Pimp My Grocery List: Fazilah

Yes folks, it's time for another edition of Pimp My Grocery List!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can get the lowdown here. Basically, I am 'renovating' readers' grocery lists, suggesting healthier options for what they put in their carts every week. I'm not trying to make everything spic and span, now - just trying to make it a little bit healthier while keeping the convenience and tastiness of the original product. If you want your very own grocery list pimped, email me at info[at]wholesomehedonist[dot]com!

This week I'm tackling the list of my good friend and fellow mama Fazilah. See her list after the jump: 

Putting Kitchen Scraps to Good Use

I've been thinking a lot about respect for food lately. It all started with an interview I did with Zahra Parvinian, board member at the Toronto Food Policy Council (I'll be sharing this interview next week.) She talked about how, as an immigrant, she was disturbed by the North American attitude towards food. She thinks of the kitchen as a place of family, of community and respect, so when she saw shows like Hell's Kitchen, where Gordon Ramsay throws away platefuls of food while screaming abuse upon his underlings, she was shocked.

That got me thinking about how I view food. As I've mentioned here before, I'm hardly the patron saint of food preservation, but lately, I've been trying to make more of an effort - planning my meals in advance and using my List of Endangered Foods method. So when I heard this Splendid Table podcast about using up kitchen throwaways, I was intrigued. Here are some of their tips (as well as my own) on using up scraps you would normally throw in the trash:

Interview with Rhonda Teitel-Payne, Green Barn Manager at The Stop

As part of this blog, I love to speak to inspirational people who are changing the face of health and wellness - either in their own lives or for a larger audience. That's why it was such a pleasure to speak with Rhonda Teitel-Payne, Green Barn Manager for the Stop Community Food Centre. Instead of operating like a conventional food bank, The Stop invites people in to eat, make and grow local and healthy food. It's an amazing community space with lots of events and programs for the population that needs it most as well as the general public. Below is my interview with Rhonda.

“Food is a way of reclaiming and validating who you are and where you came from.”

Rhonda Teitel-Payne wasn’t born with a green thumb. But she earned one – heck, she earned a whole green hand – over the last 13 years.

That’s when she joined The Stop’s Community Food Centre, coordinating both the community kitchen and the community garden activities. She had lots of community experience and a Master’s degree in Social Work, but no gardening experience. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten the job now,” she laughs. “But 13 years ago, there wasn’t such an organized urban agriculture scene, so I was able to get in there and learn from the ground up, so to speak.”

Rhonda is now the Manager of the Green Barn, where she oversees the community garden, the community kitchen, The Stop’s education programs and the Saturday Farmer’s Market. I caught up with Rhonda to talk about her passion and what she brings to the Toronto Food Policy Council.

You can read the full interview on the Toronto Food Policy Council website here.

How Manufacturers Make a Label Sound Better Than it Acually is

I've talked here before about marketing claims you should watch for on packages, but did you know that there's ingredients you should watch for too? I've always said that the ingredient list never lies, but unfortunately, because more and more consumers are reading the ingredient list,more and more companies are learning to 'spin' it. They are legally required to list all ingredients, but they sometimes make ingredients sound nicer than they really are or they play with the order of things to make the product sound healthier.  Here are a few examples to watch out for (after the jump)

Build a Better Bowl of Cereal

As I said in my Supermarket Survival Guide on cereal, there are a lot of Sneaky Peters out there in the cereal aisle - cereals that promise low-fat, wholesome goodness but rarely deliver. Don't get me wrong - I think cereal is an easy, nutritious way to start the day, as long as you build your bowl right. The following are some tips I got from Mairlyn Smith and Liz Pearson's great book, The Ultimate Health Eating Plan That Still Leaves Room for Chocolate. Though it was published in 2002, it's packed with meticulously researched nutrition information (conveniently decoded for the regular Joe), sensible, non-neurotic advice for eating well and delicious recipes.

Here's an easy way to build your best breakfast:

Supermarket Suspects: "Healthy" Foods that Don't Deliver

So we've talked about granola, crackers and juice as being less healthy than they're touted to be. But are there any more suspects lurking on the supermarket shelves? Of course there are! My top contenders (plus healthier switch-outs) below:

3 Ways to Fall in Love with Your Oatmeal Again

I have often told A that I can tell the changing of the seasons not by looking out the window, but by looking at my bowl of oatmeal. 

