cooks profile
ROAD TO RECOVERY
Grant and Shawna Korgan believe in eating, loving, and healing.
WRITTEN BY JESSICA SANTINA
PHOTOS BY CHRIS HOLLOMAN
Shawna Korgan stands at the kitchen counter chopping fruits and vegetables for the morning smoothie that she and her husband, Grant, will share for breakfast. Meanwhile, their dog, Obie, enthusiastically wags not just his tail but his whole body. He bounds excitedly around the house, unable to decide whether he’s more interested in his basket of toys, the organic dog treats Shawna placed on the counter, or his family being home with him again.
After all, the Korgans aren’t at their Reno home that often, now that Grant is a highly sought-after inspirational speaker with a rigorous, national touring schedule that puts them on the road for weeks at a time.
It’s a hard schedule for anyone to adjust to, but perhaps even more so for Grant, who suffered a spinal cord injury in March 2010, during a snowmobile jump in the Sonora backcountry. That was the Korgans’ first day of walking together on a brand-new path: the road to recovery.
In the more than three years since his injury, which brought an end to his nanotechnology career, Shawna has unquestioningly taken every step with him — leaving behind the spa business she co-owned and committing full time to all aspects of Grant’s recovery.
“She stood by her man when he couldn’t stand for himself,” Grant often says.
Remarkable Strides
Since then, he’s made remarkable strides, from wheelchair to crutches and, these days, walking with a cane. He also has authored a book, Two Feet Back (Lucky Bat Books, 2012; Amazon.com), which details his injury, his first year of recovery, and life lessons that he and Shawna have learned along the way.
These days, the two travel around the country for speaking engagements, where he shares their message of determination, positivity, and overcoming adversity.
“He’s able to bring the audience in, so they aren’t just hearing his story, but it’s their story, too,” Shawna says, beaming. “It’s really beautiful getting to see that. It makes me emotional every time.”
Along with recently gaining representation by the American Program Bureau Inc., an agency representing professional and celebrity speakers, has come a rigorous touring schedule. Among the multitude of ways this has changed their lives is how they eat.
Healthy Diet
Shawna’s training in health ecology and fitness training always had been a boon, as she pushes Grant to work out harder and more effectively. But it also helps her make sure their diet plays a key role in his recovery. Organic, unprocessed, enzyme-rich, protein-rich, raw, gluten-free, and sugar-free foods comprise the Korgans’ daily intake.
“The way we’ve approached fitness and nutrition is that we want to create the most optimal environment for healing in the body, both externally and internally,” Shawna explains. “So if we’re trying to regrow nerves and talk to a nervous system that wants to go to sleep, to muscles that need to be reawakened, what’s easiest for them to process? What’s easiest for Grant’s body to digest?”
It means juicing or making smoothies every morning, or making protein shakes with organic whole milk in a portable shaker in the airport. It means always traveling with an insulated bag full of nutritional food and stevia packets for coffee, and keeping fruits and vegetables on ice in their hotel rooms. It’s also about a commitment to going to the grocery store as soon as the plane lands in a new city.
“Once we do that,” Shawna says, “it sets the stage, and allows us to maintain our metabolisms. And it makes us not feel so disconnected or alien.”
On the Road
And whether they’re at home or on the road, they can order salads packed with vegetables for lunches and dinners (no dressing), stick to the occasional chicken breast or fish, and avoid anything made with refined sugar or gluten. It’s all part of an ever-present cognizance of how the food going in will affect the body’s healing processes.
“We wake up every day and the goal is to recover nerves from a spinal cord injury,” Grant says. “We’re thinking about what the feet are going to feel like when they’re moving. So we’ve adjusted our lives and caloric intake to match those goals.”
And it’s working. Grant experiences new movement and sensation nearly every day. But in such an atmosphere of love, he’s sure there’s nothing he can’t do.
“Really, it’s about love,” Shawna says, as her husband looks on adoringly. “I think that if I’m preparing his food with love, it’s always going to be healing.”
Jessica Santina is a freelance writer and editor and the managing editor of edible Reno-Tahoe. She finds daily inspiration from the Korgans, and hopes one day to grow up and be just like them.
Power Green Korg Smoothie
(courtesy of Shawna Korgan. Serves 2 to 3)
“I usually just throw everything in the blender, so I don’t have exact amounts,” Shawna says about this smoothie recipe that she makes in a Vitamix blender. She suggests adjusting the proportions of ingredients to taste.
Almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk or water
Blueberries
Strawberries
Kale
Beets
Apple
Protein powder (Shawna uses Jay Robb brand, “because it doesn’t contain any artificial anything,” and Navitas Naturals products also are a staple in all of their smoothies.)
Add your choice of milk or water to the blender, followed by the chopped fruits and vegetables and protein powder, and blend until smooth. Start with a small amount of liquid and add more until desired consistency is reached. If you prefer a thicker, colder smoothie, add ice.
Sweet Potatoes (“Inspired by our friend, Katie.”)
(courtesy of Shawna Korgan. Serves 2 to 4)
2 sweet potatoes
Coconut oil
Splash coconut milk
Sprinkle cinnamon
Truvia/stevia (to sweeten, if desired)
Peel, boil, and mash the sweet potatoes until smooth. Add a small dollop of coconut oil, the coconut milk, cinnamon, and, if desired, the sweetener, and mix until fully blended.
*If you want it to be a real “dessert treat,” refrigerate a can of unsweetened coconut milk overnight; it will thicken. Scoop out the thick coconut milk (leave the remaining liquid), add a small amount of stevia and beat with a hand mixer until fluffy, and voilà! Coconut whipped cream to top the sweet potatoes!
