Are You Tired of Saying “No”?
Written by Gayle
Abigail was.
Faced with family allergies and dietary reactions, Abigail had stood on her counters tossing everything on the floor that her family couldn’t eat. Frustrated by being the family that sat off to the side eating the food that they had brought to the party. Tired of telling her kids, “No, no, no. You can’t eat that.”
Abigail grew up in New York City and met many international chefs through her father’s career. Food was a wonderful celebration as they dined in famous restaurants, although her mom didn’t cook and wouldn’t allow Abigail in the kitchen. Cooking and food was something magical to Abigail. Once she got to college and had a kitchen of her own, she started experimenting and became a self-taught chef and foodie.
Fast forward a few years, and Abigail is married with two sons. Healthy eating has become not just a passion, but a necessity, since both sons have health issues. So there so was, standing on the counters throwing everything out. For the next two years Abigail and her family ate only what she had made in her kitchen at home. Real food–no substitutes. Protein, fruit, vegetables. No gluten, dairy, soy, grains. In very short order they all had vastly improved health, but she was tired of saying “No” to everything. She wanted to recapture the joy and celebration of food.
So she went into her kitchen and pulled out all of the delicious ingredients that they could eat. She wanted to make a treat for her family–something that they could celebrate.
Dried fruit and nuts, seeds and honey, maple syrup and celtic salt, soy- and dairy-free chocolate chips and cayenne. Nothing fake or substitute. The YES bar was born.
Her family loved them. Soon friends were curious and wanted to try the bars. Abigail started sharing. People wanted to buy them and soon she was convinced that she should try to make them commercially available.
Of course there were snags. Making a batch of 5,000 bars is much different than making a batch of 20. But Abigail persisted, and after donating thousands of less-than-perfect (but still perfectly edible and delicious) bars to the LA Food Bank, the process was figured out. She sources all of her ingredients herself, and supervises and oversees every production run.
The YES bar is Abigail’s offering to help us see that we don’t have to see our challenges as limitations. They can be advantages to help us see new ways of thinking and acting. She wanted the bar to celebrate food and life, not from a place of lack, deprivation, or limitation, but a place of choice.
Lassen’s is proud to feature Abigail’s The YES bar, and I loved meeting her and hearing her story. The bar is free from soy, dairy, or corn. It is certified gluten free and paleo friendly. Crunchy, chewy, real. This is a bar that provides real nutrition. There are two flavors, Macadamia Chocolate Chip, and Mocha Cayenne. New flavors are in the works!
Try The Yes Bar–you will be able to taste the quality in every bite!
Love,
Lassen’s