I am a die-hard oatmeal fan and I love to use it as a blank canvas and top it with whatever's in season: sunny peaches and pecans in summer, crisp pears and honey in fall, pomegranate and maple syrup in winter and tender strawberries in spring. But even I get sick of oatmeal, especially as the long, interminable winter sets in. Here are some fresh combinations to keep your oatmeal exciting during the long months ahead - minimal chopping needed.

Wholesome Banana Pecan Chocolate Bites

A few weeks ago, I tweeted out a call for a healthy cookie recipe. I wanted to give delicious thank-yous to some of the amazing people I've been connecting with recently, and I thought, what better way than healthy, home-baked goodness?  I didn’t have high hopes, though – as I’ve said, my adventures in healthy baked goods often fall flat (literally – leaden cakes, sodden squares and muffins that could be used as hockey pucks.) Cookies, I thought, were a good way to dip my toe into the healthy baked good pool (imagine? A pool of fresh, warm baked goods…mmm…wait, where was I? oh yes) – after all, they need no leavening, so the absence of white flour and butter is less conspicuous.

But first and foremost, this cookie had to be good. I am a cookie maven. (I should have a t-shirt emblazoned with that.) I absolutely adore a chewy, crumbly, not too sweet chocolate chip cookie. Or an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Or a peanut butter cookie…

See my experiments in healthy cookies and the recipe after the jump...

Pimp My Grocery List: Naaz

I'm so excited to pimp my very first grocery list! 

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can get the lowdown here. Basically, I am 'renovating' readers' grocery lists, suggesting healthier options for what they put in their carts every week. I'm not trying to make everything spic and span, now - just trying to make it a little bit healthier while keeping the convenience and tastiness of the original product. If you want your very own grocery list pimped, email me at info[at]wholesomehedonist[dot]com!


Naaz, a friend and fellow member of my book club, came to me with her list. I've got to admit, at first I was intimidated by how clean it was! Does this girl need any help at all?!?

See her list - any my suggestions - after the jump...

"Are you creating to be happy or happily creating?"

Today: Part 2 of my amazing interview with Meghan Telpner, Nutritionista. I'm sure you'll  find her as inspiring and engaging as I did! Read Part 1 here.

What’s your biggest reward?

We get a lot of love notes – emails from past participants, or people who came to a class and keep coming back and tell us how much it’s impacted their health and their lives and their families. To have a job that has a massive positive impact on individuals’ lives - it doesn’t really get any better than that!

How do you keep yourself motivated?

Because I get bored easily, I need to take on new challenges - for example, getting our online courses up and running was a huge learning curve for me. In the spring I have my book Undiet coming out, which was also a huge project. I just look to constantly keep it fresh.

What’s looking for advice to those looking to change careers, and what are your keys to success?

First of all, you have to really, really want to do this and live like this. It’s amazing and terrifying at the same time – you only have yourself to rely on and there’s no safety net. A big part of it is being really clear on how you plan to make money and how you plan to continually love what you’re doing – and they have to go together. A lot of people, especially in health and healing, say ‘I just want to help people,’ but at the end of the day you need to buy your own good food and your own yoga classes so you need to take a good, hard look at the feasibility of it. You have to be very clear about why you’re doing it, that you love doing it and that you’ll be able to support the lifestyle that you want to have.

I encourage people to quit their jobs all the time – I think it’s a great thing to do, because you need to work somewhere that nourishes you. We fall into this horrible habit of thinking ‘If I do this now, then I’ll get this later.’ The reward has to come immediately; otherwise you’re creating for a person that doesn’t even exist. In one of my workshops, I ask the question “Are you creating to be happy or are you happily creating?” It’s all about the process.

What’s next for you?

In February we’re running a 25-person retreat and in April I have my book coming out. We’ll be taking the school to the next level where we won’t be able to have 12 person hands-on cooking classes on a regular basis, which is why we are transitioning to online classes. I want to write another book – in fact, I’m already working on it. We’re also shooting another pilot, so there’s lots on the go!

In the future, I’d love to run more retreats during the winter and spend the rest of the time writing and cooking and continuing to play. I want to retire in two years. Everybody laughs when I say that, but it’s true. I’m not even sure what ‘retire’ means for me – I just know that I’ll just be working differently. It may mean writing books, having children, speaking and teaching in group settings – but whatever it is, I know I’ll be having a blast!

