Miami Living Magazine

Kara del Toro

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Mediterranean diet, I laugh because what most people don’t know about the Mediterranean diet is that Greek people fast for the holidays, which is like 180 days a year that they’re fasting. Fasting to them means no animal products at all. So, at different times of the year, they become vegan. No wonder they are so healthy. People don’t get it (laugh). Allison: Damn, I didn’t know that. Debbie: What they don’t get about the Mediterranean diet is that they reset their bodies. But yes, we were very spiritual and religious growing up, and I was brought up in the church and I prayed a lot. I still do, but I pray to God and to the universe. I talk to my dad and my relatives that have passed. I think when you’re praying, you’re putting something out in the universe that is a desire, that you want to have fulfilled, whether it’s healing, happiness, or whatever it is. No matter what you believe in, you can put it out in the universe whether verbally, through meditation or with a manifestation board. It is all the same thing. You’re just calling it different things. Allison: I was going to ask you what was the best is advice you’ve ever been given? But I really think that what your dad said is the best advice. That one word: “Today.” That is great advice. Tell me about the nine years you most recently spent, hosting the morning show, Home & Family on the Hallmark Channel. Debbie: What a great show. I had the most amazing nine years of my career. People would ask me, “But what about The View? What about E!? What about Entertainment Tonight?” And I would say, no. With Home & Family, our job was to spread joy. Legitimately, my job every day for nine years was to go to work and make people smile. Not discuss politics, not discuss religion, but to just say, “Hey, how are you doing today? Spend the next two hours with me. We are going to bake a cake. We are going to talk about celebrities and their pet projects.” There wasn’t digging into anything personal, ever. What are you doing to better your life and better the lives of the people around you? It was how to grow some herbs, garden, fix something in your house, make yourself look better for $20. It was a huge love bomb every day. We would laugh so hard to the point where we would cry. Allison: Let’s talk your skincare line, Ikaria Beauty. I’ve been using your serum; the ageless beauty balm and exfoliating mask and I am in love. My skin feels like I’ve just had a facial, every day. Debbie: I am so proud of this, Allison. I’m so happy that you are saying that. This was such a labor of love. I have worked so hard on this thing and the world does not need another celebrity backed skincare line. I didn’t even put my name on it, because I don’t want people to think of it as just another backed line. I want people to see it and to experience it for what it really is. In my opinion it is phenomenal, and I did this because I have really awful, awful sensitive skin, to the point where I would get massive hives and crazy pimples. I went to so many dermatologists and spent so much money trying to fix my skin. No one was telling me what is happening and how I can make it better. I started to talk to my mom and my aunts, and they said, “The same stuff we’ve always been using. We tell you all the time. Look at our beautiful skin. Honey, olive oil, and goat’s milk.” I said, “I’m not putting goat’s milk on my skin.” (Laughs) But they were right. I started to look at my cookbook (It’s All Greek to Me/ BenBella Books) and I saw a lot of the same things that they were putting inside of our bodies are going on our bodies. If you live in Greece, it all makes sense. I told my chemists, “The main thing I want you to put in there is olive oil and honey.” We messed around with it. We went back and forth, and I said, “This is incredible.” So, I started giving it to everyone in the make-up room and that is how the Ageless Beauty Balm was born. There is honey, olive oil, royal jelly, and holy basil. It was very important to me that all of these things came from Greece because this is the basis of why I’m doing this. It is as good in my opinion or better than “La Mer” and so many of those other things because all of those things

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