Ramadan & the Benefits of Intermittent Fasting for everyone

I am admittedly a foodie at heart and by profession, being a chef. When food does take center stage of your life and work, it may sound weird talking about fasting in a food related blog. However, the appreciation of something grows with the absence of it, isn’t it? Taking a periodical break from food can be very, very rewarding in many ways: Physical, mental and spiritual.
With Ramadan starting soon, this is a golden opportunity also for non-Muslims to re-think food intake. I often tune in with the spirit of Ramadan and mindfulness, performing an inner cleanse with something we call “Intermittent Fasting” even though I am not following this for religious reasons.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

It is giving your digestive system a break from the (hard) digestive work.
During a fast your body has the chance to clear stored toxins, rejuvenate, lose extra body fat, and heal.

A fast can be performed in many ways:  A full day and a full night,  or just a full day (like in Ramadan, from sunrise until after sunset), you can fast a few full days in a row, or only a few more hours than you usually would not eat (like during the time you sleep). Whatever suits you better, it is worth giving fasting a try.
As it is always hard to break a routine, it will be difficult in the beginning, but after a few days you will adjust to the new pattern. What else is in there for you? And I can assure you your taste buds are super sensitive after they have “rested” for longer than usual. Eating the simplest foods will be a special treat. Having said that – how to break such an intermittent fast the best and healthiest way?

We will talk in more depth about this theme in our next free health talks series:

15th May 9.45 – 10.30 am at Talise Cafe Madinat Jumeirah
16th May 10.45 -11.30 am in Talise Cafe Jumeirah Beach Hotel
18th May 6 – 6.45 pm in Talise Fitness Jumeirah Emirates Towers.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

xx Chef Gabi

p.s. Peonies from my garden at home in beautiful Bavaria 🙂

Health Talk Series at Talise Nutrition

Talise Nutrition offers a new series of health talks! Topic for the month of April is

DETOX

Even if your diet is good, a cleanse can restore your immune system and protect yourself against environmental toxins that pave the way for disease bearing bacteria, viruses and parasites.
According to many healing experts, detoxification through special cleansing programs may be the missing link to disease prevention, especially for immune-deficiency diseases like cancer, arthritis, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome and candida.
In the animal kingdom and in traditional cultures, routine fasting which allows the body time to clean itself out has been normal practice. Just think how many showers you take in a year to clean the outside of your body and then how many cleanses you do in a year to clean the inside of your body?

There are excellent cleanses that can be done with food ingredients – learn our top tips to detox building up to a purer, cleaner, leaner and radiant You.

The events are free for everyone and the talks take place in

Madinat Jumeirah Talise Café on Sunday 16^th April 9.45 – 10.30 am
Jumeirah Beach Hotel Talise Café on Tuesday 18^th April 10.45 – 11.30 am
Jumeirah Emirates Towers Talise Fitness on Wednesday 19^th April 6.00 – 6.45 pm

I  am looking forward to seeing you there!

Live healthy, feel good and look great – from the inside out.

Yours in wellness,

xx Gabi

 

Talise Mini Chefs!

At Talise Wellness we believe in the direct effect of lifestyle on human health and wellbeing. We do everything with the intention of making people healthier, fitter and more beautiful.

The food we eat makes up to 50% of our health and wellbeing. The human body builds its cells out of the food we take in – every day. How important is it to teach our kids whilst they are young and help them learn how much fun healthy lifestyle can be? This made us create our latest addition to our popular cooking classes.

Enjoy the Talise Flavors of Fun   

T A L I S E   M I N I  C H E F S

Talise Mini Chefs  cooking Workshops for 6-13 year olds

Including more raw and healthy food in your child’s diet means they get all the beneficial enzymes, vitamins and nutrients of raw living food, making digestion easier and keeping the all-important blood sugar levels stable, as well keeping the little ones healthy. They will be encouraged to smell, touch, cook and taste a wide range of recipes they make themselves. We believe that exposing kids to good eating habits and teaching them to make healthy food choices is essential – they will reap the benefits for the rest of their lives.