"I enrolled in nutrition school because it was the only way I could make myself well."

Meghan Telpner

 Interview with Meghan Telpner, Nutritionista

I first heard of Meghan Telpner as the former nutrition columnist for The National Post. As a bubbly twenty-something with a clear voice and strong opinions, she was just out of nutrition school and already making a name for herself with the Making Love in the Kitchen workshops. Her life was far from perfect, though – she’d turned to holistic nutrition after spending several agonizing years trying to figure out her own debilitating health issues which were eventually diagnosed as Crohn’s disease. After deciding that conventional medicine wasn’t the solution for her, Meghan went to nutrition school, revamped her lifestyle and got healthy. She decided to share her knowledge with others through cooking workshops, which quickly spread into media appearances, retail products and a soon-to-be published book. I caught up with Meghan to ask her about her amazing transformation.

You spent years in the midst of a really tough health crisis – going from doctor to doctor, being unable to work or even function some days. How did you take such a traumatic negative life experience and turned it around for yourself? Did you have a vision of yourself as a success story in the nutrition world?

I didn’t really have a vision – it was borne more out of necessity. There was a moment where I was in a health food store with my mom in the spring of 2006 and I was really sick at the time. The associate was telling my mom the health benefits of this protein powder and it was like this light went off – “This is what I need to know!” I’d been through so many doctors at this point and no one was able to help me; I knew I had to help myself.

I enrolled in nutrition school because it was the only way I could think of to make myself well. I was so sick that I couldn’t imagine being well enough to go to work, so I certainly didn’t think I was going to be a nutritionist. Unfortunately by August of that year I was diagnosed with Crohn’s and became too sick to go to school, so I went to California and spent three months healing myself through meditation, yoga and acupuncture.

I realized then that there was something massive missing in the system because I wasn’t able to find the answers in three years; in fact, I’d been told that there was nothing wrong with me. I thought, these doctors are blatantly wrong – I need to make noise about empowering yourself and making educated decisions about the right treatment choices for your health, whether they involve conventional or alternative treatments. I thought that the best way to do that would be to create a community of what I called ‘cooking parties.’

My focus was on building a community, knowing that anyone who’s gone through a health struggle often feels alone and excluded and it’s scary. Through these cooking parties, we could all cook together and eat together to create a community where people who were trying to change their lifestyles would have a space to come and play and meet people.

When did you get the vision to make it bigger?

Again, there wasn’t really a vision – it just evolved.  We’re constantly coming up with new things to try here. My life would be easier if I could just be happy by focusing on the cooking classes, but I get bored easily. So we started stocking products in our space, then we created an online store, and eventually we started branding our own products. Also, I love to write and almost right away I got the opportunity to write for the National Post. That led to some television opportunities, which led to a book deal (for UnDiet, Eat Your Way to Vibrant Health coming out in April 2013)…it happened very holistically.

Our newest adventure is the online courses we’re offering. We realized that we just didn’t have the space in our little school for all the people that wanted to sign up for our courses, so we decided to offer them online, available any time, anywhere. So far it’s going really well!

What’s the biggest thing you did to ensure you success?

I didn’t quit. Things would inevitably happen where I would think, “Maybe I should just get a job that gives me a paycheck every two weeks and not have to worry about this 24/7,” but I think that that my success comes from the fact that I truly love what I’m doing most of the time. I only take on jobs and work with people that I like. I love the creativity of cooking and I love writing - my dream job would be to just cook and photograph and write, and that’s what I’m working towards.

Also, I was adaptable. Nutrition has changed in the last four years. Social media has changed, technology has changed and what people are looking for is growing. I think part of my success was that I started the business in 2008 right before the economic crash, when DIY was becoming cool again – canning and fermenting and traditional cooking methods were becoming popular out of necessity. The awareness around whole foods and farmers markets and CSAs has dramatically grown in the past five years as well. So a little of it was being in the right place at the right time.

What has been your biggest challenge?

My biggest challenge has been finding the right people to work with me, to be part of my company and help grow it. At first I didn’t have the finances to pay what I really needed from someone, so I relied a lot on interns. Then it was finding the right people to fill the right roles where everyone was doing what they were awesome at – that’s been one of the biggest challenges in growing the business. It was a huge risk to take people on and pay them on time and manage the cash flow. I’ve been learning business management as I go and that’s been pretty tough because I’m not an administratively minded person; I’m creative and I find spreadsheets tricky, mainly because they are painfully boring!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my interview with Meghan Telpner later this week.

