120: Eating the Rainbow and Culinary Alchemy® – with Serena Poon

Facing mortality at a young age shaped her destiny.

Severe matters of life and death came flooding into Serena’s world when she was in her twenties. First, her father was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer at age 47. Eighteen months later, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. 

Not long after that, Serena faced her own brush with death. 

These traumatic health events Serena overcame impacted her life tremendously, molding and shaping her into becoming a Nutritional Energy Practitioner.

Serena Poon is a celebrity chef, nutritionist, and reiki master to the Hollywood elite.

Her passion and career for curating healing and wellness programs using integrative health, holistic nutrition, and Culinary Alchemy® began long before she started creating contemporary meals, menus, and nutritional goodness for the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, and Kerry Washington.

Serena’s Culinary Alchemy is the practice of combining intuitive energetic techniques with guidance and education on functional & spiritual nutrition, integrating how food affects our bodies on a physiological level and how it affects the body. 

Serena is certified as a Reiki Master for Usui Shiki Ryoho, has advanced knowledge of the symbols in the Usui System of Natural Healing. She is also certified with Quantum-Touch Healing, has a degree from UC Berkeley, is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu’s most intense and comprehensive programming – Grand Diplome, which is inclusive of all advanced culinary techniques. 

She is also the founder of Just Add Water®, a wellness line of super nutrient foods and supplements, and Serena Loves, a lifestyle brand and blog, and the host for Serena Love TV.

In this podcast, we cover:

• What was going through Serena’s mind during her darkest days?
• The family traditions that Serena dealt with to become a chef
• Some of Serena’s magic secrets she uses in her Culinary Alchemy®
• How to “eat the rainbow”
• Why you should add the ingredient of “love” into every recipe
• The importance of blessing your food
• How Serena boosts her immune system (she had COVID-19 last year)

“I am not a victim.” 

As Serena was sharing with Wade her challenges going through those dark days of illness, she said: “I was in the recovery, right in that, in-between stage. And there was some “why me?” You’re absolutely in a victim state, but I’m not a victim. I think we all go through periods of our life, where we indulge in that victim mentality and victim state. I was like, I don’t know if it was why me, but it was just like, what am I doing wrong? You know, like there was some why me, but it was more like, what am I doing wrong because I know I’m a good person.

What I’m doing is to help other people. I have been through so much already. And I was only halfway through at that point. I was only four surgeries in, and I’m having eight, but it was like, what seems to be the common denominator here? What is going on? What am I doing? Where these things are happening. And also, is this my life? Is this what my life is going to be like? And is this what I want my life to be like? No, my daddy died at such a young age. I didn’t go through the things I did for this to be where my life is going to be, where I’m sitting with my back up against the wall in my bedroom. And I’m drenched in sweat because my body’s trying to heal.”

Serena didn’t want to “go out like that.” She committed to healing so she could help others do the same thing.

“It’s important to know what’s going on inside your physical body.”

When Serena works with a client, she takes a comprehensive approach. Using her skills and experience from a diverse set of niches, from culinary to energy work, Serena covers many bases to help her clients get healthy.

She begins with her client’s physical health by running them through several different labs. People today can easily order their labs and submit their samples in the mail. Only ten years ago, this was a pipe dream. Today, it’s incredible how accessible so many labs are for people to use. 

Serena breaks down those labs. She wants to get a good look at what’s going on inside her client’s physical body, which is an essential step to creating culinary alchemy. 

Wade asks Serena which particular labs she likes to use with clients. To get all the details, be sure to tune in!

Serena offers words of wisdom in this episode. Push pause on the world’s chaos and add some love and gratitude to your day by listening to this conversation. By creating these alchemic creations, you will find a new element to your culinary experience that is worth your time. 

Episode Resources: 

Welcome20 for 20% off at Serena Loves
JAWENERGY – 10% for Just Add Water
And a link to a free anti-aging E-book for your listeners

Chef Serena Poon YouTube
Serena Poon Instagram
Serena Poon Facebook
Serena Poon Twitter
Chef Serena Poon Pinterest

Read The Episode Transcript:

 Wade Lightheart: Good morning. Good afternoon. And good evening. It's Wade T Lightheart from BiOptimizers with another edition of the Awesome Health Podcast. And I am excited today because we have a celebrity chef to join us today. Our guest is Serena, and she is going to talk about culinary alchemy, which is health optimization, nourishing our bodies through food, boosting the immune system way to get better sleep, super food supplementation tips, and more. Now Serena is a celebrity chef, a nutritionist, and a Reiki master to the Hollywood elite, her passion and career for curating healing and wellness programs using integrative health, holistic nutrition and culinary alchemy, which we will be talking about. And this began long before she started creating contemporary meals, menus and nutritional goodness for the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer, Sean P Diddy Combs and Kerry Washington, just to name a few. And she combines it's the practice of combining intuitive, energetic techniques with guidance and education on functional and spiritual nutrition, integrating how food affects our bodies on a physiological level, as well as how it affects our energetic bodies. And this is really interesting. I think you've been into quantum touch healing. You're a Reiki master and you have a degree from UC Berkeley. There's a lot of man brand come into like welcome to the show.

 Serena Poon: Well, thank you so much. That was so fun. I don't think I've ever had an intro like that and I'm listening. I'm like, wow, he's awesome at this like this. I love how you did that. Thank you very much. That was so much fun.

