Ok, if you didn’t read part 1, Running with Mariel Hemingway, about my recent experience with Mariel Hemingway, please go read it now. It’s not long. We’ll wait for you to catch up. Go ahead . . .

Anyone that knows me for 5 minutes (or looks at a recent image of me) knows that I love food. I’m a foodie that has been experimenting with healthy, nutritious foods since the 1980s (I was a teenager of course!). I’ve tried everything from raw foods to macrobiotics and all kinds of yummy things in between. I tend to talk about food a lot too, and my initial meeting with Mariel Hemingway was no exception.

Within 5 minutes of meeting her, I was babbling on about a recent healthy detox cleanse I had done, and my search for healthy balance with weight loss and mental-pause (yes, you know what I’m talking about). To say we got familiar instantly would be an understatement. Without missing a beat, Mariel said she could help me figure out what was going on with my food. She encouraged me to make a food journal and send it to her. I thought she was just being polite, but tucked the offer into my bra for consideration.

Mariel was a sport and we rode out of New York city towards Green Divas studio with her trusty assistant Heather Reinhardt contributing to the lively and comfortable conversation all the way through the Lincoln Tunnel until we sat in front of the mics in the studio.

Wish you could hear it? well, me too. Everything was brilliant, but the technology fairy was asleep at the wheel, and the green diva at the control board missed one tiny setting, and as it happens, it was a critical one. I own it. I was blinded by the natural light of Mariel and mixed my input with my output. Read about the interview or listen to an earlier podcast of Mariel from an interview with us a couple of months back.

Mariel didn’t have any of her new books, Running with Nature with her, but she happened to have one of her gorgeous cookbooks — Mariel’s Kitchen — which was equally as exciting for me personally. I had read Running with Nature electronically and paid close attention to Mariel and Bobby’s philosophy around food and healthy eating and found that while I had not necessarily paralleled her adventures in mountain climbing or running through nature (literally), we had journeyed a similar path in our foodie experiences and beliefs about health and nutrition.

When she went to sign my book, she said, “I’m serious. I can help you. Keep a daily journal of EVERYTHING you eat for a week and send it to me. We’ll figure out what is going on.” Hmmmmm. More serious consideration of this generous offer . . . We were in a hurry to get Mariel to her next gig (about 5 miles away as it turns out), and I didn’t see what she signed in my new awesome cookbook till a couple of days later, as it turns out.

She had to spend the weekend in the town nearby on business, which isn’t exactly like a weekend in LA or NY. Bobby had gone back to California, and she and Heather were kind of stuck in the middle of New Jersey for the weekend, so I put it out there that I would be happy to make some healthy restaurant recommendations, or if they were really desperate for entertainment, my husband and I would be happy to take them out. I honestly didn’t expect them to take me up on the latter, but Heather texted me that they would love to go out with Wayne and I. They must’ve been really desperate for entertainment!

Crap, now I had to find a GOOD healthy restaurant for my new foodie guru and her awesome assistant! I was surprised how hard it was to find a decent healthy restaurant that served local, organic and whole foods! I’ve been complaining about this to no avail apparently (I keep threatening to open up a gourmet vegan restaurant, but so far I’ve been restrained by my husband and circumstances). Anyway, I remembered an amazing restaurant that I had reviewed a couple of years ago, Chakra, and they were very accommodating in finding us a private booth on such short notice. My husband played it really cool when I told him we had a special date Saturday night.

So, we picked up our dates, Mariel and Heather, and we fell immediately back into an easy, comfortable and lively conversational mode to my husband’s delight. He wouldn’t have admitted that he was nervous (and still won’t), but just like she did with me, she put him at ease with her warm and friendly manner.

Dinner was fantastic and we chatted like a couple of long lost sisters (Heather too!). Wayne was happily overwhelmed with gorgeous feminine energy, and enjoyed the evening, marveling at how comfortable we all were. He was a little quiet at first, but he eventually joined in the fun. Mariel said later, she was worried he was uncomfortable, but he said he was enthralled, that it was truly entertaining, and we were very funny. He LOVED it! A good night to be my husband, I guess.

The food was fantastic, but don’t think for a minute, I wasn’t conscious of my new foodie guru sitting next to me when I ordered my meal. I made a comment to that effect, and she quickly put me at ease, and I was a little surprised that I didn’t feel judged, but I honestly didn’t. I had dessert, no guilt, and I loved it!

It wasn’t until the next day that I looked at the inscription she made in the cookbook she signed for me . . .

I LOL’d upstairs in the studio so loud when I saw it that Wayne inquired as to what the heck was so funny! It was perfect, because I knew without a doubt how kind this woman was, and that what she wrote, she wrote with the very best intention. Still chuckling and staring at her message, I decided to do a 7-day journal, and she would get it whether she wanted it or not!

I made a commitment to be honest, and I was, which was effective because I resisted a few temptations that week because I did NOT want to write them down! But generally, I ate what I would normally eat, and journaled everything.

It helped me right away as I became more aware that I wanted and needed more raw fruits and veggies, and would’ve recommend this to me if someone was sending this journal to me for analysis! I saw a couple of patterns before I was halfway through.

After completing the week, I had lost 2 pounds (probably from just paying attention!), and sent along the journal without any expectations. Mariel responded within an hour with some detailed observations and recommendations that were things I wouldn’t have seen on my own! She did say that I have a good balanced diet, which was validating coming from her, but she saw some things and made some insightful suggestions, that I’m now trying to implement.

I haven’t really had time to devote to playing with new recipes from her book yet, but I will share about some of those experiments, and if she gives me permission, I will even share one or two of my favorite ones!

Mariel may or may not want to put herself out there as a foodie guru, but if she had time between her many amazing projects, she would be excellent at it! I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to not only have met and interviewed Mariel, but to have had a wonderful meal with her and Heather, and ultimately to have shared my eating habits with her and received such wise foodie advice. I’m a very fortunate green diva.

Yes, eating with Mariel Hemingway was delicious, enlightening and very fun. Hope to do it again sometime!

Meanwhile, we’ve had a couple more conversations with Mariel Hemingway & Bobby Williams. Listen to this excellent podcast Green Diva Meg & Kristin from GVK: Good Vibrations with Kristin did with Mariel . . .  

eat. blog. be merry!