READING TO EMPOWER THE HEALTHY STYLISH & BEAUTIFUL YOU
 You are at a smorgasbord plate in hand. You circle the offerings taking a little bit this and a little of that. You return to your seat with a plate full of yummy possibilities. What do you eat first?
The food that most excites you. Now take a piece a paper. Draw a circle. This is your plate. It represents a period of time - a day or a week. Within the circle write down all the things you have to do. Take a look at it. Now do the thing you want to do most in the circle. When you finish that, do the next thing you want to do most. Continue like this. Also, on your smorgasbord plate, sometimes you select things and only eat half of them before tasting something else. Or, perhaps, you decide something on the plate isn’t really for you - you leave it on the plate. Now allow yourself to move through your circle like that plate. Some things you will complete, others you will do part of and then switch to a different activity; some you will realize are not for you. I call this feminine list making. You have structure, but fluidity within the structure. I’ve been using this method and it amazes me how productive I am with it AND how much I enjoy my days. The circle feels good as a gentle boundary that I can expand and contract as I feel. The choice aspect allows we to move through the list based on what is exciting me most at the moment. By doing the thing that would give me the most joy at the moment, I use positive motivation to get things done, and build up energy throughout the day as opposed to leaking energy into "eating my frog first." With the freedom and fluidly to move in and out of tasks based on my joy, I get a lot done in a day. My circle has helped me to enjoy the rush and the activities. It feels more like water moving as opposed to digging myself out of a mountain of work. I highly recommend it!! For those with questions of how to use this in a work or school environment, for items that have a deadline or that I must produce for others, I note it, but continue to move within those expectations to where my joy is. And everything gets done, faster than you’d imagine. If you notice that a particular item is repeatedly left in the circle, it means it is something you don’t want to eat just like when you leave food on your smorgasbord plate. That’s okay. It’s time to let that item go or get creative. The smorgasbord analogy is good here. What are all the options for dealing with something that isn’t appetizing to you? Love, Julia xo  Here is my technique for unblock beliefs that are keeping me stuck or hampering my progress. It is very simple, always works, and requires little effort from you. All that is necessary is a willingness to release beliefs which are impeding your progress, repetition when necessary, pen, and paper.
The Release Technique I write down the belief or beliefs that I am holding which are not helping me move positively. This I do anywhere. I keep it as simple as I can. I write whatever comes to mind no matter how irrelevant or unimportant it seems. A belief is simply an idea. An idea someone crafted because it worked for them. It made sense to the creator of the idea. In some cases the idea is enshrined as a cultural norm, familial expectation, social attitude, or the rule of a particular group. But, in its essence, it is simply an idea. An idea that worked for someone else in their particular situation does not mean it works for you. Even an idea that worked for you, may not continuing working for you. So instead of seeing a belief or idea as a rock which is unchangeable, think of it more as water: it can shift and change. Beliefs are fluid. I then look at each idea and I cross it out. Crossing it out signals to my consciousness that I don’t need that idea anymore. For stubborn beliefs, sometimes I have to keep writing them down and keep crossing them out until I feel the belief loosening and drifting away. My father had told me many things I couldn’t do. They were all beliefs from his perspective and experience, crafted to protect me and him too. Many simply stopped working for me - he is quite old fashioned. So, I crossed them out. I have done many of his "you can'ts." This is a way to open yourself that doesn’t require a lot of work because it shifts you internally. As your thoughts about yourself and what's possible changes, your actions change. Your energy changes, and it opens up more space for you to grow. In my practice, I work on energetic changes because they are the ones that help you grow with grace and as much ease as possible. By changing in this way, the path to your goals is smoother and attainable. Love, Julia xo  My first truly clinical use of food was to cure my 6 year old son of gluten intolerance and IBS. I put him on the GAPs diet for 6 months. A diet based on bone broth and slow reintroduction of normal eating. Nathanael went from debilitating stomach aches and diarrhea after wheat and almost every meal to being able to eat whatever he wants. The results have persisted to this very moment.
