Featured Friend Interview:  Rachie Favilla
26 Aug

Featured Friend Interview: Rachie Favilla

I’m super excited to introduce to you the ever so amazing and breath of fresh air Rachel Favilla (affectionately known by her amigos as Rachie). Rachie is an Aussie Nutritionist, Yoges Instructor and Author of the hilarious, inspiring and informative paperback Periods, Poo & A Glorious You.  Born and bred in humble (r)Adelaide, Australia, Rachel relishes spending time with her friends and family, cooking up poo-pushing foodgasmic recipes and stretching it out with a cleansing yoges class or refreshing sunshine stroll.

Nothing lights Rachel up like a Christmas tree more than health education. She loves talking all things food and bodily functions and is well known for her fascination with the glorious brown stuff – yes, poo. Facing potential liver transplantation after being diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis at age 14, Rachel decided to throw all her energy into healing herself with medicinal foods. What she has learned and achieved since then inspires her every day.

Now aged 23 – with a completely healthy liver (her own, she might add) – Rach eats, breathes, writes and speaks the following message. Healing and maintaining health is within everyone’s reach and it starts with real food, an open mind and a sense of humour. She doesn’t dig dogma, clichés or anything ‘cookie cutter’. Rachie believes in real food, regular movement – and yes, that includes the bowels – human connection and the great outdoors.

What does creating ‘A Healthy Mix for Life’ mean to you?

To me, a healthy mix means remaining connected and intuitive – allowing myself to evolve how I live as my needs and desires change.

  • I base my diet on whole foods
  • Move my body (and bowels) daily
  • Prioritise time with my loved ones
  • Aim to work in jobs that I LOVE, and
  • Try to hit the sack before 10:30pm most nights (the latter doesn’t always happen – full disclosure).

My diet, fitness regime, friendships and career dreams continue to change, but my intention is always the same; love, laugh, give, move, nourish and poop like a boss.

Poop like a boss! Hahaha we love it!! You have such a passion for plant based living, so what does your day on a plate look like and why do you eat the way you do?

I always start my day with a massive green smoothie; overflowing with goodies such as cacao, coconut water, spinach, spirulina, cinnamon and other glorious bits and bobs. I find that if I don’t start my day with this signature elixir, the day (and my poos) simply don’t flow as smoothly as I’d desire.

Lunch forever changes; perhaps a homemade pumpkin muffin with ridiculously generous amounts of nut and/or seed butter ‘fondue’ (dipping muffin chunks into the tahini jar ‘fondue-style’) or the fusion salad with avo mash from my favourite café Nutrition Republic (not sponsored).

Dinner is quite often the soup below + a second course that could be anything from ½ an avocado smashed on organic toasted oat sourdough with sauerkraut or maybe a few homemade choccie bickies that are jam-packed with cacao and protein-rich seeds.

I love cooking so my diet changes depending on what’s inspiring me, what the season feels like and what my body is asking for. I’m all about keeping food simple, tasty and nourishing … and slathering my life with nut butter. I eat with my health in mind so for something to pass my lips it has to taste good AND make me feel good afterwards. Life’s too short to waste stomach space on foods we don’t enjoy, yet too glorious to fill the body with foods that make us sluggish, sad and sick. I don’t take my health for granted and use food for fuel, pleasure and medicine.

We’re starting to get hungry now! Living a healthy life doesn’t just mean eating well … how do you keep your mind and body healthy?

I am stoked that I decided to become a yoga teacher at age 20! It’s my job to stretch and meditate – both at work and at home. My ‘work’ keeps me consistent with daily practice and – no matter what I’ve got going on – allows me a space to release stored emotions from my hips before they migrate to my spine where they become deep-seated and harder to shift. I also study energy healing and have been seeing an incredible energy healer since I was a teenager who has become my mentor.

I know energy healing might sound whacky but it’s a great emotional reset and I always feel grounded and confident after time on the healing table. That brings me to gratitude. I’ve been using this one since I saw Disney’s Pollyanna for the first time at age 9. There’s always something to feel glad about and it sure is more fun spending energy on what went right rather than what I feel didn’t hit the mark.

I also really love my friends and family and they are my (I’m about to drop a cliché – please excuse me) ‘soul medicine’. My dear dad recently passed away and it has been a massive reminder to cherish the time we have with those we love. Sure, life is full of lessons and adventures, but what’s the point of any of these highs and lows if we can’t share them with others? Experiencing deep love on the daily by sharing big laughs and real conversations with our favourite humans is life’s greatest pleasure. That and evacuating poo-phoric bowel motions. Let’s be real.

