The Whole Story

Whole foods are unprocessed and unrefined and do not contain added ingredients such as sugar, salt, or fat. Whole foods require less packaging and less processing, saving on energy gas emissions, chemical use, and waste.

There are several ways to meet the body's needs with respect to whole foods. One way is to consume a variety of fresh raw fruits and vegetables each day.

In the book, David Suzuki's Green Guide, the authors David Suzuki and David Boyd offer the following suggestions:

• Substitute raw nuts and seeds for potato chips.

• Choose fresh fruit instead of juice. If you decide to drink juice, remember that more pulp means nutritional value is retained.

• Snack on raw vegetables, such as carrots, cherry tomatoes, and sugar peas.

• When eating out, choose whole potatoes or side salads instead of french fries.

• Eat 100% whole wheat bread instead of white bread.

• Buy plain yogurt and add your own fruit; many flavoured yogurts are more like desserts than health foods.

• Eat hot oatmeal with dried fruits, nuts, and ground flaxseed for breakfast.

• Stevia, raw honey, and maple syrup are sweeteners often used in place of white sugar in a whole foods diet.
  

• Sea salt is also preferred over table salt.
  

Flavored Water On A Budget

Most diets recommend drinking at least 8 glasses of water each day. In her book, Joy's Life Diet, Joy Bauer suggests that we drink two 8-ounce glasses before lunch and two 8-ounce glasses before dinner. The remaining glasses of water can be enjoyed anytime during the day.

To create a bit of variety, Bauer offers the following simple tips for creating calorie-free, naturally flavored waters.

Start with a glass of cold or sparkling water and add one of the following combos:

• Slice of lemon and sprig of thyme.

• Slice of lemon and sprig of rosemary.

• Slice of cucumber and several bruised fresh mint leaves.

• Slice of orange and slice of lime.

• Slice of lime and several bruised fresh mint leaves.

• 2 sliced strawberries and several bruised fresh mint leaves.

• Slice of grapefruit and 1 bruised/crushed stalk lemongrass.

• Slice of grapefruit and 1 sprig rosemary.
  

Flavored Coffee On A Budget

Coffee appears on the Unlimited Beverage List for most diets. That is, black coffee with no natural or artificial sweeteners. In her book, Joy's Life Diet, Joy Bauer also includes naturally flavored zero-calorie coffees on her list.



Before brewing a 6-8 cup pot of coffee, consider the following tips:

• Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon to create a cinnamon coffee.

• Add 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg to create a nutmeg coffee.

• Add 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice to create an autumn harvest coffee.
  

Mix the following extracts into a brewed 6-8 cup pot of coffee:

• Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to create a vanilla coffee.

• Add 1/4 teaspoon almond extract to create an almond coffee.
  

For an extra-special treat, make Bauer's Funky Monkey Coffee Drink.

Ingredients

3/4 cup cold coffee
1/2 peeled medium banana, sliced and frozen
1 tbsp chocolate syrup
1/4 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt

Procedure

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend thoroughly. Makes one serving.

Sharing Recipes--Baked Tilapia

Tilapia is a white-fleshed fish that is mild in flavour and is a great choice for a low carb or any healthy diet. It can be grilled, fried, steamed, broiled, or baked.

This easy-to-prepare recipe uses few ingredients and is flavourful.

Ingredients

4 tilapia fillets
2 egg whites
4 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp romano cheese
1 tbsp parsley
1/2 cup melted margarine (or butter)
salt and pepper ( to taste)
bread crumbs

Procedure

• Beat egg whites, water, cheese, salt, pepper, and parsley.
• Marinade fish for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Grease a cookie sheet with the margarine (or butter).
  
• Remove fillets from marinade and coat with bread crumbs.
• Bake for 8 minutes on each side.

Makes 4 servings

Cut Clutter

According to professional organizer, Peter Walsh, clothing clutter is the most common problem faced by households. When it comes to clothes, it is seldom an issue of not enough space. The real issue is simply too much stuff, and that's where we need to look for the solution to the clothing clutter.

In his book, "It's All Too Much", Walsh provides the following tips:

• If you have unworn clothes that have been in your closet longer than six months, give them away to a worthwhile charity or take them to a consignment shop.

