CONTENTS

1. Introduction

How to fuel your body to reach for the stars, press on and crush it

2. Gut + Brain Science

Expert advice on eating for a strong mind and healthy gut

3. Raw Ambition

Get inspired by some of the world’s most inspirational business leaders and entrepreneurs and what fuels their ambition

4. The Juices

Fruitless, Greens, Fruits, Roots, Shots and Nut m*lks for when you need to Motivate, Detox or Sparkle

5. The Food

Delicious, energizing and gut-healthy recipes for every meal of the day

6. The Programmes

Some expert guidance, whether you want to shed a few stubborn kilos with the 5:2 diet or fuel up on brain and gut-healthy foods

Index

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Cookery Notes

HOW TO USE THIS EBOOK

Select one of the chapters from the main contents list and you will be taken to a list of all the recipes covered in that chapter.

Alternatively, jump to the index to browse recipes by ingredient.

Look out for linked text (which is blue) throughout the ebook that you can select to help you navigate between related recipes.

Looking back, I can see that I was always proactive and had a strong work ethic. My last book, written when I was in my early 30s, was about the journey of eating well to cleanse and heal. Now in my late 30s, I can reflect that the last few years have been the most challenging, yet most satisfying, of my life. I left my career in magazine publishing, moved country, had a baby and, several months later, started Plenish.

I moved to the UK to be with my husband a month after we married, leaving my home and job in New York behind me. During my 11-year career at Condé Nast, I worked around the clock and had the opportunity to express my creativity and hone my business skills. We did great work and were rewarded for it with upward motion. It was a busy but fulfilling career that I took a lot of pride in, and I suddenly felt a huge void without it. I hadn’t realized how much being on a journey fulfilled me. Without it, I felt as though I was standing still, and I didn’t enjoy the feeling.

I freelanced as a stopgap while I explored my career options and enrolled in some cooking classes to meet people and make delicious food (some of my favourite activities). I spent a lot of time looking for ingredients, talking to growers at the farmers’ markets (hey, this is what you do when you arrive in a country with no family, no friends and no job!) and learning a lot about the processes behind many of the products we buy off the supermarket shelves. I wasn’t impressed. Being an avid juicer, I was also very frustrated that I couldn’t find the organic, cold-pressed juice that I had grown to depend on in the US, so I started creating my own. My new friend Romi (another expat I had recently met in a post-natal yoga class), a talented dietician, was in a similar situation to me, and worked with me to create a range of juices that were not only delicious, but nutrient dense and low in natural sugar. We worked exclusively with growers who followed organic growing procedures (which reduce the exposure to pesticides and promote healthy soils).

A few weeks had gone by, and I was buzzing – partly because of all of the cold-pressed juices I was drinking, but mostly because I felt inspired by what we were creating. I started making juices for people I worked with, friends in my yoga class, and asking people for their feedback on how the juices made them feel. The feedback was wildly positive. Not only was I able to be creative, but I also found a way to make people feel good while following sustainable and ethical practices, and it awakened a passion and drive in me that I hadn’t experienced before. I felt awake and like I needed to run.

Plenish was born from my own healing experiences via juice and plant-based food, and from my passion for sharing these nutrient-dense recipes so others can feel great, too. I was frustrated with the lack of integrity in most products on the supermarket shelves and I wanted to do something about it.

Since founding Plenish and finding a way to harness that passion and ambition, I’ve never been more clear on what we are PRO . . .

PRO revolutionizing the way we make and distribute food without preservatives and sugars. PRO supporting farmers who grow our organic produce without the use of harmful pesticides. PRO educating people on investing in wellness, not illness, and PRO building a brand that is a platform to inspire and influence real change.

As a brand we never stand still: we relish moving forward, because if you’re not moving, you’re not growing. Finally, we will continue to challenge ourselves to over-deliver on health and quality and make it more accessible.

Plenish has given me the opportunity to meet some amazing creators and entrepreneurs. A common theme among these ambitious people is that they have more passion and ideas than they do time. They rely heavily on diet and lifestyle choices so they can squeeze it all in. We will peek into the lives of some of these incredible people, who will inspire you (as they do me) to dream big and reach for the stars.

I am ambitious and I like ambitious people. Would you feel comfortable saying that out loud at work or in front of your friends?

Traditionally, ambition has had a negative connotation, particularly when applied to women. Ambition is often associated with being ruthless or narcissistic instead of being celebrated as having an insatiable drive to achieve.

