In the Spotlight with Ritual Wellness

Many of us have heard about the benefits of juicing and cleansing. A leader in the natural health field, Dr. Mercola, whose website is a reliable source of health articles, optimal wellness products, and medical news, www.mercola.com is a real advocate of juicing. He cites these three important reasons to incorporate juicing into your health plan:

Juicing helps you absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. This is important because most of us have impaired digestion as a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years. This limits your body’s ability to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. Juicing will help to “pre-digest” them for you, so you will receive most of the nutrition, rather than having it go down the toilet.
Juicing allows you to consume an optimal amount of vegetables in an efficient manner. If you are a carb type, you should eat one pound of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight per day. Some people may find eating that many vegetables difficult, but it can be easily accomplished with a quick glass of vegetable juice.
You can add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole. (Source: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/13/benefits-of-juicing.aspx).

Recently I came across an adorable little juice shop called Ritual Wellness at The Camp, one of my favorite spots in Orange County. The shop is very colorful and bursting with energy. Ritual Wellness was created by two friends Lori Kenyon and Marra Okola who have been juicing and enjoying the benefits of fresh vegetables and fruit juices for years. They recently opened Ritual Wellness at The Camp and plan to open in more locations. I have been thinking of doing a cleanse as I haven’t felt 100% since my stay in the hospital a few months ago and so I am planning on doing my first juice cleanse this week – I will keep you posted on how it is working for me. I hope to get back some energy and lose a little weight – wouldn’t that be nice! Lori and Marra talked to us about the motiviation behind starting Ritual Wellness and what steps to take if you are interested in juicing.

Tell us how you both became interested in juicing?

Marra had always been a fan of juicing. As a pilates instructor, health and wellness were her focus on a daily basis, and she greatly believed in the benefits of juicing. I was a client of Marra’s and was introduced to juicing by her, as a way to cleanse my liver after a round of antibiotics to fight pneumonia.

This prompted us to develop a cleanse line. We both got our nutrition certification, and spent over a year researching and developing our first product, Ritual Reset Cleanse, which was launched in 2010.

What are some of the benefits of juicing and cleansing that you have seen within yourself and with others.

The live enzymes and nutrients in our cold pressed organic juices have a significant beauty effect. The more juice people consume, the greater the benefits. Skin looks younger and healthier, hair shinier, eyes brighter. After completing the Reset Cleanse, the novice will find her cravings for processed foods reduced, replaced by a craving for more fruits and veggies. She will find she has kickstarted a healthier eating regime and will want to continue. She will also find that she feels “lighter” and may have lost a few pounds.

What are the first steps you recommend a novice juicer take?

We recommend that a first timer try a 3 day seasonal Reset Cleanse. It will help reset cravings, tastebuds and metabolism, while gently removing built up toxins. The few days prior to the cleanse, it is best to wean off of coffee, processed foods, dairy and meat. The cleanse will be much easier and more beneficial if the novice has properly prepped.

As a business owner and wives – what steps do you take to help juggle it all?

We begin each day with a green juice, and we make sure we get in some form of exercise each day, even if its just a 30 minute walk. We find that when we properly take care of ourselves, we are more capable of taking care of our business and our husbands!

Any news you want to share with dandelion moms?

We have lowered our prices in 2013 by 10%, for a new lower price of a one day cleanse of $72. We deliver to your doorstep in Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles Counties. We also opened our first retail store in The Camp in October, and have added many new juice flavors. Look to see more stores opening soon!

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Thank you Lori and Marra for sharing your story with us and offering a way for women to help maintain their health (and beauty)! And good news – if you are in Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles Counties – they are offering a 10% discount to dandelion moms.

Just go to www.ritualwellness.com and type in dandelionmoms at checkout.

Note: Lori will be writing a post for us this month about the benefits of juicing and how you can incorporate this important step into your health plan so stay tuned!