Author Archives: Leigh Matthews

Long, grey, cold winters can leave you stuck in a rut craving comfort food. What might make you feel good in winter and fall can leave you feeling heavy and lethargic in the warmer months, though.

Get a jump on summer with these five ways to spring clean your diet.

1. Clear Your Cupboards

If, like me, you turn into a bit of a squirrel in Fall and stock your pantry full to bursting, set aside a few hours and clear out your cupboards. Here’s how:

1. Lay the complete contents of your cupboard on the kitchen island, counter, or floor to get a full view of your inventory.
2. Check the expiry dates. Create a pile of food that needs to be used up sooner rather than later.
3. Create another pile of  “cold-weather comfort food”, such as heavy soups, sauces, and cookies.
4. To free up space in your cupboards for lighter, summer-friendly fare like quinoa and bulgur, consider donating your “cold-weather comfort food” pile to your local food bank.

2. Embrace Sunday Meal Prep

If cooking a healthy dinner after a long work day is hard for you, try using Sundays for a bit of meal prep. This is as simple as planning a weekly menu and spending an hour or so chopping and bagging fresh vegetables for salads, soups, and stir-fries. This will help you throw together a healthy dinner every weeknight within a matter of minutes.

Meal prep can be done for breakfast too! To avoid picking up a coffee and Danish on the way to work, put together Mason jar smoothies or breakfast bowls for the week. Prepare your dry ingredients, such as PGX Satisfast Vegan Protein, spirulina powder, or another green food powder, in one large jar, then wash, peel, and bag up fresh fruit for each day. Then, every morning you can quickly put together a fresh, protein-and fiber-packed smoothie or healthy breakfast bowl!

3. Learn How to Make Salad Rolls

Salad rolls are easy, versatile, and fun! They’re also a great way to pack in your veggies and protein while keeping your calorie count in check.

1. Thinly slice a heap of fresh veggies such as peppers, carrots, cucumber, and jicama and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
2. Whip up a peanut sauce with peanut butter, sesame oil, lemon juice, and a dash of soy sauce and store in a small Mason jar in the refrigerator.
3. Soak rice noodles and drain
4. Stir-fry choice of protein, such as strips of tofu
5. Combine all ingredients onto rice paper, and roll!

4. Grow Your Own Herbs

Growing your own vegetables and fruits is very rewarding, but if it’s not how you want to spend your weekend or evenings, how about investing instead in some simple kitchen herbs? Nurturing herbs such as basil, dill, cilantro, and parsley, encourages us to eat them fresh. This not only adds nutrients to simple salads, soups, pasta, and other dishes, it adds flavour, allowing us to cut down on calorie-laden seasonings and sauces, helping to clean your diet.

5. Get Inspired!

If things have become a little humdrum in your kitchen, consider joining or forming a cookbook group. Choose a different recipe book each month and ask everyone to cook something from it for a group potluck. It’s a great way to sample new dishes, spend time with friends, and pick up a few new culinary skills along the way! If you’re forming your own group, consider choosing a theme that aligns with your health goals, such as whole food plant-based cuisine.

Switching things up for Spring can feel a bit daunting, so cookbook groups or visiting the farmers market are great ways to help clean your diet. Look out for fun, fresh, vibrant fruits and vegetables, such as fiddleheads, sorrel, heirloom tomatoes, fresh cherries and berries, and stock your refrigerator so you can snack with abandon this spring and summer!

Raise the Rates campaigns have been in the news recently. While most of us are fortunate enough to not have to turn to the social safety net, it’s still important to know that healthy living on a budget is entirely possible. Keeping food costs low while looking after health is an essential life skill, but one that few of us are taught at school.

Here are four tips for healthy living on a budget to help your family practice mindful spending while prioritizing health:

1. Plan, Plan, Plan

It can’t be said enough. If you have a plan and stick to it, you can dramatically cut food waste and outlandish expenses.

Start by designating a time, perhaps before grocery shopping, to work out a meal plan for the week ahead. Write down all the groceries you need to meet that meal plan, and any pantry items that need refilling. Head to the store and only get what is on your list.

When planning, opt for meals you can prepare in bulk, such as chilli, soups, casseroles, or curry. This will allow you to take advantage of economy size packs, saving you money while cutting down on food waste. It’s also a big timesaver, as you can freeze extra batches for a quick meal later.

2. Shop the Edges

Hitting the grocery store with a list is one of the best ways to stay healthy on a budget, but it also pays to shop the edges at the store. In most large grocery stores, this means sticking to the fresh food aisles, bulk and dried goods, and the bakery.

If you know your kids get peckish and demanding at the store, plan distractions. This might mean taking a healthy snack for them to eat, or allowing them to listen to music through headphones. Whatever you do, don’t give them their own cart unless you assign them specific items to track down for you. This will also help avoid the middle of the grocery store where the highly processed and packaged foods tend to lay in wait.

3. Build Stronger Communities through Sharing Food

If you’re shopping for just yourself or a small family, it can be hard to take advantage of bulk discounts. You may also find that without careful planning you tend to generate a lot of food waste. One way to tackle both costly problems is to set up a network of friends who share food.

This could mean forming an organized buying club that shops for specific goods at certain times of year. It could also be a less formal arrangement where you take extra food over to a friend’s place to share when you have it. Or, it could simply be getting together with friends to cook a large, shared meal.

Preparing healthy communal meals can be a fun, social way to avoid the cost and temptation of restaurant fare. Sharing food is also a great way to form close friendships and build stronger communities, allowing everyone’s resources to stretch a little further when times are hard.

4. Pack a Picnic

Piggy-backing on the idea of sharing cooking responsibilities, packing a picnic is another great way to stay healthy on a budget. If you are going for a hike, a stroll in the park, a day at the beach, or even to the movies, packing your own snacks and meals is almost guaranteed to be cheaper and healthier than anything you pick up. Below are some great, healthy options for a picnic:

• Homemade granola bars
• Fruit
• Raw veggies and hummus
• Rice crackers with almond butter and banana slices
• Homemade popcorn with nutritional yeast and olive oil

Whatever you choose to pack, you’ll be avoiding overpriced, heavily salted, fatty, and sugary food that can hurt your health and your bank balance.