Dana Card, founder of Le Jus and co-founder of Number One/Le Jus, exudes positive energy. Her background in nutrition and commitment to a sustained, healthy lifestyle make her an expert in our books.
Because we have to know how Card stays so relaxed and beautiful, we head to the the airy Highland Village shop to chat with the certified nutritional therapist about nourishing our bodies and souls.
“No diet ever works,” she declares, right off the bat. “It’s about adopting a lifestyle and allowing it to unfold.” She says that Number One/Le Jus is a supportive environment that enables people to adopt those healthy habits.
“No diet ever works,” Card says. “It’s about adopting a lifestyle and allowing it to unfold.”
Two ladies walking in for their morning juice can certainly attest to that, as we hear chatter about their new juicer and plans to do Card’s 21-day cleanse.
Card says that cleansing — whether it’s 21 days of juice and clean food or one day of cold-pressed juice, alkalizing water, coconut water, almond milk and tea — is about “giving your organs a rest.” Losing weight may just be a byproduct of the routine.
She goes on to say that we don’t chew our food properly, which can cause stomach problems. Aside from pressed vegetable and fruit juices, she recommends organic bone broth, from grass-fed cows and chickens. “It’s liquid gold for its digestive healing properties,” she says.
Although many people swear by a low-fat diet, Card suggests that grains are the real enemies. “[Grains] are highly inflammatory and disease-causing,” she says. “Low fat is not healthy. Women are terrified of weight gain and meat, but fat feeds the heart,” she says.
At Le Jus Cafe Organique, in addition to the assortment of cold-pressed juices, Card serves only gluten-free, grain-free and certified organic foods.
So how can we better fuel ourselves? Card suggests eating protein, fruits, vegetables, a small portion of raw organic honey and coconut palm sugar — “because our body works harder to break it down.”
“You need to hard-code taking care of yourself daily. Schedule it,” she says.
She also believes in drinking organic coffee, tea and wine. “It’s not a snickering subject,” she says. “Organic is the distillation of pesticides that would otherwise go into your body. It’s real.”
Naturally, juice is part of her daily routine. She mixes La Vie No. 1 or La Vie Pure with Le Fruit du Jour a couple of times a day. “Jus is like oxygen to me,” she says. “Green juice has a similar makeup to blood — it feeds your body with the nutrients it needs.”
Before opening up the shop, she walked her dogs daily, took classes at The Bar Method, and went to Tread and Shred classes and her personal trainer at Equinox. “If I pay for something, I do it. You need to hard-code taking care of yourself daily. Schedule it.”
These days, she gets her exercise by running up and down the stairs at Number One/Le Jus 50 times a day, and she has declared 2013 the year of fun.
But perhaps more important are these words of wisdom: hug more. Now that’s one resolution we can definitely keep.
Dana Card is founder of Le Jus and co-founder of Number One Le Jus in Highland Park Village.