Have you had your grocery list pimped yet? Read here for the details on how you can get me to give your grocery list a free makeover!

Guide to Grains Part 2: Life Beyond Quinoa

Freekeh with poached eggs and arugula, the only green I can stand in raw form.

Now that you’ve tried quinoa, amaranth, barley and millet, I know you’re just dying to find out what other grains are out there, right? Well, good news - there’s lots to choose from! Here are two more of my favourites:

Bulgur for Weight Loss

Perhaps bulgur is not the most exciting, sexy grain in the world (is there such thing as a sexy grain?) but one you should get to know better. You likely haven’t heard of bulgur outside of tabbouleh, but it’s a Middle-Eastern staple that deserves wider accolades in my opinion. It is basically kernels of wheat that have been steamed, dried and crushed. Because it’s pre-cooked in this way, it is super quick to prepare.

Bulgur is known as a great diet food because it is not calorically dense; in fact, a cup of bulgur has almost half the calories of a cup of quinoa (keep in mind that it has smaller amounts of nutrients, though it still has an impressive array.) It' s a fibre powerhouse and low in fat as well, so it keeps you full for less calories. What’s not to love?

Uses:

I use bulgur as a side dish similar to quinoa, in a cold salad, or as a stuffing for tomatoes or peppers. You can also use it as a filler in meatballs or burgers, as Chef Michael Smith does in this recipe.

Where to find it:

At the bulk store or the health food store.

Prep tips:

This grain is easy to cook because it has already been steamed.  Mix a half cup of bulgur with one cup of liquid and simmer for 15 minutes. Let stand for another ten minutes and then fluff with a fork. It triples in volume, so you can freeze some for later. Be careful of adding too much liquid as it will become mushy; this is why I often avoid using it in soups (use barley instead.)

Get Your Freekeh on

Raw Freekeh

My brother in law turned me onto this grain originating from the Eastern Medditeranean, which is (disappointingly) pronounced freek-a. Freekeh is made from young wheat that is still green and has a higher proportion of proteins, minerals and vitamins than mature wheat. It’s high in fibre and low in carbs.

This green wheat is roasted and smoked, which gives it this delicious intensely smoky taste that’s surprising (it tastes like you cooked it on the barbeque.) It’s firm in a way that’s similar to brown rice or barley. Because it’s partially cooked, Freekeh is also a cinch to prepare.

Uses:

Because of this unique smoky flavour, I like to keep it fairly simple – often I’ll just have it with poached eggs as above, or perhaps I’ll cook it in some chicken broth and mix in some sautéed mushrooms.

Where to find it:

This one is tricky to find because it is still relatively new to North America; your best bet is a Middle Eastern grocery store, but call ahead to check if they carry it.

Prep tips:

It’s pretty easy; bring one cup Freekeh and 2.5 cups liquid to a boil and then simmer, covered for 20-30 minutes (for whole) or 10-15 minutes (for cracked.) 

Ready to give these a whirl? Great! Here's some ideas to get you started at my Pinterest grain recipe board.

5 Marketing Claims You Shouldn't Fall For

I've said it before - never believe anything you read on the box, even if it sounds healthy. Especially if it sounds healthy. Here are five phrases you should be wary of:

Made with the goodness of wheat
This is a popular one, often found on packages of crackers, bread and pastas. Notice it doesn't say what kind of wheat. That's because it's likely refined. So basically, this says, 'Made with white flour.' Like 90% of processed food products out there. Thanks for the heads up.

Made with whole wheat/whole grains
You may think this one is better - after all, it says whole wheat or whole grains. But it doesn't say how much. So odds are, the first ingredient is still white flour. The manufacturer has likely just put in enough whole wheat/whole grains to colour the white flour brown and make you think you're eating something heathy. Again, ignore.

Made with real fruits/vegetables
Again - nothing here about how much actual fruit/vegetable is in the product. Often it's minimal (you can tell by how low the fruit/veggie is on the ingredient list.) And usually, there are enough other artificial ingredients to negate the goodness of the veggie in the first place. 

