Addictive Wellness with AnnaBlanca and Sage

Our wellness community here in La La land is a tight knit, supportive system. I usually meet like minded friends, entrepreneurs, and creative spirits through others who are on the path. Recently at the launch of Sunpotion’s latest incredible blend called Yin Power, I met the dynamic duo behind the chocolate brand Addictive Wellness. Ive always been intrigued with this line; I mean a logo that had a golden unicorn on it will most definitely get my attention!

AnnaBlanca and Sage came over one afternoon to share their latest creation of Superfood chocolate elixir blends. They made the chai flavor for me mixed with some coconut oil, nut milk and the packet of chai. Some of the incredibly powerful ingredients they have in that blend are The  Tremella Mushroom,  Astragalus, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane Mushroom. What I like about this concept, is that you can get a variety of these elements in one elixir instead of mixing various jars together. These packets make it easy to take with you when on the road, or at work at the office. I have been taking medicinal mushrooms for some time like reishi and cordyceps, but I wasn’t too familiar with tremella. It was such a joy to learn about this fascinating  fungi through our visit, and all it’s incredible beautifying benefits.

After sipping on the elixir Sage and AnnaBlanca went on to make a frozen dessert treat with berries, goji berries, lucuma, maca, ghee, tremella mushroom and more. Look for their inspiring interview (Their knowledge on herbs and plant medicine is so vast) and dessert recipe below ~

1) What makes your souls sing?

When I see a kind act.  If I witness a spontaneous and sweet gesture, no matter how small or even grand it may be.  To me it is a sign that all is well in our universe, humans are generally kind to each other and our basic operating system does default to love and goodness.

But even more than that my heart glows for my family (they live very far and miss them every day) and for the family I’ve found in Sage who is everything right I’ve ever dreamt of.  The more I get to know the compassionate, powerful, brilliant, generous, loving man he is, the deeper my love runs for him.  We are truly blessed, grateful and we have so much fun together that no matter what our day brings, our souls laugh and sing together.

2) What inspired you both to communicate wellness through chocolate?

Sage was already a master chocolate maker by the time we met and once I added his blue eyes and dimples to the delicious idea of creating something together, I was more than inspired!   We met six years ago and together we wanted to take the chocolate game to an even higher level.  We both believe that in order to live your ultimately healthy, happy life it is not necessary to give up your indulgences.  Our chocolate does not have different flavors but different functions to support everyone on their your journey.  I’m such a silly goose that each time we get a heartwarming message from a very happy customer I still tear up…

3) What are three adaptogens or herbs you cannot live without?

He Shou Wu. it is one of the primary Jing tonics of Chinese herbalism. It accumulates incredible quantities of qi in its root and can transfer this primordial deep energy to every cell in the body!  He Shou Wu tonifies the organs and nourishes the blood.  It is a powerful energy tonic but interestingly also calms the nervous system, making it both invigorating and calming. Sometimes I love to put a heaping tablespoon of it into my morning tonic to start my day off right.

Shatavari. I love this herb.  Its name is often translated as “she who has a hundred husbands”  Well, it would be a lot of work for any woman but I believe it means if you take it regularly you end up with tremendously strong hormones and could easily deal with a hundred husbands.  Shatavari balances female hormones, improves fertility, balances the pH of the lady garden, helps release excess water retention and gently transitions women from one stage of their lives to the next.

Longan Berries. I adore Ron Teeguarden, the founder of Dragon Herbs and  each time he gives a speech about herbs for women he always raves about Longan fruit and its ability to build blood and supporting the skin.  But Longan goes beyond its beautifying effects!  It also has a 2000 year reputation of being a fabulous sex tonic for ladies. Have I mentioned it is also incredibly delicious?  Triple win all around!

4) Tell me about your favorite three beauty enhance ingredients or things to do?
I only use organic beauty products.  About ten years ago I’ve found out that the personal care world is pretty much the “wild wild west” .  I would never use a new product without checking it through one of my favorite organization’s the EWG’s website, Skindeep.com.   I’m ever grateful for their work and existence.

