Ten Tips For Health, Beauty & Wellness with Rachel Katzman

Rachel Katzman is a total boss.

My introduction to Rachel came through her husband, Stephen Pasterino of P.volve. Rachel helps Stephen run P.volve but she also has her own business, Cuvée Beauty. What did I tell you…total boss.

You can tell right away that Rachel is very much into health & wellness & very particular about the ingredients that go into her products. She mainly uses champagne in her products which is just so chic.

Recently she came on the podcast where she talked all about how to turn an idea into a business, solving problems, growing teams & finding new opportunities. Be sure to listen if you haven’t yet.

Rachel does P.volve workouts- obviously- & is super fit & cute. PLUS, she walked into Dear Media to podcast in knee-high Barbie pink boots & a white t-shirt tied at the waist that I just HAD to have. This girl is definitely a trendsetter & influencer in her own right.

Since she was on the podcast & talked all about building her brand, Cuvée Beauty, I thought it would be fun to get her health & wellness tips for you guys.

Ok, moving on… Here are Rachel’s amazing tips for health, beauty & wellness:

First and foremost, I am a serial entrepreneur in the lifestyle sector. I eat, sleep, breathe all things health, beauty & wellness. Not because both my companies, Cuvée Beauty & P.volve happen to be in those categories, but because when I changed my lifestyle into a healthier one, one that made me finally feel good from the inside out, is when I gained the most confidence.

It’s when I was able to have the courage to start both these companies at a young age, with no experience and let my passion, drive & hard work take over. I am the founder and CEO of Cuvée Beauty, a haircare line focused on best-of-the-batch ingredients and uncomplicated, clean products bottled to give women 2X stronger and 4X smoother hair. I am also the CEO of P.volve, an international fitness startup. My husband is the founder of the method and together we have developed this company into an international streaming service that brings a smart, science-backed fitness program that helps you find the best body for living your best life right into your home.

I love being able to transform women’s lives through beauty, fitness & wellness and give them the confidence to not only like how they look, but love how they feel.

♡ Health

Don’t jump on the trend wagon.
Left and right there is a new super food, magic ingredient, or taking a food and blowing it out of the park (ex: cauliflower pizza, cauliflower gnocchi, kale chips, the list goes on). I used to be a victim of following every new trend and forcing myself to eat it even if 1) I didn’t like the taste or 2) my body didn’t react well to it and I wondered why it wasn’t working for me. Kale for example: every time I ate it I would be so bloated, but continuously I would eat a kale salad for lunch every day because it was “the health thing” of the moment.

Each person is unique, and every food/ingredient works well for some and not for others. That’s just the way life works. If you hate mushrooms, why would you start drinking mushroom infused coffee? I used to hate the taste of coffee, but would get a BULLETPROOF one every morning because it had promising benefits, then would be left feeling nauseous, anxious and jittery all afternoon.

Before you go and try the new trend, really do some research on that magic plant from the east, and see if its benefits are what you are looking for or missing in your life. Or before you go and eat cauliflower pizza from Trader Joe’s, turn it over and look at how much sodium is in one baby bite. Especially with pre-packaged foods- just because it is made out of a “healthy” ingredient, is gluten or sugar free, you should still read the ingredient lists and look at the sodium & fiber count before you take those bites.

Be aware & in tune with your body.
Piggybacking on the above, this has been the biggest game changer in regards to how I feel. Your body is a machine & in order to run at its peak, it will tell you exactly what it needs and what it does not need. When you have a headache your head pounds, when you’re hungry your stomach makes noise, and when your have eaten too much, you feel like you could pop. Your body speaks to you daily and the key is to be able to listen and talk back.

You will notice when you eat certain foods you break out, your face can get red, your body will become inflamed or bloated- this is your body speaking to you, telling you it does not like those things. I went through an entire elimination process when I was having a lot of stomach issues to truly get to the bottom of what I could & could not tolerate. This is where you would choose one vegetable or fruit per meal and see how you react. It is a tedious process but well worth it. I now have my lists of foods that are on my yes list (ex: asparagus, spinach, zucchini), no list (ex: bananas, kale, cauliflower, broccoli) , and then the middle list (ex: parsnips, watermelon, shrimp) which are foods I still enjoy but that may leave me feeling a little puffy the next day.

Don’t you want to wake up feeling amazing & energized every morning? You can. I even learned that I did not need to consume as much food as I thought. I used to think I needed 3 huge meals a day with 2 snacks sprinkled in, but that left me with an afternoon slump and low energy. Your body has to work to digest & process everything you put into it, which is a lot of work, especially if you are feeding it things it does not like! Personally, my lifestyle doesn’t require an enormous amount of calories to keep me feeling energized all day.

If you’re feeding your body the right nutrients and vitamins at your meals you should not experience a crash mid-afternoon & you should not want to be snacking throughout the day. And if you are, then you need to take a deeper dive into what you’re eating at those meals.

