When I lived in Los Angeles for a decade, Lassen's Natural Foods was a ritual. Specifically: their avocado kale bean salad. I'd come back to it every time I needed nourishment, before workouts, between clients, on good days and hard ones. It's the kind of salad that makes you feel taken care of.

Now I live in Florida, and run my practice as an esthetician, i don't always have the luxury of a quick Lassens run- so I built my own version - and honestly, it might be better. It's layered with ingredients that I now think about through both a skin lens and an autoimmune lens, which changes everything about why you'd want to eat it.

This really isn't just a good salad. It's a skin-forward, thyroid-supportive, inflammation-aware meal that happens to taste incredible. And I'm delighted to share it with you!

Clean haul — everything organic where it counts

The beet hummus dressing — blended smooth

Why This Salad Is Skin Forward

Skin health is begins the kitchen long before it shows up on your face. Everything in this salad has incredible power to turn off the inflammation switch in our bodies, which, of course, means beneficial for auto-immune activity, and skin activity. 

Why It's Good for Hashimoto's & Autoimmunity

Hashimoto's is fundamentally an inflammatory, immune-driven condition. Like other autoimmune conditions, the immune system is attacking the thyroid tissue, or some other part of the body. What we eat either feeds that fire or calms it. This salad, ingredient by ingredient, is designed to beautifully calm it.

Anti-Inflammatory Core

Olive oil, avocado, and flaxseed collectively shift your fatty acid ratio toward omega-3s and oleic acid, which are the foundation of an anti-inflammatory diet. Chronic inflammation is the environment in which autoimmune flares thrive. Reducing it systematically over time is one of the most meaningful dietary interventions for Hashimoto's management. It's one thing to be non-inflammatory but much better than that is anti-inflammatory. In my point of view, as an esthetician and skin founder, aging is the result of inflammation in the body. Once we understand that aging happens as a result of inflammatory oxidative stress (science-y, sorry!), we can counteract that with an intensely anti-inflammatory diet.

Gut Integrity

Leaky gut (intestinal permeability) is one of the key upstream contributors to autoimmune activation. The beans, flaxseed, and raw garlic in this salad are all prebiotic and gut-supportive. When you seal the gut lining and diversify your microbiome, you remove one of the major triggers for immune system dysregulation.

Ume Plum Vinegar & ACV

Both vinegars in this dressing support stomach acid production and digestive enzyme activity, areas that are commonly compromised in Hashimoto's patients. Better digestion means better nutrient extraction from everything you're eating. Fermented foods and acidic condiments are quiet workhorses for gut-thyroid axis support.

Zinc from Pumpkin Seeds

Zinc is one of the most underrated minerals for skin health — it regulates sebum production, supports wound healing, and helps keep acne-driving bacteria in check at the follicle level. It's also essential for collagen synthesis and the repair of the skin barrier after inflammation. For anyone with Hashimoto's, zinc matters doubly: it's a required cofactor for converting thyroid hormones into their active form, meaning a deficiency quietly undermines your thyroid function and shows up on your skin as dullness, dryness, and slow healing long before your labs flag anything. Pumpkin seeds are one of the most bioavailable whole-food sources, and a small handful delivers a meaningful dose, which is exactly why they're in this bowl.

Everything tossed — the dressing coats every leaf beautifully

Ten Years in LA, One Salad

I moved to Los Angeles in my twenties and lived there for a decade. That city shaped who I am as an esthetician, as a formulator, as someone who thinks deeply about the relationship between what you put in your body and what shows up on your skin. Lassen's was part of that education — a neighborhood natural grocery where I learned what clean eating actually looked and tasted like.

Their kale avocado bean salad was simple. Massaged kale, creamy beans, avocado, and a punchy dressing. I'd grab it before CrossFit, after long client days, whenever I needed to feel grounded. It was comfort food that happened to be deeply nourishing.

Now I'm in Clearwater, working as an esthetician, growing omayma skin, alongside functional medicine, tracking my own labs, and managing my own autoimmune health with intention. I eat differently now, I suppose more deliberately. But the soul of that salad is still here. I just gave it a longer ingredient list and a reason why.

The microgreens + MY Cookbook collection — both permanent fixtures in this kitchen