I succeeded in doing this properly for only two days. The other five days, I caved and used my cell phone.

But it wasn’t just that I use my iPhone obsessively – even if you take all of those items out of the equation and only focus on using the $4 for food, the hunger was still intense. I wasn’t sleeping well. My energy levels were down. I was living on lentils and rice and apples and eggs and coffee, in my effort to put my dollars towards healthier items (and, er, caffeine), and it was hard. I chose to purchase my ingredients from VitaHealth and bought organic, fair trade items, so granted they were a little pricier, but when I wandered through my local Giant Tiger (which is the main grocery store that people in my area shop at), the price difference wasn’t that great.

The produce available at the local Giant Tiger was super ripe, and would be turning bad in just a couple days. In comparison, the pre-made, no-name-brand snacks and meals lining the shelves were priced incredibly low. It’s no wonder that the majority of the clientele there load their carts with heavily processed items. When you’re keeping hunger at bay, a box of mac and cheese for $1 seems like a more viable option for a family than a few apples at $1 each.

Being a Certified Holistic Nutritionist and someone who truly enjoys budgeting and menu planning, I found myself in a very interesting position during this week-long Commitment. I was in a prime position to test it. I know how to find healthy food, I know how to shop on a limited income, and I know how to cook food and mix and match ingredients. But even with that, I still found it hard. And frankly I simply couldn’t do it.

Apples, a food I normally eat daily, became a precious commodity. I drank coffee at $0.50 / cup to reduce my appetite midway through the day. Mr. Science and I went running one day and it was the crappiest run I had gone on in a long time (which is saying something, since my running style isn’t particularly fast or long-lasting). Considering I only did this Commitment for one week, and didn’t even stay within my budget completely the entire time, it was incredible to see the effects it had on my personal and professional life.

There are so many pieces involved when it comes to having access to healthy, affordable food. Grocery stores with healthy, affordable food are far and few between. As I said before, the main store in my neighbourhood is the Giant Tiger. I think that the people there are doing a great job of trying to connect with the local community, but let’s face it: it’s primarily a store featuring quick, processed meals. We need more options and more whole foods – and we need everyone to be able to afford healthy, nutritious foods and ingredients.

And then there is the cooking skills themselves. Having access to healthy, affordable foods is meaningless if the consumers don’t know what to do with the food once they’ve brought it home. We need to have better transportation, more grocery stores, emphasis on healthy foods, prices brought down, and an increase in cooking skill options if we are going to tackle this issue and reduce the hunger and poverty prevalent everywhere.

Healthy, affordable food is an essential, basic human right. Let’s do what we can to make it more readily accessible to all.

Learn more about issues related to accessing healthy, affordable food, and what you can do to take action, at www.winnipegharvest.org and www.foodmattersmanitoba.ca.

If this was all there was to it, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I think it’s fantastic that people are supporting small farmers and eating food in its whole, real form, and cooking from scratch. But unfortunately, one of the things that you do see happening as people are talking about these excellent foods on social media is that they are dismissive of vegan diets and ways of eating.

What frustrates me the most about this is that it takes away from the whole concept of the real food movement. It still does what any other “diet” does in terms of ridiculing other ways of eating.

As a holistic nutritionist with Real World Wellness, the foundation of my work is based on the notion that everyone has different wants and needs, and that’s a good thing, and we can work together to find the right way of “healthy eating” that works for you. Some people do great when they eat some kind of animal product every day. Others thrive on soy products. And still more people have boundless energy when eating a higher percentage of raw foods.

Once you’ve reduced or removed chemical-y non-food ingredients and you’re left with whole, real foods, there are so many different options for what you can do to eat healthy for your body! And it comes down to figuring out what works for YOU.

If your body is happy to have butter and bacon and milk and dark meat regularly, that’s great. Keep it up. But don’t shake your finger at someone else for choosing tofu and beans and grains. We need to find the right type of eating that works for us as individuals, and support each other non-judgmentally. Only then will we get to a healthy place for us all.

What type of eating works best for you? Have you been a victim of someone disapproving of the way you eat? Share in the comments section below!

Many people who binge will feel the guilt and self-loathing coming on afterward with those reproachful inner questions, but unfortunately very few people will explore the answers to those questions. And that’s where the questions become very valuable: by taking the time to really think about why you chose to binge, you can get to the root of the issue and help yourself work out your issues one step at a time.

Answering these questions after a binge doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll never binge again. But answering these questions every time you binge-eat can greatly increase your understanding of yourself and your thought process, and it can help postpone or prevent binges on occasion – with the goal of eventually reaching the point where you answer those questions before you’ve even binged, and thus dramatically reduce (or completely eliminate) binge episodes over time.