Reduced fat
This is a tricky one. Less fat is good, right? The answer is, it depends. All things being equal, yes, less fat is good. But remember: fat delivers flavour. If the manufacturers remove fat from a product, they still have to make it taste good - so they may add sugar or salt in to replace the lost flavour, and other chemicals to mimic the role of the fat. The best thing to do is to compare the original and reduced-fat versions and choose the one with the simplest ingredient list. 

Source of energy
This one kills me. Energy is measured in calories. All food is made up of calories. So absolutely all food is a source of energy. This is a claim food companies use when they really do not have anything healthy to tout about the product at all. In fact, it's usually a sign of an unhealthy product - Nutella uses this in their advertising campaigns. (Sure, it gives your kids energy - in the form of a sugar high. They neglect to tell you that little Joey will be crashing by math class.)

Are there any marketing claims you're not sure about? Let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to debunk them!


For more tips on how to read labels, see my post on Grocery Shopping Shortcuts or see whole list of posts on Navigating the Supermarket.
...and have you had your grocery list pimped yet? 

photo credit: partymonstrrrr via photopin cc

Weekly Specials

Yesterday was A's birthday. I celebrated by cooking him a dinner that had not a trace of fibre, vegetable or protein in it. Instead, it was full of butter, white flour and cheese. Oh, the cheese! It was insanely indulgent yet effortlessly simple in a way only the Italians can do. I'm talking spaghetti Cacio e Pepe, and you can get the recipe right here. Trust me - you will die happy. Perhaps a little early, but happy.

And now, back to the Wholesome side of things:

If you haven't seen AllergyKids Founder Robyn O'Brien's TEDx talk on why allergies are more prevalent now than when we were kids, it's a MUST watch. Really - this is 18 minutes that will change the way you live.

Also, you should read her explanation about why organic is better than conventional in light of the Stanford Study at HuffPo.

Fooducate explains why you can lose 9 pounds by reading food labels. 

Run out of eggs for the muffins you're baking? Here's a quick replacement (via The Faux Martha)

And have you gotten your grocery list pimped yet? That' right, send me your grocery list, and I'll give it a free healthy makeover! Details are here!

Pimp My Grocery List

In the few months since I've started this site, I've had some great feedback from you guys and I must say, that's what's kept me going. When you are marketing crackers, you rarely get people coming up to you telling you how much they love your Grainy Crunch'ems, so I find it so refreshing and inspiring to hear that you like my writing or that you are using the information or trying the recipes. 

All this is to say that I want to hear from you even more. I'm introducing a new feature on the site called Pimp My Grocery List. No, this doesn't mean that you give me your grocery list and I give you back some crazy, blinged-out car (though that would be fun!)

What I hope to do is take specific items from your grocery list and suggest healthier options instead. So, instead of the sugary fibre bar I might suggest a more natural granola bar, or instead of the noodles and pasta dinner, I might introduce you to a healthier quick dinner option. I'll write a post for every grocery list so other readers can get some ideas and inspiration too.

Wanna try it? Great! Send me your grocery list by email (info[at]wholesomehedonist[dot]com) or tweet me (hashtag #pimpmylist). I'll pick 2-5 items from your list and suggest alternatives. If you live in Canada, I'll suggest specific products; if you live elsewhere, I might suggest types of products as I won't have access to your actual grocery store. And don't worry, if you want to keep your abominable shopping habits a secret, I'll refer to you as Anonymous in my post.

So email me, tweet me and spread the word! I can't wait to pimp your list!

photo credit: Krissy Venosdale via photo pin cc

Rosemary Marmalade Chicken

I am always hesitant to make chicken recipes because although that's what the majority of the population eats most weeknights, I find it incredibly bland and boring. I am too lazy and last-minute to ever marinate the chicken, and whatever sauces or rubs I brush on top of it never seem to penetrate into the meat, leaving it tasting bland and rubbery. Usually A. will chew on it thoughtfully, while Baby M, ever the diplomat, will spit it out onto his high chair tray.

But when I saw this recipe, I knew my chicken luck was about to change. Marmalade + balsamic vinegar + Dijon mustard? Sounds like a unique, flavourful combination. And in terms of flavour, it's a triple threat - brushed on, then basted, then reduced to a sauce. With high hopes, I decided to give it a try.

Let me just say, people, that it didn't disappoint. the chicken was tender and juicy and flavourful. The sauce was thick and tangy and added flavour to the the quick grains I boiled up alongside the chicken. The onions, which I normally hate, were crunchy and savoury-sweet, filling out the sauce nicely. Overall, it's a great, easy entertaining recipe that is unique enough to stand out from the usual chicken fare. Even the diplomat didn't spit it out.

