Category Archives: All blog posts

Buying Organic on a Budget


I’m often asked questions by clients about how affordable it really is to eat healthfully, or more specifically to eat organically. Oprah recently had Michael Pollan (author of Food Rules , In Defense of Food, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma and contributor to the movie Food Inc.) on her show. And today, her website posted this article by an Oprah.com writer who attempted to follow the movie’s guidance AND stick to her budget.


I thought I’d share it with you, as it makes the case that while there are financial tradeoffs involved, they are not insurmountable, and can be readily overcome through cost savings in other budget areas. Beyond that, they are WORTH it, and we need to start thinking about finding the best quality as our objective when buying food as opposed to finding the lowest cost.

From a personal perspective, when my family converted to organic milk, I was a little worried about DOUBLING the cost of milk with two preschool-age milk-drinkers in the house. In truth the extra six or seven dollars a week for the two gallons they drink was easily recouped by cutting back on other things (like brewing my own coffee vs buying it from a coffee shop or taking a lunch vs. buying it at work one day a week). Once I’d convinced myself of the value of organic milk, these were pretty easy ideas to generate!

Organic meats took us a bit longer to try and I’m not 100% converted yet but I do now buy organic MOST of the time. Organic meat is definitely more expensive, so it’s helped us to view meat as something we need less of overall…and to really savor what we do buy.

That’s the whole game as far as I’m concerned…quality over quantity….excellence over frequency. It’s a process to change the way we’ve been taught to think about food (which I would paraphrase as “get as much of it as you can, as cheaply as possible”) but it’s nice to see other writers helping to explain that the effort is one worth undertaking.


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A meal to welcome spring


Spring has sprung here…or so it seems. We’ve had a gorgeous preview of spring this week with temperatures in the 60s and streets filled with children in short sleeves playing with abandon in the sunshine. That first breath of spring air always changes my palate in an instant. I am passionate about cooking seasonally, and days like we’ve had this week make me start to crave lighter, greener foods. I want to fire up the grill (without having to brush the snow off of it first!) and smell the char of a steak or the smoky edge of shrimp. I want to steam asparagus and toss salads of mixed greens with lemony vinaigrettes. Gone is my desire to spend the day near the stove stirring warm, comforting foods…the soups and stews that have satisfied and nourished our family through the cold and snowy days of winter here in the Midwest. Changing the foods on the table is like throwing off the comforter and quilts of winter to reveal crisp white sheets and light coverlets of spring. Aaaaah.

Tonight we’re having Mediterranean Grilled Vegetables on whole wheat flatbread. I’ll grill red, yellow and green peppers, a sweet Vidalia onion, some baby zucchini, and a handful of cherry tomatoes tossed in olive oil till the edges are charred and the pieces are crisp tender. I’ll grill the flatbread just until it’s warm and spread it with hummus and top it with the grilled vegetables, a sprinkle of goat cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic reduction. And we’ll have that green salad with shallot-lemon vinaigrette I’ve been craving all day. If I weren’t pregnant I’d open a bottle of bright, crisp Sauvignon Blanc and toast to the joy of our spring preview…as it is, I’ll make do with a bottle of Pellegrino and a twist of lime. 😉

I’m afraid we’ll be back to soups and stews for a few more weeks before spring is here for REAL but with a dinner like this to whet our appetite, I’ll spend those weeks poring through cookbooks for ideas to take advantage of the first spring harvests.

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Healthy Disney

I’ve just returned from a week-long vacation to Disney World in Orlando, FL (which explains my brief absence from blogging). With a 5 year old and 2 1/2 year old, it just doesn’t get much better than a week at Disney! The kids had a ball and so did we. Seeing Disney through the eyes of a child is amazing…princesses and castles become real…the sun always shines…and brief encounters with classic characters are preserved for a lifetime in photos.

As you might imagine, since I’m a food coach and health counselor, I was especially intrigued by the dining options we’d find in the parks during our stay. Would we be relegated to a week of chicken nuggets and french fries? Or would there be healthier options for us and our kids that would help us return home feeling as good as when we left? In truth, I was pleasantly surprised with what we found.

While there are certainly countless venues that sell chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, pizza, or burgers…..nearly all of these outlets ALSO have salad options (with the dressing conveniently offered on the side), deli sandwiches, or veggie burgers. Kids meals come standard with fruit or veggies (grapes or applesauce or carrot sticks) and milk, water, or juice – and menus state that fries and soda are available upon request.

Sit-down restaurants offer even healthier fare – tons of grilled fish and chicken, fresh vegetables and salads. Even mobile kiosks in the parks sell prepackaged bags or cartons of grapes, celery and carrots, and of course, bottled water.

Our favorite lunch experience was at Sunshine Seasons in the Land Pavilion at Epcot where I had a delicious Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese salad and a cup of vegetarian vegetable soup. What a delightful respite in our very busy day! We had several wonderful dinners of mahi mahi, grouper, and corbina (a fish caught locally off the coast of Florida).

We also took advantage of our in-room refrigerator in the hotel and made a stop at a local grocery store to stock up on breakfast basics and some healthy snacks. This let us have our normal high fiber, low sugar cereal with fresh fruit and organic milk to start the day (and saved us from paying high prices for hotel or park breakfasts to boot). We bought hummus and veggies and pita chips, some cheese and crackers and more fruit to have on hand for afternoon snacks. I’m so glad we did this because we always had good choices nearby that helped to keep our bodies feeling normal during our week away from home.

All that said, it wouldn’t be vacation without a few extra indulgences, so we all dug into our favorites over the course of the week. Mine was definitely Dole Whip from the Aloha Plantation in Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland. Whoever invented this frozen pineapple concoction should be canonized – it’s amazing! Seriously, there are fan sites all over the internet dedicated to this hard-to-find dessert. YUM.

My daughter loved her Mickey shaped ice cream bar at the park and cherished her chance to order chicken nuggets and, yes, french fries, for lunch! Our son chomped through the messiest red lollipop EVER and had an in room ice cream party with is sister and grandparents one night when my husband and I went out to dinner. My husband ordered a hot dog and fries while watching the parade that he described as “amazing”!

So all told, a great week that left me feeling like Disney understands how to offer a good mix of healthy fare AND vacation-worthy indulgences throughout the park system. Would we really expect anything less from Disney?

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