Be Healthful Retreat & Four Seasons - 5 Natural "Recipes" for that Island Getaway Feeling

Oh wait...relaxing is a purposeful activity? Due to the scheduled down time when traveling, we actually allow ourselves to choose activities that help us to slow down and enjoy the moment. When we're in a greater state of awareness, we tend to focus more on what we're putting in our bodies, eating well and re-fueling, which often sets the stage for personal insights and reflection. This very sentiment was at the core of a BeHealthful retreat I recently participated in held at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Our intimate group of women learned beauty secrets from various cultures during a weekend stay with wellness workshops and activities.

Inspired by our weekend's activities which incorporated LLYT concepts of looking to nature for nourishment and beauty, and slowing down to savor more in our everyday life, I've pulled together 5 natural "recipes." These recipes can serve as rituals that will help you getaway more often and prepare your home spa so that you're able to channel Bali or the Caribbean at a moment's notice.  

Let’s savor together…shall we?  

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PHOTOS: MU-HSIEN INC

1 - Wake Up to a Stunning Water View

Wake up to a room with a view...bonus points if it has a view of the water. Is there a stunning lake, river or ocean near you? Make use of what ever body of water might be near you and feel a whole world away.

Behealthful Retreat guests were spoiled with lake view rooms, green juices in the morning, a detox box and other goodies to support a cleansing and nourishing weekend at the hotel and back at home.  

Getaway Recipe: Add Scenic View of Nature Near You + High Thread Count sheets + Abundant Fluffy Pillows, mix... and savor!

*Spa Day bonus: If you choose any of the Four Season spa treatments, even just a mani/pedi, as long as it's a 50 min. service, you'll have access to the pool, steam sauna, whirlpool, fitness center etc. Indulge and make a day of it with a friend!  Book a spa service here.

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2 - Indulge the Senses with Nature's Bouquets

Nothing transports my mind to a beachy spa more quickly than taking in intoxicating wafts of essential oils. Before I even step out of bed, my morning ritual starts with a spritz of aromatherapy spray on my face while I take in a deep <inhale>. The cool mist and vibrant scents instantly refreshes and gives me a spa moment...everyday.

Our DIY Aromatherapy Workshop was Lead by Sarah Baker, a plant-based nutrition & health coach and our event co-host. Much like any good flavor profile, I learned that in creating an ideal essential oil blend, 3 types of notes should be considered.

1 - A Top Note, Energizing and cleansing (ex. Peppermint, Eucalyptus)
2 - Middle Note, Robust for focus and healing (ex. Nutmeg, Frankensense)
3 - Low Note, Warm and calming, (ex. Cedarwood, Sandalwood)

Revitalizing Spray Recipe:
4 drops Grapefruit Essential Oil
5 drops Lemon Essential Oil
4 drops Peppermint Oil
Distilled water

Fill a 2 oz spray bottle nearly full of distilled water. Add essential oils. Shake to blend. Option to include a few drops of vegetable glycerine helps to attract moisture and assists in absorption of the essential oils into the skin. Start with less and slowly adjust the intensity of the scent desired.  

*Tip: Keep one by the bed, in your purse or your office desk. Good for whenever you need a pick-me-up!

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3 - Sip on a Nourishing Island Drink

Tropical vacation days almost always begin with an exotic juice or smoothie. Vibrant colors and wellness boosting ingredients will perk up your mood and fuel you for your day's adventures. *Bonus, fun smoothies pair well with annoying chores too. Ugh, need to organize that closet? Fix yourself a drink and watch how things almost become <gasp>...fun?! 

How adorable are these juices? And they tasted so delightfully smooth and complex in flavor. Four Seasons's Chef Michael Ross, proves that healthy food can actually be exciting and maybe even sexy? He prepared these juices to accompany a bento box assortment of healthy but sumptuous bites. On the menu for breakfast: Kale & Egg White tacos / Smoked Salmon Tartine / Quinoa Porridge / Greek Watermelon Yogurt with Chia & Marinated Watermelon. 

Get that tropical beachside feeling with these smoothie recipes:

Tropical Recipe
½ ea mexican papaya; chopped
1 ea mango; chopped
¼ ea pineapple; chopped
1 tsp agave
½ cup greek yogurt
½ cup bahia juice
1 cup ice
1 scoop protein powder

Acai Blueberry Smoothie Recipe
1 cup blueberries
½ pkg acai berries
1 tbl protein powder
½ cup greek yogurt
1 cup ice
1 tbl agave
1 tbl cranberry and pomegranate reduction
 

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4 - Take a Cooking Class Featuring Exotic Ingredients

Get that "WOW, I made this?!" feeling and learn to use ingredients that are outside of your usual grocery list rotation. Working with exotic ingredients will naturally connect you to new tastes and cultures around the world. *Bonus if they remind you of places you've traveled to, or want to visit soon!