Evacuating poo-phoric bowel motions… You have such a way with words!! Who is your health, wellness or fitness guru and why?

I don’t have one lone ‘guru’. I look to different people for inspiration depending on what I’m after.

  • YouTube’s Yoga with Adrienne reminds me to keep yoges approachable and down-to-earth – something I’ve been big on since I started teaching
  • Miranda Kerr and Kim Morrison have had the biggest impact on how I look after my skin and soul
  • When it comes to fitness, I’m such an energiser bunny that I inspire myself
  • As for food, I have to namedrop Lola Berry for her enthusiasm and charisma and Nicole and Ilija from Nutrition Republic for their incredible creations
  • I also remind myself to look within for answers rather that always looking without. We CAN inspire ourselves and often this is where the magic is

What is your ONE Super Hero Food that you cannot live without?

I have to choose just ONE? You guuuuuyyyyyssss!!!! I’m going to be cheeky and say nuts/seeds because that covers multiple foods. From toasted nuts on salads to creamy butters on muffins and plant-based milks in smoothies, these creamy dudes are my protein, fatty acid and mineral supplements in one fibrous, poo-pushing package. They are the rain to my bow, sun to my shine, cross to my word and – quite literally – the peanut to my butter. Bless them.

If you could share with the Raw Blend Family one piece of your wisdom what would it be?

I said it before. Look within before you look without. As a nutritionist, yoges instructor and author this is my number one piece of wisdom. If you want to know whether a food is nourishing, reflect on how it makes you feel. Not how your friend feels after they eat it. Not what the latest diet book says it ‘should’ make you feel like. How it makes YOU feel. There’s your answer, at least for now. Keep checking in because your needs change and evolve over time. The same goes for movement, lifestyle rituals, clothing choices, how you spend your day, your financial decisions, who you spend your time with. It’s always the same question. How do YOU feel about the people, places and pillars in your world?

Your physical, mental and emotional sensations communicate to you whether something is working for you or whether you need to try again. We can always look to others for guidance and support but WE get to decide what we’re going to take on board, what we’re going to shelve for later and what we’re going to recycle. So, get candid with yourself snazzy one.

(Totally Legal) Medicinal Mushy Soup 

Submitted by: Rachel Favilla
Serves: 1 person

This recipe is an adaption from the Holy Freakin Shizballs Pumpkin Soup in my Book Periods, Poo & A Glorious You. I love it even more with the addition of rich mushies and tangy garlic. An immune boost in foodie form, it pairs perfectly with a side of smashed avo and sauerkraut on organic sourdough or savoury muffin with nut and/or seed butter. I could eat this – or a variation (see notes) – every day, and truth be told, I pretty much do. Enjoy amigos. This is the best kind of fast food.

Equipment

  • Vitamix 2L container
  • Small saucepan + lid
  • Sharp knife to prepare veggies
  • Tea Towel – come blending time

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup diced and seeded butternut pumpkin (leave peel on for glorious fibre)
  • 6 small button mushrooms, halved
  • 1 cup filtered water, for cooking
  • 1 cup coconut milk, I like Pure Harvest Coco Quench (not sponsored) because it’s sweet and creamy
  • ½ teaspoon crushed garlic, I like Kehoe’s Kitchen fermented garlic paste (not sponsored) because it doesn’t leave me with garlic breath – winning!

Method

  1. Place veggies and water into saucepan and fit with lid. Bring to the boil and reduce to a low simmer until veggies are soft.
  2. Pour coconut milk into Vitamix 2L jug and add garlic paste. Pour veggies and cooking water on top and secure lid (leave the hole in the centre of the lid free).
  3. Cover the lid hole with your tea towel – this allows some steam to escape and prevents your machine overheating.
  4. Turn machine on and blend on speed 4 for thirty seconds before ‘blasting’ on speed 6 for about ten seconds. Reduce speed back to 1 before switching machine off.
  5. To serve, pour soup into your favourite soup bowl or oversized (and I mean OVERSIZED) mug and enjoy by the sip or soup spoonful.

Notes

You can swap mushies for cauliflower for a variation on a theme and if you don’t like coconut milk feel free to swap for your favourite plant-based milk. I’ve tried cashew and hazelnut before and both were delish. This soup is yours to play with – use your fave veggies and milk and you’re good to go. Let those creative juices run naked and wild.

For more inspiration or to find out more about Rachie see links below:  

Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Website
Book

Happy Blending!

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