Goop for the rest of us

Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand GOOP comes with the jokes built in: namely, it’s called “GOOP,” it peddles sometimes comically expensive goods (a bedazzled sweatshirt for $845!) and recommends things like spa treatments for genitals (“If you’re in L.A., you have to do it!” she advises). The lifestyle maven recently announced that she was taking a step back from acting (a.k.a. no more playing Pepper Potts in any further iterations of Iron Man) and that GOOP is her “24/7 focus now.” (She’s GOOPing even when she’s sleeping!) She also released a much-buzzed-about skincare line in recent weeks with products priced between $90 and $140. So not exactly for the Everywoman and Everyman.

But why let the exorbitantly rich be the only ones having a homemade brunch alfresco, discussing how incandescent our skin is looking these days? Check out the various workshops and classes this week that will get you that #blessed lifestyle without nearly as much “conscious uncoupling” from the money in your checking account. Unless otherwise noted, the below classes are held at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op (1900 Alhambra Boulevard); register at www.sacfoodcoop.com or by calling (916) 868-6399.

Be the host or hostess with the gluten-free mostess with the menu you’ll learn at the Spring Brunch class ($45) on Monday, March 21, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.: French buckwheat crepes, rice porridge, seasonal fruit salad and grapefruit mimosas. The downside of being that good at brunching is that your friends may never leave.

On Wednesday, March 23, at 5:30 p.m. the Spring Herbal Class at Soil Born Farms (2140 Chase Drive in Rancho Cordova) will offer lessons on the bounty of plant life that can be eaten and/or used for medicinal and health purposes. All natural, all the time—Gwenyth would approve. Registration is $25 plus a $10 materials fee.

Or, if juices are your jam, try out the Liquid Vitality class on Wednesday, March 23,from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Put on in collaboration with WholeHearted Juice Co., attendees will learn why you should, in fact, suffer through that cold-pressed green juice that tastes like lawn-mower clippings: a liquid, plant-based, nutrient-rich diet that can reduce inflammation, improve digestion and slow down the aging process. Registration is $25.