I strongly encourage you to be kind to yourself if you binge eat, overeat, or eat emotionally. Listen to what your body and your mind are telling you. Observe your patterns, and really think about why you feel that eating is going to solve xyz (or even talk it through with someone – like a Certified Holistic Nutritionist).

You might begin with the realization that you binge when you are procrastinating or feeling overwhelmed, but by continuing to probe, you might be able to get further to understand that you’re binging because you’re procrastinating because you’re doing something that doesn’t fit with your values, and that’s the thing that needs to change. Or you’re binging because you’re overwhelmed because you feel like you can’t handle juggling everything that you’ve taken on.

There are many overlapping steps and stages for why we might turn to food, and every time we answer the questions of why we’re binging or what brought it on, we can get that much closer to understanding the root cause and being able to change what’s at the root of it to then change our habits and behaviours.

Is binge eating, overeating, or eating emotionally an issue that you face? How do you handle it? Do you try to answer the questions? Have you been able to get to the root of it? Share in the comments section below!

If you struggle with binging, consider having a nutrition session to discuss what’s going on and to learn what might be at the root of it. Check out my Nutrition Consulting webpage for more info.

Goal: Become a savvy label-reader.

Grab a food item in your fridge or cupboard with a health or nutrition claim on the front (“fat-free,” “low in cholesterol,” “all-natural,” “wholesome ingredients” etc.). Take a moment to consider how this word or phrase makes you feel about the food.

Next, turn the package over and read the nutrition facts table and the ingredients. Does it surprise you? Do you know what all of the ingredients are? Is sugar the first item on the ingredient list? Consult a Certified Holistic Nutritionist if you have questions about any ingredients.

Remember this exercise the next time you’re at the grocery store and your eye catches a healthy phrase on the front of a food package! The front of the package can be deceiving – it’s worth reading the ingredient list for more information.

Is this something you’ll try out? How well do you understand labels when reading them? Share in the comments section below!

Wrong and wrong!

Last summer I had a horrible experience when my computer AND my external harddrive both crashed within a week of each other (I know, I know, #firstworldproblems). I lost everything, including my meticulous Excel spreadsheets of income and expenses. And I never bothered to pick up where I’d left off since I was so devastated at the time (*smacks forehead*). This has resulted in me handing a pile of papers to my (super awesome) accountant this tax season, and him having to send me a good half a dozen emails asking a bunch of questions since I did NOT provide all of the information that I should have had (really obvious stuff too. It’s kind of embarrassing the number of things he’s had to request, to be honest). This can create a whole lot of unnecessary stress and can take a toll on our mental health.

So next year, I’m going to make tax time for myself (and for you!*) a breeze. All I (and you!*) have to do is the following:

• Track all of your income and expenses every month in Excel spreadsheets. Include the date, place, what you bought, how you paid, the amount you paid, and a separate column marking if you need to include GST separately if you have your own tiny freelance business.**
• Colour code! Have separate colours for business expenses and for regular bills such as hydro and your mortgage.
• At the end of every month, tally up your complete expenses and income for that month. This is mostly just interesting because you can see just how much you REALLY spend every month (and it’s likely going to be quite the shocker).
• At the end of THIS tax season, create a document listing EVERYTHING that you had to give your accountant, including all of the info that he had to ask for in the 6 – 12 emails he sent you. This way, next year, you’ll be able to have all of that information ready for him and you can save both of you a lot of time!
• Send a thank you note to your accountant, since he’s a pretty cool guy.
• Back up your spreadsheets and tax season document in four different places so that you never have to worry about losing it again.

How do you prefer for the madness of tax season? What tools do you use to make it easy peasy? Share in the comments section below!

*Assuming you also have this problem. Is it just me or do some of you scramble at this time of year too? Please tell me I’m not alone in this!

**I expect that most people who have their own business and GST number will be using some kind of fantastic accounting software since that would really make the most sense, but when you’re a really tiny business like me, getting Quickbooks seems a little unnecessary.

The concept of this six-week program is to be able to complete 150 consecutive dips by the end of it. Fun, right?!

I recently stopped doing boot camp (partly because work and such got busy enough that it was getting tough for me to drag myself out of bed at 5am, and partly because I just started getting tired of it – I need to switch up my exercise every six months to a year or so or else I get bored of things), and so I’ve been trying to decide what’s next for me fitness-wise. I got a swim cap last week and I intend to start swimming again. The snow is already melting, so Mr Science and I will be able to enjoy outdoor jogging again too. And other than that, I’ve chosen to do strength training at home – which led me to starting the One Fifty Dips Challenge.

