Cold & Thirsty

We always thought the benefit of cold weather was the clothing: sweaters, coats, scarves. That is, until we ventured over to Cold and Thirsty, a new cryotherapy juice bar (only in LA) in Culver City.Whole body cryotherapy consists of stepping into a single chamber, filled with liquid nitrogen that’s set to -250 Fahrenheit, for 2 minutes. What?! Intense, we know, but the benefits are innumerable: better skin, more energy, weight loss, cellulite loss, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory. The list goes on and on. And the effects are immediate, which is why athletes have been using it for years.Still, we were nervous. Freezing isn’t exactly our idea of fun.But we were quickly put at ease by the co-owner and founder of Renew Juice and Mylk, Brooke Rewa and her wonderful and delightful staff.Brooke is warm, spritely, intelligent and hails from upstate New York. Determined to follow her passion (and never work for anyone else), she created Renew and Mylk committed to using only the purest, 100% organic ingredients. And it shows.We were bowled over by the lavender and nog mylks, not to mention the sublime smoothies filled with such rare powders and herbs as pearl and astragalus. We also loved the Super Roots juice, a unique combination including turmeric and cayenne.But back to the cryo-chamber. Brooke and her staff led us to a changing room, where we were told to slip out of our clothing and into a robe, and to cover our feet and hands in the provided socks and gloves. Next, we were given yellow snow boots (if we lived in Colorado, we’d own them).The chamber is open, so your head remains outside the whole time, which gave us the opportunity to chat it up with the staff and daily practitioners. It felt a lot like a steam room, except for the disparity in temperature. It’s an invigorating experience. Like we were told, we felt a rush of blood through our body, awakening our senses. It was only 2 minutes and we were done.We left, with delicious bone broth in hand, feeling more awake than ever. And definitely craving some more lavender mylk.