• Almost everyone has "wish clothes" in their closets. These are the clothes that could be worn if 10 to 20 pounds were lost. Any clothes that no longer fit should be removed from the closet. If you lose weight, reward yourself with clothes that are in style.

• If you have too many shoes, consider discarding one pair for every five pairs you own. In the future, whenever you buy a pair of shoes, discard a pair of shoes.

• Don't let discarded outfits accumulate on a chair or dresser. Put them away as soon as you reject them.

• Jewelry may be small, but it can be difficult to store neatly. Throw away all those little jewelry boxes and get rid of anything you don't wear, regardless of how valuable it may be. Place your entire collection in one box, separating necklaces, rings, bracelets, and earrings.

• Each month, take time to purge, donate and consign extra items of clothing.
  

Dieting on a Budget

If we are strategic, it is possible to diet healthy on a budget. By choosing the right kinds of food, investing in appropriate kitchen tools, and planning ahead, we can become trim and fit.

Nutrition expert, Joy Bauer, has a number of useful tips which can be easily implemented:

Eat like a vegetarian. Lentils and eggs are low in calories and high in fibre.

Pinch pennies on produce. Bauer suggests that we buy whatever fruits and vegetables are in season. Apples, oranges, grapefruit, and bananas are always available and usually last for a week or so. The cheapest vegetables are broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, celery, and onions.

Switch to frozen. Many of us have grown up believing that frozen fruits and vegetables have fewer nutrients. But, that is not the case. Because these foods are flash frozen at their peak, they contain the same amount of nutrients as their fresh counterparts. Frozen vegetables can save dinner-prep time since washing and cutting are not required. Frozen fruit can be used in smoothies, low-fat muffins, yogurts, and salads.

Sharpen our tools. Many experienced cooks suggest that we should invest in a chopping knife, a utility knife, and a sharpener. If they are kept razor sharp, we can power through a stack of vegetables very quickly.

Chew sugarless gum. According to Bauer, this is a healthy vice. Sugarless gum will send a blast of flavour to our taste buds and prevent us from nibbling on cookies or other sweets. And, four out of five dentists recommend chewing sugarless gum after eating if we don't have a toothbrush handy.

Plan ahead. It takes less than 20 minutes to make a list and check the flyers for sales and coupons. This will avoid any junk food or unnecessary purchases.

Buy in bulk. Many foods like spices, rice, and whole grain pasta can be found in bulk bins; money will be saved since there is little packaging. Bauer suggests that we buy as much as possible in large containers and then reportion the items at home.

On the Right Paper Trail

According to Greenpeace Canada, the best environmental purchase is a "recycled tissue product with recyclable packaging." If every household in Canada replaced one roll of virgin-forest toilet paper with one roll of recycled paper, we would save about 48,000 trees, 3, 200 cubic metres of landfill space, and 65.5 million litres of water. If we add in recycled tissues and paper towels, the numbers become even more mind boggling and we would succeed in saving more forests and conserving more water.

One of the best ways to encourage more manufacturers to produce environmentally sustainable products is to use our buying power to support the ones that already do. But, we must be careful to support only those companies that are fully committed to producing truly eco-friendly products. We need to read the fine print on the packaging and become more aware of the different catchphrases that exist in the industry.

Pre-consumer recycled These materials come from manufacturing leftovers, either at the paper mill or the factory. They are, however, still derived directly from trees rather than from reused sources.

Post-consumer recycled These materials have been used by consumers and come from old newspapers and other paper products collected and recycled in blue-box systems. When purchasing household products with post-consumer content, we are supporting local recycling programs.

Biodegradable A product that is biodegradable will break down and return to its natural components. This process could take centuries if the material buried under a landfill and not exposed to sunlight, air, and moisture. And, some substances could break down into harmful environmental toxins.

Recyclable This means the product is recyclable, but not necessarily in our own towns or cities.

Chlorine-free Many manufacturers still bleach paper with chlorine, a potentially harmful chemical that seeps into our water system and is linked to respiratory illnesses. We should buy products with the following labels on the packages: TCF (totally chlorine free) or PCF (processed chlorine free).