What is a sustainable eating plan?

Patio Produce...now THAT's sustainable

I live by a truly integrative approach to nutrition. It is not enough for me to search out the best sources of fibre or omega 3s and admonish you to eat them. Whether we are conscious of our food choices or not, we arrive at those choices via complex processes. Similarly, the impact that those food choices have on our body, mind, spirit, culture and environment are equally complex. Sustainability is a word that gets thrown about a great deal - but what does it mean to eat sustainably? 


Many of us choose to eat a vegetarian or vegan diet in the name of sustainability. And there is plenty of data to support this. According to the EWG's Meat Eater's Guide, if everyone in the US went without meat and dairy for just a single day (Meatless Monday, anyone?) it would be akin to taking 7.6 million cars off the road. However, even within a plant-based diet, there are plenty of sustainability concerns.


We must also consider how we process our food, where it is grown and by whom. If a vegan diet contains plenty of exotic super foods such as matcha, acai and goji berries, does that negate its sustainability? Is it more sustainable to purchase fair trade, organic quinoa from Peru or to buy conventionally grown wheat from Saskatchewan? Is it greener to buy 100 mile greenhouse-grown tomatoes in March or field grown from Mexico? If only someone could create a perfect, all-encompassing calculation to help us weigh the options and deliver a tidy little point system to help guide us!


What about seafood? The evidence on the health benefits of omega 3 DHA and EPA from seafood is quite strong but we must contend with whether it is sustainable for us to eat any fish at all. And does contamination with mercury and PCBs, rampant in our polluted oceans, negate the long term benefits?


Another local Vancouver dietitian, Dean Simmons, published a wonderful essay on the topic of sustainability and other ethical issues in nutrition practice in the journal Critical Dietetics. It is free to access the journal (but you must create a login) and the essay is well worth the time to read it. I agree with Dean that as nutrition professionals, we need to consider more than just the latest research when choosing how to form our nutrition philosophy and guiding others on making food choices.


I have to say, I don't think I have all the answers. This is not a prescriptive article. I know which choices make the most sense for me - as they are the choices I make on a daily basis. I feel that eating locally grown, organic food is important. As is eating more plant foods and fewer processed foods. However, I still choose to eat organic dairy and eggs. And I can understand why eating ethically raised, pastured meat makes sense for people. Vegetarian diets, as I learned when I completed my first 100 mile diet challenge last year, are a luxury borne by access to plant proteins - which we don't really grow close to home.


And I can't dismiss the sustainability issue of the family food budget. It is getting more and more expensive to house and transport yourself. I have a difficulty with praising buying local food from the farmer's market to a family that is trying to make ends meet. If you are interested in what it costs to feed a family a basic healthy food basket, read this report on the cost of eating in BC. I do feel that we all have a right to high quality food...but that is a soapbox chat for another day.


Of course, at the end of the day, sustainable food choices also mean that they are food choices you can continue to make for life. Eating nothing but patio kale and locally caught sardines is no way to live. I have seen plenty of instances where someones sincere desire to live healthfully has led to an expensive, restrictive, joyless diet. Food is something that should nourish your senses and your spirit...as well as your stomach. It is up to you to determine what a sustainable lifestyle will look like in your world - I would love to hear your thoughts.

A Simple Weeknight Dinner

I am, for all intents and purposes, a "throw-together" kind of cook. I am learning, for my other food blog, how to pre-meditate recipe magic but on most nights, family dinners are the result of throwing some ingredients together and hoping it is tasty. Don't get me wrong - I do plan out my meals weekly so I can shop but I pluck them out of my imagination and not a cookbook. I might buy spinach, eggs, strawberries and walnuts with the intention of making a salad. When it comes to flavourings, it's "a little of this, a little of that". Some nights the results are amazing, other nights, not so much. When it does go right, I usually can't replicate it. 


So, as I was finishing up with dinner the other night, the thought crossed my mind to actually write down the recipe. And now, I can share it with you. 


This recipe takes full advantage of summer produce at its peak and is very simple to prepare. The key here is really to take the time and get the size of the veggies right and to cook everything properly. Given a quick chop and cook you will have a fresh and healthy meal - let the flavours and textures transform with some slow simmering (while you do something else) and you get a bit of magic. The texture of this dish is like a ratatouille so while I envisioned it as a pasta sauce, you could eat it as a side dish or on its own with some nice crusty bread. So, just in case you were wondering what to make for dinner tonight....

