A lot of people don’t touch restaurant mints because of the germ factor–but here’s another reason why you should leave them alone: they’re not real food!

Behold an average ingredient list for mints:

Sugar, invert sugar, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soybean oil, sorbital, salt, oil of peppermint, natural and artificial butter flavour, lecithin, Red 40, Blue

Unless you really have a craving for artificial butter flavour and Blue, my advice is to leave the mints alone!

Instead of buying lunch on Thursday February 26, 2009, consider donating it! 

Check out this website for more info on Second Harvest’s Lunch Money Day 

Big thank to Breanna for bringing this worthwhile cause to my attention!

Whether you’re diet rehab-bing, vegan, vegetarian or maybe just have severe allergies, you spend a lot of time thinking about food. As I have noted in previous entries, going out for the day is difficult if you have any dietary concerns and there are times when brown-bagging is the only way to go.  

I have also mentioned how difficult eating out can be–it’s difficult to find appropriate items on the menu.  But it’s also hard to wave goodbye to your social life just because you’re choosing to eat differently.  What’s the happy medium?

After trying a few vegan/vegetarians restaurants myself, I understand why carnivores prefer not to dine at them (apart from the odd self-righteous vegan and canvas shoe–wink). Since the majority of my friends and family are meat-eaters I feel that if I’m invited to someone’s place, it’s my duty to mention if I’m not eating meat or if I have an allergy to something and I would follow up that up with an offer to bring something to the dinner party.  

Going to a restaurant is different–or so I thought. The other evening–at a high-end Toronto restaurant known for steak and seafood–I noticed a woman pull out a tupperware container and start to eat her dinner. I was appalled and thought that it was the height of rudeness.  

Why would she agree to come to that particular restaurant if she’s vegan/vegetarian? If her friends really wanted to eat with her (but also have meat) wouldn’t it have been better for her (the veggie) to eat at home and maybe just order a salad and a drink while her friends ate dinner? Or, remind her friends that she doesn’t eat meat and suggest they dine somewhere else? 

I would love to know your opinions on this issue–am I totally wrong?

I know a lot of people hate Starbucks, but I have to commend them for providing some healthy food.  Fortunately, there are a lot of healthy alternatives to the donut.  Not only do they have raw, unsalted nuts, but they also let their customers customize their drinks.  This means that you can elminate fat and calorie-laden extras like cream, flavour shots and syrups.  2%, skim and non-fat milk are always available and can make a difference of up to 300 calories.  

In addition to the usual breakfast foods like the healthy cookie, yoghurt and fresh fruit salad, Starbucks is now offering oatmeal!  

I have yet to find nutritional information online for this new treat, but I can tell you for sure that it should be low in fat and full of fiber.

I’ll try to find out how they make it–hopefully it’s just with hot water and not milk.  If it is made with milk, try  nixing the dried fruit that they put on top, don’t add any sweeteners save for honey or raw sugar.  And, if you must top it with something, try cinnamon.

If you have info, pass it on!

The good news is that with the cleanse complete (yes, complete!), I feel a genuine sense of accomplishment. I also feel like I’ve learned a great deal about myself, my relationship with food, nutrition and   discovered a bunch of new foods and recipes.

The worst part is that last night–with the cleanse finished–I went to a local pub with friends after work.  I was not really in the mood for drinks so I stuck to my usual–soda water and lemon.  A couple of hours later, though, I started to feel hungry…and the pub menu was sooooo tempting.

I ended up having a vegetarian pizza. It was really, really good.  Hot, melty cheese, spices and a crispy, thin crust.  I didn’t suffer any physical side effects from eating the pizza, but I felt so guilty–pizza is NOT a whole food and my resolution is to eat, whole food–organic and local where possible. Having eaten some pizza, I started to panic that now the cleanse is over I’m going to go mad with food and put on weight.  

I know that the cleanse is about health–not weight loss–but I guess I just wasn’t prepared for the worry, the guilt and the remorse that comes with eating “bad” foods. Clearly, my relationship with food is not as amicable as I thought.  I do not want to have to maintain all of my prescribed eliminations–but I also do not want to feel guilty about eating foods I enjoy.  I am going to have to speak with Meghan about this once she returns from holiday. 