We headed back into the kitchen where Chef Mike had prepared a demonstration for us to make a refreshing salad suited for spring and reminds me of the East Coast. I loved learning how to "segment" a grapefruit and other prep techniques. It was also my first time plating using the "swoosh" effect! I've included the recipe here so you can welcome spring into your home and try it out yourself.

Peekytoe Crab Salad Recipe

Pea Purée
3 cups fresh english peas
1 quart fresh spinach
3 avocados
24 oz veggie stock

Boil vegetable stock in a small rondeau. Add peas and cook until tender, but still bright green. Add spinach to wilt. Season with salt, no pepper. Place the mixture with avocado and purée hot until smooth. Pass through a chinois and then cool over an ice bath in med. sized bowls. 

Crab Salad
#3 Fresh Crab, picked through
5 oz mayonnaise
35 grams minced washed preserved lemon
1 cup minced chive

Delicately with gloves, mix with your hands to ensure you don't break up the large pieces of crab.

Grapefruit
3 grapefruits segmented with a sharp knife (reserve the juice) 
30 grams of sugar
1 cup grapefruit juice from segments plus water

Boil water/juice with sugar to dissolve and pour over grapefruit segments in an ice bowl. Allow time to cool down. 

Garnish
"Window pane" radish slices
French snap peas and micro greens
Finishing olive oil

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5 - Slowww Down with a DIY Body Scrub

Reward yourself after a long day of work or adventures! Focus on soothing your body with a much deserved exfoliating self-massage. Allow this act of self-care to bring you back to center, and to be in the moment, daily.

Vanilla Body Scrub Recipe:
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Coconut Oil
2-3 drops of Vanilla Essential Oil

Create this simple scrub by mixing ingredients in a bowl with a spoon or gloved hands to help melt the coconut oil. Massage with loving intention to exfoliate your body while in the shower. Rinse to remove excess.
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For more healthy recipes, DIY Home Spa Ideas, and updates on future BeHealthful retreats, head over to balancedbabe.com.

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Design a Lifestyle You love : "BeHealthful" with Sarah Baker of Balanced Babe

Today we chat with fellow Chicagoan, Sarah Baker. A model turned health and wellness entrepreneur, founder of BalancedBabe.com, BeHealthful Retreats and StyleBodySoul. This ambitious babe is dedicated to transforming the way women relate to food, a purpose she discovered during her travels and modeling abroad. We wanted to know what fueled her quest for a healthy lifestyle and of course, to pick her brain on eating healthy in Chicago!

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Before health and wellness coaching, you were modeling quite a bit. That must have taken you to some beautiful locations! Do you have a favorite? Are there any cultures or places that fueled your quest for a healthy lifestyle? 

I loved traveling to Milan, Italy. I lived there for three months and cherished the culture! Even though a lot of people say it’s very industrial, I still think it had charm. I always walked around the Duomo and the city center daily going from casting to casting so I was able to explore a lot. I also enjoyed living in Istanbul, Turkey for three months as well. I think if I would have been there as a tourist I would’ve enjoyed the experience a bit more, but I was able to take in the ancient architecture at least! The food was also - AMAZING.

What inspired your journey in health and wellness? Was there a specific event or issue that acted as a catalyst?
 
My passion about nutrition research and holistic health was a process that started to take hold when I was in my late teens, but I was always either focused on modeling or acting. Finally, once I lived in a small area in Istanbul and ate nothing but plant-based, fresh and local produce, I realized that I needed to promote this lifestyle in my community. 

Being in the modeling industry is also very tough. There is a lot of criticism and it seems as if there is constantly a microscope on the model’s body image. I’ve been around a lot of young girls who had very poor self-esteem and extremely bad eating habits, especially being in an international meeting point for models all around the world in Istanbul. That trip turned a light bulb on in my head. 

I decided then and there that my real passion is to help young girls and women love their bodies and have healthy relationships with food.

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In creating a lifestyle you love, what major steps did you need to take to get where you are? Were there difficult choices, risks or acts of faith that led you to today?

First, I needed to quit smoking. Can you believe that I was a smoker on and off starting at age 16?! It’s a common way to keep slim in the modeling industry. It took me about 7 tries to finally kick it, and I am SO glad I did. If you can quit smoking, you can take on the world! 

No one is perfect, there's always room for personal growth, so I don't dwell on past bad health habits or feel ashamed that I didn’t treat myself well when I was younger. I look at them as great obstacles conquered.

I come from a family background of faith in God and goal-setting. I probably started writing down my goals at an earlier age than most. I also realized that I have an entrepreneurial spirit and that the best way for me to have the freedom to pursue my goals would be for me to start my own business rather than work for someone else. My health/wellness website, Balanced Babe, led to launching BeHealthful Retreats and branching out to consulting via SBS Image. So it wasn’t a difficult choice at all to switch my major from Fashion Business to Nutrition while also completing certifications in plant-based foods and holistic health coaching.
 

