If you have ever stumbled upon UF senior Carly Gross’ blog, Culinary Karma, you are sure to be inspired. Gross shares her recipes and health advice like an open diary to her readers.
I interviewed Gross on her personal and professional journey to find health and nutrition. Here is what she has to say.
How did you come up with the title of your blog Culinary Karma? What got you interested in writing about nutrition?
I came up with the name for my blog, Culinary Karma, when I first started cooking and preparing healthful meals for myself. I could barely eat out anywhere; so healthy eating began in my own kitchen. Karma, in simple terms, expresses that what goes around come around. So, when I consciously create nourishing meals for my body, my life can only be more nourishing in many ways.
About four years ago, I got sick. I had horrible digestive issues and no doctor could help me! They all gave me different medications to try, which all technically put a Band-Aid on the original issue, and really just made me worse. I started doing my own extensive research and healing my body holistically- through healing diets, cleanses, and energy work. By doing so, it allowed me to heal not only my body but also my life. I started culinary karma to share all of the healing dishes that I made for myself as well as to get health information out there.
How long have you been making healthy eating habits a priority?
I was always interested in healthy eating. It started when I was a little girl, just innately. I started helping my mom pack healthful lunches when I was in middle school, and my love for nourishment just grew from there!
What can readers find on Culinary Karma different from other health-related blogs and websites?
One of the things that my blog offers that many don’t are the words directly from my heart on how to follow your intuition about diet and nutrition. There is so much confusing information out there, and each and every one of us requires different dietary needs. Your body knows best, and this is one of the things I stress! The recipes I share are also very clean- no gluten, no sugar, and no refined or packaged products! I don’t focus on being raw, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or any names like that. I just eat nourishing food.
What is your biggest food weakness?
You know, I wouldn’t call anything a food weakness. When you start eating a traditional holistic diet, your body stops craving processed foods like sugar. Traditional cookies don’t even phase me. Raw cacao truffles on the other hand…that’s a different story! But no, I still would not call that a weakness!
What is your favorite produce and why? What is your favorite recipe on Culinary Karma?
This is such a hard question for me because I love them all so much! Raw zucchini is great because it’s so versatile: I love to make raw “spaghetti noodles” out of it with my peeler or spiralizer. It’s also a great add-in for smoothies or sauces to get that cream factor. Although low glycemic fruits like berries, apples, and grapefruit are the best for keeping blood sugar stable, I can’t help but fall in love with the tropical fruits, such as bananas, mangos, lychees and persimmons. Grapes have also always been my favorite. And I can’t forget avocados and coconut. Healthy fats are a total yes for me.
My favorite recipe on my website, that’s another hard question. The best one for health supporting would be my fermented cabbage – sauerkraut - recipe. It’s simple, and you can pair it with lunch or dinner. My favorite dessert recipe would have to be the raw blueberry streusel bars. My favorite nourishing dinner would be the tomato-tahini spice stir. I also have 20 more delicious recipes in a free Ebook that viewers get when they sign up for my newsletter from my site.
On your site you say you are a vegetarian. Do you eat dairy? Do you think meat is harmful to the body and from what sources do you get protein?
I’m actually not a strict vegetarian, but that’s only if I can get my hands on a great organic and wild caught fish, which is quite rare. The human body is constantly in motion and changing, one diet regimen couldn’t possibly work for your whole life. That’s why I change mine up a bit here and there. The dairy that I will consume is raw goats kefir (fermented milk healthy for the gut) and raw goats cheese. Goat products are easier digested than cows, and the term raw means unpasteurized. No machines or factories are used in the making process. I do eat the occasional egg as well. But, for the most part, my protein comes from lots of leafy greens, hemp seeds, chia seeds, spirulina, bee pollen, quinoa and raw vegan protein powders in my smoothies. These are my favorite forms of protein, as they are much easier to digest and assimilate.
What advice can you give to those beginning to practice clean eating for the first time?
To those beginning to practice clean eating, my biggest advice would be to eat at home and cook with love. Love is the missing ingredient in all commercial and restaurant foods. We all know grandma’s cookies taste better and her secret ingredient is love. Enjoy what you eat, enjoy what you cook, make it fun, and spread the love through healthful eating.
Stay fresh! Buy organic and local foods. They contain more minerals and no anti-nutrients. Especially with all your meat and dairy products! Include healthy fats like avocado, coconut oil and ghee to nourish your brain. Fat-free diets are so last year. Starving yourself does not work either. Going to class on an empty stomach and waiting all day until your big meal at dinner is stressing your hormones, adrenals, and neurotransmitters. Opt for a healthy breakfast instead.
What advice can you give to someone who is on the path to clean eating but isn't able to kick out those bad habits like binging, for example?
This is something that I’ve had to think about a lot lately, as I’ve talked to so many girls about the subject. To be completely honest, I used to do it too. We usually binge not because we want physical sweetness from the food, or because we are physically hungry. We usually binge from an underlying factor of sadness, grief, lack of worthiness, or from being lonely. When we can recognize this underlying factor, breathe through it, love it, and accept it, we can move past the issue.
In general, I see people who binge are starving themselves of nutrients during the day. Load up on vegetables and healthy fats and the craving may diminish.
What are the most important points to remember when eating out or grocery shopping when trying to stay healthy?
As for the grocery store, try to ditch it for the farmers market whenever possible! That way, there are no unhealthy options to even choose from. But, if you’re going to the grocery store- usually stay on the outside of the store. The middle is where all the packaged products are that are robbing you of your health.
I try to find healthful restaurants wherever I go. If they don’t exist, I simply eat at home.
There are so many diets out there - sugar-free, calorie counting, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, mediterranean, fruitiarian, etc. How can we find what works for our body without succumbing the fad diets? Do you think any of these diets work in the long run?
This is one of the things that I touch upon in lots of my blog posts. I believe that following something so strictly is actually a stressor in the body. We need to be flexible. We are inherently flexible beings. I’ve basically tried every single diet to ever exist. The best diet is your own intuition. These diets are all fads, and although some may be helpful in the short term, if they are too dogmatic when it becomes difficult to eat with friends or function in normal society, that usually can tell you something.
As for gluten-free and sugar-free diets, these are a necessity for anyone battling any type of digestion, immune or hormonal problem. Both ingredients rob the body of nutrients it needs.
Have you personally helped friends, family or readers come to eat more holistically? If so, what was that experience like?
Yes, that’s my favorite part of this whole experience. I love helping others cleanse their bodies from years of processed foods, antibiotics, birth control, and more. I’m actually in the process of helping my sister with kicking the sugar cravings and healing the gut. I love what I do.
The 21-year-old writer plans to graduate early in August and become a wellness counselor and health coach. She plans to focus on digestive wellness, hormone care and a holistic living.
Carly does phone Skype sessions with women with the initial call at $60. She can advise on any related issues including food cravings, Candida, digestive issues, regulating hormones, binging, etc.
