Real Food

Real Food For Real Families

Grab your favourite cooking utensils and give your family favourites a natural makeover!  These are tips to have the whole family eating healthier.

  • Avoid processed foods – White bread, white pasta, white rice, store-bought cookies, chips…  Food processing reduces the overall nutritional value, particularly vitamin and mineral content, and leaves us with foods relatively high in calories and low in nutrients.  In addition, processed foods often contain hydrogenated fats, which you want to avoid!
  • Avoid additives – Read labels carefully and avoid ingredients with a “chemical” name. 
  • Fresh is best – Focus on fruits, vegetables and whole grain products, and on freshness and quality.  Go organic as much as possible.
  • Shop selectively and locally– Shop the outside aisles of the grocery store. 

Now for the Fun!

To start, use the table below to improve your family’s favourites or create new ones. You’ll find most ingredients in the health section of your local grocery store or bulk barn.

HEALTHY SUBSTITUTES FOR OLD FAITHFULS

Remove Refined
Processed Foods

Replace with these healthier choices

White flour

Whole wheat, rye, spelt, or multi-grain flour

Sugar sweetened cereals

No sugar added cereals

White rice

Brown rice, barley, spelt kernels, or quinoa

Sugar sweetened jam

Fruit juice sweetened jam, or mashed berries

Sugar sweetened fruit juices

No sugar added fruit juices diluted with filtered water, or freshly squeezed

Margarine

Light Butter (use sparingly) or mix half light butter with ½ olive oil to cut back on saturated fats. Can also substitute flaxseed oil for the olive oil if you are not cooking, keep refrigerated.

Shortening, palm oil

Expeller pressed Olive oil, organic cold pressed canola oil & nut oils

Commercial Peanut butter with sugar added and Hazelnut butter alternatives

Peanuts only peanut butter, or other nut butter. Purchase hazel nut butter on it’s own (health store) and add cocoa powder and a little agava or brown rice syrup to taste.
Experiment with making your own at your local health store.

Canned fruit

Fresh fruit or flash frozen with no added sugars

White/Brown sugar, Artificial Sweetener – Splenda, Sugar Twin, etc.

Honey, maple syrup, stevia, molasses, sucanate, agava agava, rapadura, brown rice syrup

Canned/Packaged soups/broths

Homemade soup/broths

Store bought cookies

Homemade cookies with whole grains

Table salt (Example: Windsor Brand)

Grey Sea salt, local herbs and spices

White bread

Multi-grain bread

Potato chips/Other unhealthy snacks

Baked low sodium tortilla chips (easy to make your own too), unsalted Nuts & seeds

Regular eggs

Omega 3 Free-range eggs/ Organic eggs

Farmed salmon

Wild salmon(available in can all year long)

Flavoured/Sweetened yogurt

Organic plain yogurt (add fresh fruit if you like)

Recipe Nutritional Analysis per serving should be

  • Low in sugar; less then 5 grams (1 tsp) per serving,
  • less than 2.5 grams of saturated fat, trans fat free,
  • good source of fibre , at least 3 grams or more
  • 100% Natural Whole foods ingredients