Slightly adapted from the amazing Lucy Waverman's recipe in Food & Drink

Rosemary Marmalade Chicken 

Serves 4

1/2 cup 3-Fruit or Seville Orange Marmalade
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
3 tbsp vegetable oil
4 bone-in, skinless chicken breasts
Salt & pepper
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups thinly sliced onions
1 cup chicken stock

1 Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).

2 Combine marmalade, balsamic vinegar, mustard and rosemary. Divide in half. Whisk 1 tbsp (15 mL) of oil, reserving remainder, into half of mixture. Brush marmalade mixture with oil on to the chicken breasts. Season breasts with salt and pepper.

3 Heat remaining 2 tbsp (25 mL) oil and butter in a large ovenproof skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions to pan and sauté, stirring for 1 minute or until just beginning to soften. Add stock and remaining marmalade-mustard mixture. Bring to boil. Place chicken breasts skin-side up over onions.

4 Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes or until juices run clear, basting chicken with sauce occasionally.

5 Remove breasts and bring sauce to boil. Boil until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Return chicken to reheat and serve with sauce.

Note: I kept Lucy Waverman's recipe pretty much as-is because it was so delicious. The only change I made was to double the amount of sauce because I really enjoy my sauce. If it's too much for you, though, you can always store or freeze the rest to use on grains, fish, or as a bang-up sandwich spread (imagine it with chicken salad!)

Hedonist Tip: Drink your Greens

I am going to make a startling confession here. Ready? Okay, here goes.

I hate salad.

Yes, you heard right. The woman who calls herself the Wholesome Hedonist can’t stand a leafy green (or a leafy purple, or a leafy white.)

I don’t know what it is about salad. Perhaps it’s my preference for hot, hearty comfort foods, or my dislike of the bland semi-crunch of lettuce.  Whatever the reason, you will always find me far, far away from the salad bar (one notable exception is arugula, which the Italians converted me to by perching it atop a sublime pizza in Rome.)

I know greens are good for you. And I know I should eat them more frequently (and so should you.) So I have found some unique ways to work then into my meals. My best solution? Working them into a smoothie. A cup of spinach is virtually undetectable in smoothies, so I take a few clumps of frozen spinach out of the freezer and throwthem into whatever concoction I’m making, from blueberry banana to mango lassis. (It doesn’t do much for the colour, but at least I can’t taste it.)

What are your tips for sneaking in your greens?

Confessions of a Processed Food Marketer: Taking Out the Good Stuff

Ever wonder why the peanut butter you’ve been eating since you were a kid tastes different than it used to? Or why the chocolate cookies you love suddenly taste more like sugar than chocolate? And is it your imagination, or are there less blueberries in your favourite granola than there used to be?

This is one of the biggest secrets of the food industry today - margin enhancement. Margin enhancement is a fancy word for making a product more cheaply, often by taking out real ingredients and replacing them with cheaper synthetic ones.

Why is this done? Well, as I’ve said before, food companies, like all other companies, have to make profits. And not just any profits, but profits that continue to grow year by year. This is notoriously difficult in a slow-growing grocery industry.

So how to do companies do this? Well, to put it simply, there are two ways: by making new products or by squeezing more money out of existing ones. The latter is called margin enhancement.

Say a company makes yogurt.  They might decide to replace some of the real fruit in that yogurt with artificial fruit flavour - just enough so that consumers won’t notice (they do consumer testing to ensure this.) Though this might mean just a few cents savings per package, over millions of packages, those savings can really add up.

Once marketers discovered this trick, it became a key strategy in meeting their profit targets every year.  In fact, many companies have a specific cost-saving goal they have to reach, which basically means that they are committing to degrade their products year after year.

This is why the products that you grew up with just don’t taste the same as they used to. The cookies you loved when you were a kid may have had sugar, butter, flour, chocolate and vanilla in them. But over the years, through ‘margin enhancement’, they have likely changed to high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, chocolate flavouring and vanillin (synthetic vanilla). While each of these iterations probably did taste similar to the previous version, when you add them all up, they taste vastly different from the cookies you ate as a kid.