Triceps dips are pretty cool, and they target muscles which are often overlooked. Generally we focus more on biceps and don’t pay as much attention to toning and strengthening the triceps. It’s good for us to work on ALL of the muscles!

Today I completed Day Three of Week One for the challenge, which involved completing a total of 56 triceps dips (broken down into five sets). I’m looking forward to building on that as the weeks go by!

Will you be doing One Fifty Dips with me? Is there another fitness challenge that you’re taking right now? Share in the comments section below!

Goal: Make cooking a breeze.

Gather up your favourite cookbooks (or online recipe websites and blogs). Make a goal to choose 20 recipes in total, including recipes that might just be floating around in your head (family favourites and easy go-to meals frequent this category). The only criteria for these recipes are that they must be ones you’ve already tried and enjoyed, and they should use ingredients that are nearly always in your kitchen.

Make a list of your top 20 favourite recipes that you’ve tried and tested, including the page number and cookbook it’s in to find it easily. Use this list to refer to at any time when you need to make a meal or menu plan but aren’t in the mood for cooking or searching for recipes! Stick it to your fridge so that it’s easily accessible.

Will you try this technique this week?

These are three techniques that I have been using over the past month and which I would recommend to anyone else who is trying to stay on track with healthy living when you’re juggling all kinds of projects and responsibilities:

1. Track it. In December, I created a document for myself that has a check list for every day of the month. Each day has the same 12 items on it, and I try to ensure that I do at least half of the items on the list every day. They range from walking to eating leafy green to going to boot camp to meditating to dry brushing to monitoring my body fat percentage. For me, this is a really great way to ensure that I actually do all of these things! Yours might be anything from flossing your teeth to walking the dog to phoning your friend… anything goes, if it’s something that you know will help you (and perhaps the people around you!) be well.

2. Watch your progress. I have a big glass jar, and I put a dollar in the jar every day that I complete at least half of the items on my check list. Even though they are all very simple day-to-day tasks, I feel that it’s important to do this to make sure that I don’t let anything fall by the wayside. And it’s really fun to watch those dollars pile up! I’m looking forward to eventually spending it

3. Write it down. I use Health Writer Eats as my food diary to track what I eat, but I also have a personal document on the computer that I use to record my thoughts, challenges and successes whenever I feel like it. This can be useful if I’m having an off-day to sort of quiet my mind, write whatever I’m thinking, and get to the root of why I’m not feeling so great.

I plan to continue doing each of these items over the next few months and potentially the rest of the year. It might not work for everyone, but I love being able to see and track my progress and successes, and to challenge myself to live healthier every day!

What simple techniques do you use to stay on track with healthy living? Share in the comments section below!

Here is the recipe:

• Cook brown rice according to package directions in one pot
• In another pot, cook lentils according to package directions (we usually use red lentils, but we’ve also used green split peas to great success – I expect you could use just about any bean or legume here and it would work well)
• When both are cooked, mix together in one pot on the stove, toss in a generous splash of Bragg’s soy sauce, and then dump in some frozen peas and corn
• Stir occasionally until the peas and corn are heated all the way through
• Enjoy!

If you want to get fancy, you could add all kinds of other vegetables, herbs and spices, and even some nutritional yeast flakes or parmesan or shredded cheese. It tastes great as the above recipe for a base, and it’s perfect when you are too busy to cook something elaborate or if you aren’t a fan of cooking, but adding in some extra things can be a great way to mix it up and make a whole new dish every time you make this meal.

What is your favourite easy go-to meal? What kinds of additions would you make to this lentils and rice recipe? Share in the comments section below!

Five months of eating healthy, local, sustainable, and fair food? Yes please. The Dig In Challenge also offers FREE food skill workshops! There will be workshops in Winnipeg, Strathclair, Brandon, Grand Rapids, and possibly more TBA. Workshops will also be available online if you can’t make it out to them yourself! I have it on good authority (*cough* being the Dig In Coordinator *cough*) that there are still lots of spaces open at the workshops, so definitely sign up for some! The first few will involve getting free fair trade chocolate – YUM. Sign up for workshops at www.diginmanitoba.ca/challenge/workshop (after you’ve signed up for the Dig In Challenge, of course).

The Dig In Challenge is free to sign up and is open for families, individuals, schools, faith groups, workplaces, and other community groups to join. This year is especially exciting because everyone can make their own customizable pledge – a great opportunity to challenge yourself to start gardening, try composting, learn how to preserve food, pick fruit with Fruit Share, and so much more.

Learn more about the Dig In Challenge and sign up at www.DigInManitoba.ca/challenge. It’s going to be a fun-filled five months!

Contact digin@foodmattersmanitoba.ca for more info.