Sophie Jaffe On Food-Based Cleansing & Our Upcoming Mexico Retreat

Meet Sophie Jaffe, raw vegan chef and guide on our upcoming FP Escape to Yelapa, Mexico.

As you may have heard, we recently unveiled FP Escapes, curated travel for the free-spirits, the wanderlusters, and the girls who see possibility everywhere. Our goal? To allow our guests – and friends – to enjoy the most transformative, inspiring, and fun(!) experience of their lives. The task of choosing our Yelapa guides was not an easy one – whittling down all of the amazing inspiring women down to just two individuals?  Sophie Jaffe just happens to be one of the women that made the cut. And we couldn’t be more excited to have her on board.

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Sophie is…well, she’s a powerhouse. She’s a doting mother and wife who also happens to run a superfood company and cleanse program, Philosophie. To boot, Sophie is a successful raw vegan chef, yoga instructor and personal trainer. You could say she’s been around the wellness block once or twice.

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But it is her understanding of and passion for nutrient-dense food that led us to choose Sophie as master-of-food-ceremonies on our upcoming retreat. She will be serving as menu consultant, designing an optional food-based cleanse and leading food workshops. To give us a little taste of what’s to come, read on about Sophie’s method of food-based cleansing, and scroll to the bottom for a sample recipe from what we’ll be eating in Mexico.

Hopefully we’ll see you there!

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Sophie, we’re so excited to have you on our FP Escape to Yelapa! You’ll be leading up the food side of things, making sure we’re all eating well and teaching us about a healthy diet. How did you get to where you are & how do you know so much about food?
I gravitated towards psychology and received my B.A. in the field—I really see it as something that helped me forge a path to inner strength and wellness. Then, after college, I began working at an organic raw juice bar down the block from my house and eventually became the manager of the store. I was so excited to help change the eating habits of others and was also able to change my own habits and find a path to curing some the discomfort that I faced with dairy, meat and other foods that weren’t working for me at the time.

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I then became a certified raw vegan chef and my passion for healthy eating led to Philosophie, which was sparked by my wish for an amazing blend of superfoods and proteins together in one, convenient jar. I didn’t want to run out of maca or another individual ingredient and then feel like my smoothie wasn’t complete, so I went all over LA searching for high quality, fair-trade, organic superfoods and then began packing them into mason jars and little bags. I started giving the blends to friends and family and making everyone workout and nutrition guides. One day, I was in the sea in Israel with my husband, Adi, and he turned to me and said, “you should really grow what you’re doing and share it with more people, make it a company.” And that’s when it really took off.

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One of the things you’ll be doing on our retreat is designing an optional 3-day food-based cleanse for guests. Can you tell us a bit about a food-based cleanse and what it consists of?
A food-based cleanse does not promote deprivation but rather gives your digestive system a break so that you can wean yourself off of food as a means of comfort. We all get busy and don’t always have time to shop for and prepare healthy, wholesome foods so we’ll turn to eating out or picking up fast food. The issue with this is that we’ll be filling ourselves with foods that are much more likely higher in trans fats and high-glycemic sugar, possibly sprayed with pesticides, and/or lower in nutrients. A food-based cleanse provides just the opposite and consists of protein-rich smoothies, nutrient-dense salads, whole food snacks, superfood energy bars, fresh juices and fiber-filled soups—all of which are gluten-free, vegan, low in sugar and high in plant-based proteins.

When most people think of cleansing, they think juice. What are the benefits of cleansing with food over liquid? How did you come to settle on this method?
The Philosophie cleanses are vastly different from juice cleanses because they’re designed to nourish your body rather than deprive it. I love the vitamins, minerals and enzymes that juices provide, but want to ensure that my clients enjoy cleansing and receive everything their body needs to thrive, especially essentials like fiber and protein. In fact, at my Nourish Your Soul retreat this past spring, everyone kept saying, “if you didn’t tell me I was on a cleanse, I would never know! The food is so good!”