A client recently asked me about how to heal their gut. Bone broth is amazing at knitting the lining of the intestine back together. You will see a noticeable difference with just a 1 day broth cleanse. The medicinal broth accelerates healing and maintains a healthy gut through a combination of food, herbs, and roots known to heal and support the intestinal lining and improve gut impermeability. The broth is made from organic chicken bones, a lot of therapeutic mushrooms, vegetables, and 20 different organic roots and herbs to nourish the digestive system. The gut and its microbes are your source of health. When you have a leaky gut, molecules are allowed to cross into the blood which cause inflammation and autoimmune responses. A healthy gut does not allow those molecules to leak into the rest of the body. As the broth restores the lining of the gut, it provides an environment in which the good microbes can flourish. Good microbes = good mood, high metabolism, better brain function, and less disease. Along with the medicinal broth we created the Medicinal Cleanse. A 5 day cleanse targeted at healing your digestion and deeply detoxing the body. It includes only foods and herbs known to heal the gut, liver, inflammation, and the skin. It excludes nightshades, fruit, grains, dairy, nuts, and meat. While nourishing you deeply, you will find the food amazingly delicious and satisfying. To get the broth or cleanse and to learn more look here. You can also email me to see how the medicinal line can help you in your particular situation. Love, Julia xo P.S. The broth contains many mushrooms for their anti-cancer properties for added benefit.  Hunger can be a scary sensation. By scary I mean unfamiliar. Just like in other areas of life, when something is unfamiliar to us we can perceive it as scary or something that needs immediate correction or escape. Hunger is something you can sit with for a bit. Through it we learn, most things can be sat with longer than we think.
It is useful to meditate on that idea because much of our stuffing of emotions and food is literally an attempt to not experience the discomfort of sitting with our emotions. Yet, only by allowing the discomfort to wash over us do we get the opportunity to digest and understand what our emotions are telling us. And, by pushing them away, we miss seeing the beautiful wave as feelings come and go. With hunger, by giving ourselves food at the first hunger pang we don't get to know if the hunger is temporary, a proxy for something else, or passing. Not knowing the source leads to overeating and missing the opportunity to know ourselves more deeply. However, if you look at the scary hunger pangs, situations, or emotions as simply something unfamiliar, they become things you can get look at and explore. You can practice being with the feeling to find out what is underneath it. By exploring our hunger, we learn what we really need. By exploring our emotions, we discover what they are telling us. Hunger is a great opportunity for self growth in many areas. The next time you are hungry accept the invitation of observe and explore yourself, then eat. with love + light, Julia  We are constantly birthing. Birthing is creating. It could be a profession, an education, yourself, a relationship, a service, a home, a garden, whatever you are creating, you are birthing.
Birthing consists of three stages: conception of the idea, the gestation, and the emergence into reality. Each has its process. I use the word process intentionally to underscore that in manifesting a desire it is an intentional unfolding as opposed to forced action. To manifest a desire, or birth it, you essentially want to expand into some area of experience. First to do so, you allow yourself the space. In the body, the uterus is set aside as the space. If you want to create something big, you have to make space for it - mental, physical, and time. Physical space is sometimes needed. If you want to begin painting, but every space of your house is occupied. The making space could be clearing out the garage or guest room. Mental space is cultivated within meditation, journaling, and learning. Visualizations are perfect for this. As we nurture our desire we give attention to it. Attention can be looking for others who have achieved what we want. Seeing is believing. Seeing another’s success signals to you, you can get there too, especially if this person has a story similar to yours. Attention can be baby steps to find out more or experience part of what you want. If you want to go back to grad school, that could be taking one class or going to a lecture series. As we nurture the desire, it grows and will require more space to develop. As the desire grows, it slowly becomes more real to us as we start to see it beginning to manifest. In this stage, the inertia of the desire carries energy which will make it easier to create the space for it. It’s as if the desire gets ignited and the original fanning has created a strong fire. From here just like pregnancy, we continue to give more attention and space to our creation so that it naturally unfolds. Yet, unlike pregnancy, there is no due date. We can create in ease when we allow the process to take its course. If there is something you wish to birth for yourself, be patient with the process, look for people as examples who are farther along the journey, and begin to take steps to experience parts of your desire now.  The most primary relationship we have is with ourselves. As a mother, my health, calm, and patience comes from how I nurture or mother myself. Actually, rather or not you are a mother, mothering or nurturing yourself is essential. It is the only way to cultivate the soil of your life so you are healthy, vibrant, and feel alive.
