Spicy Bloody Mary
For those craving a more savory option, or who may have over-indulged the night before, this healthy Bloody Mary is sure to satisfy. If your "hair of the dog" Sunday brunch go-to is the Bloody Mary, why don't you try the alcohol-free (and waaay healthier) version?
Ingredients
4 ounces fresh tomato juice (if buying from the store, try for low sugar and sodium, or make your own)
2 ounces fresh carrot juice (you can also try celery juice)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 to 2 teaspoons turmeric, to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped basil, parsley, or cilantro (optional)
½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon Horseradish (or more if you like more heat, also optional)
3 to 4 drops olive oil
Lime or lemon wedge, sea salt (or celery salt), and black pepper for rimming the glass
Garnish of choice
This is your chance to get creative and go beyond the requisite celery and lemon wedge! Pickled anything is amazing—try green beans, asparagus, carrots, okra, and baby onions. You can also add protein—turkey bacon or shrimp are interesting options.
Directions
Run the lime or lemon wedge around the rim of the class, and then turn upside down into a small plate with the salt and pepper. Carefully combine the remaining ingredients in the glass, add a couple of ice cubes, a sprinkle of pepper, and your garnish!
Sparkling Grapefruit Rosemary Mocktail
Rosemary is such a beautiful aromatic, I just can't get enough! (I also use it in floral bouquets around the house!) What is your favourite herb?
Ingredients
Rosemary Simple Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
3 sprigs of rosemary
Mocktail (per 4 servings):
2 cups pink or ruby red grapefruit juice
1/4 cup of the rosemary simple syrup
4 cups sparkling water
Directions
To make the rosemary syrup:
In a small sauce pan on the stove, add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of granulated sugar over medium heat. Dissolve the sugar (this should take about 5 minutes). Do not let the mixture boil or crystals will form. Once the sugar has dissolved, pour the simple syrup into a heat safe container. Add 3 sprigs of rosemary and let steep for at least one hour. The syrup will keep in the refrigerator for ten days.
Mocktail (per 1 serving):
Fill glass halfway with ice. Add 1/2 cup grapefruit juice into your glass. Add 1 Tablespoon (1/2 oz) of your homemade rosemary simple syrup. Stir. Fill the remainder of the glass with sparkling water (about 1 cup). Garnish with rosemary sprig and sliced grapfruit.
Fruity "Noijto"
Mojitos are so versatile and SO easy to make... I like watermelon (when I'm in the tropics) or raspberries (when I'm somewhere they are in season) in mine, but it could just as easily be blueberries, strawberries, pomegranate, or classic mint and lime. What variation do you prefer?
Ingredients
Small handful of mint leaves 4 cubes of watermelon or 8 berries (give or take)
Juice of 1 lime
1 Tbsp of cane sugar (or more or less to taste - I like mine tart)
Ice
Soda water to taste
To garnish
Mint leaves
Lime slices
Fruit of choice
Directions
Combine the mint, fruit or berries, lime juice and sugar in a glass and muddle everything together. The muddling step is important. Despite how fragrant mint is, those leaves won’t give up their flavor until you press them! But you don’t want to crush them. Top with some ice and soda water, garnish and serve.
Pomegranate Lassi
What does Friday mean for you? Is it going out to the club, staying in with a good book, or visiting with girlfriends?
No matter what activity you're partaking in this weekend, a fabulous Pomegranate Lassi might be the perfect compliment to your celebration. Lassi is one of the super foods that infuses your body with tons of energy without having too many calories, which I know we can all appreciate.
Ingredients
½ cup of Pomegranate seeds
1 cup of thick yogurt, Greek yogurt or coconut yogurt
A pinch of cardamom powder
2 tablespoon honey or sugar
½ teaspoon kewra essence or rose-water
A few pistachios to garnish
A few pomegranate seeds to garnish
Directions
First grind or blend the pomegranate seeds. Then sieve the juice to get rid of any crushed seeds. Chop few pistachios and put the rest for garnishing. Now in a big mixing bowl add yogurt, pomegranate juice, pistachios, cardamom and honey. Mix everything thoroughly with a whisk (for this step you can also use hand blender). Now you will see that froth has formed on the top of the lassi... that’s exactly what you want! Pour into individual glasses. Garnish with crushed Pistachios and few pomegranate seeds. Serve it chilled. You can also add one ice-cube to the serving glass to keep the lassi chilled.
