Interview: The Pleasure Principal
IT IS MY BELIEF THAT FOOD IS THE QUINTESSENTIAL, ALCHEMICAL KEY TO TOTAL TRANSFORMATION.
The beautiful Ashli Carnicelli, The Skincare Belle, honors me with an interview about the motto I live by and how we can all achieve an optimal state of wellbeing.
Ashli (AKA SKB): âOh Gabrielle! I am so happy to be talking with you and sharing your amazing-ness and all of the beautiful things that you do. You are such a Renaissance woman- a natural health activist and specialist, a coach, an Entrepreneur, a Mom of beautiful twin boys- you literally do it all! I would like to know what your focus is now- I know that for a while you were pure raw vegan- is that still a practice for you?â
Gabrielle: âI still eat a ton of raw foods, but Iâve evolved from being 100% raw foods/raw vegan, just from my own studies and what my body has needed. So, it is still something that is a part of my life, but my focus has become more rounded because of my studies in Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine and in BioIndividuality. Itâs really about the whole body and what the individual needs. Feeling good shouldnât be a sin, it should be something WE strive for every day. Thereâs no need to feel guilty about what we put on our skin or what we put into our body, to who we hang out with, and what we chose to think, and how we choose to live.This PHILOSOPHY has become a very important message WITHIN MY COACHING, guilt-free pleasure. â
SKB: âI love it. I love it. So, when you started changing the way you ate, primarily eating raw food and eating vegan in the beginning, did you notice changes in your skin?â
GB:
âOh absolutely! What I loved and what I still love about eating such a pure diet is that you just are beaming! There is something SO SPECIAL that happens when a person chooses to become raw vegan for a while â it is a cleansing way of living. Your body goes through a period of completely letting go of everything itâs held onto for years. At the same time youâre cleaning and if done correctly, youâre simultaneously feeding your body an incredible amount of nutrients and vitamins, that had been missing. The result, a big beamy glow.
When you think about it, itâs how we wake up to a certain level of ideology about our nutrition and health, right?⌠we begin to let go of what we used to do and we try on something like organic or all raw or all vegan and or, all of the above â the cleansing that your body goes through is SO pure. Your skin is just glowing- you wake up and roll out of bed and look in the mirror, and the glow that you have when eating such a pure lifestyle is phenomenal. I do believe that being a raw vegan is great for a period of time. And then I believe itâs important to look at where we need to re-build our body. That looks different for every individual. As does any specific element of a lifestyle.â
âI was vegan for 15 years and a raw vegan for 10 of those 15 years. When I became pregnant with the twins, I thought I could ignore the cravings that I had in the 4th or 5th month. They got stronger by the 6th month and it was then I had my first bit or organic grass-fed meat. My body was like âOh my God thank you SO much!!â [laughter from both] And all of a sudden I had energy, and my brain fog went away. It was very emotionally and spiritually trying (eating meat) but I couldnât deny what the nutritional needs were while growing two babies! I think there comes that point of philosophy versus science, at times.â
SKB: âOmigosh absolutely! 100%! You know, when I did my yoga teacher training and I studied with Lama Migmar, he went vegan for a long time. He realized it did not agree with him physically even though spiritually it did. From a physical and from an evolutionary standpoint, heâs from Tibet. His ancestors relied on meat as one of their primary sources of nutrition and that has not changed for him as a descendant. He told us that if you go to a store and choose organic grass fed meat that karmically, itâs not so bad because the meat is there- it is already dead. He said it would be different if you either killed it yourself or if you chose it and had someone kill it for you. So he said in modern society the spiritual and karmic implications are different.â