Let me share a bit of information from the site: “No premarket safety testing is required for the industrial chemicals that go into personal care products or the chemical industry as a whole. According to the Office of Cosmetics and Colors at the federal Food and Drug Administration, “…a cosmetic manufacturer may use almost any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without an approval from FDA.” (FDA 2012) The FDA does no systematic reviews of safety, instead authorizing the cosmetics industry to self-police ingredient safety.”

For this very reason I individually check all ingredients within Skindeep’s database and unless every one of them gets a green light I skip the purchase.  There is a growing number of brilliant products that are created with focus on wellness, environment and genuine consumer care.   I want to support companies that are taking the market to that positive direction and I will continue purchase exclusively from them.

Oh sweet beautiful tremella!  It is a mushroom that has been a secret of legendary beauties for centuries including Yang Guifei who was one of the most famous imperial consorts in China.  She claimed tremella made her skin soft and youthful and no wonder since tremella can hold even more water than hyaluronic acid!   We all know that sustainable beauty comes from within and being healthy means your glow will intensify.  Tremella won’t let you down: it lowers your blood glucose and cholesterol, not to mention boosts your antioxidant levels and immune system.

I have been on a no sugar diet for a very long time.  Apart from the occasional fruit I avoid every other forms of sugar.  Once I learned that a spike of insulin causes an instant inflammation response in the system that creates enzymes which break down the skin’s collagen it was a no brainer.  I prefer not to speed up my skin’s aging, thanks!

5) What book is on your night stand?

Embers by Sándor Márai and I’m reading it in Hungarian to keep my mother language alive.  It is a stunningly beautiful story and masterfully written, almost like a symphony.

6) Is there a motto or mantra you two live by?

“Together we have magic!”   This motto was born out of observation 😉  When you live and also work with your love and partner there will be days when things do not go as planned. Minor issues or even major crisis can strike any time, it is just inevitable.   Our rule is that only one of us can fall apart at a time and there is no reason to spend time worrying since we always, always figure everything out, almost as if we had magic.   Through the years we learned to trust that together we can solve any problems and will always climb out of the rabbit hole.

SAGE’S ANSWERS:

1) What makes your souls sing?

If I can keep the right mindset, all of life makes my soul sing!  The ups and downs, and everything in-between.  Of course that’s when I can be in my ideal state, which isn’t 100% of the time.  But the top two things that can always make my soul sing no matter how I’m feeling are surfing and AnnaBlanca’s smile.  To me, surfing is like a beautiful dance with the ocean, interacting with Mother Nature in one of her most dynamic forms.  And I don’t think I really need to explain the reasons behind AnnaBlanca’s smile!  I mean anyone whose ever felt the power of love knows how the sweet smile of a loved one can make your heart blossom!

2) What inspired you both to communicate wellness through chocolate?

When I was first starting to learn about superfoods, cacao really caught my eye because amongst other wild ingredients like hemp seeds, açaí, and maca, it was the only one that was even remotely familiar to me.  As I started to learn a bit more about the benefits of cacao, I got really excited because at the time this appeared to be the only overlap between food I enjoyed and food that was good for me.  In my late teens I learned how to make raw chocolate in Costa Rica and realized that this was a way I could reach people who didn’t necessarily have any interest in health.  One of the biggest obstacles that stops people from enjoying some of the greatest superfoods and superherbs is that you really have to acquire a taste for them.  But incorporating them in chocolate completely circumvents this step and allows people to enjoy both the flavor and benefits instantly!  Over the years, I continued to learn more about chocolate making, nutrition, and traditional herbal systems, and wove these together into my chocolate creations.  For years these were just home made experiments shared with friends and family and finally after years of fine tuning, it felt like it was something that was ready to be shared with the world!

3) What are three adaptogens or herbs you cannot live without?

I know I could still thrive if all my shelves of herbs were taken away from me, but my three favorite herbs are chaga, reishi, and cordyceps.  There’s quite a few others that I’m very fond of, but I think these would be my top three at the moment.

