Aron - Nourish & glow: naturally beautifying foods & elixirs

ALSO BY JULES ARON Zen and Tonic: Savory and Fresh Cocktails for the Enlightened DrinkerVegan Cheese: Simple, Delicious, Plant-Based RecipesFresh & Pure: Organically Crafted Beauty Balms & CleansersTo my loving parents, who instilled in me, in equal doses, a great love and appreciation for good food and the importance of taking responsibility for your own health.And to all of you passionate foodies, heres to living each day with the freedom to choose whats right for you and to supporting each other in the global shift to a healthier, more beautiful world.

A life of beauty begins one nourishing meal at a time. I grew up around the kitchen table. For my family, food was everything. My father owned and managed several restaurants, while my mom worked as a chef in some of the most prestigious international hotels. Together, they instilled in me a deep appreciation for whole foods and the dining experience. Between the frequent dinner parties they loved to host and the quality of food they chose to serve, they taught me that the best food involve basic techniques, fresh ingredients, and a whole lot of love. While my interests have long gravitated toward natural healing modalities, integrative nutrition, and a holistic approach to wellness, I also spent many years working in the service industry, and my approach to food will always be as a passionate foodie, first and foremost.

In fact, most people who know me would surely attest that I care passionately about what goes into my body yet refuse to eat food that simply isnt delicious. It is with this simple philosophy in mind that Ive written this book, taking care that each recipe is easy to make, healthful and nourishing, and always bursting with flavor. In our busy, digitally driven lives, preparing and sharing a small, thoughtful bite that brings us back to something pure and tactile is a beautiful way to nourish both body and soul. It is with much love in my heart that I present this collection of revitalizing, beautifying, and truly guilt-free plant-based recipes to help you celebrate your truest expression of beauty.

Although most of us would surely agree that our character and personality play a much more significant role in our overall attractiveness, our skin speaks volumes on our beauty as well. Physical glow is, after all, a direct reflection of our inner health.

Yet very few of us truly take the time to recognize the control we actually have over our own physical, mental, and spiritual beauty. It is time to take back our glow. The deepest, most profound change we can make to our health, beauty, and overall well-being starts in the kitchen. The foods we eat support our bodys beautifying processes, breaking down into molecular building blocks and directly impacting the glow of our skin, the shine of our hair, and the radiance emanating from our very being. The root of most illnesses is stagnation of the bodys pathways and impaction of waste matter in its cells and tissues. Stagnation of the bodys pathways creates a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses to thrive, triggering illness.

Our skin is often the first place to show signs of this distress. Processed, refined, and artificial foods are extremely difficult and often impossible for the body to break down, remaining in our system to occupy clean, healthy cells. Plants, on the other hand, absorb the powerful life force from the sun in the form of chlorophyll and bring that powerful energy into every cell in our body. The foods we consume on a daily basis can either deplete us or invigorate us. Pack your diet with natures most powerfully beautifying foods and deeply transform how you look and feel.

The Pretty Zen philosophy is deeply rooted in finding, balancing, and maintaining wholesome beauty in a modern world.

Part philosophy, part lifestyle, Pretty Zen takes natural healing modalities, Eastern philosophies, integrative nutrition, and an overall holistic approach to well-being and applies them to a modern way of life. It is a natural outlook with an underlying belief that there may be no greater pursuit than a life well loved. The following beauty nutrition principles are at the core of the Pretty Zen philosophy and the beauty-boosting recipes in this book will help your body detox, repair, and prepare for your most radiant self. ENZYMES: Enzymes are catalysts. On a physical level, enzymes help overcome digestive stagnation. They help with building raw materials, distributing nutrients, hormone balancing, and detoxification.

On a spiritual level, they help fill you with vitality and overcome lethargy. Enzyme-rich foods are activated and sprouted nuts and seeds, pineapple, papaya, mango, avocado, olive oils, and coconut oil. RAW FOODS: Any whole food that has not been heated above 115F has preserved its living enzymes and is considered raw. Enjoying an abundance of raw foods helps you load up on enzymes, minerals, and phytonutrients essential for restored digestion, increased energy, sharpened brain power, and glowing skin. That being said, raw foods can be difficult to digest if you are not in the habit of consuming them. Always pair raw vegetables with an abundance of healthy fats for easier digestion and nutrient absorption.

MINERALS: Everything we are physically made of, including our teeth, bones, skin, and internal organs, are composed of colloidal minerals, the living minerals found in plants. Eating an abundance of mineral-rich foods ensures that your body gets the collagen and connective tissue matter to nourish your skin, hair, and nails. Cooked starchy foods containing high carbohydrates, such as bread, rice, pasta, white flour products, and refined sugar, run minerals out of the body and create blood sugar fluctuations. They also often lead to fungus, yeast, and mold overgrowth in the body. ALKALINITY: The human bodys ideal pH range is between 7.35 and 7.40, providing the optimal working environment for the bodys fluids and tissues. Our blood pH is naturally alkaline.

Foods rich in alkaline mineralscalcium, magnesium, silicon, iron, sodium, and manganesecreate alkalinity in the body and help magnetize waste matter out of the cells. Foods rich in acidic mineralsphosphorous, chlorine, iodine, nitrogen, and sulfurare also needed to be healthy and in balance; however, an excess of acidity throws our blood pH out of balance and can lead to inflammation, water retention, stiffness, and tissue degeneration. AMINO ACIDS: Twenty percent of the human body is made up of protein. Proteins are large, complex molecules that are critical for the normal functioning of the human body. They are essential for the structure, function, and regulation of the bodys tissues and organs. Proteins are made up of hundreds of smaller units called amino acids that are attached to one another by peptide bonds, forming a long chain.

The twenty amino acids that are found within proteins convey a vast array of chemical versatility. Humans can produce ten of the twenty amino acids. The others must be obtained in food on a daily basis because, unlike fat and starch, the human body does not store excess amino acids for later use. Its a common misconception that animal protein is superior to the protein found in plant foods. Plant-based foods are a source of all amino acids and are easier for the body to digest. It is also not necessary to combine plant proteins at each meal to form complete proteins.

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