 Wade Lightheart: Well, thank you so much. Well, I, I'm always excited to get with the new guests when I bring people on the podcast. It's because I'm genuinely interested in what they're doing. So I'm curious, I, as soon as I see this culinary alchemy, I'm like, so do we like, are you sitting there with like beakers and stoves and things going and like new or what's, what is culinary alchemy and how, like maybe you give us a backstory of how you ended up into this culinary accurate alchemy and then dealing with the who's who of Hollywood that's like, that's a pretty interesting journey

 Serena Poon: That there's, there's definitely a lot to write about there. As long as they navigate navigated around the NDAs, there's all kinds of stories,

 Serena Poon: But yeah, no, I mean, it's a, it's funny because you're talking about beakers and, and, and chemistry that alchemy is it's magic, right? Like what you're creating and that, and that chemistry lab or physics, it's all magic. And that's really what I think in my very humble opinion, what I've created by merging, you know, that science and spirituality together, you know, I, my journey began with my parents really, you know, my daddy was diagnosed stage four liver cancer when I was still in college. And that at the time I was studying nutrition, just because I didn't interest love food, love to eat, you know, the kitchen's always been the center of our home and probably many others. And I was actually studying to be an attorney, you know, as political science I was about my degree with was within, because first generation Chinese American, I'm either supposed to be a lawyer, a doctor, a scientist, a dentist, I don't know, an astronaut like something.

 Serena Poon: Right. So, so I chose a lawyer route. And so, and my daddy at the time was in his forties. You know, he was like 47. He was diagnosed and he had had a blood disease, you know, he was happy. He had, you know, the same thing that might, his grandpa died from the same thing. So he was diagnosed stage four and it immediately just, it shifted my whole life. And I started looking at plants and herbs, you know, to see how I could, what we could do to help alleviate some of his symptoms. Knowing that, you know, he was so far along, we weren't sure what we could do with the cancer. He was already doing allopathic medicine, chemo, radiation. He was drinking all kinds of crazy teas that we got shipped in from China. And so that's, that's what I first started looking outside of the box.

 Serena Poon: Right. and then after about a year and three months, our daddy transitioned and our mom was diagnosed with cancer, like two months later, you know, she's 45. So it was just, it was, it was such a journey and such an intense time. And, and I think that that's part of the reason why I really started to go outside of the box. You know, there was like part of me that was like, okay, everyone just needs, I need to make sure everyone's healthy and happy and doing all the things that from a very traditional point of view you do. But what that ended up happening was I took self-care out of that, you know, and I'm so focused in, I'm making sure mom's okay. She's with us, she's still with us. Making sure that mom's okay, that I wasn't taking care of myself.

 Serena Poon: So that led me into a journey where I had so much inflammation inside my own body, that I had tech surgery to remove some damaged tissue internally. I ended up getting Murcia Mrs. Day from straight from the alar. And then that became, that became my health journey for the next eight years, ended up having eight surgeries. I almost died after like two of them, but like really scary, almost died after one of them. And it would be in that period of time, that culinary alchemy really came to be because I was already doing all the nutrition. You know, I already knew what to put into my body in terms of like food and supplements and just nutrients. I was already doing the movement. You know, I already had the exercise there. I already did all of that. I was adding in some mindfulness, but I hadn't taken like a proper meditation class yet, but I was aware.

 Serena Poon: And in here I was in a place where my fourth surgery, I had a massive hematoma, 12 days post-op lost like almost two liters of blood. It's like 30% of your blood in your body. It was so scary. And, and it's a long story. We can either dive into your safe for another time. But from that experience, you know, I, I had angels around me. They saved my life. I now post that operation waiting for the next one to heal the damage inside. And I was in such a dark place. It was such a place. And, and I started thinking like, what am I missing? You know, like I, I'm doing all the right things on the outside. I look like a vision of health, the inside I've got this NRSA and I'm not totally healthy. And, and so I started, I'd been talking to an, a healer maybe a year before, but I w was treating her like a nine 11 call.

 Serena Poon: You know, I'm not, I'm not being consistent with her with that, that spiritual practice, like I was with food and nutrition and exercise. So I committed to just talking to her every three or four weeks and making that part of my practice. And in that practice, you know, after about nine months, she's eight, nine months. She was like, wow. You know, I really like what I'm seeing. She's explaining all the things to me. It's kind of just going in one ear and out the other. I'm just like, I felt better and you're happy with it. She told me I want you to come out and, and, and meet me, you know? And at this point I'd never met her. She was someone that was referred to me, one of my best friends whose family worked with her in New Mexico, she was in Santa Fe. And the longest short of it is she wanted me to go out there and you want to meet, you wanted to teach me everything that she does.

 Serena Poon: Cause she's, she works directly with people and then distally, which is how I was receiving her energy. And it took me about four months because at first I was like, you know, you're like my person and you're a man, you know what you're doing? I don't know. I don't know, but it took me about four months. And I finally went out there and I stayed with her for the weekend. And she was like this little lady and her like 70. And, and she taught me everything that she did. And at first it was very overwhelming too. That was the best word I could use. I just didn't even completely understand everything, but I started to practice. And then over time I realized I needed a little bit of structure because this was just her, her, her way of doing it. And so I started, I took Reiki too, cause I needed some structure.

 Serena Poon: And I realized that fusing that energy and really combining supporting, you know, our physical bodies, our physical bodies with nutrition and all of everything that we get from food, but also using food as that vehicle to support our energetic bodies, you know, to support our shock reds because our, our energetic body, our energetic centers are in alignment with the physical organ systems of our body. As we go up and down the Shakur system, I just realized like, this was, this was that piece that I wasn't doing. And let me just try this, you know, let me start diving into the energy of food, the vibrations. And maybe if I'm healing, you know, this area of my body, that where there's been infection, where there's been Murcia, maybe if I do that, how can I, I wonder if it'll work, you know, and, and it was helping me a lot.

