Life Changing Wellness with Khalil Rafati
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After years of drug addiction and being homeless on the streets to becoming founder and CEO of Sunlife Organics, saying that Khalil Rafati turned his life around for the better is an understatement. Through the recount of his journey and that of his booming health & wellness company, he has inspired us with a newfound awareness of the power that good nutrition has on transforming every aspect of our wellbeing.
Long before he was making smoothies and power bowls for his community in Los Angeles, founder and CEO of Sunlife Organics, Khalil Rafati, was barely surviving. It took years of spiraling downward with drug addiction before he knew he had to make a change and take his health seriously if he was going to keep living. This realization that something BIG needed to shift didn’t seem like a monumental thing at the time, but it ended up being the catalyst for his transition from barely making it to supremely thriving.
After that initial decision to make a change, Khalil’s friend (and local Cardiff yogi) started bringing him big mason jars filled with fresh veggie/fruit juices, macadamia nut butter, and other nutrient rich foods on a regular basis. He was determined to help Khalil fuel up his body with goodness so he wouldn’t have any interest in going back to his old addictions.
Beyond feeling amazing, Khalil also started to notice the external effects that the superfoods had on his body. His face was changing shape, his skin started to glow, and he experienced a high that was unlike anything got from the drugs he was addicted to.
And as his life began to rapidly change, it comes as no surprise that the people around him were drawn to the magic they were witnessing. They felt inspired and found hope in the freedom they saw manifesting in his life—and had to know his secrets.
After Khalil got a glimpse of what it was like to feel like a million bucks every day, he wanted to share that feeling with as many people as possible. He felt called to make healthy eating as accessible to everyone he could. He told us that it was something that evolved from an obsession to get well into a mission to change the world; one smoothie at a time.
Khalil started sharing his health concoctions with a local recovery home and started to see miracles happening there, too. That’s what ultimately led him to his decision to sign a lease at a little shop around the corner from where he lived. And thanks to his team of brilliant businesswomen, he was able to turn that passion into the successful operation that it is today.
“We really wanted it to feel welcoming and like a community you wanted to keep coming back to. I just tried to create a place that I wanted to come to every day, which came across and drew people in.”
While superfoods may have started the chain reaction for Khalil, he tells us that it was really the community around him that served as the glue for lasting change. Getting healthy is one thing, but it’s the goodness from feeling connected to other like-minded, health-conscious people that gives us something to live for.
When we asked him for any words of wisdom, for those of us needing a little boost on our path to health & wellness, here’s what he said:
“Be gentle with yourself. It isn’t going to come together in one day. Take that leap and keep it simple. Go for beach walks, go to bed early, eat REAL food (and remember moderation), and be gentle with yourself. No need to be obsessive about being perfect all the time. Just take that first step and surround yourself with good people who also find those things important.”
