Introducing culinary-nutrition consultant, celebrity chef and natural-born hippie, Mikaela Reuben. Born and raised on Vancouver Island in a home filled with natural supplements, organic produce and unusual ingredients, Mikaela Reuben has
Mikaela’s professional entry into the world of nutrition was inspired by personal experience — when she was 17, her beloved father had a heart attack. Instead of using a traditional Western medicine-based approach to recovery, he vowed to use lifestyle and food to heal himself and lost 70 pounds by eating whole foods and utilizing natural supplements. After observing her father recover with food acting as medicine, Mikaela began formally immersing herself further in the study of food and healing traditions. She started training under well-recognized LA-based chef Wayne
Mikaela Reuben is a babe because of the way she supports other women in a competitive industry, her effortless joie de vivre, her openminded, real approach to wellness and the way she inspires and educates people to feel their best.
What does Babes Supporting Babes mean to you?
I am very lucky to be surrounded by a powerful group of people who are supportive, driven and intensely loyal, and I strive to provide that same level of support for the humans in my circle. To me, Babes Supporting Babes is all about being a part of a positive, inclusive community that helps each member achieve goals that wouldn’t be possible solo. Over the years, I have cultivated a really solid network of friends and colleagues who I can seek out for advice, a pep talk, or candid feedback — and I like to think I provide the same in return.
I also think Babes Supporting Babes is about acknowledging that there is room for everyone! I work with a ton of people in my industry who do similar work to me — and what I love is that instead of being stingy and competitive, we all support each other and know that we each bring something uniquely “us” to our work. There is space for all of us to thrive, individually and together.
What city feels most like home to you?
Vancouver and Maui, probably because they’re the places I spend the most time. I know the good places to eat, where to buy groceries, and where to work out. It’s where life feels the easiest.
What activities fill you up most?
I’m going to sound cliché, but sunsets and
Is there anything you wish would come back into fashion?
I’m pretty sure I am not sure what is in or out of style. I’m not aware of what is happening in fashion and I still hold onto clothes from grade ten…let’s put this way, one of my girlfriends told me the other day that flared jeans are coming back “in” and I am pumped. I’m basically Marie Kondo’s worst nightmare!
What is the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Probably dropping out of my Masters of Physiotherapy program and buying a one-way ticket to Paris to pursue a potential chef job. On paper, it didn’t make sense, but in my
If you could fly anywhere in the world tomorrow for 24 hours, where would you go? No jet lag, obvs!
I would go to Colombia to dance — the energy of the Colombian people and culture inspires me.
What person or organization would you love to collaborate with and why?
I think Wendy and Jess from Food Heaven Show are super talented and up to incredible things. They’ve done a really excellent job at making healthy living accessible, which is something I am working on doing a better job at. I would love to collaborate with them at some point.
In one word, tell us about your relationship with your phone?
Oh boy, if I’m going
What new trends are you noticing in your industry?
That everything health-related is moving to a unique, individualized approach. In the next five years, we are going to realize that there is no “one best way” to do things that suits all people — each person is on a path to discover what is best for them.
Not every exercise class or food group is good or bad across the board —
What are five things you always keep in your purse?
Lake & Skye 11:11 fragrance oil roller; my daily supplements; Ilia Tinted Lip Conditioner in Nobody’s Baby; rose water spray that my Dad brought back for me from Iran; and lastly, I always have about fifty crumpled up, unorganized receipts that need to be expensed!
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
It may not be what we traditionally think of as advice, but I have a lot of people in my life who have courageously dealt with addiction, and I think the Serenity Prayer is a beautiful example of how to live. While I appreciate that choice is often available, there are also times when I believe that choice is a privilege. For example, my grandmother didn’t have a choice to be in a concentration camp, and I think sometimes wellness practitioners can be spiritually condescending to people in far different circumstances than their own. What I do believe, however, is that knowing how to distinguish between ‘what I can change’ vs. ‘what I cannot change, but can accept’ has brought authentic peace and tranquillity to my life.
What are three things we would find in your fridge at all times?
Organic kimchi, eggs and goat cheddar. Even health nuts get a hankering for cheese sometimes!
Keep up with Mikaela on Instagram @mikaelareuben
Introduction written by Alexis Sheridan.
Photography by Ryan Pugsley.