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

Eat...like me!

Lunch...making lunches has got to be one of my least favourite chores. I do it because I want a healthy homemade meal. So might as well make all of the hard work worth it.

In winter, I usually rely on leftovers for lunch but in summer I take advantage of the season and eat salads. A salad takes 5 minutes to throw together and I can get 5 or 6 servings of fruits and veggies at one go. Two thirds of us don't get 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day...and potatoes count. How sad is that?

5 minutes in the evening (while I wait for dinner to cook) and I have a lunch that leaves me feeling pretty virtuous by the time I commute home.

Power lunch...redefined:

3 large handfuls baby spinach (3 cups)

1/2 bell pepper

5 radishes

1/2 large tomato or 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

1/2 cup chick peas or white beans

5 kalamata olives

1/4 cup soft goats cheese

1 tbsp of your favourite dressing

Make this the night before...pack a piece of fruit and some organic yogurt for dessert and in an instant! you just became healthier than your coworker.

Enjoy,

Desiree

1 tbsp organic hemp seeds

On Priorities

There is a great saying about priorities that I am about to butcher here ... that no man has ever approached the end of his life wishing he had spent more time at the office. There is something else I should add to that sentiment - that when you wake up 25 pounds heavier or with your first diagnosis of high cholesterol or diabetes... it is unlikely that you will say to yourself "At least I watched every single episode of Grey's Anatomy."

Time spent preparing healthy food and exercising can only become priorities when you put your health at the top of your to do list. Time is short; between a full day at the office, shuttling kids around and trying to keep your house in order it is easy to make compromises when it comes to your health and happiness. To reward yourself for all of your hard work, you forgo a homemade meal in favour of your favourite take out. But a truer reward is a meal that nourishes your body so that your skin can glow, your jeans fit and you can literally jump out of bed in the morning full of energy.

Committing to a healthy lifestyle demands changing how we think - making dinner doesn't have to be a chore to be avoided. Making dinner should be about taking the time to care for yourself. Laugh in the face of the overflowing laundry basket and say..."I'd prefer to go to yoga". See how you feel.

Now is the time...because that cute butt of yours deserves it.

Post Modern Pizza Pie

Now...pizza may be an "eat sometimes" food - but the art of pizza making has been seriously elevated beyond Domino's. And thin crust helps to reduce the high carb hurt. Here is my ever expanding list of the best pizzas I have tasted and where to get them.

3. Bordello's Pizzaria, 1481 Water St, Kelowna. Sneak past the pub downstairs to enter this little jewel box of a restaurant on the second floor. Fantastic wood fired thin crusts and plenty of artisan toppings that will suit you just fine when you have had your fill of chain restaurants.

2. Campagnolo, 1020 Main St, Vancouver. This gorgeous spot has already made the Conde Nast Hot List and is my favourite new haunt. Located in the old Adega space, Campagnolo serves up rustic Italian fare at a reasonable price. Try the pizza bianca....and go back for brunch.

1. Serious Pie, 316 Virginia, Seattle. One of chef Tom Douglas' Seattle restaurants. Fantastic ultra chewy just in the right spot...crispy and super thin crust. Must try the truffle cheese and roasted mushroom.

Eat...like me!

People are always interested in what a dietitian like me might eat on a regular basis - my favourite comment of all time regarding my eating habits was "Your idea of junk food is probably non-organic broccoli!".

SELF magazine even has a dietitian blogging her daily meals at http://www.self.com/fooddiet/blogs/eatlikeme

While I won't blog an exhaustive food diary...I thought I would I would start with the most important meal of the day...breakfast! This is a meal that most of us don't do well: a little special k and out the door, or worse - nothing more than an americano on the way to work! Research released last year looked at the metabolic powers of a good breakfast: researchers put women on low calorie diets and for breakfast, either gave them a standard mostly carb breakfast, ringing in at about 300 calories or fed them half their daily calories (600!) as a breakfast with plenty of healthy carbs, protein, fat and even a piece of chocolate.

Guess who lost more! The big breakfast eaters...by a huge margin!

Why? Overnight, our bodies are fasting and by the time we wake up we have some starving brain cells on our hands and peak levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. If we don't give our bodies what they need, those stress hormones don't go anywhere - wreaking havoc on blood sugar and energy levels throughout the day.

No time for a full breakfast? Try my favourite smoothie recipe:

1 cup natural So Nice soymilk

1 cup plain non fat organic yogurt like Liberte

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 banana

1 scoop berry Vega powder (a vegan supplement with protein, fibre and vitamins and minerals)

This takes 60 seconds to whip up, stash in a to go cup so you can get out the door (just watch the blueberry skins in your teeth when you get to work - embarrassing!). It contains roughly 450 calories, 33 grams of protein, fibre - 3 servings of fruit, including a dose of antioxidant rich berries and probiotics!

Okay folks...that's a power breakfast!