Category: Books

Do you BELIEVE in Green Drinks?

 

David "Avocado" Wolfe, spokesperson for the Nutribullet
David “Avocado” Wolfe, spokesperson for the Nutribullet

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GREEN DRINKS?

THE SUPER SIT-DOWN WITH SUPERFOOD SPECIALIST DAVID WOLFE (Aka the ‘NutriBullet guy’)

BY SUZANNE WEXLER
These days, celebs are obsessed with natural food diets, whether its Gwyneth promoting her latest clean-eating recipes in cookbook It’s all Good, or Jenna Dewan Tatum (Channing Tatum’s wife) downing Kimberly Snyder’s ‘Glowing Green Smoothie’ to lose her baby-weight. Indeed, from eating raw to vegan to juicing  – or to eliminating corn and bell peppers à la Gwyneth  –  A-listers are turning to nature in the hopes of cleansing their skin, their souls and their waistlines.
Enter DAVID “AVOCADO” WOLFE, the much-adored spokesperson for the NutriBullet, a $100 blender with a whopping 600-watt motor. Wolfe is a leading authority on the natural foods movement, and has authored nine books in the last twenty years on topics like raw foods, superfoods, mushroom hunting, and natural hormone strategies. On the successful infomercial, Wolfe whips up smoothies loaded with spinach, goji berry, and chia seeds, singing the merits of each ingredient along the way. And thanks to his enthusiasm, mass audiences are now swallowing heaps of kale just like Gwyneth, Jenna, Jessica (Alba) and Fergie. Heck, I’m chugging a leafy mango-berry concoction right now.
But no matter how willing I am to go with the movement’s flow and ‘drink the drink’, the skeptic in me does have a few questions for the bright-eyed bushy-tailed natural foods expert: How do laypeople navigate the incredibly complex world of natural foods? Does a single green drink really do anything? Just like his smoothies, Wolfe’s answers were an unexpected, delightful blend:
From raw foods to superfoods, there are a lot of different diets that you advocate.  Is someone supposed to do them all or just pick and choose what’s relevant to them?
It’s more pick and choose what’s relevant.  For example, in Montreal, I’ve been able to inspire a number of mushroom hunters.  Then there’s the superfood bit, which is something a lot of athletes really tune into.
 
But how are people supposed to know what they might need, health-wise?  In addition to reading relevant books and literature, should they consult a doctor or naturopath? 
Great question. Some people like the analytical western data, which is cool.  I’m all for it. In that case, they should see a western trained doctor, or integrative doctor, and get analytical data on their hair for example, or blood work, or hormone levels.  It’s really good to get that baseline information.
Then some people are like ‘I’m my own best doctor.  I’m my own best nutritionist.  I’m going to go with my intuition.’ […] And so that’s [another] tool that’s available.
 

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SW: Do you know about Paul Offit? He recently wrote a book called ‘Do you Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine’, plus a New York Times Op-Ed challenging the overuse of megavitamins and antioxidants. 

DAW:  Yeah.  I know who you’re talking about.

SW:  I thought you might.  So he was saying that overuse of antioxidants might be potentially damaging, and that too much vitamin A and E might cause cancer. He alleges that the natural food industry lacks scientific research and regulation. How do respond to that?

DAW:  Here’s the thing. We live in a world where alternative medicine has been vilified by mainstream western medicine. The analytical research that we’d love to do in alternative medicine has been blocked quite strongly by western prejudices for some time. Now this is breaking down in recent years.  We’re starting to see a little bit more of the type of research that we’d want to have happen.

SW:  So do think there are merits, say, to being on a 10 percent superfood diet, and a 30 percent raw food diet, or do you think people need to go to extremes to see benefits?

DAW:  Well I think everybody has to do the piece that makes sense to them. If I make a crazy superfood, super herb drink, I think people feel benefits from that immediately.  I’ve seen that. So I’m not one of these people that says it has to be all [or nothing] to get any benefit[…].  But what I like to do is to continue to expand the choices of superfoods and organic herbs and organic foods in general. I also [advocate] eating more fresh, raw food.