 Serena Poon: So I started to apply that to my clients, you know, and bear in mind during this time that I was trying to, I was still trying to recover. You know, I, I couldn't use the upper left side of my body for about six months. I couldn't cook. I couldn't, I couldn't be a chef to my clients. And I thought I have so much knowledge with nutrition and food and I'm treating myself like my own client. How can I pivot this? How can I turn this into something else? How can I still serve them? And so that became my consulting practice that I started doing while I was waiting for myself to heal and then just peppering in like, Hmm, for the ones that are open, you know, let me, let me see if they're open to adjusting their protocol, to adding this element in. And that's really what, how culinary alchemy just began. And I didn't call it that at the time, it was more of like a term I used to describe, you know, what I was doing. It was, it wasn't until years later that someone saw it and they were like, wait, what is that? And I'm like, Oh, let me explain. And then it'd be, and then we decided to coin it because, because that's what it is that I did. That's my practice today.

 Wade Lightheart: Amazing. I want to go back. I also, my sister, as many people know on this podcast died at an early age. So I was exposed to life and death relatively early. I think the, the, the flip side of the tragedy of it when you experienced that as a younger person, is that you see the impermanence of life and that your health, isn't a guarantee your life's not guaranteed, but, you know, with your mom having challenges and then you yourself, I mean, when you are, want to take you to the, kind of the darkest place when you said the darkest place, so when you're really fighting for your life essentially. Right. And what were some of the things that were going through your head at that time? Like, was it like, Hey, this isn't fair. Why me? Or were you angry with the resentment? Like what was going on when you say what's the darkest place? Cause I think, you know, you look at your of health and so Radiant's, you'd never know this, so, so what was going on for you then?

 Serena Poon: That's a great question. And you know, I, I don't even know if I've been asked that question before, so it's a really great question. So, so what led up to that was my fourth surgery and what led up to that was just this back and forth struggle, you know, with the nurse that, and just going to surgery, trying to get it out, not getting it out stick and just kind of add this baseline that will is I look like I'm super healthy, but not feeling super healthy and constant level of tiredness. And at that point I didn't have a real lot, like why me, it was just sort of like, Ugh, this thing, I got to get it out, you know? And then it was like, I'm just going to live with it. You know, I'm just gonna like F it I'm just gonna live with it.

 Serena Poon: I'm just over having all these surgeries. So when, when that, and I, I can't, it's not even like a moment because what was happening was I had a massive hematoma, 12 days post-op so that means you're internally bleeding, you know? And I had a, one of the stitches inside. I had lost so much, they had removed so much tissue from these prior surgeries. They're now grafting in tissue and one of the stitches tour muscle. So, and I didn't know what was happening. I just knew I was bleeding and it's bleeding internally. So, and the blood doesn't have a lot of places to go when you're bleeding internally like that. So I think in that moment, all I thought was, Oh, I'm not ready. You know, that was like, that thought at that moment, you know? And I have no fear of death because my daddy died in my arms.

 Serena Poon: So that wasn't, that was a gift he gave to me was that I don't have a fear of like mortality. I don't fear that at all, because, because when someone you love so much and they transition, it's just like, it's, it becomes just another part of your journey. And it can be a beautiful thing. It can be painful, but you know that there forever. And so that there was no fear of that, but there was, there was the thought and the feeling that was like, Oh, wait, I'm not afraid, but I'm not ready. And this feels terrible. And this is painful and this is not how I want to transition in this painful way, you know? And there is fear, but I think it's the fear of what's going to happen next. And I just gonna, it's just going to happen with me here by myself in my apartment, is someone going to find me like, I mean, it was, those were the thoughts.

 Serena Poon: And, and then after, you know, and I called, you know, a client of mine, who's angels, they're angels. And they brought in, they called the doctor who had been a medical director at Cedars. And they took me there, basically saved my life, stop the bleeding, that super dark time. It was in the recovery, right in that, in between. And there was some Miami you're absolutely in victim state, you know, and I, and I'm not a victim, I'm not a victim, but I think we all go through periods of our life, where we indulge in that victim mentality and victim state. And I definitely was because I was like, it wasn't even, I don't know if it was why me, but it was just like, what am I doing wrong? You know, like there was some why me, but it was more like, what am I doing wrong that I know I'm a good person.

 Serena Poon: What I'm doing is to help other people. I have been through so much already. And I was, I was only halfway through at that point. I was only four surgeries in, and I'm having eight, but it was like, what, in my, I seem to be the common denominator here, you know, like what, what is going on? What am I doing, where these things are happening. And, and also is this, is this life like, is this what my life is going to be? And is this what I want my life to be like, no, like, I, I, my daddy didn't die at such a young age. And we, I didn't go through the things I did for this to be where my life is going to be, where I'm sitting with my back up against the wall and my bedroom. And I'm, so I'm drenched in sweat because my body's trying to heal.

