Less is More With Healthy, Pure Ingredients at Sarah Major’s Simple Living Company

Photo by Abigail Griffith

To ensure good health: eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life. — William Londen

This timeless advice embodies Sarah Major’s “less is more” approach to life, health, and her shop, Simple Living Company . The downtown Redding store is a zero-waste refillary, which allows any Simple Living Company product, once empty, to be brought back into the store, sanitized, and refilled in their bulk section at a discounted rate. Customers also have access to a wide selection of locally made and sustainably sourced goods.

A quest for wholesome living

Opening Simple Living Company was a culmination of a quest for wholesome living that Sarah began with her childhood best friend. Sarah had noticed subtle shifts in her overall health when she incorporated simple lifestyle changes like exercise and better eating habits. These small changes created a new hobby for Sarah and her friend as they learned about every aspect of nutrition. Whenever they would hear of an herb or healthful food, like kombucha, for example, they would do their research to learn everything they could about it. An exciting paradox occurred; the more knowledge they gained, the simpler their approach to nutrition became.

During her early twenties, Sarah’s passion and research helped cure her own health issues. Sarah found herself plagued with allergies. After several attempts to diagnose the cause and losing almost a year of her life to health issues, she was bewildered. “My eyes were so swollen and itchy… it took a toll on my moods and social life,” she says. Sarah decided to do a 30-day green juice cleanse. She had nothing but green juices three times a day for 30 days. Her allergies completely cleared up, never to return.

A passion for learning leads to Instagram

Simple, pure ingredients healed Sarah, fueling her passion for learning more, and soon she felt she could no longer keep what she was learning to herself. She launched @_afreshpurefood, an Instagram account dedicated to clean living, where she shares her recipes and beautiful pictures to encourage others to make the healthy transition.

Around this time, she met and married her husband, Steven, and he was more than happy to try her recipes like enchiladas with pumpkin sauce and blueberry oat waffles. Steven was amazed at how much better he felt from the pure ingredients, and he began to listen to his body more.

A hobby leads to a new business

The Instagram account was just a hobby for Sarah, as she was working full time and finishing her business degree at Simpson University, but soon people began to reach out to her for paid promotions. Before long, Sarah attended worldwide health events and collaborated with others who shared her love for health-related information. Sarah never imagined that she could make money simply by pursuing her passion for wellness. This income from @_afreshpurefood came at a perfect time since she had desired to stay home when her daughter Haven was born.

Haven grew to be another eager taste tester, and Sarah was enjoying the “slow life” with her family. When the opportunity to purchase the Wild Radish Store in Redding came along, Sarah was fearful about what that might mean for her family. Having lost their second daughter, Avery, not long before Haven’s birth, Sarah was concerned about compromising any precious time with Haven. Steven, knowing that he would help at every step, told Sarah, “This is your dream! You have to do this!”
The transition from Wild Radish to Simple Living Company went beautifully as Sarah carried her home kitchen ideals of slow-paced, pure and intentional living into the shop. She and her business partner, Kaitlyn, focused on just one simple product that first season: tallow. Tallow is terrific for both the skin and hair and has been wildly popular.

How can parents can feel confident about making healthy changes in their lives and, importantly, is the transition affordable?

Sarah says, “Start small. Find what is best for you and keep it simple and fun. You don’t have to shop at high-end grocery stores; even discount stores can have the pure ingredients you are looking for. I like to make a list of meals for the week and then list the ingredients I’ll need before going to the store. Many of the ingredients go a long way for multiple recipes. Weekly meal prep helps by making things like protein balls, homemade salad dressings and soups.

“Involve your kids in the kitchen as much as possible. The more kids can explore cooking with new flavors, the braver they will be to eat them. We should never have to force-feed them. Kids will benefit as they begin to listen to their bodies and crave healthier things. As far as what to try at our shop for skincare and household cleaners, many are multi-purpose. Try one product at a time so you can learn what you like best.”

What about a “do this, don’t do that” list?

Sarah always focuses on ingredients, rather than calories or diets. Sarah’s goal for her family is to eat preservative-free foods that are easily digestible. Five-year-old Haven asks for sauerkraut regularly. Some of her other favorite foods include avocados and cooked cauliflower. Sarah says that if the cost of vitamins is too high, focus on healthy foods instead. For example, instead of purchasing a probiotic supplement, consider making fermented foods at home.

With a new baby on the way and a flourishing business to keep her engaged, Sarah says her cooking is still what excites her the most and feeds the creativity and passion that goes into all her endeavors: “Mama comes alive in the kitchen!”

A recipe for a slow, beautiful holiday season

As Sarah and Steven prepare for the birth of another child, her recipe for a slow, beautiful holiday season includes:

• Baking from scratch
• Cutting a fresh Christmas tree from nearby mountains
• Making her own ornaments (dried oranges are a favorite)
• Making her own wreath
• Driving with her family to enjoy the local Christmas light displays
• Enjoying lots of healthy recipes, such as Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies

In your own quest for a healthy, beautiful Christmas season with your family, check out Sarah’s instagram @_afreshpurefood for holiday recipes and inspiration. You can also start holiday shopping early and local at Simple Living Company, which ships across the North State. Visit their online catalog at simplelivingshop.co or call 530-248-0597 for more information. And if you live in the Redding area, Simple Living Company does home delivery.

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2 1/3 cup almond flour 1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
1 egg
1/4 cup almond butter
1/2 cup canned puréed sweet potato
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Salt to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix almond flour, baking soda and chocolate chips together in one bowl. Combine egg, almond butter, pureed sweet potato and maple syrup in a second bowl. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Using a large spoon, scoop the dough into bite-sized rounds, place on the parchment paper and bake for 12 minutes. Cool and enjoy the cookies warm. Store any leftovers in a closed container in the fridge.