DR. SARAH

Dr. Sarah Sarkis is an accomplished psychologist. Moreover, she is on the trending side of medicine for her holistic approach to patient care. She works collaboratively with a functional medicine doctor as well as a naturopathic specialist to help wean her patients off of psychiatric medications (when possible). A goal of Sarah's is to help her patients better understand how the choices they make, with respect to food and nutrients, contribute to overall emotional equilibrium and physical well-being.

Sarah practices what she preaches. Her family has been focusing on an immune enhancing and anti-inflammatory diet for the last 10 years. They significantly limit sugar in all its forms but do allow honey or agave syrup from time-to-time. Like The 30 Clean, she aims to have the largest portion of her plate consist of greens and assorted/colorful vegetables and the remaining 20% consists of clean protein, particularly fish, local and fresh. A healthy fat is always included. She will eat fruit - as a treat or dessert. And, she has eliminated almost all processed foods, most grains and legumes - although will add red lentils once a week in order to maintain adequate protein intake given her level of activity.

Sarah only makes one meal for her family. Her son, Luke, never gets a "special kid meal". Instead, she will create a lot of her meals around what she knows he will eat. That said, she does say he is a good eater overall. Because she is a working mom, weekend prep is key and meals each night will only take 30-40 minutes to prepare (from fridge to table). She uses Saturdays and Sundays for experimenting.

Whole Foods is her favorite store. While she wishes that she was better at shopping around for the best prices or a frequent buyer at the Farmer's Market, her job doesn't allow for such flexibility. Due to the volume of fresh food that her family eats, she will go to the market two to three times per week to top off fresh organic fruits, veggies, and pick up freshly caught fish.

So....what does her refrigerator look like? I was DYING to know. Here it is. Feast your eyes on this -- it is a thing of beauty:

And her pantry?

Ummmm.....clearly I have some work to do. But, I digress.

Sarah always has the following pantry staples on hand:

* cans of coconut milk

* coconut oil

* raw cashews

* pecans

* dates

* chia seeds

* cacao nibs

* flax

* honey

* 100% maple syrup

* almond flour

I have logged her list. I realized that I also have a lot of these staples in my own cupboard. Since Mother's Day was around the corner, I asked her for a go-to, clean, pantry-ready dessert. She shared her beautiful raw lemon tart. I can say that this is a winner because I tried it myself (see my photo below). It's important to remember that these recipes, while very easy, usually require some advance notice. In the case of this lemon dessert, you must soak the cashews 4-8 hours and refrigerate the coconut cream over night. Otherwise, it's a cinch. Oh, and it's delicious!

To summarize, Sarah says, "If my health took a turn for the worse, I'd likely integrate traditional medicine/treatment. But, it will never help me stay well over the long-term. It's not designed to do that. Many functional and naturopathic doctors now believe inflammation is a root cause of most chronic and terminal illnesses. So do I. In the meantime, we can help control our mental and physical health by focusing on what we are putting into our bodies."

Amen.

Dr. Sarah's Raw Lemon Tart

Crust

1 cup of pecans

10 dates (pitted)

2 T of cinnamon

Directions

Add the crust ingredients to a Vitamix or blender and mix completely.

Press mixture into a pie plate or tart pan.

Set aside. (I covered mine with Saran and popped it into the fridge while I made the filling).

Filling

1/2-3/4 raw cashews (Soak cashews for 4-8 hours in water. Drain.)

1 1/2 cups of coconut cream. (I bought mine at Trader Joe's.)

1/2 cup of coconut oil

1/2 cup of honey (or less if you prefer it less sweet)

1 T vanilla extract

Juice of 2-3 large lemons squeezed. (I used three lemons and it was terrific).

Directions

Clean Vitamix or blender.

Add all the ingredients for the filling into Vitamix/blender.

Mix together until it is thick and creamy. No lumps or bumps.

Pour mixture over the crust.

Freeze for 2-4 hours.

Serve chilled with whipped coconut cream (optional). We also had sliced strawberries - such a good balance!

POSTSCRIPT:

It has been a week since Mother's Day. We had a ton of this tart leftover so I cut it up into 2-bite size pieces and have kept it in the freezer. OMG. I'd say it's a little dangerous. Just. So. Good.

#desserts #bodymind #recipes #drsarah