Sangria Sans Alcohol
Ingredients:
2 cups boiling water
2 black tea bags (or 2 teaspoons loose-leaf tea in an infuser; decaf tea is fine)
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup sugar (or honey)
3 cups pomegranate juice
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 medium orange, sliced into thin rounds
1 medium lemon, sliced into thin rounds
1 medium lime, sliced into thin rounds
1 medium apple, cored and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2-4 medium strawberries, sliced into thin rounds
3 cups carbonated water
Directions:
Pour the boiling water over tea bags and cinnamon sticks and steep for 5 minutes. Discard tea bags and stir in sugar to dissolve. In a large jar or pitcher, combine tea, cinnamon sticks, pomegranate juice, orange juice, orange, lemon, lime, and apple. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (preferably overnight). Just before serving, stir in carbonated water. Serve in glasses over ice.
Rosemary Blueberry Fizz
Ingredients:
7-8 Blueberries
1 Rosemary sprig, stripped
1 oz Honey syrup
1 oz Fresh lemon juice, strained
4 oz Sparkling mineral water
Ice
Directions:
Gently muddle blueberries, rosemary leaves, and honey syrup in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add lemon juice and shake, covered, with ice vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain through a mesh strainer into a tall glass of fresh ice. Top with sparkling water and stir to incorporate. Garnish with additional blueberries and rosemary.
Strawberry Chamomile Mocktini
Drinking less doesn't mean you have to bore your taste buds! Take time to make yourself something special every once in a while. Today I'm trying out this refreshing mhocktini!
Ingredients:
1 oz Elderflower Cordial
½ oz Simple Syrup
½ oz Ginger Base
4 oz Chamomile
1 Strawberry
5 Mint leaves
Orange and lemon wedge
Directions:
Muddle strawberry with simple syrup and ginger base. Add the elderflower and chamomile and five mint leaves along with the orange and lemon wedge. Add ice and shake before straining into a cocktail coupe.
My entire life has led up to this moment...
Hi,
How are you today?
Popping into your inbox to remind you of something very important.
You have a choice:
stay the same,
do it the way they tell you to,
or carve your own path.
You are NOT powerless, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
You are powerful beyond belief.
THIS is the basis of Redefining Sobriety.
It is more than “just another program.”
It is a movement.
It is a new path, one you haven’t been offered before.
One that has been a lifetime in the making.
Did you know that I have 20 years of experience leading up to this?
Yes you read that right. 20 YEARS!
I started as a peer volunteer when I was 15 years old. I was one of the first rural youth trained by YouthCO AIDS Society, Canada’s only youth-led HIV/AIDS awareness and education organization.
That led to a lot of firsts:
I was one of the first youth facilitators hired by a government initiative to travel around the project and do workshops on topics such as celebrating diversity, preventing sexual violence and bullying, at age 17.
I was one of the youngest enrolled in my Child and Youth Care Counselling program (my first diploma). In fact, I had a wait a year because they wouldn’t let me enroll until I was 18.
I was the first Hepatitis C and harm reduction coordinator for YouthCO at age 19.
I created the first youth-led project for youth actively using methamphetamines, at age 21.
I became Vancouver’s first Youth Advocate Mentor, reporting directly to City Hall on behalf of Children and Youth, at age 22.
I co-founded Youth RISE, the first and only global youth-led harm reduction network, at age 24.
This work transformed into several other “firsts” including developing the first regional drug policy reform strategy in SouthEast Asia and Cambodia’s first Drug Strategy for Family Health International.
That was career that you sometimes hear me reference. Yes, the one that led to extreme burnout. But that wasn’t my career’s fault. I grew up in this work from a very young age. I didn’t know how to take care of myself or cope with the huge emotional burden I shouldered by doing this kind of work.