Summer Vegetable Ragu
Serves 6 as a side dish or pasta sauce


2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 sweet yellow onion, finely diced
1 medium zucchini, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 bell peppers, finely diced
1/4 cup fresh chopped fennel fronds (with stem)
11/2 cup passata (strained) tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
540ml can soft white beans (such as cannellini or navy beans), rinsed well and drained
2 tbsp butter (optional...but tasty)
salt and pepper to taste




In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil on medium-high. Add onions and sauté until glossy and golden, reducing heat if the onions start to brown. Add zucchini and cook until zucchini gets a nice caramelized crust, about 10 minutes. 


Season with salt and pepper at this point then add garlic and bell peppers,  stirring constantly for about 3 minutes so the garlic doesn't brown. Add the pasta sauce and water and stir. Then add fennel and beans and stir through. 


Simmer on medium low for 5 minutes (when you are in a hurry) or for 45 minutes at a slightly lower temperature to really let flavours blend. Keep turning stove down so that the sauce never boils. To finish, season to taste and add butter (if desired) and stir through for a richer flavour.


Serve with your favourite bread or pasta (I used Tinkyada Brown Rice pasta)

A healthy summer treat...

Banana "Ice Cream"...minus all the sugar and cream

With the warm weather flirting with more regular attendance (and perhaps intending to stay for the actual summer season), I find myself needing some cool treats. And since I like "treats" to be more than an occasional treat, I like to find healthy ways of indulging in a little something.


So in a craving fit, I took one look at the very ripe bananas sitting on my counter and thought that something could be done. The resulting confection is sort of like a frozen smoothie and plenty worth sharing here. So this summer, spare the expense and additives that are usually found in frozen desserts and try this out instead!


Banana Ginger "Ice Cream"


5 very ripe bananas
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 355ml can of light coconut milk
2 tbsp diced candied ginger


Mix the bananas, cinnamon and coconut milk in a blender until smooth. Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and then add the ginger. Mix according to manufacturer's instructions. When finished, freeze for at least 1-2 hours before serving so it can firm up. If making ahead, let the ice cream sit at room temperature for a few minutes before serving as it freezes very hard. 


If you don't have an ice cream maker, you could try this granita style: simply pour into a 6 cup square cake pan, cover with saran wrap and freeze, either stirring every 20 minutes or making a true granita by allowing to freeze solid and then scraping with a fork to create the granita to serve.

Words to Eat By...

Obviously, I have a lot of opinions about food. I would be in the wrong career if I didn't. However, there is a difference between the advice of Desiree, the dietitian, and Desiree, the eater. Why? As a dietitian, it is my job to give each person the utmost in support on their healthy eating journey which includes remaining open to different perspectives, cultures, emotional attachments and deeply held beliefs about nutrition. As an eater, I have my own perspectives, culture, attachments and deeply held beliefs. So here are some thoughts on what I think it means to eat well...as contradictory or irrational as some of them might seem. Love them or hate them, I offer them in hopes they will help open a dialogue for you on your own personal definition of eating well so that you can continue on your own journey towards being as healthy as you can possibly be. I encourage you to share your own views here, to add to the discussion.


1. If your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, steer clear. Your grandmother thought margarine was food...she was wrong.


2. Genetically modified foods are useless at best and toxic at worst. At the very least, corporations should be forced to label them so we, the public, would finally realize how much of them we are eating and have the power to choose. 


3. We should not be eating refined wheat 6 times a day, regardless of whether you believe it is healthy or not. Time to drop the granola bar and pick up a carrot stick. 


4. Whether we love steak, crave cheese or pine for vegan cocoa cupcakes, we should all be 80% whole foods vegan. That means that 80% of the time, eat unprocessed fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds and legumes. If you do that, whatever tickles your fancy the other 20% of the time, your body can handle. 


5. Remember, it's just food - constantly obsessing about the merits of almond versus hemp milk or counting every gram of sugar will drive you (and all of your friends and family) crazy.


6. Food is medicine. Not the blunt force object that pharmaceuticals are, but no less powerful. 


7. The reason that all of us bleeding-heart, organic-touting, farmers' market-obsessed foodies wax lyrical about bloody heirloom beets is because our society is so fooled into believing that cocoa puffs are actual food that we need to make a religion out of real food so we can all get back to our senses. See point one.


8. Eating well is not reserved for the rich. You don't need goji berries. Rice and beans, one of the humblest and cheapest foods around, will save your value-meal-eating soul.


9. Good, healthy, safe food is a human rights issue. Get political.


10. Yes, nutritionism got us into this mess. However, if rhapsodizing over the anti-oxidant values of kale gets you to eat it, I am all for it.

Plant Power...5 easy steps for moving towards a plant-based diet.

Earthly Delights...