In the meantime, do you have any advice?

Thanks to Breanna, my friend Nicki and I went to Cafe 668 to beat the cold weather.

While the location of this restaurant is a bit odd (885 Dundas St., West), it’s worth visiting. The atmosphere is relaxed and while the waiter wore jeans, a dress would not be out of place (for me, not the waiter).

Let me tell you how great it is to go to a restaurant where I can eat almost anything off the menu. Everything looked so good, but we finally settled on soup, some black bean eggplant and taro wrapped yam.  Things were a little bit pricey (we paid $50), but for the sake of this post, we did order more than we usually would. Normally, the soup alone would suffice as the portions are very generous.

I have only two criticisms:

First, the bathrooms–while clean–have very low ceilings and I bumped by head. I’m tall-ish for a girl, but I was wearing flats.

Second, there were a lot of foods in quotes on the menu. You know, brown rice and assorted vegetables with your choice of  ”beef”, “chicken”, or “salmon”.  I hate it when vegetarian food is made into “meat.” I may be wrong, but for the most part, I’m assuming that since vegetarians have chosen to give up meat, they would not want to eat things that look and feel like meat, but don’t taste like meat.

While I normally prefer to head out to restaurants that serve meat, fish and vegetarian entrees, Cafe 668 is an excellent vegetarian/vegan alternative. The food is well-flavoured, fresh and they offer a lot of choice–including vegetable sides that can be steamed or stir-fried (Meghan would be so proud!)

Normally, vegetarian restaurants get a bit of a thumbs-down from me, especially when they serve “meat”, but the final verdict for Cafe 668 is Four Thumbs Up–two from me and two more from Nicki.

Not into restaurants and prefer to cook at home? No problem! Check out these courses from Meghan Telpner:

Cooking Party Program

February 17th (Tuesday) marks the start of my 4-week cooking program. If you can’t commit to four Tuesday, you are free and welcome to choose just one that fits with your schedule or split it with a friend where you can each come to two. How awesome is that?  $210.00 for four classes, $60.00 for a single. Book it! or  Click here for more info.

March 1st or April 5th, (Sunday) 2:00-4:00m. A splendid afternoon full of yummy food and lifestyle altering information. Get easy, simple and quick ways to healthyify your life every day of the week with minimal time and effort. Learn the secrets to my ridiculously healthy way of life and how you can apply them to your own.  $55.00 Book it! or  Click here for more info.

Kensington Market is a great place to source some spices and specialty teas. Since the weather in Toronto is especially cold right now (about -18), I was happy to take a break for lunch.  Fortunately, it’s not too hard to find vegetarian–even vegan–food in the Market. 

I was pleased to note that my friends are sensitive to my current diet and have stopped suggesting places like The Keg or Swiss Chalet for meals.   I knew of a place I wanted to go, but I was worried it might be too vegan for him; he tends to eat things like frozen, processed beef patties for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  

I took him to The Herbivore (64 Oxford Street, Toronto On, 416-927-1231),where they serve some great soups, salads and sandwiches.  We both ate the vegan curry (see above), which was tasty, hearty and filling.  Plus, it is affordable–for two curries and rice we paid $15.00.  

My lunch mate enjoyed the curry very much–even the black rice (please see evidence below). While at first he thought that white would have been better, he agreed with me that the texture of black rice is pleasing–some would say superior. 

If you’re looking for a good veggie lunch, head to Kensington Market, Toronto.

If you’re looking for a good veggie dinner, I don’t know where to send you. So far, all of the vegan/vegetarian restaurants I have found in downtown Toronto are overpriced–which is weird since these restaurants are also super casual.  It’s not that I always want to be in heels and a dress (well, secretly I do), but neither do I want to be in a restaurant filled with guitar cases, backpacks and canvas shoes. If you know of a great/upscale-ish veggie restaurant in Toronto where a dress and heels would not be out of place, please let me know!

I’ve had a hard weekend food-wise.