Ambition is also commonly associated with financial reward, which for most successful people just isn’t the whole story. When I was working an 18-hour shift in a juicing kitchen, it wasn’t the idea of financial reward that kept me going; it was knowing there was a consumer who was going to have a positive experience with a juice or a cleanse that pushed me forward. When our first Harvey Nichols order came in, my kitchen manager called in sick and I worked through the night to fulfil it. The buyer gave me a once-in-a-lifetime shot and there was no way I wasn’t going to deliver a perfect product. Do I want to have a profitable business that employs talented people? Sure. Is that the only driver? No way.

Channelling ambition into success demands extraordinary self-belief, determination (bordering on the obsessive) and often the courage to risk family and home when it comes to decision-making. Mostly, it requires a ton of hard work. So how do you fuel that ambition and turn it into a successful driver?

One of my favourite poems by Edna St Vincent Millay sums up my perspective:

My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—

It gives a lovely light!

The more successful entrepreneurs I meet, the more I see that the common denominator is they all hustle, and I mean that in the most flattering way possible. They often relish chasing all their dreams – career, social, family – somehow getting it all done, even when it seems unachievable. They want more, work hard – and as they burn the candle at both ends, loving the light they’ve created, they need to make sure they don’t burn out.

Ambitious people know that to squeeze everything in, they need to have energy that matches their drive; they need to feel well, eat the right food and nutrients at the right time, get regular exercise and have a good support network. That doesn’t make them machines.

They don’t pretend to be perfect. They share their latest goals and their latest failures. They also know that a cocktail with the right people is as important as an hour in the gym. But whatever is in the glass, be it red wine or green juice, people that hustle see it as half full. And they keep moving. They may collapse into bed at night, but they’re living at 110% – and who doesn’t want that?

In the weeks when you know you’re going to need extra energy, lateral thinking, glowing skin, optimism and luck to get through, the food you put into your body is the secret weapon. And, if you veer off the healthy path (hey, we all need a little detour from being virtuous!), a juice cleanse or healthy eating plan will help you hit the reset button.

The most common question I’m asked in interviews is ‘How do you achieve a work/life balance?’ (As a side note, I find this annoying, as I never hear it asked of a man.) The concept of balance has been the most stressful part of starting my business. I feel privileged to be the mother of a gorgeous and sassy four-year-old daughter, the wife of an equally ambitious and busy – and supportive – man and the sustaining force behind the Plenish brand. Since Plenish started to take off, I have always struggled with how to find this illustrious point of ‘balance’.

The reality is, it’s absolutely unattainable to have all systems on full tilt at the same time. Sometimes you need to prioritize the most immediate or important task at hand. Some days I feel like a fantastic mom and wife. On these days, I’m usually not as committed to my business. Do I feel guilty? Sure. On the flip side, there are times when the business needs my total and utter commitment, which may mean that I miss a few drop-offs or pick-ups at school or am late for dinner. Do I feel even guiltier? Of course. It started to feel like a lose-lose situation where I wasn’t doing a great job in either the work or the family role. The real loser here was me – I started giving up my early morning workouts to fit in an extra hour with my daughter, or simply to get into the office early. It just wasn’t sustainable. I realized that following my passion and celebrating my ambition (versus feeling guilty for wanting more) allows me to be more fully present for my family when I am with them. On the flip side, taking time to give and receive love from my family and support network makes me feel like I can accomplish the world.

It wasn’t me that needed to change, it was this definition:

BALANCE

An even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady.

There are periods when I support my family with all of my might, keeping them steady. In busier work times, they are pushing the scales the other way. I think ambitious people, particularly entrepreneurs, need their own definition of balance:

MODERN BALANCE

An ever-changing distribution of weight enabling someone to remain upright and steady.

Once I gave up the idea that I had to be equally good at all the pieces of my pie all of the time, I felt an enormous weight off my shoulders – and got back to enjoying (and being better at) all my roles.

Growing the Plenish brand from a small, niche E-commerce business to one of the leading healthy drink brands in the UK has been an absolute labour of love. With more demands on me than ever before, I have to be mindful about supporting my wellbeing and mental health. I’ve learned to become aware of which foods enhance my performance and mood and fuel my ambition. I’m grateful to the amazing experts I’ve met over the years who have advised me on how to maintain my health and energy during these busy and challenging times, two of whom I’ve asked to collaborate on this book with me and share what we’ve learned with you. I hope the stories of some of our incredible Raw Ambition features will inspire you to dream big, and that then the recipes and plans in this book can enable you to feel fantastic enough for you to . . .

PRESS ON + CRUSH IT.