IMG_8945Are there certain times of year that people should focus on cleansing the body? How often do you do cleanse?
I like to cleanse every 3-4 months, typically once a season. That way, I can enjoy the sweets + treats of each season, but also give my body a break, remove toxins and flood it with nutrients. That being said, I’m a huge advocate for creating a day-to-day diet of as many whole, local, organic foods as possible and treating yourself to something yummy every once in a while.

Do you have favorite ingredients that you incorporate into cleanses? What are they and what are their benefits?
I always incorporate my superfood + protein blends, coconut butters and manuka honeys (for non-vegan clients). When I started creating the superfood + protein blends, I noticed that all of the vegan protein powders on the market were loaded with sugar or soy. I wanted to make a blend without any added sugar and soy while also ensuring that I could eat it raw and love it. The Philosophie superfood + protein blends (Green Dream, Berry Bliss, and Cacao Magic) are all vegan, raw, gluten-free and have absolutely no filler ingredients. They contain nothing but the purest, most healing ingredients that have been deemed “superfoods” due to their exceptional nutrient density. For example, take the Green Dream blend’s star ingredient spirulina—this antioxidant-rich, blue-green algae is packed with nutrients including iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, copper, selenium, chromium, vitamin B-12, and protein, which makes it perfect for cleansing!
Can you share a sample recipe that you’ll be working into the FP Escapes 3-day cleanse? We’d love a little taste!

green dream smoothie

Mango + Green Dream Smoothie

Gather This:

1 cup nut milk

1 cup frozen or fresh mango

1 tablespoon Green Dream Powder 

1 cup green leafy greens (kale, spinach, etc)

1 frozen banana

1 tablespoon Green Dream or Berry Bliss Coconut Butter

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2 teaspoons bee pollen

2 teaspoons goji berries

2 teaspoons golden berries

ice

Do This:

Blend and top with bee pollen, goji berries + golden berries!

Lastly, what does free mean to you?
Free means doing everything from a place of love—which means working out, because I actually love the movements that my body is creating, or eating because I love how the food tastes and how it makes me feel. I am not a fan of perfection—it’s unreal, unnatural and a sort of anti-freedom. Instead, I choose balance, doing what feels good for my body and my soul, which includes some lazy, carefree days and treats. Above all, being free means fully embracing my most authentic self—a wife to my hubbie, a mama to my two beautiful boys, and someone who wants to share wellness with as many people as I can so we can all SHINE!

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Check Out Sophie’s Social Channels + Website for More!

Website: http://www.thephilosophie.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philosophiemama?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/philosophiemama

Instagram: https://instagram.com/philosophiemama/

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/philosophiemama

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDA1i4vSYcQqUVhs3eum-Xw?sub_confirmation=1

 

Photography By: Katie Shuler

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8 years ago

She is a beautiful lass with a healthy life in her. I love doing yoga and pilates every day but not now because I’m starting to get really busy lately. Yoga is my life and people who manage to do yoga proudly are my inspirations. Love this post. Hope you do more for these kind of people. xo

http://www.kinikunormal.blogspot.com/

Bee
8 years ago

The writers at Free People may want to study some yoga theory before they use terminology like ‘making the cut’ and talking about exclusivity, it doesn’t really fit with what you are writing about (trying to market)

8 years ago

I couldn’t be more excited to share space with all of the beauties who join in! It’s going to be absolute magic, honored to be a part of it!

Allie
8 years ago

I like where she is headed with this ‘food cleanse’ idea. I currently study Nutrition; the liver is our cleansing organ. There is really no such thing as using foods to ‘cleanse our system of toxins’–that is our liver’s main function. We tend to think of our bodies as dirty, toxin-ridden things. Rather, we are powerful beings with organs that cleanse us. From what I have gathered, I believe foods should be used not to ‘detoxify’, but to keep those powerful organs in optimal working condition!