One of our favorite parts of summer and early fall here at Shakti Sage, is shopping for produce at our local farmers’ markets. We are very fortunate that there are many in our area, including the Ladner Market and the various Vancouver farmers markets.

One of the reasons we love to eat locally, is that we can become friends with and support local farmers. As we all become increasingly used to big box stores and ordering merchandise online, it can sometimes be easy to forget that there are people and lives behind the food that ends up on our table.

One such family has been providing healthy, organic fruits and vegetables for tables here in BC for more than three decades. Organic farming is definitely not a flashy trend that the Forstbauer’s from Chilliwack have just caught onto. They’ve been farming organically for over 30 years! In the late 1990s they also began to farm biodynamically. (You can read more about biodynamic farming here.)

It can’t ever be easy to be a farmer, and at a time when Statistics Canada is finding a steep decline in the number of family farms in our country, we suspect it’s even more difficult than ever. Luckily there are still a few people, like the Forstbauer’s, who are passionate about healthy food and healthy families.

Why not hug your favorite local farmer this week? Better yet, buy some of his great produce!

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan
life & business coach for women
inspiration * clarity * wisdom * enchantment
www.shaktisage.com
604-323-3700

“Coaching for your heart & soul & the heart and soul of your business.”

Choices Market is a locally owned and operated grocery store here in the Vancouver area (they just recently added a new store in the BC Interior town of Kelowna, as well). As Western Canada’s largest retailer of natural and organic foods, Choices has always been a leader in the local business community and have always placed a focus on supporting local growers and producers. They have also led the way in making choices (pun intended) and taking action to ensure that their stores operate in the most sustainable way possible.

And they listen to their customers! (How often do you encounter that in a large retailer these days?) Choices customers have voiced their opinion that less packaging is better, and as usual, Choices is listening. They’ve created the Sustainability Program.

From their web site (choicesmarket.com): The Choices Sustainability Program will allow proactive Brand Owners the opportunity to fully close the recycling loop.

The program is simple.

* Select Brand Owners will approve the return of all their packaging to Choices Recycling Centre
* Shelf signs with the Choices Recycling Centre logo will be placed in front of products that may be returned to Choices Recycling Centre
* Consumers return authorized packaging to the Choices Recycling Centre
* Packaging is collected by the Choices Recycling Centre and sent off to the appropriate recycling depot
* Any revenues for collected materials will be donated to local charities.

Choices Markets strives to take responsibility for the full life cycle of the products we sell. We are proud to incorporate this program into our store and we are excited to be an integral part of the solution.

From everyone here at Shakti Sage, congratulations once again to a community leader, Choices Market, for a great idea and for taking one more step toward a fully sustainable future.

namaste,
Zoey

Zoey Ryan
life & business coach for women
inspiration * clarity * wisdom * enchantment
www.shaktisage.com
604-323-3700

“Coaching for your heart & soul & the heart and soul of your business.”

More often these days when we see articles about the so-called “Super Foods” that are good for us and provide excellent health benefits (walnuts for their omega-3 fatty acid, avocados for their good fats and vitamin E, dark chocolate (yeah!) for its antioxidant flavonoids, which reduce the inflammation associated with cardiovascular disease etc.) we see Quinoa mentioned. But until recently we were a little intimidated to pronounce the word, let alone cook with it.

Thankfully we got over that. The word is pronounced keen-wa, and it is a pseudocereal closely related to beets and spinach. The Incas referred to quinoa as the “mother of all grains”, and we wonder if that is because of its nutritional benefits. The good news is that mainstream grocery stores have caught on to the benefits and popularity of quinoa and are stocking in on their shelves. You won’t have to go too far afield to find it.

Quinoa is a great source of protein, and contains a balanced set of amino acids (unlike wheat and rice, which are low in lysine). It’s a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free, which makes it a great alternative food source for those with wheat or gluten allergies.

So now, what do you do with quinoa?

Well, first of all, it’s a great substitute for rice. Anytime you’re planning to have rice on the side of a meal, try some quinoa instead. It’s easy to prepare too:
• simply bring 2/3 cup water to boil
• add 1/3 cup quinoa
• turn off the heat under the pot
• stir the quinoa in the water briefly
• put the lid on the pot and leave stand for 30 minutes.

(If you increase the recipe, simply always use double the amount of water to the amount of quinoa you’re using.)

One of our favorite ways to eat quinoa is to prepare what we call “Quinoa Salad”, which is essentially a tabouleh recipe that uses quinoa instead of bulgar wheat. (Google ‘tabouleh’ and find a recipe that you like.) It keeps well in the fridge and can be eaten cold as a side salad. We often top it just before eating with slivered almonds and a bit of feta cheese.

Yum! Healthy eating never tasted so good.

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan
life & business coach for women
inspiration * clarity * wisdom * enchantment
www.shaktisage.com
604-323-3700

“Coaching for your heart & soul & the heart and soul of your business.”

Coffee shops are ubiquitous here in Vancouver. We are after all just 200 km north of the birthplace of Starbucks. The good news among all this caffeine and biscotti is that there is a locally owned and operated coffee company here that is making a huge difference to the local community.

Blenz Coffee’s first store was opened in 1992 on Vancouver’s famous Robson Street. Since then Blenz has grown to have more than 85 stores in BC and internationally. This coffee retailer has also taken giving back to a whole new level.

Blenz Cares is a program developed by the founders of Blenz Coffee that is so elegant and simple, we can’t believe someone didn’t think of it years ago. It works like this: when you order a bag of coffee or tea from the Blenz Cares web site, you set up the charity of your choice (or choose one from a list on the site). Each month a cheque for the net proceeds from all your purchases is sent to your chosen charity. So, for example, if you buy one bag of Machu Picchu whole beans for $16, $7.28 will be sent to the charity of your choice. It’s that simple.

Some of the charities who presently benefit from this program are the TB Vets, Canuck Place Children’s Hospital, the Arthritis Society, the Alzheimer’s Society, and Rotary International. Imagine purchasing coffee for your office knowing that each cup you drink gives back to those in need. For more info please visit blenzcares.com.

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan
life & business coach for women
inspiration * clarity * wisdom * enchantment
www.shaktisage.com
604-323-3700

“Coaching for your heart & soul & the heart and soul of your business.”

Question of the week: what is your relationship to food?  Do you think of food as nourishing, do you have a love/hate relationship, does eating scare you, do you love food?

I grew up in a household where my mom (of German descent and who grew up in the Depression) loved to cook.  Not only did she love to cook but I figured out after she passed away, that one of the ways she showed us all love was with food.  We had alot of family feasts, usually Sunday at noon and for all the major religious holidays.  The rest of the time, I recall the food was basic and simple.  We seldom ate in restaurants or had “store bought” food.  While I would give anything now for mom’s homemade chocolate chip cookies, at the time, I felt embarassed to bring home made food to school for snacks.

I would say that I have had a conflicted relationship with food until my late twenties.  AT this time, instead of focusing my eating on how not to gain weight, I switched to making friends with my body and eating for health and nourishment.  It felt like a whole new world opened up!

I still “feast” for special occasions and sometimes feels like it would be easy to get pulled back into the love/hate thing with food, however most of the time my eating relationship feels balanced and nourishing.

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan

coach . catalyst . shakti sage

life & business coach for women

“Coaching for your heart & soul and the heart & soul of your business”

www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com

Please feel free to share your comments!

What is your favourite summer food and why?