Chef Ludo & Krissy Lefebvre
Chef Ludo & Krissy Lefebvre
Culinary Power Couple6x Guests
Reviving @ Golden Door’s Biointensive Farm
My wife, Krissy, said, “Ludo, you need to go here.” I thought, “I’m a man, no way, no way.” But it really changed me. Nothing is more precious than to be peaceful and not be spinning in your life. It’s a luxury.
What first brought you to Golden Door?
Ludo: I went for the Men’s Week, three years ago. I was very tired in my life, exhausted. Life is very stressful, it’s fast, you work 24 hours, 7 days a week. You never really have time to yourself.
I don’t know if I ever spent a week just by myself. After 2 or 3 days there I started to change. To just be with myself. You have lots of people around you, of course, but at night you are alone in your room. It was almost magical the peacefulness. It was calm.
What did you learn about yourself?
Ludo: Just to be myself. They also taught me how to breathe with yoga. I learned how to meditate and I learned Tai Chi. The Tai Chi is amazing!! The best thing is to wake up every morning at 5:15 and go on the hike for 5 miles. You go when its dark, you watch the sun rise. It was really a great feeling.
Everybody needs to have a week like this. To reboot yourself. To retrain yourself about life. For creativity. It’s good for my job to be creative, to hear myself think.
How has Golden Door changed you?
Ludo: The first time I came back, I didn’t drink alcohol for almost 10 months. Because you go there and for the first six days you have no alcohol. “Oh S@#$!” And by Saturday night when they bring you a glass of wine, I didn’t care.
And now I still don’t drink alcohol anymore. I mean I have a little glass of wine sometimes, you know, but I don’t drink.
They taught me to moderate alcohol, take care of my body. They teach you how to eat. The food there is amazing. Chef Greg is so passionate. I don’t know how they do it.
The most important thing when you’re there is to reconnect with your heart and to learn how to love yourself. If you don’t love yourself, I think you cannot love people. No way. It has to start with you.
So how do you feel about Men’s Week, now?
Ludo: You meet some good buddies. When I talk with guys, I say you need to go to the Golden Door. You need to go to the Men’s Weeks. They say, what? Just with men??”
I say, "It’s fun! It’s great! What’s wrong with going to relax with just men, you play soccer on a team you’re just with men…
“It’s like summer camp.”
Have you had an “aha” moment there that you can describe?
Krissy: The first day they say, “there’s a hike at 5:15 and I’m like, “you’re crazy, I’m sleeping in, not happening”. But then the second day I just sat down after lunch, sitting by the pool relaxing, and the tears just started coming.
I don’t remember the last time I did “me”. You know, my whole life I was always worrying about somebody else. I never, ever felt that moment that I felt of “somebody is taking care of me.” It was so insane and you can just feel it. And everybody needs that moment of not having the burden of “the world.”
You can love your family, you can love your friends, you can love your job, but at some point you have to say, “this is me and what do I deserve?” It was pretty incredible.
So the next morning, I was like, “Hell yeah! I’m going on that hike!” It’s just felt so good. It was literally like a state of euphoria. I had a hard time giving up the phone the first time and the second time I was like, “Here, take it,” at the entry.
How would you describe Golden Door?
Ludo: It’s not a spa or a boot camp. You learn about you. You learn about your body and how to take care of yourself. It’s to reconnect with yourself.
Krissy: For me it’s putting myself in a safe place to try things that I’ve never done or don’t want to do. Why would I want to do a 5:15 a.m. walk? Why the hell would I want to do that? But this time I did it every single day.
Ludo Lefebvre is the acclaimed French chef, restaurateur, pop-up impresario, author and celebrity chef of The Taste, Master Chef and Ludo Bites. Krissy Lefebvre is the other half of the culinary power couple, VP of Ludo Management and producer of Ludo Bites America.