Full disclosure...if you don't read a lot of my blog, you might not know that I am a vegetarian. Not a vegan - a vegetarian. This means that I don't eat meat of any kind, including fish and seafood. I do eat dairy and eggs although I try to minimize them in my diet. So right off the bat, I have a bit of a bias. 


Even if you have no desire towards a vegetarian diet, heck - even if you live for steak - I want to encourage you towards a more plant-based diet. Sound like an oxymoron? It isn't...here's why:


A plant-based diet means that most of your foods come from unprocessed plants. Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains...these are the foods that will protect you from chronic disease with all that fibre and those vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. It will help keep your weight down over the years too. Most of your food should come from these plants. Then, if you wish, you can add a bit of cake, dairy, taco chips, eggs, seafood or meat. Your body will be so nourished it won't matter too much. 


A plant-based diet will also help lower your impact on the planet. Check out this carbon footprint chart from the Environmental Working Group (you'll have to scroll down a bit)...you won't look at a cow the same way again.


If you have been trying to shift your diet towards one that is more plant-based, it can seem overwhelming. Don't worry about transforming overnight; instead go slowly and build in habits that will become an effortless part of how you live. Here are 5 easy ways you can build up the plant power on your plate!


1. Celebrate Meatless Monday. Every Monday, join the millions worldwide who go without meat just one day a week to help lighten their environmental impact. 


2. Switch to a veggie milk. While other options might not be as effortless (or tasty), there are infinite varieties of vegetarian milks and surely one will tickle your fancy. Try almond, rice, coconut, soy, quinoa or even hemp "milks". Almost all of them are fortified with calcium and vitamin D to keep your bones strong and B12 - a vitamin unique to the animal world. 


3. Make half your plate produce. No matter what the meal, shift the balance of fruits and veggies so that they make up 50% of your plate. You will boost nutrition and save calories. We all need that.


4. Snack on fruits and veggies. For some reason, we only think "snack foods" - the granola bars, cookies and chips of the world - when it comes to snack time. Instead, nosh on chopped veggies and dip; pack uber-portable fruits like apples and pears so that you always have something healthy to nibble. 


5. Go retro and "extend" your meat. That old cost-saving method of making meatloaf with veggies and breadcrumbs? Give it a modern spin. Canned lentils have the perfect taste and texture to substitute for 50% of your ground beef in a dish. Instead of serving big chicken breasts, stir-fry over lush beds of freshly "wok"ed veggies or sauté with veggies for a pasta primavera. Serve fish tacos, nestled into tortillas with a colourful coleslaw, instead of serving up big slabs of pricey salmon. Use all that money you save to splurge on some good fair trade chocolate.

The 21 Day Vegan Kickstart Begins Today!

Spring is always a great time to re-evaluate where you are at health-wise, especially when it comes to healthy eating. It's time to shake off the rich food that we hibernate with all winter long. If you have been curious about vegan diets, why not join the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart? 


It is a free online program supported by the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine and features a free 21 day meal plan, daily celebrity coaches providing tips and support and plenty of surprises. 


I was on BT Vancouver this morning talking about the program. If you are interested in learning more, visit www.21daykickstart.org 

Forks over Knives

As a dietitian, it should come as no surprise that I believe the power to heal is found at the end of your fork. However, I also understand how easy it can be to underestimate the ability of simple, everyday foods to lead to profound health benefits. And when you have a giant donut or basket of buttermilk-fried chicken in front of you, the immediate reward easily seems to outweigh the distant potential benefit. 


That is why the movie Forks over Knives is so worthy of your time. The movie investigates the healing power of plant-based diets and profiles several individuals who have effectively reversed chronic disease with dietary change. If you haven't seen the movie, rent it or borrow it from your local library. For those of you in the Vancouver area, why not join us on April 5th at the Ridge Theatre for a screening that benefits InspireHealth, Canada's leading integrative cancer centre. That way, you can get some food for thought while supporting a worthy cause. I will be sitting on the panel discussion directly following the movie and I can guarantee that there will be some lively discussion.


To buy tickets, click here. 

Eat...Faster than Takeout

Like those sunny side up? Yes...eggs on pizza are actually tasty.

There isn't always a picture perfect meal on the table. Sometimes, you just have to get a relatively healthy meal on the table, fast! Today was one of those days. Luckily, I did have some good quality ingredients on hand to whip up a super fast pizza. Now, pizza can be the embodiment of terrible, lifeless food: cheap flour and grease-laden crust, gobs of cheese and way too much processed meat. In this house, pizza is another opportunity to feast on veggies (and a little cheese...). Keep the ingredients for this recipe on hand at all times and the next time you are tempted to call for takeout, save yourself time and money and make this healthier treat instead. The toppings would make a great pasta too with some adjustments. 