SW:  Speaking of superfoods, what’s your relationship to the NutriBullet company? 

DAW: Well, it’s not my company, but I’m a spokesperson and consultant for the company.  And I’ve been deeply involved in the development of the recipes and of the product itself. It’s been a runaway success for all of us. I’ve always wanted to be on TV selling blender foods ever since I can remember, since I was 10 years old actually. To me, the NutriBullet is like a dream come true.

SW: You really dreamed of selling blenders?

DAW:  Yeah, I had the dream of selling the blender on TV, and the dream of being the guy who gets people healthy with natural food. All of that came true.

SW:  So you definitely back-up the product?

DAW:  Absolutely.  It’s the best.  You can’t get anything like it for under $100 in the world. 

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*Photo from Jittery Cook

 SIDEBAR: RECIPE FROM WOLFE, ADAPTED BY FOOD BLOGGER JITTERY COOK OF http://jitterycook.com
David Wolfe offered a DIY, improv-friendly NutriBullet recipe for Diary of a Social Gal readers with a base of blueberries, raspberries, coconut water, kale and a dash of honey. Optional ingredients included hemp seed (protein), hemp seed oil, or olive oil.
Food blogger Jittery Cook customized this concoction for Diary readers:

David Wolfe‘s Berry Kale Nutriblast Smoothie

Combine all ingredients in this order: kale, berries, seeds, sweetener, coconut water. Make sure you stay below the maximum line. Blend in the Nutribullet for 45 seconds. Sprinkle on a little cinnamon. Start sipping right away or carry your smoothie with you in the travel cup provided. Makes a single serving.

 

The Art of the Window Display

This is a kind of holiday-inspired story I wrote, even though window dressers work all year round. It was fascinating to learn was just how artistically driven these crafty workers can be and also how utterly detailed oriented the whole process is. Here’s a gasp-worthy display from Bergdorf’s from the limited-edition book by Tashen, followed by my article.

From new limited-edition book “Windows at Bergdorf Goodman” released by Assouline. A Compendium of Curiosities III: Illogical Lexicons and Convivial Characters, Holiday 2009. With Jay Soonthornsawad. Fabricated entirely in paper. Sculpture by Biak Kerdkan, Matt Northridge, and James Vance. Inspired by “Alice” books by Lewis Carroll.

* This article originally appeared in the Montreal Gazette and online versions in the Calgary Herald, the Star Pheonix, the Windsor Star and on Canada.com.

“Window Wonderland” 

Take the imagination of Dali and swirl it into the colour sensibility of Klimt. Then pour the mixture into a curvy mould clad in lingerie, and pop on 24 heads. Only then will you be halfway able to grasp the macabre and magnificence required to dress the windows at Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Ave. in New York.

“Minimalism is great. Maximalism, too. What we avoid is mediumism,” writes David Hoey, senior director of visual presentation at Bergdorf’s, in the preface of Windows at Bergdorf Goodman, recently released by Assouline. This mother of all

coffee table books (it costs $560) catalogues the awe-inspiring storefront windows created by Hoey and Linda Fargo, senior vice-president of fashion office and store presentation. Displays include two giant polar bears in a wrestling ring, a wedge wearing tightrope walker and a series of enchanted forests, razzle dazzle assemblages inspired by Lewis Carroll’s “Alice” books.

Bergdorf’s elaborately themed window spaces, which span the block between 57th and 58th Sts., are changed almost weekly, revealing a shocking rebirth of imagination. Each space is about four metres high and a mere 1.2 metres deep.

Whether to attract the attention of fast-paced denizens in Manhattan or to please the savvy shoppers of Montreal, window displays are a spectator’s delight. Especially in late November and December, when store owners treat shoppers to the nostalgia of Christmas lights mixed with innovative whimsy.

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