 Serena Poon: And it just been through all of this. And I was, you know, it, and I thought, Nope, this is not what life is going to be. And it didn't, it wasn't the first time I sat against that wall. It took a couple of weeks, you know more than a couple of weeks, to be honest, I don't remember how long, but it definitely a few weeks in where I was like, no, this is not, this is not what life is supposed to be like, this isn't, this, isn't why my daddy left early and I'm supposed to be doing more. And that was part of why I began my journey in the first place. So it was a reminder that like I started off this journey with the intention of doing more, to take my dad's experience and what I learned and to help teach and serve help teach other people how to heal, how to optimize their house, help teach their caregivers, you know, the people they love how you can help yourself and the people that you love. And I lost sight of that because I was sitting in a miserable place. And, and in all fairness, I think that sometimes we have to embrace those feelings and those time periods, but, you know, sit in it forever, you know? And, and I got that reminder and it was just like, well, no, this isn't what life is, is supposed to be. This is not life because you're supposed to be doing more and to figure it out.

 Wade Lightheart: What do you think was the Ray of light or the turning point from that place? You know, like at what, what was the thing, you know, it's kinda like, you know, what turned the kind of that darkness around. Cause when you're in it, I think for a lot of people, it seems like it's forever in the cake when it's a life and death thing. It's, it's, it's, it's like, okay, this could be the cessation of physical existence experience and who knows, what else? What, what, what turned that around? What, what, what was the thing that brought you out of that?

 Serena Poon: You know, it's kind of like what I was just saying. It's just, it's for some people, the phase is like, what's your why? Right. Remembering your why. And I truly believe that we all have a Y that doesn't include us. Right. That's outside of us, it's beyond us. And for me, my, why was the people that I love, you know, it was remembering that like I am on this journey. I had gone to, to culinary school, you know, I was studying all these things. I had completely pivoted my career. I have is dealing with my family again, you know, Chinese American family, still supposed to be a doctor, you know, or a lawyer or something. And it was

 Wade Lightheart: An incredible amount of pressure culturally, to kind of please the parents. Right. And I think a lot of people don't understand that in the West that th the difference. And I spent a lot of time in Asia and I have a lot of friends from both China and Japan and India who have these long traditional, the families, everything, and your name and how this goes. And, you know, it's like, if one of my friends says, yeah, was like, I've had a family member come out of this door by my name for the last 600 years has lived in the same, the house. And I'm like, that's longer than this country's even been in existence or, you know, and so it's like, I think a lot of people in the West don't understand the fan meal pressure that's put on you. And you had the courage to say, no, I'm not doing this well.

 Serena Poon: Oh my gosh. I mean, it was, I, I brought shame, you know, to my family initially, it was like, what are you doing? Like, this is like, your dad would be upset. You know, that's the worst when people say stuff like that, because your guys not here. And like, you know, and you know, your dad, your dad would be upset like this. Isn't what he wanted. He be rolling over in his grave. Like, you're, this is being a chef is like a blue color service position. You're supposed to be in an academic, you know, white collar. I mean, this is all not my words. You know, this is the words I received. And, and, and, and I, and that's just part of our culture, you know, it's just part of our culture and how my family and my elders were raised. And so that's just, that's just their belief system.

 Serena Poon: Right. And so it was tough. And I had to, I, I think my, my grandparents, you know, and my mom and they were all, if anyone asks, if we were out to eat and someone says, Oh, what is she? Oh, she's still in school. Like, they didn't want anyone to know that, like I was in Connor's school or that I didn't have a job yet, you know, because here I am doing something. And but then of course, once I graduated and once started to build my clientele and have the kind of clients I have, then it, then it changed. You didn't know that it was, it was okay that I was a chef because I was working for these people. And so that was okay. But but yeah, you know, I think going back to your original question, it was connecting to my, like my, why?

 Serena Poon: Like, why am I, why am I sitting here? Like, why am I here right now? Like, what am I doing? Like, what was I doing before I got into this place where I'm miserable? Like, what was I doing? I was, I was doing this for my clients. I was helping people. I was working on their health and these were the ways I was doing it. And it was a, it sounds so crazy because it was such a simple shift. It was like, okay, this is how I was helping people. I was cooking for them and giving them couldn't, I help people in a different way. Like, couldn't, I just take the same knowledge. And then that's how I did my, how I opened up the consulting aspect of it. And just focus on that for almost the rest of the year, you know, until I was fully healed.

 Serena Poon: But I think all of us have that. Why, like, you might get up every single morning, way earlier than you want to get up because your dog needs to go pee. And you've got to take your dog out, that your dog is your wife. That's greater than you. That's why you're getting up. Because if your job was had it overnight, played it somewhere else. And you could sleep in for an extra. You might just do that. But every day you wake up early and you take your dogs out because that's what they need. And all of us, I think all of us has a Y that's outside of us, outside of ourselves. And so you just need to remember what that is, and then use that to help guide you, guide you out of a dark space, you know? That's what I did.

 Wade Lightheart: Very beautiful, very beautiful. So thankfully, you came out the other side and you are known as a culinary alchemy chef or nutritional

 Serena Poon: Energy practitioner writes

 Wade Lightheart: In obviously people who, many of your clients who can choose, anybody are choosing you and they're choosing you for a reason. And that means that you bring some element to the culinary experience, which is, I think extraordinary. What is it that you bring? How do you do this? Like, what is it that makes the magic, if you will, of your culinary creations? Well,

