PURE Bar - Veronica’s Blog

How often can a hotel in New York give you a spiritual experience as well as comfort and convenience?

I was in New York last weekend giving a talk about the Pure Bar at a Whole Foods Market.  My brother Daron lives in the heart of Manhattan on the campus of the General Theological Seminary, the oldest Seminary of the Episcopal Church founded in 1817.

The GTS is a breath-taking, lush city block campus in the Chelsea District just north of West Village.  I had the opportunity to stay at the Desmond Tutu Center right on campus while I was in New York.  It is a beautiful conference center which also rents rooms out to the public.  It was much nicer than the 4 star hotel I was in the last time I traveled to New York, and less than half the price. 

The Desmond Tutu center has 60 rooms and is made of 3 original buildings joined together.  My room had cathedral ceilings, French doors, huge church-like windows, a grand marble and cherry wood fire place, free wireless internet and a nice big flat screen TV (photos) . The huge windows overlooked the GTS campus with its large old trees, winding paths and amazing architecture.  The Chapel of the Good Shepherd in the center of campus is awe-inspiring, with magnificent stained glass windows in true original Episcopalian style and a comforting smell of clean old wood, antique tile floors and centuries of tradition.   Staying on campus while in the hub of Manhattan was genuinely a renewing experience.

Desmond Tutu , the renowned social activist for peace and the end of apartheid, was a visiting professor to the GTS campus in the 80’s.  He was actually on campus when presented the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984…literally walking through campus when the Peace Prize guys chased him down with flowers and a plaque and notified him of winning.  The Desmond Tutu Center for Peace and Reconciliation was created in his honor, in hopes of attracting people from all over the world to converge, hold symposiums, conventions and seminars where everyone can come and talk of greater peace and equality in the world.  And you can stay there the next time you are in New York.

It is an amazing supplement to the New York experience, which I would highly recommend to anyone.  Suddenly the Ritz is looking a little small.

Very cool fireplace!

Amazing full menu brunch-style breakfast was INCLUDED in room price

This year we have the incredible tipping tree.  The kids, of course lobbied hard for the absolute largest, fattest, tallest, anti Charlie Brown Christmas tree that was on the lot.  As I sat in my kitchen enjoying a cup of coffee yesterday, a crashing noise came from the living room.  Complete spontaneous tipping (the tree had stood perfectly for several days-although a small black furry creature was seen scampering up the stairs).  Unfortunately, the tree was too big for me to un-tip so I had to wait for help. 

After setting it up again, refilling with water and placing my 15 lb weight (got to use it for something right?) on the base we thought we were safe.  Not so, as it was again resting neatly beside the piano the next morning (in a puddle I might add).  It’s been a source of frustration to my husband.  I’ve successfully made it his problem-sort of put it in the “man category” of responsibilities.

Me:  “Well, honey, you trimmed it, drilled the hole and set it up…I don’t really know what the source of the problem is.”

Nonetheless the tree is endearing to our family.  It is now truly lopsided due to the tipping and stands crooked because, well, that is the only way it will stand.  And nothing beats the smell of a real tree in the house. 

 Real is always better than fake (in so many instances).  Real trees absorb carbon dioxide cleaning the air during their lifespan.  They completely biodegrade and are most often replaced with a new planting after being cut down.    So enjoy your trees this year!  Hopefully yours is more living-room friendly than mine.

Is it me or is the tree still leaning to the right?

I had the privilege of being a part of the Los Angeles Jingle Ball this year. OK, I wasn’t performing… although I can do a mean Britney.  We were a part of the celebrity gifting suite giving away the cutest little Pure Bar lunch bags filled with… of course…Pure Bars. It was a great party hosted by Ryan Seacrest, Ellen K and the gang from KIIS fm 102.7. The Performers were amazing. Katy Perry gave great renditions of her current popular songs (I Kissed a Girl, Hot N Cold) along with a beautiful acoustic that showcased her formally trained voice. Menudo, Pussycat Dolls, Estelle, David Banner and Tokyo Hotel, kept the party going strong and of course the headliners Rihanna, Chris Brown, Jessie McCartney and Akon  were utterly amazing. We saw some of the performers in the gifting suite along with other celebs like the cast of the new 90210, Twilight actor Kellan Lutz, last year’s American Idol contestant Michael Johns, Christina Milian, Courtney Kardashian, and all the ladies from the Real Housewives of Orange County.

