As part of the new web series, The Role Model In You — here is the most recent interview. The Role Model In You series discusses how individuals were influenced as a child to lead a healthy lifestyle. It covers who influenced these individuals, the changes they made in their life to be healthy, and the message they would like to convey to the youth of today. Our guests include doctors, soccer stars, Super Bowl champions, NBA players, Olympic gold medalist, entrepreneurs, celebrities, and just regular people looking to share their story. We hope you enjoy it!
1. Your name, title, and age? What do you do (or did you do) for a living?
Karyn Calabrese, Vegan Restaurant and Holistic Spa Owner, 65. I own 3 Vegan restaurants (the first of which is Raw Vegan) in Chicago and run a holistic healing center where I teach my 30 day detoxification program.
2. Who was the person that inspired you as a child to eat healthy and stay fit? What was their relationship to you?
My mother and grandmother died at relatively young ages — of degenerative diseases. At an early age, I had faced several health challenges and began to worry about their fate becoming my own. That was when my mother introduced me to vegetable juice.
3. What did they do to inspire you?
She taught me the importance of drinking green vegetable juice every day. The health benefits have always amazed me. I believe this was one of the first stepping stones for me to get to the path that I am on now.
4. How did their lesson change your life?
I was so impressed by the power of vegetables and vegetable juices that I eventually became vegetarian and then vegan before becoming a raw foodist. I started doing short and long vegetable juice fasts and detoxifying my body. It took me a while to create this path, but I have stayed on it. I haven’t had meat, fish, chicken or dairy in over 40 years and I drink my green vegetable juice daily. My mother’s lesson put me on the path to learning about and taking care of my body and every day I help others to do the same through my businesses. I know firsthand how vegetables and raw foods (like veggie juices, the greener -the better) can contribute to health and success as well as youthfulness.
5. Do you convey their message to kids in your life presently?
I convey their message to anyone who will listen. I teach detox classes every other month and I always offer FREE Information Seminars about detoxification, raw/living foods and healthy ways to prevent diseases like my mother, grandmother and far too many others have died from. Many of my students bring their children along to share the message with them and I’ve also helped several children with their unique health challenges through my detox program.
6. What would be your main message to children today to lead healthy lifestyles?
My message would be to eat REAL food (stay away from processed, factory made foods) and to ask their parents for vegetable juice. It’s the best thing anyone can take into their body, why not start at a young age? The disease and obesity rates are growing so rapidly, especially in our country…the main cause of this is our diet. We are eating things that make our bodies more and more hospitable for disease. Replace processed and “junk food” (it’s called that for a reason…it does nothing for your body, it has no nutritional value) with fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Your body will thank you forever.
7. Do you have a web site you would like to promote….web address only?