Mother's Day gives opportunity to reflect on motherhood and to introduce Aphrodite Project. Birthing and pregnancy is very dear to my heart: I spent 14 years of my life bearing children, I experienced happily water birth, hospital birth, and home birth. Each was fantastic, monumental, and taught me about myself. But, what I did not realize then, and know now, is how very lucky I was in having one healthy pregnancy and birth after another. Aphrodite Project provides women support in pregnancy and postpartum that is desperately needed. The United States is in a health crisis that few are aware of or speak of: the rate of pregnancy related death is rising in the U.S. while decreasing 44% in the rest of the world although we spend more on healthcare. We are at the bottom of the list when compared to other developed countries. Many studies are now being conducted to find out why. The general agreement in the research is echoed in a Harvard University study which asserts that the main contributing factor is the chronic stress women live under which weakens the entire body making pregnancy an extraordinary challenging environment for maternal wellness. So by dissolving stress and building wellness within the body, your chances of a healthy pregnancy and birth dramatically increases. The practices we focus on at jolie are also the recommendations for creating better maternal outcomes. Aphrodite Project takes these practices and adapts them to pregnancy to help women create better results for themselves. My request to you is to take a look at aphroditeprojectbirth.com. Even if you are not in that stage, you will find useful tools. But even more, please join me in connecting childbearing women with the site. It is a growing treasure trove of support. Love, Julia xo  Sometimes we don’t feel the way we want to feel or the way we think we should feel. Maybe we are in a place we don’t like, we don’t feel movement in our life, or things aren’t turning out the way we want. We all want to be happy and feel aliveness. The path to that place is not fighting or resisting your feelings in this moment.
Yet, how do I get rid of a feeling I don’t like? I say to you, you do not need to get rid of the feeling. If you feel, for example, guilty sometimes, simply acknowledge there is part of you that feels this way. The best way to change is to not push against what you don’t want. But to be accepting of who you are at the moment It is you. It is right to say to yourself, “I just don’t feel good. I feel bad right now. I feel guilty right now. I feel a mixture of emotions. I feel love, but I also feel dislike and I feel dis-ease and I feel discomfort with my own emotions, AND I can accept myself for the moment.” This is not to say you must stay in a situation, but you can accept that you don’t feel good at the moment. And, you choose to love yourself anyway. When we push away our negative feelings or chastise ourselves for them it creates a sense of self flagellation. We engage in self talk or actions which say: I am not worthy, everything I do is wrong. But, that is not really a good way to approach life because actually by accepting this part of you where it is now, it can come into cooperation with you to make the changes in your life you want. It is like with any other person, if you want to make change together, you cannot just keep beating them up. You cannot say to them “You should know better. You’re so stupid. You never learn. I just don’t like you.” If you treat another person like that, you would very much be aware that they are not going to like you and they are not going to cooperate with you. That makes logical sense when we frame it in relation to others. However, what happens is that we do this to ourselves. If we feel a kind of guilt, disappointment, or shame, we may very often self flagellate ourselves through variety of means. Here goes again the negative self talk or doing something on the outside to sabotage or punish ourselves. We treat ourselves like this and expect happiness and cooperation which isn’t possible when we are beating ourselves up. So, pause. Whatever method you use to self flagellate, be aware that you are doing it. This awareness combined with the accepting of yourself described earlier, puts you in a place where your ego will slowly loosen its grip on you because it will no longer be under attack. Making peace within, in this way, will allow you to feel a little bit more free to shift and change. The changes will not happen overnight, but little by little as you accept and love yourself in whatever feeling you’re in, one little bit at a time you will see changes in your behavior and life. Love, Julia xo P.S. Begin a dynamic relationship with your own life by acceptance and cooperation within you.  Welcome to April!