What will they Learn…

• how to make easy, healthy and delicious food
• what foods they need to eat to stay smart and strong
• the importance of incorporating healthy food into their little lives
• how to easily get their recommended 5 fruit and vegetables a day in one glass
• how to incorporate more raw/living food into their diets
• how to make healthy snacks and learn their nutritional benefits
• A range of cooking skills
• To try new tastes and textures
• How to avoid foods high in salt, saturated fat and sugar – all while learning how to make better choices.

RECIPES they WILL MAKE 

• How to make Green Juices and Smoothies that they will love
• How to make Raw Breakfasts that will keep their energies going all day
• Healthy Lunch Box meals
• Raw Dinner
• Soups
• Healthy Snack Recipes
• Nearly Raw Banana Bread
• Healthy ice pops and desserts

What is included in the Workshop

• Recipes
• 2 hours fun filled cooking workshop
• Structured nutritional  topics
• Minimum participants 10
• Location: Talise Café Madinat Jumeirah Resort Talise Café Jumeirah Beach Hotel

Price: AED150 

When: Every Tuesday, 10.00 am- 12.00 pm
Where: Talise Café Madinat Jumeirah (within Talise Fitness)
Our first class starts in April on Saturday 29th

To express interest in our fun filled workshop please contact me at gabriele.kurz@jumeirah.com

I am looking forward to seeing you and your little one(s) there soon!

Your ins wellness,

Gabi

 

 

Free Health & Nutrition Talk

On the occasion of our yearly Wellness Month here in Dubai and the celebration of 10 years Talise Spa Madinat Jumeirah we are offering an array of health and lifestyle activities!
Join us on 21st of February for a free

Health & Nutrition Talk

at Talise Cafe, Madinat Jumeirah.

Time: 10.30 am – 12.00 pm (updated timing)

Tasters included.

I am looking forward to seeing you all there.

To book your seat please call

Talise Spa: 04 366 6818
Talise Fitness: 04 366 6822
DNA Health Centre: 04 366 5111
Or email me at gabriele.kurz@jumeirah.com

Yours in wellness,

Gabi

 

 

Antioxidants & Arctic SuperFoods

With the Dubai weather getting slowly a bit chilly  – this is what we call the 22 degrees Celsius at night and is our actual “winter” – we start thinking of all the winter flavors. My favorite soup comes to my mind – red cabbage cappuccino. Sounds awkward, but please do try the recipe, it is so good! And the purple color is so unusual! The soup comes also with a benefit of low calorie count, great for a little pre Xmas weight loss. Did you know that this color is a sign of the presence of one highly sought after antioxidant? Antioxidants are highly beneficial to enhance the overall well-being, better ageing, health, beauty, and performance – all relates to the food we eat. So all that dark, purple and violet hues  in vegetables, fruits and berries should be part of our kitchen repertoire. The best antioxidative berries are blueberries.  The real  inside and out dark blueberries, the ones that leave your tongue dyed like a Chow Chow 🙂
These gems are unfortunately very seasonal when you want to get them fresh. Unless you have discovered already the powder form …. arctic berries powder. This is the new super food kid on the block. Below link leads you to the product information too. Expect my soon to be revealed new food menu in our Talise Cafes in Madinat Jumeirah and Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai c o l o r f u l. There will be always something purple…

xx Chef Gabi

I hope you enjoy reading my latest interview on Bilberry Blog!

5 Minutes with the Dubai based Raw Food Chef Gabriele Kurz

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http://bilberry.ae/media/js/a8583c9d09ccbd10591d7a9b6020d003.js

Raw Food is Pure Goodness!

Add some RAW FOOD to you life and stay healthy and energetic. You can also read about its significant benefits here…. Needless to say living in sunny and warm Dubai eating Raw is just a great thing to do in this climate!

