Yesterday I knew I needed to go grocery shopping, but I didn't want to just make a random list and hope for the best (like I usually do). I also really wanted to go down to Granville Island again and at least get all of my fresh produce there.
Everyone knows they need to eat more healthy, but there seems to be this fine line between being able to eat healthy and actually having a diet that is sustainable - by that I mean you can actually carry on with it for more than two weeks without chewing your own arm off.
Recently I've had some really good vegetarian that was healthy but also satisfying at places like Bandidas (vegetarian mexican!) and Cafe deux soleils. I really wanted to find some recipes similar to what these places offer. So I headed to Chapters.
After about 45 minutes of wondering around I found this book called Food Matters by Mark Bittman, which seemed intriguing:

I don't want to go to far into it but basically it talks about why eating junk food and a lot of meat is not only bad for you health wise, but also bad for the environment. That the energy required to produce say a zero calorie can of diet soda is about 2200 calories. Its the same for most processed foods and meat (animals take a lot of energy in comparison to fresh produce etc). Apparently 10 animals are raised every year for each human on earth so thats like 60 billion animals! Whoah.
I'm not a vegetarian and the book isn't trying to convince you to be one, its just stating that we tend to think we need a lot more meat than we actually do - mostly thanks to good marketing. And that's just the first chapter! I just got the book yesterday so I still have a lot of reading to do.
At the back of the book are recipes to get you started, but the basic idea is to eat foods that are still close to their natural state (peanuts vs a snickers bar for example). I decided I really wanted to try and make this great salad I had years ago at a veggie restaurant here in vancouver called The Naam. The salad is called Thai Gado and here is my attempt:
I varied it slightly but it was pretty darn close. Basically this is what I added:
Shredded Carrot
Shredded Raw Beet
Pea Shoots
Green Onion
Tofu (Sauteed with a bit of garlic and peanut sauce)
A few cubes of cooked yam
One hard boiled egg
Trader Joe's Peanut Sauce (only 30 cal a tbsp which I was okay with)
This salad turned out to be delicious! And it was super satisfying plus I got a lot of good food inside me!
This morning I took a recipe from the book and made myself a blueberry yogurt shake:
1/2 cup Yogurt
1/4 banana (should have been frozen but wasn't)
1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries
1/4 cup apple juice
Splash of maple syrup
Blend! It's delicious! I had this with some whole wheat toast and I feel full which is so important (but not too full).
Later today I am going to try the homemade granola the book suggests you make to avoid all the sugary ones that are out there on the market.
Apparently Oprah is doing a show today about grocery shopping and I have a feeling she may touch on some of the same things that were mentioned (so far) in this book. Alicia Silverstone is due to chat too - she is a vegan and healthnut so it should be interesting to see her perspective.
IN OTHER NEWS:
I finally found a frame for this photograph I bought of etsy before Christmas. I love it and can't wait to find the perfect place to hang it in my apartment:
And I got a new black bag by Matt and Nat. Again, I'm not a vegetarian but it's nice to know that my bag is totally vegan. Apparently the interior lining (which is a beautiful indigo blue) was made out of 21 recycled plastic bottles. I don't want to think about how much energy that took - but still - it's kind of cool:




