Interview with Ashleigh Foster on Plant-Based Diets and Eco-Friendly Beauty Products

Ashleigh Foster is a filmmaker, a new mom, and a proponent of plant-based diets and eco-friendly beauty products. Ashleigh, a Hockaday alum, writes a lovely, inspiring blog called “I Spy the Beautiful,” that covers everything from the story of her daughter’s home birth, to her favorite vegan recipes. Keep reading to pick up a green smoothie recipe, directions for a DIY sea salt hair spray, and useful tips on transitioning into a vegan diet.

Twyla Shelmire: What is the difference between a vegan diet, a raw diet, and a plant-based diet?

Ashleigh Foster: A plant-based diet is the broadest term and it just means that you try and base most of your meals around plant foods: vegetables, grains, legumes, etc. This has become a very popular term with all of the recent research suggesting that a diet largely comprised of plants is the healthiest long-term approach.

A vegan diet has more of an ethical basis. It excludes all products that are derived from animals, so any meat, poultry or fish but also and dairy products, eggs, even honey isn’t considered vegan.

A raw diet means you’re not cooking anything and are eating a lot of raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Some people choose to include animal products in a raw diet—raw fish and raw (unpasteurized) dairy, which is why you will hear people describe themselves as “raw vegan” to specify that they are both raw and vegan.

TS: Have you always been vegan? Was there someone or something that inspired you to make the transition, or did it just make you feel better?

AF: I wasn’t raised vegan at all and it has been a very slow transition for me. About seven years ago I was struggling with on going depression and just general lethargy. I didn’t wake up with energy in the morning and I just sort of went through life feeling tired. I began to really look at the connection between what I was eating and my energy. As I transitioned towards a healthier diet, I felt better and better. I lost weight. My skin cleared up. My energy increased.

You’ll get a lot of people telling you that making these kinds of big changes to your diet is extreme. They say that like it’s a bad thing. But I love extremity. I’m not about balance at all. I don’t believe in it. The thing that I see is that the place we have gotten to culturally with our food choices is extreme. You know what’s extreme to me? Hot Cheetos. I was drinking a green smoothie in front of a girl eating a bag of hot Cheetos once and she told me it looked weird. Her fingers were dyed BRIGHT ORANGE! It only makes sense that we’re going to have to take some extreme measures in order to get back to a place that is more natural if we want to feel good.

I didn’t go vegan right away, that part came last. When you start feeling better you’ll want to do good things for the world and you’ll start really looking at the effect your choices have on the world. You’ll start caring about things more because you’re becoming more connected to yourself and that is always going to connect you more to the planet. So eating vegan as much as possible just becomes what you want to do because you want to be more loving and compassionate. And I don’t want people to think it’s so out of reach either, you don’t have to be perfect at it, I’m definitely not. But you just keep aiming to be compassionate in your choices and it ends up being amazing for your health and for the planet.

TS: What are some common misconceptions about being vegan or eating all raw?

AF: I think one of the biggest problems is that people feel it’s inaccessible. They hear vegan or raw and they think “Oh I could never do that”. And that’s a huge mistake because this is not about perfection, nothing is. This is just about learning and growing. So I’d encourage people to go vegan for one day a week. Eat a raw breakfast in the morning (a green smoothie for example). See how you feel. Just keep moving in a positive direction. People get overwhelmed and it immobilizes them into not making any changes and that’s sad. Even little changes will add up in an amazing way.

The other huge misconception is that eating healthy has to taste bad or be miserable. If it tastes bad, you’re not doing it right. Granted, there does need to be a transition period where you’re getting used to new flavors. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that your tastebuds are constantly changing. If you give yourself 3 weeks to get used to things you’re going to find a whole new palette of foods that appeal to you. Then the harder work can happen of letting go of some of our emotional connections to foods that are unhealthy because your Grandmother fed you donuts every time you saw her and she really loved you so now when you eat donuts you feel loved. You can start to see those things and rewrite those thoughts in your head. The truth is, you are loved. Grandma loved you. It had nothing to do with the donuts. And then you can start to believe that you deserve to be healthy and to feel good. Once that happens, there’s no holding back.

TS: When you are cooking certain dishes or putting together juices, is it intuitive what ingredients to use, or do you work from a cookbook?

AF: This is the most fun thing and something that I really love is that once you become familiar with a new palette of foods to cook with you can get really creative, especially when you’re cooking raw because you can taste exactly what is coming out as you go. I make a lot of stuff up as I go. But I love to use cookbooks too and often will flip through them for inspiration. One thing I’ve learned that I use a lot is that we are most satisfied by a balance of flavors. We’re looking for something salty, sweet, acidic, and fatty all at once. If you think of your favorite foods, most of them have all four of those going on at once. That’s where you get chocolate chip cookies with sea salt on top. Chocolate is a little acidic. Cookies have sugar and butter. And then you add some salt and it’s like tastebud crack. When I’m making any dish, I always try and remember that.