We were fortunate to be the only food item in the suite. Everyone was so hungry they rushed right by the free Blackberry phones toward the Pure Bars. Well, some maybe. Either way the Pure Bars were a great hit. You know, they never let me down. Who can argue with whole, organic, raw fruits and nuts with vegan protein, omega 3’s and antioxidants (I said that exact sentence 1,569,307,832 times that night.)? But in all honesty at the gifting suite, the ravaged celebrities were mostly interested in taste. And the Pure Bar pulled through as one after another tore open a bar and consumed it right in front of me. All in all it was an extremely successful night. The highlight of the night actually came the next day when Katy Perry’s dad Keith called me at the office to thank me for the bars and tell me how great they were. He ordered a bunch for himself and Katy to take on tour. What a thrill for me. I’m so proud of the Pure Bars.

Well, we are getting fatter.  Will we ever beat obesity?  Interesting how the US spends more per capita on healthcare than most other nations yet obesity has grown steadily over the past 30 years to now our highest rate ever.  According to the United Health Foundation, 1  in 4 people are obese or morbidly obese.  The US falls far behind over 20 other developed nations on mortality rates, infant mortality and life expectancy (69 yrs).  

Why is this? We obviously have the money.  We obviously have the technology.  We obviously have greater means to combat this than anyone else in the world. 

To me, it boils down to one little word: prevention.  We have always been a reactive nation; we create problems and then use our wealth and technology to try to create solutions.  Our focus on prevention as it applies to obesity, disease and mortality has been futile at best and we are digging a health hole for ourselves that is increasingly difficult to manage.  

It is simply not rocket science to understand that one of the easiest forms of prevention is being cognizant of what we are feeding our bodies.  Choosing the best possible food fuel with which our bodies can build, create, protect and repair themselves -  Purposeful Eating.

 Let’s not wait for the government to get on that bandwagon though (simple as it would seem for them to understand).  Taking responsibility for our own health is rewarding and empowering.  Making small changes that add up everyday like cooking a healthy meal, packing a better lunch, switching that donut for a PureBar (right Jeffrey?) can easily snowball into better habits and better eating.  This is how we will finally beat obesity.

When I first created PURE Bars for my daughter I did so by putting deliberate care into the food my family was eating. Although I did not know it at the time, I was a part of what has become a much larger trend. The trend of “purposeful eating.”

The old adage “You are what you eat” is coming full circle. How many times have we heard this and not really thought about what it means. Truly our bodies down to the cellular level have only one source from which to build bones, muscle, brain, organ tissue, and everything else it builds and rebuilds on a daily basis. That source is the food we consume and everyday people are becoming more aware of this important connection.

This is why people are eating with a purpose. Purposeful eating is the act of looking for specific, important nutrients our bodies need within the food we consume. Like knowing Omega 3 fats are good for our heart and brain, and seeking them out in sources like walnuts, flaxseed and salmon. It’s actively looking for high antioxidant foods like wild blueberries and tart cherries and choosing to consume these foods because they serve a purpose for our bodies. This may seem like something that has been around forever – people have been trying to eat healthily and educating themselves on the benefits of certain foods for all of written history.

Purposeful eating, however, represents a further dedication to identifying specific nutrients for specific purposes and deliberately seeking out foods that contain those nutrients to include in our diet. This shift in mentality, this purposeful eating, is changing the landscape of our retail stores. Because we are demanding it, grocers are providing more organic, more real, fresh, nourishing food. Consumers are looking for more than a good taste and colorful package. They want quality that will taste great and also provide their bodies with the essential nutrients necessary to achieve optimal health, energy and life.

And luckily for us we no longer have to give up taste in the quest for superb nutrients. In fact those who have truly embarked on the journey of real, fresh food know that often it tastes better and satisfies our cravings like no processed food is able to. While purposeful eating is certainly health conscious eating, it is also enjoyable eating. We wouldn’t settle for anything less.