The theme of awakening keeps coming to me in my own life, spring, friends, and clients. I am going to devote April to this. Before we begin, I want you to know you don’t need to do anything nor to you lack anything. Think of a seed. It is perfect - it is not better or worse than the plant. The plant is not better or worse than its flower. The fruit is not better or worse than the flower. In whatever stage you are in, you are perfect, just like a seed. And, like a seed with attention, water, food, and sunlight you naturally grow or evolve. So, awakening is going to follow that paradigm. You are perfect now as you were yesterday and will be tomorrow. How you decide or don’t decide to grow or evolve is based on how much water, attention, sun, and nourishment you have. So let’s dig in. The first practice I offer is as you awaken each morning and do not look at your phone first. Instead, take a moment to focus on your heart space. Focus your attention on the physical place where your heart is. Then ask yourself: what do you need today? How can I be of the greatest service to myself and others today? Throughout the month I will ask you to focus on your heart because it is where you give and receive love to others and yourself. The heart will tell you the truth from the perspective of love. Love, however, is not always warm and fuzzy. Sometimes love is angry or boundary pushing or self protective or found in other forms. I ask as we begin, you accept what your heart is telling you without judgement. There is no pressure for action, that will come when you are ready. But, releasing self judgement is essential. With light, Julia xo  How do you know you need a detox? But, more than that, do you even need to do a detox in the first place?
Detoxification is something that your body naturally does through the liver, skin, breath, pee, and poop. It is a constant process that never ends and is quite efficient on its own. It is necessary to clear out the remains from all the millions of chemical reactions which allow you to live. It also clears out very natural environmental toxins like too much sun exposure, fumes, smoke from cooking fires, plant and animal toxins. In its ideal state, the body does not need you to do a “detox.” Problems arise when it doesn't have the necessary nutrients to use in the process or is overloaded with environmental and agricultural toxins. Then, we need to detox. A gradual acceleration of detoxification will happen as you eat more plants; to kickstart or deepen the process do a detox. I experienced this after switching to a plant based diet (for the curious, I do eat meat). I could feel the increased energy, clarity, and glow that came as my body was able to function better and detoxify faster. However, at some point I reached a state where the need for deeper detoxification arose - think of weekly cleaning versus spring cleaning. So I decided to do a three day juice cleanse every month. I detoxed in this way for about 3-4 months, then one day a month for another 3-4 months. Each time I felt better and better. But, after the 6th or 7th one, I knew I didn’t need to keep “detoxing.” The deep cleansing was complete and my diet gave my body what it needed from there. I recommend detoxes to clients that are experiencing intestinal issues, mood instability, decreased energy, skin eruptions, and accelerated aging. Do a 1-3 day detox for a few months, then a 1-2 day detox until you feel your body clean - trust the body, it knows when to stop. Soup cleanses, low sugar juice cleanses, broth cleanses, and carefully designed food cleanses can all be used as detoxes. For our cleanses, click here. If you need help designing a detox for your particular needs, I am happy to give you some guidance. Please reach out. Love, Julia xo P.S. Sleep and water are essential for detoxification always. Their benefits are immense and you can start today with 7 hours of rest and more hydration. Jolie | Blue Mill, Morristown, NJ 07960 Unsubscribe {recipient's email} Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by julia@thejolielife.com in collaboration with  A rose quartz meditation is a wonderful way to increase the love you have for yourself and others.
To do one:
For the best benefit, repeat daily for 14 days. Let me know how you grow with this meditation. Love, Julia xo  Honoring your boundaries is a huge act of self love. It’s an action which takes attention, trust in your internal GPS, and a deep commitment to you. Realizing that your well being is more important than meeting the expectations or standards of another.