TS: What are some of your favorite foods, dishes, and juices?

AF: A favorite salad dressing of mine is cashew butter, sage, garlic and lemon juice with a little salt. It feels super indulgent because it has all of those components I just mentioned that your mouth is looking for. You can use that as a template for making your own dressings. Pick a nut butter, your favorite herbs, some garlic, and lemon. Blend that with a little water and maybe some maple syrup if you want it a little sweeter. That’s a great dressing in so many combinations. I love tahini + ginger or almond butter + basil. The options are endless.

I love doing that, creating a sort of template to experiment within. I make a ton of green smoothies by combining frozen fruit, fresh fruit, light greens and dark greens with a liquid. I think people can sometimes be scared to experiment because they don’t want to get it wrong, so having a guide can help. For smoothies you want to use about the same amount of frozen fruit, fresh fruit, and light greens, with about half that amount of dark greens. Add liquid like coconut water or almond milk until the consistency is what you like. My favorite is frozen banana, ripe banana, coconut water, and kale. In that one I leave out the light greens completely. It’s not an exact science. Don’t overdo it on the dark greens or you wont want to drink it. My sister makes green smoothies that look like swamp water because she thinks that is healthier and then she won’t drink them. Make it taste good and you’ll do it over and over again.

TS: Do you stick to non-toxic beauty products? If so, what are some of your favorite brands or products? 

AF: I really believe in non-toxic beauty products. You absorb everything that goes on your skin. Not only that but those products that get rinsed off in the shower get into our water system and wreak havoc on our whole ecosystem. My favorite beauty products are no products at all. Our bodies are beautiful. Our imperfections are straight up beautiful. I try to wear make up as little as possible. Maybe a few times a year. I know some people find it fun but I find it fun to feel healthy and glowing from the inside out. If you really feel good inside and you’re treating your body right, your skin is going to be healthy and your hair will shine and your eyes will just glow. People are going to notice and more than that, you’re going to radiate from the inside out. Make up is just trying to make people look healthier. Covering blemishes, creating brighter eyes, giving cheeks a flush. It’s all designed to give the appearance of health but I say just go for the real thing.

My skin care routine is really basic. I rinse with water and exfoliate with scrubby gloves daily. If my skin is getting a little dry in colder weather I will use a little bit of moisturizer. I use Detox Moisturizer by Sonya Dakar. When I do use makeup, my absolute favorite brand is RMS, which is created by a woman who did makeup for Victoria Secret models for a long time. They’re all based in coconut oil and she has a great really natural color palette. Definitely check them out. There’s a store called Evolue that only carries really awesome products that are all good for the environment and your skin. You can check them out online. Oh also, I LOVE the Weleda citrus deodorant. It’s the best natural one out there. A lot of natural deodorants don’t work. That one smells fantastic and it works.

TS: Do you have any DIY beauty recipes you’d like to share? Or do you keep any specific kitchen ingredients on hand for beauty purposes?

AF: The one thing I’ve had fun making myself is a sea salt hair spray that can give you those beachy waves. I’ve seen it sold by different hair product lines. It’s really easy to make. You basically simmer 16 oz of water on the stove and add about 1/3 c of sea salt until it dissolves. Then cool the water and add 10 drops of lavender essential oil. I add a few drops of coconut oil, maybe like an 1/8^th of a teaspoon just to give a tiny bit of shine. Let it cool and store it in a spray bottle. If you spray it on damp hair, it’ll give you that beachy look of being out at the ocean. I have curly hair and it works great. I’m not sure what it would do on straight hair.

I keep Epsom salts around for some great hot baths. I love to add some essential oils of lavender or chamomile to the water. I use jojoba oil to moisturize because I don’t really like to use coconut oil, which a lot of people love. Jojoba oil is a really mild seed oil that you can add scented oils to if you want. I always keep some castor oil around which is great for healing cuts or dry patches of skin. If I want to feel absolutely fantastic, I take a long hot bath and then shave. Then I rinse off in a cool shower and exfoliate with scrubby gloves. Then I get out and immediately use jojoba oil to moisturize my arms and legs and neck, etc. I put some moisturizer on my face. Comb my hair and spray with the salt spray and then brush my teeth and put on comfy pajamas. You will feel like a million bucks. Clean from head to toe and absolutely naturally gorgeous, which I guarantee you are.

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