 Serena Poon: And thank you for that. And it's so kind of patient you're kind way. You know, it's really it's that combination. And I don't think that, I mean, I don't know if other people are out there doing it. My goal is to be able to teach as many people as possible, how to do it so they can bring that magic into their homes, their families, and to their clients. But when I work with a client, it's, it's a very comprehensive approach. You know, I'm running labs and I've been doing it forever. So it's pretty awesome. Now that there's so many labs and you can, people can order their own labs now and submit their own samples in the mail. I mean, that's like, I think 10 years ago, or longer than I would never thought it would be that simple to do. And it's, so it's incredible now that we have that kind of access, but I run labs, you know, to start when I work with a client and I'm, I mean, I break down those labs. So we really want to look at what's going on inside your body, you're inside your physical body. It's important to know that

 Wade Lightheart: Was, do you like to run for people just to kind of give an indication? Is it like blood sugar? Is it GI maps? Is it hormone? What is it that you,

 Serena Poon: All of them, I have you run like six, seven labs because you're not going to get the information you need from a standard CBC. I mean, that's almost like that only gives you a table of contents of what labs you have to order from, you know? So, so yeah, those types of labs and, you know, depending on the age of my client or what, what I, what shows up on CCDC, we might dive into a little more detailed lab, work on other aspects of their sexual health of their, of their brain have their genetics, but I have them, you know, we run these labs to see what's going on inside. And then of course it's an intake of who that person is. So, you know, I do an energy intake that I, you know, we do some weeks do some energy work if they're open, if they're not open to that, cause it's a little outside of what they're comfortable with.

 Serena Poon: I make it very clear that I'm still going to be doing a little bit of an assessment from a purely energetic place of what's going on inside their bodies. And of course what their goals are. And then we put together, we put together a protocol. So that protocol is really, you know, it's nutrition, obviously nutrition and supplementation, but also other modalities that compliment, you know, what your goals are, complimenting your lifestyle. And obviously there's mindfulness and there's mindset. All of that is sort of built into all of it. But I think, I think what makes people come to me and refer me and stay with me is that it's really, it's sustainable. You know, it's, it's really about creating something that is sustainable and you don't feel like you are, you don't feel like you're lacking. You don't feel like you're not enough. You don't feel like you're not doing enough.

 Serena Poon: You know, we make, we go, we do it step by step. I mean, we might just choose one or two things that we adjust. And throughout the course of, in the first, you know, two weeks or month that we work together. And I think I'm very careful with my language, you know? So it's really about all the things you can choose from, you know, to fill your day and to fill your plate, not so much things that you cannot have, you know, cause the things that you quote cannot have or things that maybe your body doesn't want right now. So let's just give your body the things your body wants and what it's going to thrive from and heal from. And so, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's a lot of things, you know, so we do all of that. It's very comprehensive. And it's a very personalized, and I'm what I'm doing is just creating programs that you kind of get the same essence of it, even if you don't get a chance to work with me. One-On-One and that's what I'm, you know, in the process of working on so that people can still get as close to a personalized program or protocol as possible. But yeah, I think that's why they keep coming back. And a lot of that is just the energy between us and, and some people don't even realize how much they love energy work. They just don't like necessarily talk about it or, or know how to talk about it. And I used do a lot with crystals as well. It's all part of all the different modalities.

 Wade Lightheart: It's, it's beautiful and fun. And I think a lot of people might get wonder about energy or energy work or spirituality or those things. But I think everybody can agree. There's some people that you feel great around and some people that you don't, there's some environments that you feel great around and some that you don't and there needs to be a resonance. And we kind of talked about this earlier because of my background, we were actually listening to kind of the same thing and in the background noise, which is kinda cool. What are some of the things that you've noticed on a general basis that people might not know about creating kind of the ELCA manic El El chemic? What'd you say alchemic, I guess, would it be alchemic creations when it comes to food? Is there some, is there some rules or is there some guidelines? Is there some tips? Is there, is there a methodology or a way of approaching the creation of food in a way that allows for the alchemy to flow if you will, if that makes any sense?

 Serena Poon: Oh, no, it totally does. And it's a great question. And I really like to just, I like to just make it super simple, you know, there's something I'm always talking about, eat the rainbow, you know, eat the rainbow as much as possible. And it sounds so simple and almost like too basic, but it's not because if you really think about what it means to eat the rainbow, first of all, you're getting the whole spectrum of veteran nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. If you're able to choose all the different colors and make sure you get all those colors in, on your plate, in your bowl and your body at some point throughout the course of a day, you know, if you can do it in one meal, awesome. But if you can't, you know, you have a whole day to get all the different colors and the rainbow into your body, right.

 Serena Poon: And what you're also doing is you're also nourishing your shakra system. Now, you know, if you want to really dive into it, you know, we have more than seven chakras, but just for the purposes of making it very general and, and digestible let's just focus on those seven, right? And then they align with the different colors of the rainbow that just make it visually very, to connect to you. And to know that, you know, if you need some grounding, then you want to eat foods that are nourishing for your root, for your root chakra. And those, those connect with foods, root vegetables that come from the earth, you know, and, and color and foods that are are red, you know, have shades of red. Now, what we don't realize is it's like those root vegetables, they are mineral rich, which actually help them a physical place really calm you down, you know, reaching my needs and reaching these minerals that really helped soothe and calm your nervous system.