I was doing really well until Friday morning. I had an early start and my dad took me for breakfast.  I looked at the menu for ages trying to find something without eggs.  There were a few options, but I didn’t think they were very good alternatives.  Low-fat yoghurt, for example, is often filled with loads of unnecessary additions like aspartame and artifically produced vitamin additives.

I had a difficult decision to make.  Do I eat an egg, or do I keep my vegan lifestyle by eating a muffin and yoghurt with unknown and unnatural ingredients?

I chose the egg. I had it poached and fruit on the side.  I’m not sure that I did the right thing, but my logic was that a whole food would be better than one that is processed.

When I was offered a coffee, I declined–but only after considering that since I was eating an egg, the diet was pretty much shot.  And then from somewhere I heard a little Meghan voice telling me to “that just because [I]…something that isn’t necessarily in the plan, doesn’t mean [I] have to assume the day is shot and go all the way to the other side.”

I stuck with water and green tea but I feel like a bit of a failure.

Other than that, things are going well.  I’m still excited about cooking and I always have fresh, organic fruit and veggies around for snacks.  I still have to make a conscious effort to drink more water and I realized that I have to take a bottle of water with my everywhere (not a plastic bottle tho!)  since it is very easy to fall behind if I spend the day outside.

Thanks to the Inadvertent Gardener on Flickr for the photo

On Saturday I took a field trip with my friend Nicki to The Big Carrot natural food market (348 Danforth Ave.  in Toronto). It’s like any other regular grocery store–but better! It was a fresh food wonderland filled with organic produce and so many vegan and vegetarian options for a diet rehabber like me! 

We had a fantastic time–I picked up some fresh produce and tried two items from their vegetarian deli (salad rolls and a sesame and rice patty).  

The only thing I didn’t like about The Big Carrot was that I found many of the Carrot customers a little…on the pushy side.  It seems like every aisle we turned down, fellow shoppers came crashing into us and we did not get an apology! This got me thinking: when people (like me) spend a lot of their time thinking about their diet rehab, their food choices, reading labels and nutritional information, do they become a little self…involved?

I’m beginning to wonder if I have been a little too focussed on myself lately.  I feel really excited about the rehab–I feel good about the changes I’ve made and I feel really accomplished when I try a new recipe and discover how good it tastes.   It’s not that I want to show off (at least I don’t think it is), but I think my relationship with food is changing.

I used to try and avoid cooking with fat where possible. I always bought low-calorie or low-fat versions of my favorite foods.  Sometimes I ate indiscriminately, only to feel guilty and remorseful afterwards. At other times, I tried to stick to a ridiculously limited diet in an effort to make up for the dietary mistakes I had made previously.  

Now that I’m buying most of what I eat and preparing it myself, I am much more aware of what I’m putting into my body and this makes me feel like I have more control. It occurred to me that concentrating on a balanced diet–figuring out how to get protein and carbohydrates into every meal–makes me forget about counting calories and fat grams. I look forward to eating and I enjoy my food.  I still get tempted to veer off course now and then, but I no longer feel quite so scared to be around ‘forbidden’ foods.

My relationship with food is slowly improving. I hope I don’t damage any of my personal relationships along the way.

V8 has been a longtime favorite of mine.  It’s convenient, it’s inexpensive and it’s one of the healthier, more filling items available from a vending machine.

But it’s no match against freshly made veggie juice.

Unlike my veggie juice, V8 has a lot of added and unnecessary sugars added (11g) while my fresh juice only contains what’s naturally in the vegetable.  There is also a ton of sodium in V8–690 mg! Finally, there are only about 3g of fibre in a tin of V8 and I’m sure that my fresh juice had more than this. I’m no expert so I’m hoping that Meghan might be able to comment on this and add some of her nutritional insight.

Since last night was my final night of classes for the semester, I went to Fresh with my fellow classmate Nicki to celebrate…with veggie juice.

We both enjoyed Dr. Tomatoes–a blend of parsley, celery, red pepper, tomato, lemon, sea salt and freshly ground pink pepper.  I could have done with a bit more seasoning, but overall it was delicious and refreshing and Nicki agreed. 

The verdict: Four Thumbs-Up for fresh veggie juice! Two thumbs from me, two more from Nicki.