Below delicious and pure Detox Rolls, made from grated organic roots vegetables, wheat grass vinaigrette and paper thin cucumber slices have been served at the Madinat Jumeirah Luxury Yoga Retreat last weekend!

Yoga Retreat breakfast 2

Another wonderful morning by the beach at Al Quasr Hotel….after a blissful workout a very healthy breakfast awaited our guests of our first Luxury Yoga Retreat at Madinat Jumeirah. Enjoy the pictures of the weekend and try my Amaranth Muesli!

 

Fresh cottage cheese, with tomato, cucumber and parsley waits to be dipped with wholesome arabic bread…..

…and my dairy free and gluten free Amaranth muesli for a perfect powerful start into the day – plenty of diced fruits like banana, apple, water melon, papaya, mango, orange topped by freshly puffed amaranth seeds.

 

Talise Nutrition on Dubai Eye!

I am excited to talk today 10 – 11 am on Dubai Eye Radio about Talise Nutrition and what we do at Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts in terms of healthy lifestyle support. As well, I am looking foreward to seeing some of my readers at the Yoga Retreat that starts today at Madinat Jumeirah!

Wellbeing Tip No. 6 – Good health through good lifestyle, consistently

I would like to pick up on my wellbeing tips.

Consistency is key.

I often see people trying to do once in a while a little bit of healthy lifestyle – be it sports, sleep, or eating. Sadly, if we do not follow good things throughout our daily routine and make it a habit, we loose it again and fall back.
Here is why:
A salad here and there has not a major impact, if the rest of our lifestyle is not supportive to good health. In return, a bowl of French fries or a sugary softdrink does no harm either if the main diet is full of nutrients.

Jumeirah Group’s Talise Brand supports you with plenty of choice for a healthier lifestyle.   Visit any of our Hotels and Resorts on the globe and enjoy Talise Fitness, Talise Spa and Talise Nutrition.
Be inspired and live healthy!

Summer in Dubai

It is summer in Dubai, and by nature this means quite hot weather.
This summer I have almost spent entirely in Dubai. And enjoyed it! One reason is a newly purchased, beautiful ice cream maker at home, all my pride, especially in this hot weather. Prefering sugar free, additive free food for myself I usually never eat ice cream or sorbet which is not home made.
Because of the heat I currently do mainly sorbets at home. Delicious, pure fruit purees with no or very little agave syrup or acacia honey, depending on the sweetness of the fruits.  Sometimes I just don’t add anything. Sometimes I add some spices too. It is ready in almost no time and such a pleasure to snack on!

See here how a basic healthy and pure fruit sorbet is made:

Choose a ripe and sweet fruit, my current favorites are pineapple or strawberries.

Wash, clean or peel the fruits, and puree them with a little amount of water. Just enough for the blade to take the fruits. Add agave syrup if necessary and a dash of lime juice to taste. For the pineapple sorbet I didn’t add anything. Often fruits are by nature perfectly sweet. Adding a little bit of pure vanilla to strawberries or a little bit of ginger to pineapple is a good idea but not a must. Try it if you like – the sorbets you see pictured here are pure and taste great as they are….

Strain. This is an option but I do it because the texture of the sorbet turns out much more smooth.
Beauty tip: The leftover in the sieve, especially pineapple or strawberry, makes a great face mask, mixed with natural yoghurt 🙂

Pour the strained fruit puree into the ice cream maker and turn it on. Depending of the volume you make this can take from 10 minutes to 30 minutes.
Then the sorbet is ready to serve!

I often or always make more than I can consume in one go. Hence I store my sorbet in a small container in my freezer. Ready to take out any time.
By the way …. pictured below is one of the rare occasions I ordered “normal” sorbet in a restaurant. It was on a trip abroad. I especially loved the inspirational text on the placemat. So true.

Have a lovely Eid holiday!