They are not fancy, shiny and glamorous.  They have blemishes, are miss-shaped and small.  However the experience of biting into an organic apple picked right off the tree is unmatched by any conventional apple sold at the store or even picked.  The flavor is so intense and real everyone should experience it!  I brought the kids to Evergreen Lane Farm this morning.  An organic apple orchard and goat milk creamery.   Understanding the importance of supporting  organic farms, local farms is a very important lesson for my kids (and a fun one too!).  A lesson they will remember, take with them, and hopefully pass on.     

It was a beautiful, sunny fall day and we marched out past the red barn, horses, and goats around the bend into the colorful field with our baskets.  The kids immediately choose their tree and couldn’t help biting into the first apple they plucked.  Knowing these apples were grown free of any chemical spray and the ground clean of residue and that my children were truly enjoying being in nature, and experiencing whole organic food was a great feeling as a mom.  Creating these memories together is priceless! And did I mention that the flavor of these apples is amazing?

You know, our standards of taste have been so warped by processed, genetically modified food that we don’t even expect our food to satisfy us most of the time.  No wonder we over eat!  It is a fact in my life that eating organic, whole foods has resulted in my eating less with out even trying.   I am always satisfied when I eat this way and rarely crave unhealthy food.    We grow up thinking that everything that tastes good is bad for us.  So not true.  Raw real organic food is amazing in flavor and nutrients.  It satisfies our body’s natural cravings.  One bite into an organic apple from Evergreen Lane proves that fact instantly!

And… it looks like I’m not the only one to discover Evergreen Lane Farm – check out Kaleidoscope Living for a cool blog with links to all kinds of organic farms and orchards around the Midwest.

 So I am in New York, visiting my younger brother who is a student at General Theological Seminary in the Heart of Manhattan.  He is one of those incredibly smart people who got his PhD in Computer Theory (he tried to explain it to me once but I think he saw my eyes glaze over in 2.5) and then decided that he needed to cram more knowledge into his already bulging brain and become a Episcopalian priest…..OkOk I know he was actually called to the ministry and all that, but actually as long as I’m off on a tangent there are two other doctors in his program who are now also becoming priests.  From someone who was really glad when school was over, I don’t get it! 

Anyway, my brother and I and his adorable wife and feisty 10 month old walked over to Blossom for dinner.  This place is a completely Organic, Vegan restaurant.  I am green with envy (excuse the pun) that we don’t have a place like this within a (how far is NY from Holland Mi?) mile radius of my house.  I would eat at Blossom every other night and have the leftovers in between.  I have never tasted such amazing unadultered food.   I ordered the Vegetarian Platter which had a medley of kale, fennel, carrots, mushrooms, beans and zucchini along with savory Quinoa in the middle.  It was immaculately prepared and every bite was pleasurable.  This is the best that food can get… which has really always been my point.  We do not have to suffer to be healthy! 

In fact , whole organic unprocessed  food always tastes better than the processed crap we think we will like.  Take it from someone who does not like to suffer…through long lectures in school or by sacrificing taste for health.  Healthy food done right should ALWAYS be tasty and enjoyable and man was it ever at Blossom for under 20 bucks. BTW, I sat next to Ted Dansen from Cheers J.  Pretty cool!

Here I am 3 years later. The PURE Bar launched in 2006 and now my kids have something fun and brightly colored to open in their lunch. They also have a delicious way of getting Omega 3 fats, vegan protein, lots of high antioxidant organic fruit and NO refined sugars. I believe so strongly in the PURE Bar and what it stands for. My kids make their own lunches now and they still choose one almost every day. I eat one all the time for breakfast and my husband always has them in his car and golf bag. My friends and their kids eat PURE Bars. My parents and in-laws eat them. My goal is to get a PURE Bar into as many hands as possible. This is why I will NEVER compromise on the ingredients or the nutritional profile. I truly believe The PURE Bar represents the way we should all be eating, as much as possible. And all this stemmed from a 6 year old’s curiosity turned into conviction.

