Welcome back to BeREAL! Diana and Ednesha are joined by Ayurvedic cooking specialists Jennifer Kurdyla and Abbey Rodriguez, the co-authors of Root & Nourish: An Herbal Cookbook for Women’s Wellness.
Jennifer Kurdyla is an Ayurvedic Health Counselor, yoga teacher, and writer. Plant-based since 2008, she learned to love food by experimenting with vegan and Ayurvedic cooking in her tiny New York kitchens. She is the co-author of Root & Nourish: An Herbal Cookbook for Women’s Wellness (Tiller Press, 4/6/2021), and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Abbey Rodriguez is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, herbalist, and food content creator. Over the last five years, she has been developing recipes for women and young families on her food and wellness blog, The Butter Half. She is deeply passionate about the power of plants and nutrition, and teaching others about holistic wellness. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and three children.
To begin the episode, Jennifer talks about how she came to love Ayurvedic cooking. Her journey started with her love of the environment, and she started a vegetarian diet to combat the environmental harm done by the meat industry. Abbey came into Ayurvedic cooking because she has celiac disease and came to holistic eating through gluten free foods. Their philosophy is that plant based foods taste good on their own, and they highlight that vegans/vegetarians should not fall into a diet of solely carbs or vegetables. Instead, they seek to create well balanced meals for all diets.
Next, the women discuss their journey together. Jennifer was working in publishing and Abbey was a blogger. Initially, Jennifer wanted Abbey to create a cookbook for her publishing house. However, now the two women are both bloggers and they collaborated on their first cookbook. They discuss how their book subtly weaves in Ayurvedic herbalism to make it easily accessible to many people. They also discuss the book’s focus on digestion. Digestion is often overlooked in nutrition discussions, however, digestion is a key process to how nutrients are used in the body.
Outside of the book, the women are also planning a four week herbal mastermind course. The course will have similar teachings to the book. Both will capture the importance of the divine feminine, seasonal eating, and digestion in Ayurvedic cooking.
Thank you for tuning into BeREAL this week! Be on the lookout for a brand new episode next Tuesday, and don’t forget to check out last week’s episode with LaTanya Toland of Soul Care for Black Clinicians.
For more information on Jennifer, Abbey, and their work, visit the links below:
Website: https://www.Benourished.me
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferkurdyla/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebutterhalf_/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootandnourishbook/
For more information on BeREAL (our mental wellness podcast) and BeWELL (our therapy practice in New York City and Hoboken, NJ) visit the links below:
To schedule a therapy appointment text BeWELL to 484848 today
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Be.WELL.Psychotherapy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bewell.psychotherapy/
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