, ALIVE, lifestyle ever single day? How do you make this a priority?

I think diet is one of the most interesting things on the planet {but then again, it’s just one of those things that interests me and might actually make others cringe – just a personal thing, I guess}. I wouldn’t say that probably if all of us were all educated on the subject. The education process and watching people transform their lives in a positive way is what what gets me so fired up.

I believe that somewhere down the line in history is a missing link between optimal nutrition & ailments, disease, illness, mental health, and so on. And my main focus is getting people BACK to where we were prior to those “sliced bread” {you know the saying} days. It’s the good old slippery slope argument; and it’s convenience foods that started the snowball. Marketing, media, government and money are then what create the tunnel vision.

This is why I started my company – not as much for profit {if at all looking at my books} as for education. My main goal was/is to spread impartial helpful positive diet information.

HENCE, my PureMamas blog which doesn’t NOT sell products nor support any products that I don’t first research and support. I don’t think that in every aspect of our lives we need to forget science {hello, ER and NICU?} and convenience but when it comes to food, I feel pretty good saying ‘we should!’

It’s not just this that inspires me but also my first hand experience watching my health transform after I completely changed my diet to a raw vegan one years ago. I am not a hippie, nor am I a doctor or a yogi or obsessed with my weight; I’m not even a raw foodist. I’ve just always been fascinated by the culinary arts and of course nutrition. Raw foods fused these two interests of mine and jump-started this mission.

I’m a firm believer in moderation and enjoying life as part of the process. Stressing on a daily basis about the cheese you just ate yesterday is ridiculous and that stress can also set your health back a few years. It’s about moving forward; each day is a new one and with each new day you learn more and more. I thought I was so smart when I was 22. Let me tell you!

I can say this though – if we eat more sprouted grains/nuts and raw fruits/veggies and if we stop consuming processed foods, sugar, dairy and most meat products, we’d be a lot more energetic, ailment-free, happier, more alive and less needy of drugs and doctors.

It’s my passion. What can I say? But it doesn’t have to be YOUR passion to get you motivated or inspired. It just takes a few big changes and you will SEE the difference it makes in your hair, or your skin or your mental clarity or even your children’s behavior. That’s all it takes sometimes to keep people totally motivated.

2) Tell us what you hope to accomplish with PUREmamas and Kookie Karma? What is the big picture goal?

To help others take care of their own lives. Right now, our best bet in beating disease is NEVER getting it to begin with. Prevention is the key to a long and healthy life. Education is my goal.

3) Reading PUREmamas I am in awe of the way your two boys eat (and drink). Please, give us some tips into the most beneficial and efficient ways to get our kids to eat better?

Thanks. But they don’t always eat perfectly. They are human.

As we know, for children, it’s much more difficult to get them to eat right. Texture , color and flavor play a huge role. For adults it’s easier to “swallow” the salad idea KNOWING it’s healthy for us. Trying to convince kids of this, is not as simple. The key is keeping those starchy, sugar foods out of their diets to begin with. Kids can learn to love the taste of fruit and vegetables, but once they taste the other stuff, the tantrums begin and so does the refusal of the less sweet stuff.

I know. I know. You can’t shelter them from the crap for long but I think if you educate them along the way as to WHY they should eat their greens they just MIGHT want to keep at it. {fingers crossed}. Remember too, kids go through phases; if they don’t want the broccoli now, try again later and KEEP trying. They MIGHT eventually come around and you wouldn’t want to lose that opportunity because you gave up, right?

Another thing I always talk about is this phenomenon that occurs quite often:

Mom or dad dislike a food so they assume their children do/will to!

Am I right?

I do it. I don’t like fruit all that much believe it or not. I don’t buy it all that much because I forget that my kids might like it.

Or we assume kids won’t like something…

Just being aware of this is a start. Try it next time you’re shopping.

4) I am not a fan of hiding foods in other foods to get our kids to eat their veggies and fruits. I think having children grow up with appreciation and love for real, unprocessed foods is the TRUE goal. Thoughts?

Read above. I do agree with you.

I disliked this whole spinach in brownies movement as well. All that does is teach kids to enjoy the flavor of brownies – sugar and flour. But I see the idea behind it.

In fact, I put spinach and kale in my kids smoothies/milkshakes. I do mask the flavor a little. If I didn’t do that my kids would never get their greens at this age. I do tell them however that kale is in the smoothie.

And at least the vehicle of transport is a little better, right?

5) Organic, sustainable, seasonal, local, hormone -free, free-range, no antibiotics, no GMO’s. Going to the supermarket can feel like a science class. Any tips for overwhelmed parents?

Just read read read. Take the time to do it. It’s worth it. I learned everything I know through reading. And the more diverse the source of the information is the better decisions you can make for yourself and your family.

i.e. did you vaccinate because your doctor told you to? Or because you did the research and knew it was the best for your children? Did you NOT vaccinate because your midwife told you not to? Or because you didn’t think it was the right choice?

Same idea. Maybe after doing lots of research you feel meat and dairy (organic) are best for your family. Maybe you realize they are NOT at all something you want your family to consume.

Not to mention that lifestyle {do you travel much? are your kids in school? do you use medication? do you like to cook? how much money do you make?} plays a huge role in this process as well.

Every family is SO different, which is also why I believe in the personalized medicine approach as well to some degree.

Again, take everything day by day. Do your best and then make changes to that. And so on. Stressing about it will only defeat the purpose. You really should ENJOY it. Get excited about it.

6) Pantry essential? What are the absolute must-haves?

At my house we eat lots of greens of course. And raw vegan ice cream as well. That’s our family favorite. I would also recommend saying goodbye to your canned coconut juice/water and grab the real young coconuts instead.

We do that sometimes and nori / collard wraps are also something I suggest incorporating into your families weekly meals.

Also, switch any/all sugars in the house to high quality raw honey. Don’t sweeten everything either.

Use only sea salt on your foods!

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