Food combining.
This is something I just recently got into, I don’t do this one on a daily basis, BUT I do stick to the principles of food combining weekly and especially when I need a body reset, have low energy & feel fatigued. You can google this and see the charts of what foods work well with others and which do not, and if you think about it, it truly makes sense. Your body has a unique process of how it breaks down protein, carbs, fruits, fats, & different vegetables. When you eat a combination of foods at once (ex: chicken, sweet potato, beans, greens), your body has to go into over-time trying to break everything down which can cause stress on the digestive system.

I notice a huge difference in my own body when I don’t combine carbs & protein, and when I stick to eating certain fruits alone, like melon on an empty stomach, I have high energy, wake up with a flat stomach, and my digestion is on point. Now, there are moments when I’m craving a dish that does combine, which is OK, but I try to stick to eating this way 4-5 days a week, allowing my body an easy process of breaking down my meals, then tend to be more free on the weekends when I am out to dinner etc. I also noticed I can eat more without feeling overly full or needing to take a nap!

♡ Beauty

Less is more.
When your skin is acting up, less is more. We all tend to want to put too much drying lotion on pimples, clarifying mud masks and salicylic acid serums over our entire face. This can truly create more of a problem rather than solve it by drying your face out even more, causing breakouts to become worse. If your skin isn’t behaving at it’s best, cut back on the all masks, serums and lotions. Stick to a gentle cleanser, 1 serum, moisturizer and SPF. Skip the heavy makeup, and allow your face to breathe. And when any breakouts are gone, cut back on the daily makeup.

I noticed a huge difference in my skin when I wear makeup daily and when I don’t. If you don’t have any important meetings that day, opt not to sit in a face of makeup so your face can breathe. Go for some concealer- I love Touche Eclat by YSL- it brightens my whole face up. Brush your brows or use gel with a tint, check out Milk Makeup’s new Kush Brow Gel, some glowy bronzer for color- I love BY Terry Glow-Expert Duo Stick, and a light sweep of mascara- I’m into Wander Beauty’s.

Consistency is KEY.
When moving towards a new routine, whether it be beauty, food, or fitness, we all want instant results. But anything that promises a transformation, and rather a sustainable transformation, takes time. When moving to a new skincare system, the key to seeing lasting results is consistency.

With the plethora of beauty products coming out, its hard to not want to dabble in all of them and try them out. But I have noticed the most dramatic difference in my skin when I stuck to one brand, and one routine. This included a cleanser, toner, 4 serums (hydrating, reduce redness, oxygen, and more moisture), moisturizer, eye cream, spf, exfoliating 2x per week, & mixing 2 different masks (detox & oxygen) during the week. I chose my nights that I would exfoliate (Sundays & Wednesdays), and my nights I would mask (Monday & Friday), sprinkling in additional days when needed. Having a plan & routine takes the guessing game out of the situation and allows you to stay on track. I like sticking to 1 brand because I know that the products are meant to work together, and I’m not mixing and matching ingredients that should not be combined. Again, taking the guessing out.

I am a huge fan of Biologique Recherche, but everyone is different when it comes to their needs & beauty wants. Note, when I made the switch to a new brand, my face got worse before it got better. Their toner helps purge the skin, and gets all the toxins out. It took 1 month for my skin to clear up. Now that my skin is balanced & healthy, I enjoy trying out new masks from other brands (love all the K.Beauty sheet masks!) but keep my foundational basics always the same.

Actually wash your face.
Nothing feels better for me than after I wash my face, but there is washing your face & then truly washing it. A makeup remover wipe does not take off all your products, spf + makeup, as much as we want it to at 3am when we are tired and lazy. When you pat your face dry and are still seeing any makeup come off on your towel, there’s a problem.

The solution serums you’re about to apply won’t be able to do their job unless you start with a clean canvas. I love double cleansing on days I wear makeup to ensure everything is off, and I use an Eve Lom muslin cloth to really get in there. You can use cotton pads or a wash cloth, just always make sure it is clean! Even if I am not wearing any makeup it is still important to clean with precision as pollution & dirt stick to our faces throughout the day. After I started using a cloth to remove makeup, I really noticed a difference in the clarity of my complexion. As lazy and tired as I may be some nights, I remind myself those 5 extra minutes of cleansing are worth it to not wake up with any unwanted blemishes or surprises.

Don’t neglect the scalp.
Nobody likes to talk about the scalp because you immediately think of Head & Shoulders and dandruff and it’s just not very sexy. But this is where healthy hair starts, and the foundation to creating the perfect canvas for your best hair styles. As women, we get to have so much fun with our hair, experimenting with new styles, colors, looks etc, which in the long run can lead to damage if we are not cautious and careful. If you were to shave your hair, your scalp is above of your face. It’s an extension of it, so why wouldn’t you pay it with as much love and attention as we do to our face?