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Chicago is a haven for foodies, however healthy restaurants seem hard to come by. As a Chicagoan, I'm super excited to have discovered your plant-based dining guide that's an extension of your "Be Healthful Retreats." For those that feel it's difficult to find healthy, organic options in restaurants, do you have any tips when eating out?...Who's at the top of your list lately?

It is sooo hard not to dine out regularly in Chicago. I am probably out to eat about 4 nights a week, which can add up in boat loads of calories if you are not careful. Here are some tips that work for me when dining out:

• Order at least one veggie dish: This could be a salad, side of sauteed spinach, or a vegetarian entree (a lot of Chicago spots are catching on to the vegetarian movement)!

• Vegetarian does not mean PASTA...Sure, pasta is technically vegetarian if there isn’t any meat in it, but it still isn’t the healthiest option. If you truly want to order vegetarian while dining out you have to look for the veggie options!

• Choose wine, carbs or sweets, not all three!
   

Sarah's Top Four Plant-based Options in Chicago:

1 Lyfe Kitchen 413 North Clark Street, (River North)
Loocal & organic American fare in a bright, cheerful space with outdoor seating.
PHOTO: KIRSTEN SCULLY

2 Taxim 1558 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago (Bucktown)
Upscale modern Greek dining with an all-Greek wine list & a full bar plus stylish decor & a patio.
PHOTO: ROGER KAMHOLZ

3 Karyn’s on Green 130 South Green Street (Greektown)
New American dishes go vegan at this stylish restaurant with a sprawling bar & upstairs lounge.
PHOTO: KARYNSONGREEN.COM

4 Duseks 1227 West 18th Street, (Pilsen) 
Imaginative pairings of high-end pub grub & specialty beers offered in a funky, historic building.
PHOTO: ANNA KNOTT
 

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When cooking at home, it's easy to get stuck on a few go-to dishes. How do you keep things interesting?
I love cooking and do it often, so I buy a bunch of local and in season produce that I know I should be eating and experiment with 5 ingredients daily. It is also crucial to have the kitchen essentials:

• beans
• nuts
• complex carbs like quinoa
• leafy greens
• seasonal veggies
• onions and garlic
• almond milk or coconut milk
• fruits like apples, grapes, berries

I choose three veggies that I want to eat and make a lot of stews and soups that will last me for the week. If you are not an avid chef, you can choose a vegetable that you want to focus on and simply google “spinach vegan recipe” (I would google vegan recipes just because there is now an abundance of this dietary cuisine and the majority of recipes are delicious)! Googling recipes with the ingredients you have handy can do wonders and may broaden your go-to cooking list.
 

As a health and lifestyle consultant, what are the biggest challenges that you see people facing these days? 

The biggest challenge hands down is the HOW. Everyone knows that you should eat healthy and you should do this and that, but few know how to make it work for them and how to sustain it. It’s so important to focus on the “how” when making lifestyle changes.

You must be quite busy running the blogs, and various wellness offerings, how do you keep from burning out? 

I am a strict time management gal! I have so many time management techniques that I use - they allow me to work on multiple projects daily without being all over the place. My consulting company, StyleBodySoul, LLC not only offers holistic nutrition and lifestyle consulting, but also offers small business coaching to holistic entrepreneurs and businesses, so I use a lot of time management techniques with clients as well.

I have three main sectors to my brand that I focus on: Balanced Babe, my consulting services, and the holistic health conference series, Be Healthful. Managing those three parts of my brand along with the projects that go along with each venture (launching some fun projects for Balanced Babe and Be Healthful in 2015!) can take up A LOT of my energy and time. Because there is so much going on with me, I work like a dog on the weekdays, and take my break on the weekends. Saturday’s are my days off where I relax, do yoga, say adios to emails (which is hard!!) and zone out from the world (this means watching Real Housewives on Bravo). I also make sure that I exercise in the morning or at lunch time to keep me sane during the week.

Sharing vegan recipes on a a shoot for Living Healthy Chicago segment 

Before you leave us...tell us, what's the most important thing that helps you to embrace life with curiosity and awe, to live like you're traveling?

More than just one...
Passion, determination, and the urge to always grow and create!

GET MORE HELPFUL TIPS
1 -  EathHealthful.com for the full directory of plant-based restaurants and reviews in Chicago.
2 - BalancedBabe.com for more holistic health and wellness tips and inspiration.
3 - BeHealthful Retreat to participate in, or attend the next event coming up on March 22!
4 - StyleBodySoul for lifestyle and business coaching.

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Get everyday adventure ideas @LiveLikeYoureTraveling