 Serena Poon: And from an inner place of energy that connect you with mother earth, you know, and we talked just now about energy and resonance and everything has a resonance and everything carries a frequency and vibration. And so when you're eating foods that are connected to that grounding earth energy, it actually helps to ground you as well. So, you know, I would say that, that like, again, eat the rainbow. It sounds so simplistic. But if you really think about it from a place of science and spirituality, it makes so much sense, super easy to check off. It's easy to remember that way. You don't have to remember like the list of the vegetables and fruits for like each chakra, you know, each, each ordinance is done. It's just like, if you just do that, you are nourishing every part of you, just at least a little bit. And if you're doing it on a regular basis, that adds up, you know, like those little, those little micro steps, those they add up and they start to compound and it becomes, it becomes health and vitality and vibrance. So, so yeah,

 Wade Lightheart: One of the things that I have encouraged of my clients in the past and I do on a daily basis or almost every day, sometimes I don't, if I'm fasting or whatever it isn't that is, I eat a rainbow salad and I try to put as many colors and back in the day when we could actually go get a salad at whole foods or at Erewhon and stuff, I would always go to the salad bar all the time. I love doing it. And I would build these beautiful ginormous salad bowls with all these colors. And every like virtually every single time I would be in the checkout line or at the checkout itself. And someone would comment, Oh my God, that looks so amazing. Like across the board, people would recognize that that was good for you. I always found that really striking. And I miss those days, I hope they come back. Cause I love going out to a public place going through my, I was a salad bar master because that was my creation point.

 Serena Poon: So, and that's, and that's exactly it, right. It's really not that hard. Right. And, and the best part is, and as a chef, you know, people are eating with their eyes as much as they are with their math. So when something is like bright and vibrant and full of life and beautiful, like you're already, your brain is already connecting to that. Like your is already receiving that in a way. And you are already shifting your system into this parasympathetic state of like receiving and, and opening up your digestion to receive that nourishment. So, so yeah, again, it sounds super simple, but checks off so many boxes, you'd be shocked.

 Wade Lightheart: How many, or what are some other things that you tend to do in your culinary creations? Like what are some other things that you feel are important to really, you know, develop foods that nourish you on all these different levels? What are some things that you've learned or noticed or practice?

 Serena Poon: So I thank you. And another great question. Whether when I'm talking about eating the rainbow, you know, I think that the salad is a great example, but I will do things. They create dips and sauces. You know something that I love to do for my clients is show them how they can prep something out at the beginning of their week and make it really colorful, but showing them how they can take this one, three hour period and they can make all these creations in a different way. So we'll prep out. I love dips and hummus is very nutrient dense. They've got an I'm plant-based. So there's a lot of plant protein built into it, but we make them vibrant. You know, we make them colorful. So they're colorful for your palette, but they're also colorful for your eyes. And so that's something that's very helpful because let's say you are feeling like you're not in your power right now.

 Serena Poon: And you've got to go do this interview, you know, with an incredible host like Wade. And, and you're thinking I just needed somebody to just going to give me that confidence and you can go make yourself like, like you know a smoothie that's full of full, of beautiful yellow colors, you know, and that's great for your solar plexus. And that's great for boosting your confidence. And at the same time, it's got tons of vitamin C and it's got all the, depending on what you put in it, if you're gonna cook pineapples or mangoes, whatever it is that you're going to put in it, all of those vitamins nations are going to give you that energy burst. And it's going to give you that internal radiance. And at the same time, you're nurturing that area of your body and nurturing that energy center. So I like to create things that are simple, that you can just keep in your face, that you can reach for when people are feeling, you know, having the symptoms where they might need support in different areas, whether it's being grounded or, or feeling stressed or anxiety ties, or maybe not, not confident or feeling that, you know, they, they're not speaking their truth or having a headache because there's too much going on in their crown and in their thoughts.

 Serena Poon: So that's what I like to do and create for my clients. And at least give them like a list of things that you want to have around. And I love juices, you know, juices and smoothies are such a simple, easy way to get an, a ton of nutrients a ton of vitamins, but at the same time, it's almost like instantly it goes right to that area of your body, of your energy center. And it supports that, that area. So those are some of the things that I love to do daily, daily, detoxing, you know, daily kinds of things. So really big on hydration, really big on hydration. You gotta do your lemon water. First thing in the morning. I say that to everybody. I've got all my clients doing that, and that's a new really, that's a really important aspect of alchemy because we're made up of, we're made up of wire, you know, we're 60, 70% water. And that water not only helps our physical body function efficiently, but it also helps with the flow of energy. So that's why anytime you get energy work, you know, and you tell me even gaining body work, they tell you, you gotta drink a lot of water because it just helps things flow and move out and, you know, release and then cleanse.

 Wade Lightheart: Yeah. Yeah. I've been a big advocate of, of super hydration and Dr. Pollock's work talks about how water exists, both as a solid, a liquid, a gas and a crystal. And the crystal contains I think 440,000 information panels of storage. So our personality, our emotions, our ability to communicate and resonate is because of the crystalline features within water. And it's fascinating. Yeah. And we have this power with us. So it's innate with us. What's your take on kind of maybe people who seek out kosher food or people who are blessing their food, or have maybe some kind of spiritual or religious components that are tied into the food, where do you think those originated from and what maybe practices do you include with, you know, food production and development? Because it's not just the food, it's about the energy that in creation, I think has every bit as much. My mom used to say, when she, she would make us cookies or something, when I was a kid, she'd look at me and she'd say, well, we have to put the magic ingredient in it. And I'm like, what's the magic ingredient? She's like, you got to put love in.

 Serena Poon: Yes. Love that. Yes. A hundred percent. And that's, that's literally, I mean, that's part of Connie off me. If I'm walking someone through how to start their day, you know, that intention, that intention of putting that energy and that love into that food is it's not just even the secret ingredient, the mash magic and grace, it is the core ingredient, you know, like what makes something that your mom or your grandmother, what makes that dish, that recipe tastes so much better than when you do, even if you are falling into a teach, you know, section for like, they left something out, you know, you're trying to keep the secret with them until the grade. And they didn't, you know, it's just their magic and their love is just gonna taste a little different, you know, then, then, then maybe you're, especially if you're, if you're just focused on getting it right.

