We had the good fortune of connecting with Gail Angeles and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Gail, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
When I look back over the last 8 years since 2015, I clearly see that all my businesses have been natural expansions out of necessity and demand. I currently am the owner and operator of Rainbow Food Rocks, a recipe book and certified home baking business; Rainbow Healing and Wellness, a health and wellness business, where I offer Reiki, Yoga, Life Coaching, ASD and ADHD Consulting, Home Organizing, and Spiritual Counseling. I also own Rainbow Herbals, where I bottle my own essential oils and hydrosols straight from Nisarga Organic Farms in the Himalayas in India, and make body products out of my essential oils, and I sell all my above-mentioned products and services.
I became a self-made chef out of necessity when my three children and I all became unwell around the same time in 2015. Although each person’s health issues manifested into different symptoms and diagnoses ranging from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder (ADHD), bodily pain, fatigue, stomach and bowel issues, rashes, dizziness, and more, the same five “allergy-foods”: wheat, dairy, corn, soy, and eggs, were the root cause of all the different health issues. This “food allergy” awareness motivated me to learn more about food.
After a four-year journey of healing my children and myself, I wrote the recipe book, Rainbow Food Rocks, in 2019, with the intention of helping others with “food allergies” and “mystery illnesses” heal themselves by eating a wheat-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free, egg-free, peanut-free, yeast-free, and meat-free, organic diet.
During this process, I began to teach myself about social media, how to build websites, how to use Zoom, etc. I began taking courses in any holistic health and wellness modalities I could. I obtained many certifications, and I even opened a physical office in Tempe, AZ.
I then started to go on shows and network with other like-minded individuals. Through this, I became acquainted with the pure, therapeutic, unadulterated essential oils and hydrosols I now sell. Individuals then started asking me to make body products with my oils and to bake them “allergy-friendly” desserts. Eventually individuals asked me to provide guidance using my other modalities. That led me to offer more health and wellness services online and in person, and that then brought me to where I am now.
What should our readers know about your business?
My business is a combination of everything I do in my daily life with my three children and others. For instance, I start my day with yoga and meditation, and then I drink fresh-pressed juices or smoothies, and cook meals that are wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free, egg-free, meat-free, but not taste free! I then make my own body products, rather than purchase them from a store, and I use a range of essential oils, teas, tinctures, meals, and movements throughout the day for my kids and me. Likewise, I help people with tasks ranging from organizing, cooking, baking, counseling, coaching, consulting, helping the body heal itself, etc. I then offer as business products and services an extension of this all, which I do habitually. In addition to all this, I also homeschool my children. What sets me apart from others is that I don’t have a disconnect between my home lifestyle, my homeschooling and my business. They go hand-in-hand. And, furthermore, everything I am doing came out of a necessity to heal my children, myself, and others. I didn’t just wake up one day and decide to do every healing modality I could fathom, but rather, I had to go on a very long journey for eight years to get to this exact moment where I am typing about just how much I do and why.
My journey wasn’t easy, because I was constantly met with challenges from within the household to outside the household. What I was doing by changing the way we ate and lived 8 years ago, refining it, and creating a business out of it was absolutely mocked. My husband was embarrassed by me, and he did not want his workmates to know what I was doing, nor did he want to participate in any of our necessary lifestyle changes. The crowd in my first YouTube show all made fun of me, insisting I was crazy in the live chat. It wasn’t until COVID came that people actually started to listen to what I was saying to help others. Post-COVID, many individuals then looked up to me as a very knowledgeable and resourceful person that had gained a lot of wisdom through my own journey. And, my husband finally changed some of his lifestyle habits to match mine!
The biggest take-away from everything I have been through is to trust your own body and intuition, and if something doesn’t make sense that someone else tell you, question it. I say this, because I was always such a people-pleaser, doing what everyone else told me to do, despite my own better judgement, which led to my kids and me all having health problems. By standing up for myself and my children, and taking control of what goes in and on our bodies, I was able to help them heal themselves, help heal myself, and then help others heal themselves.
A huge lesson has been my Rainbow Herbals motto: What we put on ourselves is just as important as what we put in ourselves!
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Having lived in the Phoenix area for 5 years, the first place I would take my best friend is to the Superstition Mountains around Apache Junction. Depending on their hiking level and the season, I would either offer them to do some class 3 climbing to the top at Lost Dutchman State Park, or I would tour them around the lower portions for the best mountain views. I would take them out to eat in Phoenix to one of my favorite restaurants, the Giving Tree Cafe, where my recipe book is sold, and the owner, David, is extremely kind to my kids. The next day, I would head up to Sedona for my best friend to experience the sister cafe to the Giving Tree, which is the Chocolatree. I would then take them to a special area that is known to locals for swimming in Oak Creek with beautiful, lush trees all around and the sound of water rushing over the rocks.
I would then continue up north to Flagstaff and introduce them to Humphrey’s Peak in the Snowbowl area. Assuming they could hike it, I would show them the highest peak in AZ there and boulder with them to the tippy top.
I would eventually make my way to the Grand Canyon with them, first stopping in Page and then hiking around some slot canyons in that area. From that vantage point, I would take them over the Utah border to access another part of AZ south of Kanab to get to a lesser-known entrance of the Grand Canyon, where there are pictographs of Shaman’s Panel and Indian ruins, and amazing views of the Colorado River.
Once that is complete, I would loop back the route I came around south of Page to the assumed entrance of the Kincaid Caves, where it is claimed that Egyptians came through and left treasures a long time ago. The views and silence from this area is absolutely breath-taking. (We would, of course, obtain Navajo permission to do so.)
Lastly, I would take my best friend through Tonto National Park to check out ruins and Saguaro Lake. After all that hiking and excitement, I would end our adventure with a meal at Uprooted Kitchen in Gilbert and introduce them to owners, Chad and Erin, who promote my essential oils. I would then show them the area known as Agritopia, and bring them to the farm store for some fresh, organic produce.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people who have come along the way to help me over the years, and they were ALL so important to helping me along my journey. The very first person to help me was Krishana Chaitanya in India, whom I directly obtain the Nisarga Organic Farm essential oils and hydrosols from, and who has constantly encouraged me to persevere, practice having an office, invent my own brand of essential oils, and create a business selling therapeutic essential oils.
The next person to mention is Dr. Paul Cottrell. While he is not the first person to give me a platform to speak, he has allowed me on his show many times to speak my thoughts on health and wellness, and has been a huge mentor. He motivated me to use my own brand of essential oils from the farm to create the non-toxic, natural, organic, body products I now sell. These products are my Even Better Bar, which is used for cuts, scrapes, bruises, headaches, dry skin, inflammation, burns, bug bites, etc., and my Peppermint/Lavender/Tea Tree and Citrus Herbal Deodorants. He guided me on what program to use for a website to sell my products, and he helped me set up shipping for fast, efficient delivery to my customers.
And, last, but not least, I need to highlight Rex Bear from Leak Project, whose podcasts inspired me to be the change I want to see in the world and see the change I want to be in the world. He gave me the encouragement to open my YouTube channels. He inspired met to question everything I thought to be true, and to dive deep into exploring what is really going on with food, health, and wellness. It was through his platform that I showed my face for the first time ever on a show, and I gained the confidence to continue to show my face on many more shows.
Website: https://www.rainbowherbals.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rainbowhealingandwellness/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RainbowFoodRocks
Other: https://linktr.ee/rainbowfoodrocks
Image Credits
Andrea DiPrima