This happens all the time: cheese is taken out of cheese sauce, spices in seasonings are replaced with starchy filler, chocolate is replaced with sugar and cocoa butter. In fact, the targets are so relentless that marketers sometimes launch products already knowing what high-cost ingredients they will remove in Year Two (hence, fewer blueberries in that fantastic granola you just discovered last year.)

To be fair, the process of margin enhancement is not always profit-driven, though that is often the case. Sometimes it is due to other circumstances - if the price of sugar goes up, for example, a company may decide to replace it with a cheaper alternative rather than raise the price of their cookie. Or if there is a shortage of strawberries, it may have to substitute another berry in its fruit punch. Sometimes, companies will realize they have gone too far and actually work to put the good stuff back in their food.

But most of the time, the products on your grocery store shelf have been downgraded and continue to deteriorate as the years go by. This is why we don’t pay the true cost of food; it’s because we are paying for slightly varying combinations of fake ingredients instead of real food.

This is why I am so adamant about reading the ingredient label: with products constantly changing, it's the only way you can know what’s really in the product. The grocery store is your battlefield, and you have to go in their armed with knowledge. See my tips for tackling the grocery store here and here.

photo credit: Christi @ Love From The Oven via photo pin cc

"A good idea is worth about a buck and a half - it's all in the execution."

One of the things that most inspires me in my journey to live a more healthy, centred life is talking to others who are doing it. So from time to time, I’ll feature interviews here on Wholesome Hedonist of people who have taken the plunge and changed their lives for the better.

The first of these interviews is with Jamie Bussin, a commercial litigator-turned-publisher who is the driving force behind Tonic Toronto Magazine, a health and wellness magazine distributed in Toronto. As a relatively new magazine, Tonic has already developed quite a following, so I wanted to chat with Jamie about his venture.

You started your health and wellness journey five years ago by making some pretty drastic changes: you lost over fifty pounds and made a career 180. What prompted you to make these changes?

It all started with the weight. It was a problem in itself, but it was a factor in other problems too. It left me fatigued, weak and prone to illness, and it affected my ability to deal with stress. As a commercial litigator, people came to me during some of the most stressful times of their lives and they were relying on me to carry them through. As an overweight, stressed out, unfit person, I just couldn’t operate at my best.

I realized that if I didn't fix myself, I was not going to be in a good place. I was nearing 40, I was watching my father deal with numerous health problems and I was unhappy with my stressful career.  I knew I had to make a change.


How did you make the leap into publishing a health and wellness magazine?

Though it seems like a huge jump from being a litigator to being a publisher, it really wasn’t for me. I already had a background in writing - I had a humour column for Post City Magazine and I had written several screenplays, one of which had been optioned in Hollywood. As well, one of my clients was a publisher, so I knew the ins and out of the business.

I still use a lot of my skills as a litigator in running Tonic - for example, in negotiating contracts, in persuading companies to advertise with us, in dealing with my staff and partners, even in collecting debts. Writing the Editor’s Page is the fun part, but there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.


What’s been your biggest challenge in running Tonic?

My biggest challenge was the start-up phase. The hardest part about the magazine business is that when you start, you have nothing. You’re trying to get advertisers to buy space in your magazine, but you can’t print that magazine until they buy space, so you have nothing to show them. I could’ve printed an initial 80 pages to show to advertisers, but I decided to only print as many pages as the ads allowed, so that was difficult.

What made it more difficult was that I had no background or connections in the health and wellness industry, so I really had to start from scratch. I was also responsible for generating advertising revenue, but I had no background in sales. Fortunately, as a litigator, I was trained to convince people, so those skills came in handy when I was trying to pitch the magazine to potential advertisers.


What’s been your biggest reward?

I love hearing that people read the magazine from cover to cover - that makes me happier than anything else.


What’s your advice to those looking to change careers like you did? What are your keys to success?

I firmly believe that a good idea is worth about a buck and a half - it's all about the execution.

You have to work beyond your fears. It's a scary concept to stop what you've been doing your whole adult life and change gears, but sometimes it’s what you have to do. Everybody has their own skill sets, and finding something that utilizes those skills (or transfers the skills you already possess) can make a huge difference.


I know health and wellness is an ongoing battle for you; you blogged last year about putting on some of the weight you lost. Many of us have had this same experience. What keeps you motivated and how do you get yourself back on the wagon?