 Serena Poon: Maybe once you put in that energy. So something that I tell people to do is, you know, when get up in the morning as part of my daily daily practice, you get up in the morning and you're going through your gratitude list, you know, instead of just of like go through, like, I'm grateful for my mom, my dad, like whatever it is I wanted you to really think about. And you can just be three things, you know, but think about blind to three things and really think about it until you connect from a physical place with that energy. So think about that person you love until you feel them. And you feel that, that energy, that feeling when they're right there with you or snuggling up with them, or it could be a food, you know, you're thinking about how much you love moms was done yet, whatever it is, you know, and you almost salivate because you're thinking about it and all of those feelings come back now, that's, that's the energy and the intention that I want you to take.

 Serena Poon: And then now infuse into your day into your food, into your water, into your coffee or tea or smoothie, or that meal, as you're prepping out for yourself or your family later, like you've now tapped and tapped into that energy. You've made a physiological connection to it, right? So you can, you can, you can bring it back up, even if you're not in that moment, thinking about how much you love that pressure, thinking about that yummy, amazing dish. You know, what that physics do I have to do is just remember it connect to it. And then now you channel that energy towards that food or water or whatever it is that you want to do, but we're talking food right now. So you're channeling that energy back to the food, which then goes back into your own body or into the bodies of the people that you love now, that's that that's the magic, you know, and that's, that's what I do with everything.

 Serena Poon: You know, I do, I, I, what I do, I also do Reiki obviously. So when you talk about blessing your food, and that is to me, not only essential, but it is, it is that necessary ingredient. You know, whether you're blessing, blessing with prayer or Reiki or energy, whatever it is, it's all the same. It's just beautiful, intentional energy. It's about just acknowledging gratitude for what you're about to receive and preparing your body to receive it. So I think it's just, I it's wonderful. And I think we all can do it, you know, even if it's in our head just saying, thank you for that. Or maybe even connecting to the energy ideas. Just describe if you can just do that and just look at the food and just, just send out the energy to it. You're not only receive it. You also give it,

 Wade Lightheart: You bring up a couple of points and I don't think I've ever disclosed this to anybody, but I have a meditation practice for many years, which people know about and that sort of thing which has added a great element to my life. But when I actually take the time before I consume my food and to really get into the energetics of appreciation and blessing it, and not just the empty words, but actually feeling it, I actually go to places sometimes when I'm just about to have, that's better than my 30, 40 minute meditation practice. There's an energetic activation. And I do believe it's when you have true appreciation gratitude, or you're sending out the love to what you're doing or your practice, or the active devotional service. A lot of people think of devotional service as some sort of subjecation or that you are, you know being lower than, but what really is, is an expansiveness that comes through and to the activation, this, you can feel the energy flowing through your body and into your food.

 Wade Lightheart: It's really beautiful that you've incorporated that. And I think that's where a lot of people get mistaken about devotion to spiritual teachers or devotion to religious philosophy or devotion to a family member or your partner or your children. The magic is in the process of that devotion, which opens up this whole vast array. That is, I think, not available to people. If they're operating from kind of a narcissistic it's only me or whatever it's food is fuel and all this sort of stuff, they miss this very deep and rich aspect of life that I think, whereas where alchemy comes from, you've got a lot of things going on and I want to be mindful of your time. Tell me about some of the things that's up and coming for you. I know you've got a lot of projects that are on the go and you're bringing out some more creations for the world to enjoy what it is that you do in the world. Can you share some of the things that are upcoming for you?

 Serena Poon: Yes. thank you so much for asking. We, we, we have some exciting things that we're launching before the end of this month. So we've got well, I'll just add water, which is a separate health and wellness line that I have. And, and that has been like a, a hero product. It's, everything's just been done in a package and I call it everything we need in a day. It is something that a recipe I developed for my clients years ago. And you just add water to it. And while you have everything you need, but what we did was we, we heard our consumers we, we listened to what you guys said and people were saying, can we get them in canisters? And now everyone's staying at home. You know, they're working from home, they're working remotely. So what I did was I deconstructed that formula.

 Serena Poon: So that formula is just like, it's just yellow pea protein. And it's got like, literally everything that you need. It's got all these super greens in it and antioxidants and, and, you know, probiotics, prebiotics, I guess, abandoned, it's got everything. So what we did was I just deconstructed it. So you've got your pea protein and you have an unusual flavor for our vanilla levers and in, in his chocolate flavor, but then separately you have all your grains and then separate from that. You have all your antioxidants. So, you know, it, depending on where you're at and day, you can, one scoop of each gives you your just add water or, you know, if you felt like, kind of feeling like I want to add something fizzy to my greens today, or which of my antioxidants, then you can just scoop one of those and leave out the plant protein.

 Serena Poon: So it just gives people, you know, more of an opportunity to be creative with their own own recipe. And it gives you a little bit more freedom. So if you're just not feeling chocolate, you don't have to. So we've got that. And then we also have what I call effervescence C. So it's like a busy vitamin C drink. It's sort of like an emergency, but healthier. Don't tell emergency people. I said that, but that's what it is. So we have that. And so that's for just add water. And then in my Serena Love's brand, we've got an app that is coming out. That will basically be how you power the different programs I launched. So our first program is kind of like an ultimate three reset, and it's where you will stress less sleep better and slim down in 28 days. And so there's like meal plans and shopping lists and recipes and a gratitude journal and to meditation and movement, there's a whole bunch of things and you can track it all on your, your, your watch, your Apple watch, or a Fitbit.

