Welcome to my local kitchen, my ultimate pleasure. Just for a moment, I want you to forget that I stand for all the farmers in Ontario and the great food they grow. Today I want you to understand another reason why it is so important to cook from whole foods, from the garden. It’s for my health.

I’ve never been someone who eats because I want to be healthy. Who does that other than a sick person? My grandparents brought me up to eat from the garden and the neighbouring farms. That meant eating seasonally and buying what you need from people you trust. They also taught me how to cook, what flavour is all about and how to put love into everything I cook. Taking care of yourself through cooking is just another form of loving yourself and your family. This was what food used to be to the greater population, at least back then.

 

But as an adult, I run into many opportunities every day to eat fast and processed foods. Whenever I do, it doesn’t take long before I don’t feel very good – sometimes minutes. My mood flattens, my body sulks, my brain gets foggy, I feel bloated and often times, I don’t sleep properly. I hate that.

For me, when I am feeling good and then I eat the wrong food, it doesn’t take much for my body to tell me how bad it can feel. So I stay the course. But even I have to admit, it is getting much more difficult, but that is another story.

One other thing, I also exercise daily. Don’t know when I started but I do remember doing sit-ups on the hardwood floor in my bedroom when I was about 15 years old. When you feel good, exercise isn’t something dreadful, but it actually makes you feel better. It floods your body with those feel-good hormones – dopamine.

Bottom line is when I eat the whole foods way and exercise, I feel better, look better, am more successful and have better relationships. Yes, there have been ups and downs, especially with a career as a food writer, but overall, I’ve always been fairly consistent, pretty healthy and pretty happy.