Recently I met with a nutritionist, Alyssa Bauman, to help create classic meals with more nutritious ingredients (ie. trading out the Kraft PB in a morning meal/smoothie to all-natural almond butter.) I was provided a personalized meal plan with updates to some of my favourite meals. It was a helpful guide to help talk me through easy ways to “trade up” some of my favourite go-to snacks. Read on to learn what well-balanced meals look like and tips for what to avoid.
I was provided an overview of President’s Choice Guiding Stars program, the third party objective food rating system with Loblaws and was given a tour around the most beautiful Loblaws City Market at Arbutus Ridge in Kitsilano, Vancouver. If you’re never been to this grocery store, you absolutely have to check it out, you can have a latte while you shop, grab some beautiful blooms in their extensive flower department and opt for locally friendly products made right in Vancouver rather than just your standard of the mill picks.
I was so excited about this opportunity to work with Real Canadian Superstore and No Frills because I have a crazy busy schedule and am always looking for ways to help guide me on what I should be snacking on while on the go. Any help to make grocery shopping and meal planning quicker is always welcome, am I right?
Important takeaways:
-Tailor to your taste buds, this was very interesting to me because sometimes when you buy something it has ingredients that either you don’t like (ie. granola bars with marshmallows, not a huge fan of marshmallows unless with s’mores.) or even too much of something.
Thus, Alyssa told me to start opting for products with the least amount of ingredients, ie. if you’re going to eat ice cream, go for plain vanilla rather than flavoured because flavoured has way more sugar. Opt for plain yogourt and add what you want; berries, granola and chia/hemp seeds can all be added yourself. If you’re going to eat yogourt, opt for greek yogourt because it’s higher in protein. This is perfect for me because I am a pescetarian and don’t always get the right amount of protein in my diet.
-If you don’t have time to wash kale before work than you can pick up some frozen kale, avocado, and even coconut, it’s a great way to throw these superfoods into your smoothies.
-I’m a huge fan of orange juice but I need to start drinking it with pulp because you’re getting more fiber and less sugar.
-If you’re going to eat a lot of anything, eat organic (ie. cheese, eggs)
-Hemp seeds are a great source of plant based protein and you can easily add to your smoothies, salads and yogourt parfaits. The hemp hearts pictured in this post are easy to incorporate into your diet, just sprinkle a bit on top of your favourite foods.
-You shouldn’t be drinking Gatorade or Powerade because they’re loaded with sugar, alternative? Blue Menu flavoured waters are great if you’re craving that fizz.
-Go for real maple syrup opposed to refined sugar, and be careful which maple syrup you pick out, read the ingredients because some are actually disguised as corn syrup, AKA, sugar.
-Be careful with granola bars because they’re loaded sugar, want a healthy alternative? Lara bars are a good go-to.
-Craving sugar? Opt for dates with almond butter and cinnamon, the great thing about this tasty snack is you only need one because it’s so sweet. Alyssa gave me tip and I can’t wait to try it out. Also, check out her website for more healthy recipes.
-Whole wheat is always better for you, opt for brown rice instead of white, whole wheat spaghetti is an easy way to get your pasta and carbs in. Don’t cut out carbs completely, they give you energy, just go for the right carbs.
-Always look for high fiber and hemp which provides protein.
-Love munching on crackers? Go for Ryvita.
-Instead of eating Cheerio’s every morning for breakfast (oops!), opt for Protein Whole Grain Cereal because it’s loaded with fiber which helps reduce cholesterol. Always opt for Steel Cut Oats because the oat fiber helps reduce cholesterol, and it’s an easy breakfast option you can make in 2 minutes. Perfect for when you need to get to work quickly but want a filling meal to start your day off right.
I really hope you’ve learned something in this post, I know I have, to be honest, I always thought I ate quite healthy but I learned what I need to cut out of my diet and what to replace it with.
Thank you to President’s Choice for partnering with me on this post.
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