This pizza is gluten free and vegetarian; make it vegan using the substitutions provided.


Recipe


Fennel Pesto Pizza
Serves 4 with a side salad (or two really hungry people)


1 pkg (2 shells) Quejos Pizza Crusts (gluten free) - cheese or non-dairy
1/2 cup Sunflower Kitchen Kale and Oregano Pesto (gluten free and vegan)


1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large fennel bulb, greens trimmed, thinly sliced into half moons
1 small head of cauliflower, trimmed and thinly sliced into 1/2 cm "steaks"
1 cup shredded pizza mozzarella (or mozza-style Daiya)


Optional: 4 eggs or 1 cup mashed white beans




Quicker-than-takeout Version


Prep the pizza crusts according to package directions, don't skip the pre-crisp stage! Meanwhile, heat oil in large pan and sauté fennel until tender-crisp. Add salt and pepper to taste, remove and set aside. Add cauliflower to pan and sauté until tender-crisp, season to taste. 


When crust is crisped, spread 1/4 pesto on each shell and if desired, mashed white beans for an extra vegan protein boost.


Top pesto with cauliflower, cheese and fennel. Bake according to package directions.


If desired, gently fry eggs over easy and when pizza is done, top each serving with one egg.


Make it a bit fancier...


Toss the fennel and cauliflower with 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste in a medium baking dish and roast until softened, about 30 minutes. Then add to pizza as above.


Note: Both quejos and sunflower kitchen are relatively regional treats. Substitute your best quality gluten free crust and vegan pesto!

Eat, Drink and Be Happy...Finding Yoga on Your Plate, Part Two

Food has changed. Once upon a time, we rarely thought much about what we ate; now there is so much context sitting on the end of our fork that it can be almost too heavy to lift. When we sit down to a meal, any number of questions can appear on our plates. Was the food grown close to home, supporting local farmers and putting less fossil fuels into the atmosphere? Were these fish farmed, spreading disease in our oceans? Should we be eating animal foods at all? What about all this GMO corn, is there some in this breakfast cereal? 


As I mentioned in my previous post, there is new meaning to the practice of ahimsa, or non-harming, where our food choices are concerned. How can we nourish our bodies and our spirits without causing undue harm? Here are some of my thoughts...take from them what you will. I hope they will encourage you to think about what it means to you to tread a little more lightly on the planet.


Eat plant-based meals. Whether this means a meatless Monday each week, a few vegetarian meals a week or transitioning to a completely vegan diet; eating fewer animal foods conserves energy and is good for your health. Consider meat as a condiment at any meal: building your meals around whole grains and vegetables, with meat as feature, is more sustainable from both an economical and an environmental sense.


Choose animal foods wisely. Cheese, one of my favourite treats, is also one of the most resource-intensive animal foods because it requires a great deal of milk from a very energy-intensive animal (the cow). If you eat cheese, choose good quality cheese and savour it. Don't simply cover everything you eat in a fake-orange tinted rubbery substance.  


Give your food animals a happier and healthier life. Buy your meat and dairy from organic sources whenever possible and if you can, from farms that raise their animals ethically. In BC, we have the SPCA certification for farms. If you have a good butcher, they will know exactly how that meat came to be in their counter.


Reconsider "superfoods". So many exotic foods sold as super foods can come with a hefty price tag for the buyer, the planet and the grower. In developed nations, our pocketbooks rule and we can outbid local markets for access to staple foods. A good example is quinoa, which has grown so expensive that many local populations that once relied upon the food have been priced out of the market. In addition, all of these foods have to be transported from far away. If they have travelled by boat, the carbon output is light. But if that pineapple or mangosteen is "jet fresh"...When you do choose super foods, buy fair trade whenever possible.


Eat Fair. As I alluded to above, when purchasing foods grown in developing nations, we should be buying fair trade. Those that toil growing our food, particularly in countries far away, are at risk socially and economically; they rarely earn enough money to raise their families. We often think about fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate. What about quinoa, bananas or sugar? Ask your retailer for fair trade foods and vote with your dollar. 


Eat modestly. We overeat. Period. We do harm to our bodies as we disconnect from true hunger and force our body to process the extra food that it doesn't need; we damage our spirit as we use food  as a substitute for something else that is missing in our lives. All of that excess consumption, whether in food or material goods, causes waste and an increased demand for resources which puts undue strain on our environment. Think of the Japanese tenet, "Hara hachi bu." Eat until you are  80% full. There is plenty of food out there. No need to gorge in preparation for hard times.