My day to day consists of a lot of running the Pure Bar company, but also continuing to educate myself on good nutrition and of course being a mom and wife, friend and daughter. Trying to do what we all try to do -live a balanced fulfilled life, focus on what’s important and not stress about the little things, (like my husband making half the bed…his half. Who does that??), trying to find joy in whatever I can ( can joy be found in my husband making half the bed? Maybe tomorrow he will make 3/4^th of it?)

All of this is a “one day at a time” thing. And the older I get the more I really try to savor each day and enjoy the little things; like today when Noah (5) said, “Mom I’m glad you have me.” That was cool.

Through researching vegetarian eating with my daughter, I began to become educated on true pure nutrition. I learned about Organic, about eating whole foods in their natural state, as close to the farm as possible. I learned the science behind raw foods (L)and why eating Organic, Raw, and Vegetarian was so healthy and so important I began to experiment with different recipes and cook in a very different way. My husband bless his heart was supportive “You just cook your vegetarian way and if I want meat I’ll eat it for lunch or something” (4 years later he eats almost all vegetarian-some fish. A true healthy flexitarian diet + Oreos J).

I began to cook almost exclusively vegetarian and incorporated raw food into every meal. (Please know that there was and is nothing gourmet about this, we’re talking pasta, a salad and fresh peach cut up). Baby steps were the key, no pressure, if we ordered pizza one night I added cut up veggies, and some fruit to the kids’ plate.

Lunch box food was a real challenge for me. How many peanut butter sandwiches can a kid eat? I did fresh fruits, veggies, hummus, chips and salsa, but honestly, Anna was feeling really out of it…

The other kids: EWWWWW what’s that?

Anna: It’s called hummus

The other kids: That’s gross

She wanted a packaged food like everyone else. Something fun with bright colors she could open like all the other kids. I searched the natural stores for a healthy organic energy bar, something convenient that contained whole foods, no refined sugar . Big NOTHING. At the time there was really one organic bar and she hated the taste.

So back at home a few weeks later I was making a raw peach pie. The crust was organic dates and almonds. I thought it would be a great consistency for a bar and I just started adding things I thought were healthy- walnuts for Omega 3 fats, brown rice protein, agave nectar to sweeten it up and cocoa to make it taste like a brownie. It took a long time to get it just right, but I was kind of on a mission. I would make a pan of these raw chocolate brownies and cut them with a reindeer Christmas cookie cutter that I reshaped into a square (the reindeer cookies never turned out anyway-ears always fell off). I would wrap them in wax paper and put them in the fridge and pull them out for lunches and treats. “Anyone want a brownie?” hahaha if they only knew what they were eating. The first PureBar had been born.

At the age of 6 my oldest daughter declared herself a vegetarian. It went something like this:

“Uh mom, what am I eating?”

“That’s chicken sweetie”

“Chicken? Like Chicken from the farm, like Chicken Little?”

“Um well yes chicken from the farm”

Long pause.

“So do we wait till they get old and die and then cook them?”

“Well, no”

Long pause

“Mom, what else do we eat?’

At this point I could tell this was not going to be good. I could see her little mind spinning and making connections…beef-cow pork-pig lamb, duck, etc. After I explained to her what we typically eat and don’t eat (dogs cats) I could tell she was horrified. And seriously I could see it through her eyes. We humanize animals in all the story books and then we serve them up for dinner, kind of freaky if you think about it. So a few meatless days later she approached me and very excitedly announced she was going to become a vegetarian (and then proceeded to explain to me that there are these people in the world called vegetarians who actually don’t eat meat… heard it on Animal Planet…)

So what does a mom do? I will say I have made some poor mom decisions in my life (like the time I MADE my daughter go to church “Get your butt in the car NOW” because I thought she was faking illness and she threw up all over my car) but this time I pulled out a good one. I told her we would research what it would take to become a healthy vegetarian, what foods we needed to eat, how we would have to change our diet. So we sat down and started to Google. I didn’t know it then, but this was a start of a drastic change in my family’s life. One I am grateful for everyday, and the coolest part is that it came to me through the wisdom of my child.