GB: âExactly! Exactly. I read John Robbinsâ book âHealthy to 100â and he was looking at the different cultures and looking at the people who were healthfully living to 100 and were still active and looked youthful and still had physical activity in their life. They all had a little bit of animal product, whether it was fish, or meat, eggs, or dairy. What they had, depended on where they were geographically â but they had some kind of animal product, even if it was something like 4 ounces for the whole week! The point being, it was still in their diet. That was the other piece that was fascinating for me. I totally geek out and I like to understand the science behind things but Iâm also a philosopherâŚbut in thinking about just that piece alone, of âwhat does our body need?â looking at the person as an individual, we really have to put dogma aside. We have to look at what is necessary for a personâs body in order for them to have that radiant glow. That crazy, brilliant, beaming glow!â
SKB: âWhat is your beauty and health philosophy?â
GB: âGreat question! [pauses thoughtfully] Pleasure. Right?! [laughter] I mean⌠on the simplest level, are we making choices that make us feel happy? Do they give us pleasure? As you know, Ashli, Iâm obsessed with eating foods that are simply delicious and offer profound nutrition for the body. Cacao, raw chocolate, herbal elixirs, and then of course meals that are cooked with whole foods; at the root, my philosophy for beauty is really on the simplest level- making choices that make us feel good about ourselves. As goes my motto, âThere are no rules, only choices.â This idea that we have to do this âone thingâ in order to achieve this one result- is a lie! It is an absolute lie and it keeps us chained into dogmas and belief systems that are outdated. I also think that some of these belief systems that weâve accepted as a culture are emotional responses to the abuse weâve witnessed to the planet and the animals in commercial farming and agriculture, which I myself, can align with. So, to speak to the philosophy of beauty and health, it is just as easy to make a choice to eat an organic, scrumptious, totally decadent raw food meal that offers powerful nutrition, or an organic cooked meal with grass fed meat, or whatever it is that you choose for your body that makes you feel strong, healthy and vibrant. Whatever that choice is, thatâs what we should be doing every single day. When weâre happy with the choices we make, weâre happy in life! Thereâs two kinds of glow â thereâs the âMy Body is Healthyâ glow and then thereâs the âIâm Fucking HAPPY!â glow. And when you put those two together? Well, youâre beaming!â
SKB: [laughter from both] âOh my God this is everything! And also- just a side note- to me there is no food that gives me more pleasure than dark chocolate. Cacao. Holy molyâ GB: âOh you know Iâm obsessed. Just obsessed. After all, in its latin name means âFood of the godsâ â SKB: âGabrielle makes an amazing chocolate bar called âThe ONE raw fudge barâŚwhen I was pregnant I HAD to have it!!!â GB: âFor me, cacao was and still is, an alchemical agent. It completely opened my eyes to another world.â
SKB: âWhat would you say to someone who is just beginning on a journey to becoming more health conscious and eating better, and taking better care of their skin- where should they begin?â
GB: âI think there are two to three things that we should do when we are embarking on a lifestyle change. The most important is to make realistic choices. Look at your life honestly. Look at your schedule, you commitments, and then make and honest choice. Honest choices support everlasting change. Put down the quick diet, put down the âIâm going to do a fast for 30 days and lose 60 poundsâ- I mean thatâs great it has its place- but after that- whatâs your plan? We have to make realistic choices that support lasting change. If Iâm working 40 hours a week, Iâve got kids, Iâve got a husband, my weekends are spent doing family activities plus making sure the house is clean, plus working on projects, hobbies and or passions, what choices can I make that are realistic in maintaining the healthy choice? For example, saying, âIâm going to replace my lunch every day with a smoothie, a smoothie that still is a meal replacement and filled with whole food nutrients that tastes divine. Is this a realistic change that you could sustain and do for a year or the rest of your life even? You might be like, âYou know what? Iâm fine with having lunch as my smoothie, and yes Iâm going to go out to lunch sometimes, but in general Iâm going to have a smoothie at lunch time.â Instead of saying, âIâm going to have a SlimFast for every meal for the next monthâ SKB: âUgh. Ugh. Terrible! Youâre going to be starving for the next month and have no energy from no protein and no nutrients!â
GB: âYes exactly! Terrible! And completely unrealistic for the capacity of the lives we lead!â
