Photographed by Lianna Tarantin

How does this sound? Rose-petal pancakes with peach-butter cream for breakfast; a red beet burger for lunch, and a tandoori carrot and mizuna with romesco sauce for dinner. This is just one version of Sakara Life’s meal-delivery service, conceived by Whitney Tingle, left, and Danielle DuBoise, childhood friends from Sedona who both moved to New York. It’s 100% organic and plant-based (read: meat-free). It’s also delicious. No, really. They have Michelin-starred chefs helping with the recipes! We asked the Co-Founders more…

The Sakara Life diet vs. other diets…
WT: Sakara is not a diet but a lifestyle. Diets don’t work long term, and they don’t focus on overall health like we do. The Sakara Life is based on our Pillars of Nutrition, which starts with eating the highest quality of organic ingredients. Everything is extremely fresh — closer to the farm means more life energy is still in the food you’re eating.
DD: We include foods that are high in water content to hydrate the body; superfoods for increased nutrient intake, and a rainbow of colorful foods, to help heal the body from the inside out to give you that Sakara glow!
WT: We also have top chefs from top restaurants, like Le Bernardin, who consult on our recipes to make them as delicious as they are good for you.

“Eating the rainbow” means…
WT: Food should be bright, vibrant and beautiful! The bolder the color, the higher the nutritional value unique to that color, so the more colors you eat, the more nutrients you provide your body. We try to balance each meal and each day by color.

My all-time favorite meal…
WT: Red Beet Burger.
DD: Superfood Sweet Potato Bowl. Favorite way to start my day.

What prompted us to launch Sakara…
DD: My need to find a healthy relationship with food. During college, I was studying to become a doctor while modeling and acting on the side. I was completely disconnected from my body and food and could only see them both as the enemy. Seeing how this impacted every other area of my life inspired me to go to nutrition school and create a food system that empowered me — and, most importantly, others — to make loving, healthy choices a lifestyle, not a diet.
WT: I worked on Wall Street post-college where I quickly learned that maintaining my healthy Sedona lifestyle was not going to be so easy with the constant stress, late hours, post-work happy hours and birthday cupcakes… My body was experiencing the side effects of poor eating habits, including gaining 15 pounds and battling cystic acne, so Danielle and I went on the journey together to find a solution for each of us. Together, we realized NYC, the city with everything, lacked a solution to the problems we were facing balancing our bodies with our lifestyles.

The story behind the name Sakara…
DD: Sakara is a Sanskrit word that means with form. It is the process of manifesting thoughts to things. We want people to take charge of their health, and for this journey to completely change their relationship with food and their body in order to create the life of their dreams. We wanted to take down all the obstacles surrounding healthy eating to get people back to real food and feeling their absolute best again! Once you start, you won’t want to stop.

Since Sakara is mainly East Coast, non-East Coasters can tap into this philosophy by…
WT: Good news. Sakara is actually expanding to L.A. in June! We’ve started a wait list!
DD: We have a Clean Boutique on our site that helps share the Sakara love with clients nationwide. Not only is it filled with unique Sakara products designed to help you live the Sakara Life, but it’s also specially curated with healthy living products that Whit and I use every day. Although we believe healthy living starts with food, it is truly about a whole lot more.

Eating well and enjoyment — mutually exclusive?
WT: Absolutely not – or we would not be in this biz! It’s so important that we take responsibility for our own health and happiness, and part of that responsibility includes making it fun and sustainable! There is a direct correlation between what you put into your body and how you feel. If you fuel your body with beautiful ingredients, your body will thank you with radiant, glowing skin, toned bodies, increased energy and pure happiness.
DD: Sakara is about balance — we encourage you to have your cake and eat it too! Just balance it with clean, whole foods. Never waste energy stressing out about your food — it should be easy, healthy and sexy!

Our favorite way to keep moving…
WT & DD: We love The Class, Physique57, ModelFit and Twerk Class (#twerkaerobics). All movement is good movement!

Healthy snacks that give us a boost of energy…
WT & DD: Either our Sakara Superfood Popcorn or Sakara Superfood Granola! We made these products because we needed something clean and energized to have in our bag for emergencies.

How we exercise and eat healthy when traveling…
WT & DD: We always make sure that we have a cooler bag of Sakara food before we go on a trip. Plane food is the worst and can really start your trip off the wrong way. Avocados are an easy snack or apples and trail mix that can get tossed in your carry-on. As for working out while traveling, Ballet Beautiful has great workout videos that you can do in your hotel room with no equipment or props.


Follow on Instagram @Sakaralifenyc @danielleatsakara @whitneytingle

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