 Serena Poon: And so that, that program, which is the first of several that I'm, I'm launching, that'll all be powered through this Serena loves app. And with that, we have supplements. So there are supplements that are designed to help support your adrenals. I call them, love my adrenals, love my sleep, love my calm, love my brain. So we've got these different supplements that will support you in that journey and because of COVID. And so many people coming to me for, you know, nutrition and immunity support. And actually I had COVID, I don't know, you know, that yeah, like it was a year ago right when it kind of first landed here in LA. And I obviously, you know, it was it was a pretty crazy time a year ago. And and my sister had gotten at first, we were at a huge charity gala.

 Serena Poon: She got it. And a couple of weeks after she got it, I got it. And we of course were completely quarantined. And so I just, you know, if you come to my home, it's sort of like a nerdy wellness center and I've got a kind of everything here and all the different supplements. And so I have protocols for what we did to recover from that. And, and I realized so many people are coming to me for that. I need to just have like my own supplements that I trust that I know that I've vetted. And I know exactly how it's processed. I know these are good products and they're not just regular. Let me just go to the local you know, 24 pharmacy. And, and just get something off the shelf, not to say that if you have no other options that that's not better than nothing. I mean, in some cases, depending on what's in it, it might be. But here I ran, I thought, let me just have my own so that people know this vitamin C and it's vitamin D this glued a thigh on these are going to be very supportive for your immune. So we have seven products in our immunity line that we're also launching. So that's all happening, you know by the end of the month. And I'm really excited about it,

 Wade Lightheart: Really amazing. And of course you have Serenaloves TV. Where can people find you connect? And what's serious. Serenaloves TV, all this sort of stuff. Can you kind of share with our listeners so they can kind of dial in and, and find out more because I'm, I think you're, I'm excited to kind of get more involved and find out more about this component. Cause I really feel, I grew up, I was fortunate enough. I grew up in an environment where my mom put a lot of love and care and devotion into all the food that she prepares and still does to this day. And I really love that and admire it. So I get it. And I think a lot of people don't know what that actually feels like or what that can add as an element to their life. And everybody's eating at home and all these sorts of things. So share with us, give us the whole nine yards, where do we follow you? Find out more and keep reminded. Cause I think we can hear this in sales. Cool. But more importantly, they need to kind of tie into someone that's living and eating and breathing and doing this and producing this every single day because it serves as a reminder until we build the habit, be present with our food.

 Serena Poon: Yes. Now that I'm, so I'm so grateful to you. Thank you so much for having me here today and just thank you for what you're doing to give people the tools that they need to live their best, you know, truly, especially from, from their homes right now, they're not able to get support outside of their homes. You know, everybody can find me on my Instagram, which is chef Serena, and they're, you know, you'll link over to, you'll see my student lives TV, and that's basically, I do a lot of ID. Like you should come on when do an ID live. It was super fun. Yeah. And so it's been amazing because I really only started, I did and less TV in studio for about a year, almost two years of a year, a little, almost two years until that got shattered because of the pandemic.

 Serena Poon: But then we just shifted over to doing them as lives, which I'd never done before. I was really nervous and I was super sick with COVID and dis kind of terrified and, and, and self-conscious, but I just did it anyway because there's so many amazing people out there like you and, and other functional doctors and nutritionist and healers and meditation teachers, and just so many people that have so much value that they can share and people need the guidance. So I started doing that and that has become almost like a channel, you know on, on Instagram. And so we have guests, you know, every week that you can come and learn and I can guarantee you, if nothing else, you will walk away with pages of notes, but we repurpose it. All, everything goes open on YouTube and on Facebook, you know, we clean it all up.

 Serena Poon: So the audio is okay and, and you can go back and watch, and there's a library of information. So you'll find all of that on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, the same YouTube is the same chefs ring a. But and my website, Serena levs.com and you'll find a lot there too. And it's a little bit of updating though, but you'll find a lot of things there too. And I'm recently on clubhouse now, and my handle on clubhouse is Serina. There's no chef in front of it and we'll be doing more in there as well, just because it's a super fun place. I'm actually doing cooking classes on clubhouse as opposed to on video. Which I, which is, it's an interesting people actually, really, they really love it. So it's fun. So you can come cook with me on clubhouse.

 Wade Lightheart: I love that idea. Of course, we're in the LA area. So I can't wait to have you over to the bio home and do some cooking and some fun, maybe on an ID 11, it'd be super fun and maybe do a rooftop deck. We could have a little rooftop of food party, I think would be really fun. So for all our listeners today, I want to thank you for joining us. And I might encourage you to take these words of wisdom from Serena and add an extra element of love and connection and devotion and conscientiously, creating things with colors and really being expressive of gratitude. It's really easy to get caught up in the chaos of the world, but when you stop and take pause and take a moment to create these alchemic creations, you'll find a new element to your culinary experience that I think is worthwhile living. Thank you, Sabrina for joining us today and sharing us with your wisdom it's it's so it comes out so vibrant rate out through the screen, and I look forward to connecting their future. So as everybody else, I hope you enjoyed this edition of the awesome health podcasts. You know, where to find it, that you like it smash the like button, share it. And more importantly, we'll see you on the next episode.