For awhile, I stopped talking about it. It’s as if I was born again 6 years ago, when I left Cambodia and moved to Mexico. And again 4 years ago when I redefined my relationship to alcohol once and for all. I spend a lot of time referencing my recent history, however it’s my 20+ years of work experience that actually lays the foundation of unique approach I take with my work.
All of this work had several key common themes:
-
Being “client” focused, and asking the group most affected what solutions would work best for THEM
-
Outside of the box and nonlinear
-
Explicitly empowering, non-judgement and anti-oppressive
-
Solutions focused - looking at where the gaps in current services are, and creating new ones
-
All about restoring dignity and power
-
All about celebrating uniqueness and aliveness
So you see, in a way, I’ve always done this.
My work is so intuitive because it has lived inside of me for so long.
The specific focus around alcohol and holistic healing was added because of my own journey.
That’s what Redefining Sobriety is all about.
It’s the umbrella for everything I’ve learned and created and implemented for the past 20+ years.
That’s why it would mean so much for you to join me in the very first Redefining Sobriety Program.
It’s 9 weeks, but you get a LIFETIME of participation.
That’s right - this program will launch again in the new year, at a much higher price point, but you get to join again, for free. And the next time it launches, and the next until either you don’t need it anymore or I stop doing it.
We start on October 30.
No sales page, no frills, no promo right now (all that’s coming in the new year).
This invitation is going out to my current list only and I want to keep the first group intimate.
You will have access to EVERYTHING I KNOW and have created so far.
This will be the playground for testing Redefining Sobriety.
Yes, it will be work, we will go deep, but it will also be a lot of FUN!
There will be LIVE weekly calls and worksheets and Facebook support.
All you need to do is submit your payment of $227 here.
If you’ve worked with me before, either privately or in a group, you can receive your lifetime membership for 50%!!! One-time payment of $113.
There are only 3 spots left for this lifetime offer.
Will you join us?
xoxo
Is this for you?
Hi,
How are you this week?
Have you ever saw someone taking a different approach - something you yourself would never do- and scratched your head thinking, what on earth, how does that work, WHY?
Like someone who is into extreme sports, or a particular diet, or religion.
They might be someone you really love or admire or respect, yet you can’t imagine spending your time or focus doing that they chose to do.
While I was studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, we learned about the concept of bio-individuality, which is the now scientifically proven theory that no one diet or nutritional approach works for everyone.
So how did it come to be that there is only one prescribed approach to problems with alcohol?
Before 1935, there was very little in the way of support or study of both the brain and effective addictions treatment. When Alcoholics Anonymous was established that year, it filled a void. The seemingly simply approach it offered - lifelong abstinence from alcohol - combined with a prescribed step-by-step program, quickly became the go-to approach. However, due to the tenets of anonymity and lack of records kept by the amorphous groups, its efficacy has never been properly studied.
Yet AA and the offshoot 12 step programs who claim that one drink might as well equal 100 and peg relapse as a personal failure are the norm. The proliferation of these community-based groups has absolved governments of having to fund and provide evidence-based treatment options.
There is no denying this approach has worked for some who have dedicated their lives to it (including close friends and family members of mine). I am not challenging that it can work for those who work it (one of the AA slogans).
However, according to a study by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, nine out of 10 heavy drinkers are NOT dependent on alcohol and, with the help of a medical professional’s brief intervention, can change unhealthy drinking habits.
Don’t you think it’s high time for other approaches that honour our bio-individuality, our unique histories, and desires for the future, our different personalities, our intuition?
Which is why I am introducing an alternative….
Drumroll please...
Let me present you with: Redefining Sobriety!