I’m an emotional eater, and sometimes, I lack discipline. So I find that if I make a rigid rule, like ‘Don’t eat after 7 pm’, it’s easier for me to stick to it. Also, I’ve learned that making my goals public really keeps me on track. When I gained back about 20 pounds of the weight I had lost, I took drastic measures - I announced publicly my goal to lose the weight, and I even went so far as to tweet my weight every single day! Some might view this as a public shaming, but being so publicly accountable kept me on track - I lost the twenty pounds, and five more!


You’ve also talked about the fact that, as a Type-A personality, it’s hard for you to stay as calm and centred as you’d like (especially in the midst of stressful experiences.) What do you do to keep yourself centred and maintain your well being?

Exercise has been my salvation. Running clears my head and gives me a chance to work through my problems. I see running as a metaphor for the magazine - when I'm in the home stretch and I’m too tired to go on, I hear my own voice in my head saying 'don't give up!’

I also do yoga Friday afternoons. I really find it helpful. I tell my staff that if there's bad news, tell me after yoga, I'm much more relaxed!

I also believe in the importance of family mealtime (there’s a great article in the September issue of Tonic about this subject.) I have three kids, and our family eats together every night. Friday is my favourite night - everyone unwinds, relaxes, and shares experiences from the week.


What’s next for Tonic Toronto?

I’m happy to announce that we’re re-launching the website in the coming days so that it features all our editorial content (you can find it at tonictoronto.com.) We’re also extending the Tonic brand into events. I’m really excited about this because it means that we’ll be able to create a community outside of print and online to facilitate discussion and spark ideas.

Creamy Barley with Tomatoes and Greens

It takes a lot for a recipe to make it into my regular repertoire. As the years go by, it seems that there are more and more hurdles a dish has to jump over before I’ll make it on a consistent basis.

In grad school, my criteria were delicious, quick and easy (though during exam time,  ‘not moldy yet’ would suffice.)  As I grew up, started experimenting and became more health conscious, ‘healthy’ and ‘versatile’ crept up the list. When I got married and had to actually cook on a regular basis, ‘ingredients that are already in the pantry’  and ‘freezes well’ became big ones. And now, with the birth of little M., I’ve added ‘baby food friendly’ to the list. Now, not many recipes make it through all these hoops, so when one does, it deserves a special hurrah.

That’s why I’m calling this barley pilaf the Weeknight Superhero.

I know it seems pretty humble. After all, barley isn’t the sexiest grain out there, and spinach and canned tomatoes don’t hold a candle to slow roasted tomatoes or beet walnut pesto. But trust me on this one. It’s not the individual ingredients but the melding of all those flavours together that make it noteworthy.  Of course, the addition of some flavour kickers like parmesan, garlic and sauteed onions help kick it up a notch too. It’s the perfect weeknight dish - warm, creamy, comforting and healthy to boot.

But the real beauty of this barley pilaf is just how flexible it is - it’s the ultimate kitchen sink recipe. You can throw in almost anything and it will still taste delicious. Have some corn on the cob left over from the summer bumper crop? Saute it in some olive oil throw it in with the spinach. Are the mushrooms in the back of the fridge starting to look suspicious? Add them in at the beginning,  with the onion and garlic. Too many leeks on hand?  Use one instead of the onion. I’ve also sauteed some diced peppers or some zucchini and added in with the spinach. If you wanted some protein, you could fill it out with some shredded rotisserie chicken at the end. It really is the Miss Congeniality of dinner recipes.

And if that weren’t enough, it freezes well, too. Just cool, scoop single servings into freezer bags, push the air out, and lay flat in the freezer. It’s great to take as a hot lunch or an instant dinner for one.

And finally - it’s perfect for little ones. Baby M loves this now that he can chew the barley, but you could also puree it down for younger babies. There’s nothing this Superhero can’t do.

Creamy Barley with Tomatoes and Greens

Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 large onion, finely chopped
salt and black pepper
2 cups pearl barley
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 cup good-tasting chicken stock
1 bag baby spinach (I have substituted frozen spinach in a pinch but I find it a bit stringy)
2 ounces Brie (rind removed), cut into small pieces
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes.

1. Add the barley, tomatoes, stock, and 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

1. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the barley is tender, around 30 minutes. Add a little water if it starts looking dry.

1. Add the baby spinach leaves, Brie, and ¼ cup of the Parmesan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is tender, 3 to 4 minutes.

1. Divide among bowls and sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of Parmesan.

Serves 4.