It is super important to use products with strong ingredients to maintain a healthy scalp foundation and balance out the damages and daily wear & tear. You want to look for products that contain ingredients that moisturize, cleanse, nourish, strengthen and repair to name a few. That is why you’ll see many skincare ingredients like ceramides, pea proteins, white truffle, resveratrol and champagne extracts to name a few, in my line of hair products called Cuvée Beauty. I like to treat hair from roots to ends to ensure you can make the most of your hair and styles. It all starts with the perfect shampoo + conditioner, no different than your perfect cleanser.

You should look for a shampoo that gently cleanses and does not strip, and a conditioner to add moisture without weighing hair down. All Cuvée products are sulfate & paraben free, safe for chemically and color-treated hair and not tested on animals. Gorgeous, healthy, & strong hair is possible no matter how much you have damaged it, you just have to take care of it from the inside out!

♡ Wellness 

Herbs.
Learning to cook has truly changed my life. When I wanted to make the change to eating “clean” or “healthier,” I instantly thought of boring, lifeless, tasteless food. I thought steamed, bland vegetables, dressing-less salad, and dry, grilled chicken. I have found a way in the kitchen to bring out food’s natural, amazing taste by using herbs & spices to also help incorporate more benefits for the body. 

Turmeric, curry, paprika, & cumin are my go-tos and create so much flavor on a variety of dishes. You can add them to meat, fish, grains, or vegetables. Try roasted veggies with olive oil and sprinkling them with one of these spices or mixing them together. Salmon with turmeric, paprika, and ground ginger is my go-to anti-inflammatory dish. Rosemary, cilantro & dill are my other favorites which I love incorporating on top of salads and marinating chicken in. Eating “clean” doesn’t have to be dry & boring. You can create so much flavor with natural ingredients.

Enjoy Your Workout.
Growing up, I was always on the smaller side, and could enjoy eating anything I wanted without seeing the grease or cheese end up somewhere. Once I turned 18 those 4am pizzas & microwavable meals would slowly start to make their way onto my body.

I moved to NYC and definitely experienced the “freshman 15.” I remember looking in the mirror one day and truly not recognizing who I was, and I did not have much self-confidence. I wanted to make a change and of course the first thing was to start working out. I got into barre and pilates, never really enjoying it, but had more of an “I have to workout” feeling. I was working out 3x a day so I could start to lose weight while still eating bad and drinking on the weekends. I would cancel the majority of my workouts or not be present or focused when I was there. I did start to see my body change shape, but then I hit a plateau. I started working out more, but not seeing the results I had hoped for. I then thought I needed more HIIT & cardio, so I bounced around NYC trying out boxing & jumprope. I was 22, my back was in agony all the time, I was exhausted, fatigued, and hungrier than ever, always craving a burger, fries, and endless carbs after each session. I was so frustrated that I could be in so much pain at such a young age, and be working out so “hard” but not getting results.

Looking for a new way to workout, I found my husband’s method on Instagram, and made the switch. P.volve is a low intensity, functional science, resistance-based method, that I truly enjoy doing and look forward to my sessions. It wasn’t until I found a method I liked that working out became a habit for me, not a chore. To make being active apart of your lifestyle, find a workout or workouts that truly speak to you, your body, and your goals… not what is “hot now.”

Don’t Go Nuts for Nuts.
Almond, cashew, walnut (to name a few) milk & butters are showing up everywhere these days. In lattes, smoothies, bowls, dressings, desserts, bars & on their own as a snack. Yes they contain healthy fats that are good for you, but what I personally saw for myself was that they were causing me to gain weight & to be constantly bloated. I used to consume 1 or 2 coconut milk lattes in a day, incorporate nut milk into a smoothie, and possibly snack on nuts throughout the day. My stomach was always puffy and I couldn’t understand what was the cause. My husband told me to lay off the “nuts” and within 2 weeks I completely saw a difference. No more bloating.

What I learned was that yes these nuts contain omega 6s and omega 3s, but TOO much healthy fat is not a good thing either. I would be combining these foods with other foods that contained these types of fats like salmon, avocado, and olive oil. I am not a professional athlete who is crushing hours of intense workouts at the gym in a day where my body needs all these fats to keep my energy up. I work at a desk, I walk to and from my office and my workouts are low intensity which don’t break my body down, meaning I don’t need to be loading my body up with enormous amounts of carbs & fats for it to survive.

Nuts are fine in moderation, but the amount that is now consumed in one given day is too much for most girls who I have come in contact with based on their lifestyle. And let’s face it, raw, unsalted almonds taste like dirt, and who has ever actually only had 10 per serving? If you are looking to debloat or tighten up, try cutting them out for 2-4 weeks and see if you feel & notice a difference. If you do incorporate them back in, always make sure to read the back of your milk bottles and look out for any added sugars or preservatives, or the best way to enjoy nut milks is to make your own!

Love all those tips. I hope you guys enjoyed this & found some value to take back to your own lives.

Stay tuned for a fun giveaway with Cuvée Beauty & be sure to follow Rachel & Cuvée on Instagram.

x, lauryn

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ENJOY CHAMPAGNE FOR BEAUTY