Redefining Sobriety is for you if:
-
You resist having someone tell you it has to be done a certain way
-
You’ve heard about or tried programs that require life-long abstinence and know intuitively that it’s not for you
-
You want to self-define what feels like a “problem,” or not
-
You’d rather not be labelled (you feel they are restrictive and disempowering)
-
You’re interested in holistic approaches that include mind, body and spirit
-
You know that you are NOT powerless
-
You are so ready to start showing up fully, for yourself and life (instead of staying stuck in the same cycle of self-disappointment)
-
You long for a space where you can share your full self, your ups and downs, without ever being judged
-
You want to create your own path to healing, and all you need is some accountability, support, and new tools and strategies
-
You are ready to look in the mirror and feel fully proud of the person looking back at you
During this 9 week beta program, I will share the three pillars of Redefining Sobriety:
-
Your Unique Plan (future writing, getting clear on your vision, your full life circle, the new “AA” aka your personalized alcohol agreement, strategies tailored uniquely to you)
-
Your Empowered Ownership (mindset, heartset, confidence, clarity and accountability)
-
Your Exquisite Life (making a life so incredible that a drink feels like an afterthought, not the main event)
This is not a band-aid or a quick fix.
It is not a prescription, or a one-size fits all model.
You CREATE your vision, you OWN your story, you DECIDE your path.
If you have never worked with me before, join now and receive a LIFETIME membership (yes, you participate in this first beta round AND EVERY TIME THE PROGRAM LAUNCHES AGAIN, until either I stop doing it or you stop needing it ;) for only $227. Just click here.
If you have been a private client, purchased the Drink Less Be More Masterclass, or are a current Be More member, you can join now and receive a LIFETIME membership for 50% off, that’s $113. Whaaaaat? I know. But I love you and appreciate everything we’ve done together. And I would love nothing more than for you to join me in this next phase of the journey. Just click here.
There are very limited spots available in this super special beta group (with the lifetime membership bonus).
Six are already spoken for - is one of the remaining spots yours?
xoxo
I really want you to know
I want you to know…
You are not broken.
You are not a label.
You are not powerless.
You don’t have to fit into a box.
You get to decide.
You pick your path.
You are in control.
You are free.
If you’ve been told “there is only one way” - and yet your intuition told you otherwise.
If you’ve tried “their way” but it didn’t feel right.
If you are ready to live your “best yes” in the most authentically aligned way possible.
Redefining Sobriety is for you.
This is my life’s work. I know this with absolutely certainty and I will tell you why in my next email.
For now, I want you to know what whatever you are dreaming for yourself IS possible.
During this 9 week program, I will take you through a step by step process based on the 3 pillars of Redefining Sobriety:
-
Creating Your Unique Plan (all of my best strategies, uniquely tailored to you)
-
Developing Ownership Over Your Choices (mindset, heartset, confidence, clarity and accountability)
-
Living an Exquisite Life (making a life so incredible that a drink feels like an afterthought, not the main event... and yes, you are "allowed" to drink, if you want to!)
Will you join me in creating a revolution?
I believe that the “sober recovery industry” needs some new alternatives.
I am convinced with every cell in my body and all my soul that Redefining Sobriety can provide a powerful choice, in particular for women who have had enough with feeling powerless.
I’m inviting YOU to be a co-creator in the movement.
If you have never worked with me before, join now and receive a LIFETIME membership (yes, you participate in this first beta round AND EVERY TIME THE PROGRAM LAUNCHES AGAIN, until either I stop doing it or you stop needing it ;) for only $227. Just click here.
If you have been a private client, purchased the Drink Less Be More Masterclass, or are a current Be More member, you can join now and receive a LIFETIME membership for 50% off, that’s $113. Whaaaaat? I know. But I love you and appreciate everything we’ve done together. And I would love nothing more than for you to join me on this next phase of the journey. Just click here.
There is no website or sales page yet, that’s coming in the New Year.
I will be sending more info during the next week and am happy to answer any questions you have (just send me a message).
I’m just so thrilled to get started and want us to be together all the way until the holidays.
First module released the Week of October 30th. There will be weekly calls taking you all the way until Christmas.
Finish this year strong and supported.
I have limited spots available in this beta group (aka most intimate and amazing community) so please don’t delay.
If you’ve worked with me before or you are currently enrolled, click here for $113.
Remember, this is a lifetime membership to all Redefining Sobriety group programs!!!
Will you join us?
xoxo