Once a New York City It Girl, Alyssa Schottland-Bauman used to spend her days covering fashion shows and art openings for a glossy magazine, and her nights dining and drinking out.
But even as she lived a glamorous life in the fast lane, she twigged to the effect of an unbalanced diet.
Her nephew was falling behind in school; his teachers suggested everything from Ritalin to speech and occupational therapy. After doing some research, Schottland-Bauman helped her sister revamp the family's diet.
"We totally cleaned out the pantry," she remembers. They replaced convenience foods like mac and cheese, chicken nuggets and pizza with homemade meals that included lentils, beans and brown rice. They got rid of the candy and chocolate milk and instead focused on fresh fruit and juices.
"He did so well. It was inspiring." Soon the teachers were calling to say they had never seen such an improvement; who was his doctor? What meds was he on?
"I realized: the body has an amazing ability to heal itself given the chance."
She began to implement the same principles into her own diet.
When she moved to Vancouver as a newlywed in 2001, she was further inspired by the outdoor lifestyle she discovered here.
"There is not as much of a 'live to work' focus. Instead, people work to live."She realized that her own philosophies about healthy living were a perfect fit for her new hometown, and that she could help others achieve the same kind of balance.
"I never thought I wanted to be the girl who helped other people. But it's awesome - I love it. "If we all brought health to the forefront, we would be much better, much happier for it."
She pursued training and received degrees in holistic and clinical nutrition. She's now working on her master's degree.
She puts it all to use at her health consulting firm, Nourished.
, Schottland-Bauman meets with her clients twice a month to counsel, and offer guidance and tips. They include busy moms who need assistance with meal organization and planning, women who want to get over their weight issues, and women who need more energy and want mental clarity.
"I didn't set it up to be exclusively for women," she explains. "But women are the caretakers."
She teaches them why what we eat matters, and for those who are moms, the importance of setting the right example for children.
Although her counseling isn't all about food, it starts there.
"Food is only one form of nourishment. Love, relationships, career, exercise, creativity . . . we get into all of it. We have a good time and the process is fun and enlightening."
For more information about Nourished, visit www.nourished.ca.
MENU PLANNING
It's not as difficult or expensive as you might think to provide a healthy menu for your family, says Alyssa Schottland-Bauman, or Nourished.
"It's not that much more time consuming than going to McDonald's and picking up something crappy.
"There is time, we just have to make it."
As for the expense, "if you keep track of what you spend on lunches out or eaten at your desk for a week, it would probably pay most of your organic grocery bill for lunch and dinner for the same amount of time."
Here are just a few of her tips.
- Plan menus and grocery shop for them once a week.
- Once home from the grocery store, turn up the music and get the kids involved: chop vegetables and put them into Tupperware containers. This saves prep time for the entire week.
- Double dinner recipes, rework leftovers for lunch, or freeze for a future dinner.
- On Sunday night, make a huge pot of brown rice or quinoa-this can be the base for several meals through the week.