They’re all fantastic when it comes to enhancing the natural intelligence of the immune system.  As we come into the fall and winter months, I love brewing a really strong pot of chaga tea by simmering chaga chunks for at least three hours and adding just a few drops of vanilla stevia.  This is a really quick, simple and easy drink to make and it gives me a feeling of such great power!

Reishi is one of if not the greatest herb for quieting the mind and opening the heart.  It was traditionally said that it helps to guide us around the obstacles that are standing in between us and enlightenment.  It’s one that I cycle on and off of, but during challenging times, whether physical, mental, or spiritual, I have always been able to count on reishi to be there for me.

And last but not least, cordyceps is my go-to for enhanced athletic performance.  It enhances oxygen utilization, so from every breath you breathe, more oxygen is actually able to be absorbed and utilized.  I love combining it with some of my other favorite qi tonics like astragalus and Siberian ginseng to really maximize my moment-to-moment energy in a sustainable way without using any kind of stimulants.

4) Tell me about your favorite three beauty enhance ingredients or things to do?

I love making clay masks using a combination of rhassoul clay, French green clay, and bentonite clay mixed with apple cider vinegar.  Sometimes I’ll also throw some activated coconut charcoal in there to make it look extra cool and get even more detoxification benefit.  I love how clean this makes my skin feel and I try to do it at least once a week.

For many years, taking high doses of Vitamin B5 was transformational in helping me deal with acne challenges.  I’m not taking this currently, but for a long time this helped me when nothing else did.

For me, I’ve also found that drinking lots of very strong chaga tea is able to create a pretty radical difference in the well being of my skin.  Chaga is incredibly protective of the skin and can work wonders for many different skin issues.  Sometimes when I’m making the clay mask I mentioned a minute ago, I’ll use warm chaga tea as the liquid instead of the ACV- it feels so amazing on the skin!

5) What book is on your night stand?

The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell for several reasons… The ways in which Mr. Campbell connects the cosmic dots between the metaphors contained in worldwide mythologies and the deep truths and mysteries they point towards really makes me feel at peace.  Its very easy to think that the problems we face are unique to us or unique to our era, but at their core, they are generally challenges that have been faced by countless people for thousand of years.  Remembering this helps me tremendously to avoid falling into self-pity and I do my best to learn from the ancient teachings how to best navigate the obstacles I face in life.  But there’s also another reason! The wording of this book is so unique, with many levels of meaning packed into each sentence.  I find I have to reread each line several times to properly grasp it and the mental energy that really understanding this writing takes actually puts me to sleep very quickly!  The book is not boring at all- quite the opposite, but it has an incredible sedative effect on me!

6) Is there a motto or mantra you two live by?

I had the amazing good fortune to grow up in a meditation center and I learned many sanskrit mantras.  They are incredibly powerful and beautiful, but I wouldn’t say I live by them… I think I try to stay connected with and live by certain ideals and principles that my mom taught me from a young age.  Growing up, I learned that the greatest things I could aspire to were to be spiritual and chivalrous and to treat others with kindness and compassion.  So these are my north stars towards which I do my best to continuously correct my course.

Tell us the about the recipes to what we made?

This is one of my absolute favorites- the Beauty Berry Ice Cream.  It has very little sugar content, with only natural sugars coming from the raspberries and goji berries themselves.  It also features tremella mushroom and schizandra berry, which, in my experience are without a doubt the two best beauty herbs in the world!

Add into the VitaMix:

12 oz (by weight) frozen raspberries

2 tablespoons hemp seeds

1 tablespoon lucuma

1 teaspoon tremella mushroom extract

1 teaspoon schizandra berry extract

1/2 teaspoon gelatinized maca

2 tablespoons Dragon Herbs Goji Berries

1 tablespoon grass-fed ghee (can be eliminated for vegans)

1 tablespoon caprylic acid MCT oil

20 drops Omica Liquid Stevia

Blend on high until smooth while aggressively using the tamper/plunger to drive the ingredients down into the blade.  Enjoy! 🙂

Tags:chocolate, cordyceps, healing, herbs, Reishi, superfoods