This year I want to cultivate a mindful relationship with money. Money is essentially energy. An energy that can be used for validation, control, nurturing, and expansion. My desire is to use it in ways that nourish, cultivate, and expand. As soon as you establish a boundary the universe often sends a situation to teach you more about your boundaries. My daughter’s birthday was mine - her gift expectations exceeded mine. I did not want to disappoint her and I recognize gifts are her love language, but also wanted honor myself. First, I made space for me to consider her request. I said maybe, but said I needed time and asked her if it was okay with her to receive her gift post-birthday. She said yes and did not ask about it at all. Many times during contemplation I almost said fuck it I will get the Chanel for her. It will make her happy. Each time I stopped short - it did not align with me. Then I decided I would not spend that much and asked the universe to bring the perfect gift that honored me and her. The same day I found a beautiful Roger Vivier clutch at 85% off retail. I gave it to her that evening and she was delighted. When we honor ourselves, our boundaries, the universe meets us. Not only that, but it’s a wonderful lesson and principle that your love for others does not need to come at the cost of compromising yourself. I invite you to deepen your own awareness of your boundaries. It will make you freer and happier. Love, Julia xo  I love facial masks. As winter fades and spring is slow in coming my skin reaches its apex of dryness. Awaken winter skin with an at home mask. My favorite hydrator and reviver is Manuka honey. Try mixing it with one of the following to create a nutrient mask:
with light, Julia  Try this meditation to clear out the cobwebs of winter. Find yourself in a comfortable position. Imagine yourself a pipe. As you do so, visualize pure, radiant, life source water flowing through you. As it flows through you, see yourself releasing whatever may be obstructing the pipe. Release and feel more space and clarity open within you. Do this meditation for as long as you have and repeat often.
To use meditation to improve your life and achieve your goals sign up for a private meditation session. With light, Julia  Cacao is a magical ingredient that awakens the spirit and improves health. Try adding raw cacao powder or cacao nibs into your morning smoothie, a salad, yogurt, coffee, a bowl of fruit. It elevates the dish and nourishes you at the same time.
with light, Julia  Morning stretch is a great way to awaken the body in the morning. Before you get out of bed:
with light, Julia  Today let there be no ceiling on your joy. Think of the most exuberant person you know in real life or through a novel, movie, or show. Imitate that person today, bringing your joy up a few notches. Observe how it makes you feel.
with light, Julia xo  It may not feel like it, but winter is ending. The day is getting longer. The snowdrops are out and the witchhazels are blooming. This month we turn our attention to awakening our body, spirit, and mind. Letting go of winter, shedding the layers, and coming up anew. Please join me.
with light, Julia xo  A rose quartz meditation is a wonderful way to increase the love you have for yourself and others.
To do one:
For the best benefit, repeat daily for 14 days. Let me know how you grow with this meditation. Love, Julia xo  The newest jolieLife soup was inspired by a soup I had at Marcus Samuelsson's restaurant Marcus B & P. It is a wonderful, creamy cauliflower soup (no dairy) which is enlivened by golden raisins, green olives, pumpkin seeds, and peppery olive oil.
One of my favorite aspects of eating at great restaurants is the flavor combinations inspire. JolieLife recreated a lighter version of the soup. Cauliflower is a great vegetable which gets better in the cold. It contains many anti-cancer compounds and supports healthy thyroid and hormone function. The cruciferous vegetable family is a necessary daily addition to heal autoimmune disease, protect against cancer, and to keep your metabolism stoked. Enjoy! Love, Julia xo  Say the word cleanse and most often you think of a juice cleanse. But, in the winter our bodies need to be warmed and nourished. To work with the natural needs of your body, a soup cleanse is the perfect winter reset. A soup cleanse combines the power of vegetables and magic of broth. Soups have a vegan or bone broth base to boost immunity and improve winter skin. They also are filled with fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals to energize you and help beat the winter blues.
With soup cleansing during winter you will emerge from winter bright, light, and vibrant. I began soup cleansing last year - every Friday was cleanse day. This ritual gave me break each Friday to reboot and take important time to care for myself. Enjoy a jolieLife soup cleanse this winter. You can order here. One of my favorite soups to cleanse with that requires no cooking is an Avocado Arugula Soup (this can be served cold in summer). Blend 1 ripe avocado 4 cups arugula 1 1/2 cups coconut water 1/2 teaspoon sea salt juice of one lemon Blend all the ingredients together in a high speed blender until smooth. Add more coconut water or salt if needed. Gently heat and enjoy. Makes 2 servings. love, Julia xo  This is a super versatile way to have a nutritious, non dairy latte. I use this as a morning breakfast, post workout supplement, or quick lunch. I like it both hot and cold. This makes two servings. I usually drink on and save the other for the next day. Blend in a blender: 2 cups almond milk 1 tablespoon maple syrup 2 scoops of protein powder - I prefer Vital Proteins with collagen 1-2 shots of espresso or strong coffee To upgrade this to a true beauty potion add one of the following: 2 tablespoons of maca - hormone balancing ½ teaspoon ashwagandha - stress dissolver 1 tablespoon mucuna pruriens - mood booster To make your own almond milk: Soak 1 cup of raw almonds in water for 4-6 hours. Drain and rinse. Then blend this with 4 cups of water and a pinch of salt in a high power blender - Vitamix - until you have a milk. The milk can be strained or used as is. to your health, Julia xo  When I first started eating clean I was astounded by how many green leafy vegetables I needed to eat for optimal health. The reality is that most Americans are undernourished - even if overweight. In the jolieLife foods you will eat 6-8 cups of green leafy vegetables a day.