Eat real food. Food can be medicine or it can be poison. We honour our bodies when we choose simple, wholesome foods that are prepared with love. When we continuously feed ourselves over-processed, nutrient poor foods such as fast foods and junky snack foods we rob our bodies of nutrients and force them to go into detox mode to clean up the mess we just served.


Savour your food. We eat multiple times daily. Each opportunity can be one for happiness and pleasure when we take the time to focus on eating. Don't just scarf down your food in front of your computer screen or television. Take a quiet moment to eat slowly and truly experience your food. This will help put your body into a relaxed state that will encourage proper digestion, reduce mindless overeating and help you appreciate and enjoy what you are eating. Enjoying your meals is one of the simplest ways to add joy to your day. 

Eating Animals

Full Disclosure: I am a vegetarian and have been, with tiny blips, for 13 years. I choose to be a vegetarian not because of health…I have taken my fair share of Haagen Dazs and Lays as proof of this. I became a vegetarian because I wanted to avoid harming animals. As my own awareness of the impact of eating animals grew, my choice was strengthened knowing that my vegetarian ways also went a long way towards minimizing my impact on the planet. It is estimated that animal agriculture is the number one cause of climate change – not airplane or car travel – it is eating a breakfast of steak and eggs that seals the planet’s fate.



As a dietitian, I read a lot of nutrition books – I consider it both entertainment and a job requirement. So my interest was piqued when I came across Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer. Foer is a novelist (a pretty gifted one at that) and an “on again, off again” vegetarian but his most recent book is one about the current state of our food supply where animal agriculture is concerned. In his own words:


“This story didn’t begin as a book. I simply wanted to know – for myself and my family – what meat is. I wanted to know as concretely as possible. Where does it come from? How is it produced? How are animals treated, and to what extent does that matter? What are the economic, social, and environmental effects of eating animals? My personal quest didn’t stay that way for long. Through my efforts as a parent, I came face-to-face with realities as a citizen I couldn’t ignore, and as a writer I couldn’t keep to myself. But facing those realities and writing responsibly about them are not the same.”


The book is about what it means to eat animals and in today’s industrialized food system that means factory farmed animals. Animals that are “maximized” and “commoditized” as opposed to tended and nurtured. Some who eat animals believe that it is natural for us to do so; however, factory farms, with their crushing conditions and artificial daylight are as far from natural as can be. Even though I am resolute in my own choice to be a vegetarian, as I learn more about our food system I can sincerely appreciate that there is a significant difference between the factory farmed poultry you find at most national supermarket chains and the poultry that you get from Polderside farms (see the article about them in Edible Vancouver here). While the choices to eat animals or not is quite personal and both sides of the argument have merit – I share Foer’s conviction that no one can honestly debate the merits of reducing suffering of our food animals.


I started this book yesterday and already I am a third of the way through – I am drawn to its message and its fairness so far – this is not a book that demands its readers become vegan. You might think, “Isn’t it a convenient position to support since you are already vegetarian”, but I argue that the book is bringing my own dietary inconsistencies to centre stage once more. If our intent is not to harm animals, we must also think about the way the chickens that lay our eggs and the cows that produce our milk have been raised as well. And for many years I have justified buying conventional eggs and milk because they are half the price of organic and humanely raised products. Yet by giving up a couple of lattes a week I can make up the 6 dollar difference pretty quickly and ensure that the animals that supply my food don’t suffer in the process. So here is my promise, placed on the web for all to see, that I will no longer make that compromise. I encourage you to pick up the book and join the conversation….how will you change the way you eat animals?


In good health,


Desiree

Eat...Nuba

Vancouver is an amazing food city...we have raw food, super star chefs, the best Indian and Chinese restaurants west of the Atlantic and access to the freshest produce and seafood around. That being said, getting a healthy meal that tastes amazing at a "to go" price can still be a bit of a challenge. Which is why I love Nuba.

Billed as "authentic Lebanese cuisine" this place is a bit more than just good falafel. Not many restaurants use a vegan diet as their baseline, but scanning their menu you will notice the statement "All menu items vegan, except for V for vegetarian and M for meat." They use plenty of organic ingredients and food is bursting with flavour, without the greasy hangover of many kebab and falafel shops. My favourite is the crispy cauliflower and my omnivore husband likes the lamb kafta.

The Yaletown location is more of the takeout spot; at Crosstown, they offer a sitdown experience at a super reasonable price at dinner - the most expensive item is their feast for two at $35.

Go to Nuba - eat healthy - be happy.

Nuba...207 West Hastings at Cambie and 1206 Seymour at Davie...www.nuba.ca