Find your inspiration in healthy eating

Having personally experienced all that ails today’s fast-paced technology-obsessed world, she turned to nature to find solutions. She did not just manage to find a personal escape from an unhealthy “terrible” life, she is now inspiring many others to find a healthy lifestyle.Ana Castro, a certified holistic health coach and passionate raw chocolate artist, is continuously creating healthy alternatives to replace more popular yet unhealthy food choices. All her recipes are 100 percent organic, easy to prepare at home by anyone and are not expensive, she says.Exploring nutrients and essential vitamins from different herbs, fruits, vegetables and nuts, the Romanian expatriate has created recipes that replace everything unhealthy in popular food choices such as cheese in pasta and ingredients in a burger.In a recent lecture and live demonstration at JustinCase restaurant at Al Rabban Towers in West Bay, Castro treated the guests to her organically-created Quinoa burger, vegan pizza, raw pasta in white sauce and her raw chocolate recipes for dessert.She taught the participants how to procure organic ingredients easily and prepare such food at home. She says she cooks her own food at home, spends a very busy day, sleeps late in the night to get up early in the morning and yet retains high levels of energy courtesy of her organic food choices.   “I had been facing all these health conditions for a very long time. I was intolerant to dairy, gluten and other things. I would not feel well. I had headaches, digestive problems on a regular basis, insomnia, sore throat and other problems,” Castro tells Community in a chat after her talk at JustinCase.“And I observed that whenever I was eating gluten-free plant-based diet, I felt really well. I could maintain high energy without taking caffeine and more importantly I was not feeling sick,” she explains.This is when she decides to step away from processed foods and mould her lifestyle to adapt a gluten-free diet.“I am living the life of my dreams at the moment. I went on to study and discover Ayurvedic herbs, super foods from Amazons and different types of teas that saved my life. Once I had cleansed my diet, I started to have an intuitive approach to food,” says Castro.She says she discovered the foods that were good for her and subtracted those that were not. At this point, she started studying natural nutrition.Castro went on to study with some of the best nutritional teachers in the world at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York City. She is certified in Raw Nutrition at Body Mind Institute with David Wolfe.Today, she teaches the art of Raw Chocolate-making at home, the art of fermentation, cleansing, natural beauty and child nutrition. She says she is further expanding her studies in Homeopathy, Herbology, and Healing Foods. Castro specialises in supporting people with stress-free, improved digestive wellness, and breaking the food and mood barrier. She also gives talks about Healthy Living, Raw Chocolate infused with Super Foods, and conducts several workshops. These workshops include raw chocolate workshops for kids and adults, fermented foods workshops, and digestive wellness and gluten free workshops.“It was intuitively that I started discovering these food options and I realised that the healthiest diet for people for longevity and to prevent ageing is plant-based diet,” says the nutritionist.“Everything is processed today. There is no clean food left anymore. The message of this talk was that whether you eat meat or vegetable, whatever your diet is, it should be based on unprocessed natural food,” says Castro.She recommends people to buy the raw materials and prepare them at home, rather than buying biscuits with genetically modified flour or wheat, highly processed sugar, flavours, additives and preservatives in them. These things make people sick, she believes.“When I started, I did not have many options. There was not much information available online and not many people around to tell you about that. I learned about these healthy alternatives when I was healing my conditions, allergies and intolerances,” says Castro.She started ordering the ingredients online and started preparing her own food, especially raw chocolate, which she says contains “immense health benefits”.Castro has created her own brand of raw chocolate that is without sugar and dairy, is plant-based and vegan. It is exactly from the tree to the table, she says. “[The chocolate comes from] Amazon. It is one of the healthiest foods in the world, highly nutritious and it is the richest food in magnesium, which is the mineral of longevity,” she adds.“That is why the people who eat dark chocolate live longer and healthier,” claims Castro. “Chocolate dilates the veins. So everything that you put in the chocolate, for instance an herb, it immediately enters your blood stream,” she adds. Castro says she was amazed to discover that for every human condition, there is a plant. People with diabetes, for instance, would respond amazing to an Ayurvedic plant.For creating awareness about the benefits of organic unprocessed and healthy easy-to-prepare home-cooked food, Castro is collaborating with JustinCase. The restaurant itself promotes homemade food, with their chefs preparing healthy food.“We have a variety of things that are very healthy and things that [can be classified as] comfort food. As we are a homemade food restaurant, we have flexible timings for meals as well. You can get a breakfast in the afternoon as well,” Paul Bellavance, the CEO of JustinCase International, tells Community.The food is homemade and the restaurant, Paul says, is now headed towards organic ingredients. He says they have already experimented with organic ingredients and have received a good response. Run as a family business, with Paul’s son Francis Bellavance actively involved in the operations, JustinCase is modelled around home-delivery. They have a production kitchen and a contract with a compound to have a food distribution centre.“It is less commercial, more homemade. Our model is homemade delights,” says Paul. Castro is using this platform to spread awareness about the healthy alternatives by holding her talks and workshops at JustinCase. Her next workshop is on Saturday, May 7.