Why? Green leafy vegetables feed your gut biome. Maintaining a healthy gut requires you feed the good organisms that live there - they eat compounds found in green leafy vegetables. A healthy gut improves your nutrient absorption and restricts antigens and pathogens from crossing through the gut into the blood where they wreck havoc on a healthy immune system. They help you hydrate from the inside out. Greens are mostly water which can slowly be absorbed into the body as the greens are broken down. Antioxidants galore. If you want glowing, clear, healthy skin you have to eat your greens - lots of them. If dry, aging skin with lots of fine lines is your thing, pass on the salad. Greens make more of an impact on your skin than any serum, cream, or facial. Spend the money on your vegetables - the dividends go deeper than a $400 facial. What you feed yourself impacts the development of Alzheimer’s and cancer more than your genes. Green leafy vegetables contain many neuron and cell protective bioactive compounds. Read Anticancer or Ending Alzheimer’s to know just how important green leafy vegetables are. Try a week of jolieLife meals. Go to the Super Food tab. It will teach you what you need to be eating and will amaze you how great you feel. with love + light, Julia  Learning to hear your body’s messages can be tricky when we have gotten out of the habit of listening to ourselves. In adulthood, we care for so many and have so many to answer to that we lose accountability to our own bodies.
In my health journey, many people have given me all kinds of advice - well-intentioned most of the time. Yet, what works for them may not work for me and vice versa. Being in touch with my own body helps me to know when to push, when to rest, when fatigue or sickness is starting, what my sensitivities are. Many clients come to me unable to hear what the body is saying or what their intuition is saying. As the first step to greater intimacy with yourself, start asking yourself throughout the day what you want. I adopted a practice several years ago of asking questions addressed to my body constantly: what do you want to wear today? What do you want for breakfast? Do you want to walk to work or take the subway? Do you want to call this person back now or a little later? Do you want to read or listen to music? Do you like spinning or do you do it because your best friend does? Do you think spending money on flowers is a waste or is that another’s idea? After about a month of this, you start to hear your own voice very clearly. Knowing your voice is the first step in reclaiming yourself. with love + light, Julia  The full moon is a time for me on a monthly basis to stop and evaluate. What is working? Am I on track? How have my goals changed or progressed?
I highly recommend taking a monthly pause to stop and check the terrain of your life. Without it, we can find ourselves off course not knowing how we got there. Here is my Full Moon Checklist. I take about 10-15 minutes to do it - going with my first impulses. Go somewhere quiet, ground yourself, and dive in. Afterward, spend a little time in meditation or prayer to let go of what’s distracting you and recommit to your goals. Full Moon Checklist:
with love + light, Julia xo  Self-care is practicing caring for yourself as you would a dear friend. You make self care a priority because when you feel good and good about yourself you are naturally kinder to yourself and others. If you have a hard time seeing the correlation, think about when you are hangry - you act angry not because you want to bite someone’s head off, but because your deprivation, hunger, makes it hard to be kind.
Likewise, when we feel like the best version of ourselves, kindness and giving flow more abundantly and effortless from us. Self-care will energize and recharge you because it turns us on and makes us present to our lives. You don’t need a lot of free time or to start a new exercise routine, or start eating clean to engage in caring for yourself - in fact, all of those things are usually the effortless outflow of self-care. cared for and good. with love + light, Julia |
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