GB: âTwo, go all organic. Itâs Easy! Just look at what youâre eating and choose organic. Start there. Sometimes with my clients when I first work with them, Iâm like âOk- the only thing I want you to do for the next 3 weeks is eat organic foodâ and theyâre like, âThatâs it?â I say, âDo that, and talk to me in 2 weeksâ. Within a week Iâm getting emails saying, âOh my God my headaches are goneâŚâ or âI lost 10 pounds!â or, âMy sugar cravings have stopped!â Itâs powerful because there was an awareness brought to the kind of food they are putting in their body â they learn to read labels and the changes are significant and profound. Then step three would be to add two or three powerful, super foods to the diet. Of course, first Iâm always going to recommend raw cacao. Then maybe get some chlorella or spiralina or maca or goji berries- something that is enjoyable but that is going to put you just slightly out of your comfort zone and that you have to learn to work with. A food that makes you feel better in a way that you havenât quite felt before and yet have been looking for.â
âI think those three steps are the easiest. A realistic assessment of your lifestyle, go organic and add superfoods. They are simple steps even though they require, at times, massive perspective shifts.â
SKB: âI love this though because it shifts it from being punitive, to actually doing things out of self love. Coming from a place of âI want to take care of myself and therefore Iâm going to eat xyz..â A SlimFast three meals a day or going on a âCleanseâ- I HATE that word in terms of a diet because if you are eating healthfully you donât need to cleanse yourself of anything because your food IS cleansingâŚit feels like youâre punishing yourself! A SlimFast for every meal? Ugh you feel like youâre being punished!â
GB: âI agree! I do believe in cleansing at the right time and if people do them with someone guiding them. In general though the three steps I mentioned are what will bring lasting change as a âway of lifeâ. And then âdiet foodâ ugh, Right?! I mean, I remember when I was a personal trainer, and eating healthy had the stigma of eating these power bars and dry chicken breasts with carrot sticks⌠are you kidding me? I want to frigginâ hurt myself!â SKB: âExactly! Itâs like youâre in a black hole with a dry piece of meat on the floor in front of you!â [laughter from both] GB: âYes! So letâs take that philosophy of eating healthfully, and just upgrade it!â
SKB: âWhat food makes you feel the best? I know Cacao is definitely one of them! What is one of your favorite high vibration superfoods?â
GB: âThereâs two things that come to mind. One is Spirulina. I adore this food. When I first was raw my body actually couldnât take it and it made me sick. I could eat Chlorella by the pound! Over time however, I could add a little but here and there. And then, I have found over the years that I would crave it. My kids eat it too- I put it in our salads on a regular basis and in our smoothies on a regular basis. Itâs great on some avocado! It just makes me feel like Iâm in the sun. I now that sounds bizarre- but it gives me that feeling of a warm strength. I feel great and I feel strong when eating it. The nutritional profile is insane of course- itâs got a very high amount of protein, vitamins A, K and B12, plus minerals and so much more. It helps with candida and weight loss. Itâs a gorgeous deep dark, blue green algae so youâre getting those important hues which is very important to our nutrition.â
SKB: âYou first introduced me to maca and goji berries. So, I used to make this little mix, and I still do, of raw local honey, goji berries, raw cacao nibs, maca powder and walnuts as my breakfast in the morning and it makes melee so happy!â
GB: âThat was me? All right!! [laughter] Oh delish! Letâs talk about that for a second. What an awesome, powerful snack. The raw honey which is a whole food â B vitamins, enzymes, immune support. Goji berries â filled with minerals, super high in Silica, Vitamin C â then you add Cacao with its 300 compound chemicals that support the function of the body, the anandamide and magnesium just to name a couple ⌠and we didnât even talk about the maca yet! I mean come on! This is exactly what Iâm talking about. That to me is a dish of pleasure and passion! It is amazing and super nutritious, it tastes phenomenal and it literally inspires more pleasure when eating it! Standing there, it is natural to ask, âWhat else can I do that feels amazing today??ââ I personally feel like I have a secret- I know the magic of these foods and the transformation that occurred from eating so consciously and powerfully. I am deeply passionate about sharing the power and deliciousness of these amazing foods and the choices we make!â
SKB: âOh Gabrielle! You are so inspiring, you have this incredible effect on people to make the smallest change that has them vibrating on a completely different frequency. I am SO honored to have chatted with you today."
The Pleasure Principal and Food As Medicine on The Skincare Belle