Kristen Overlock & Anna Forkan
of
Revitalive® Café and Revitalive® Health & Wellness Center
by Kathleen Downey
Anna Forkan and Kristen Overlock
Kristen Overlock and Anna Forkan have taken a small nook inside the Tannery and transformed it into a warm, welcoming, and uplifting space where revitalizing smoothies, delectable soups, amazing wraps, deliciously decadent, hand-made (and healthy!) chocolates, and other creative cuisines tantalize the taste buds of Revitalive® Café’s customers. Forkan, for whom cooking is a passion and the opportunity to serve “good, healthy foods” has become her life’s purpose, says, “I’m following my dream.” If anyone would have told her, years ago, that she would one day become an advocate for holistic health and work in this field, the former engineer states, “I wouldn’t have believed it.” Today, Forkan is a chef for the innovative café that she oversees.
Just a half-mile away, tucked into a brick storefront off of Pleasant Street, Revitalive® Health & Wellness offers clients succor and comfort through colonic hydrotherapy, cleansing, massage, nutritional counseling, and wellness coaching in a safe and nonthreatening environment. Overlock, who holds an undergraduate degree in nutrition and is a certified colon hydrotherapist and a Reiki master, oversees the center. “It’s so rewarding for me to see people feel better,” she says of the clients who come to the center feeling ill and who experience well-being after treatment.
Both Overlock and Forkan are certified raw and living foods lifestyle educators who believe in the power of food as medicine. They met at the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute in Puerto Rico, where they received their certifications and also worked at the renowned holistic center.
Overlock had been drawn to the institute after a positive experience with juicing; she received her first indication of the possibility to physically and emotionally heal. (An earlier experience as a participant in a scientific study that errantly advocated transfats had left Overlock disillusioned in her chosen profession.) For nearly her entire life, Overlock had been plagued with digestive issues, including peptic ulcers. But she had not expected the life transformation she underwent at Wigmore. “I learned that the body is amazing in that it knows how to heal itself,” Overlock says, who became a nutrition educator for the institute.
Forkan served as Wigmore’s bilingual operations manager. (Fluent in Spanish, Forkan previously lived and studied in Spain.) She delighted in overseeing the farm, the greenhouse, and enjoying the fresh coconuts, mangos, and avocados on the five-acre bucolic, oceanfront parcel. Like Overlock, Forkan also underwent an unexpected and healing life transformation. She says that following the institute’s philosophy of healthy dietary choices through eating “live” (that is, raw) vegetarian foods healed her. “I discovered that the old tricks [to get healthy] didn’t work anymore,” Forkan says. Through her new lifestyle, Forkan lost 70 pounds, her skin complexion improved, and she was no longer dangerously flirting with diabetes.
As profound an impact that Wigmore had upon each woman, they admit that the learning environment of the institute was a bit . . . austere. Perhaps because serious work—as in getting people healthy—was underway, frivolity was not something that the institute perpetuated. Forkan explains that most people visiting the institute stayed for one- or two-week programs: intense study that cultivated an intense atmosphere. Forkan, however, found humor in daily occurrences. She would share her observations with Overlock. “She made me laugh!” Overlock remembers of their evening conversations.
Eventually, their conversations turned to the concept of community activism through food. (As a community-minded college student, Forkan spent time in Mexico and Guatemala, volunteering her time for clean drinking water projects. She also founded the group, Engineers for a Sustainable World.) “Kristen and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could continue to see the people we help?,’” says Forkan. They hatched the idea of creating a space where people could routinely visit and through the simple, innocuous act of ordering a smoothie, good health and community could be cultivated. “We really wanted to share the knowledge we gained by helping others to get well,” says Overlock.
The revitalized duo came to Newburyport, in part, due to Overlock’s connection to the area (she had family in Boxford). Forkan, a Chicago native, fell in love with the Port’s charms. They opened Revitalive® in May 2008; the café moved to the Tannery two years ago. “The Tannery is just the coolest place,” effuses Forkan.
A popular café item—kale chips—has led the impetus to expand the café’s production space. Revitalive® recently acquired the space formerly occupied by Spinach Pie North. Forkan laughs and says, “I told myself that I’d never become a production engineer.” Somehow, however, when the product is crispy “cheeze” kale chips, Forkan doesn’t mind applying her engineering background.
Overseeing the wellness programs at Revitalive® Health & Wellness, Overlock helps clientele understand and care for their body’s “ecosystem.” Balancing the body’s good bacteria will keep the body’s “terrain” healthy—and also help with mood issues, Overlock attests. “It’s great to see people get their health and vitality back,” she says. Forkan adds, “When people feel better, they are better able to find their passion—their life shifts.”
But Revitalive®’s secret mood enhancer might be Teddy: a sweet-mannered, seven-year-old Pomeranian who is “happily employed as the greeter and mascot.” Forkan shares, “Teddy is a former puppy mill guy.” She says that the little puff-ball is restricted to a raw food diet, due to his many food allergies. “In fact,” Forkan reveals, “Teddy is the one who prompted me into exploring healthier lifestyle through a raw-food diet.” Forkan is clear, however, that Teddy is an omnivore who eats foods prepared from the Natural Dog, Newburyport’s “super cool holistic pet store.” Revitalive®’s vegetarian cofounder doesn’t seem to mind; she smiles.
Kathleen Downey is the Features Editor for Newburyport Today. If you are a townie or a citizen who would like to be profiled (or to suggest someone to profile), please email: Kathleen@Newburyport-Today.com.
