Healthy meal plans should include organic foods as often as possible.

It’s true that organic foods (especially produce) are a bit more expensive than conventional foods, but for some foods, you really don’t want to skimp. If you are diligent when it comes to your grocery shopping, then you’ll know healthy meal plans that include organic foods are feasible if you catch weekly store specials.

Healthy meal plans that include organic foods are often easier to achieve if you visit your local farmers’ market because you’ll buy your produce directly from the farmer and you’ll save on the middle man charges.

I’ve covered many times the benefits of eating organic foods, but if you’ve missed any of the posts, I’ve written on the topic, I’ve included a few great recaps:

1) Foods experts NEVER eat

2) Organic celery is WAY better than conventional celery

3) Dr. Oz grocery shopping tips to buying organic foods

4) Quiz: Are you still buying as much organic food as before the recession?

5) Do you think that organic foods are safer for your health?

>>> Why should healthy meal plans that include organic foods?

Before going any further, I wanted to make sure I gave a quick explanation on the definition of organic foods.

Organic foods are foods grown or raised without the use of synthetic (chemically formulated) pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizers. This method of farming allows foods to grown in nature as they were intended. It’s been reported that conventional farmers in the United States spray 2 billion pounds of pesticides a year on crops to compensate for poor farming practices. All these pesticides inevitably end up in the foods you eat.

>>> Here are a few other facts about organic foods:

* Conventional produce tends to have fewer nutrients than organic produce (I learned that during a farm tour with Slow Foods).

* In fact, conventional produce may only have 83 per cent of the nutrients of organic produce. Studies have found significantly higher levels of nutrients such as vitamin C, iron, magnesium and phosphorus, and significantly less nitrates (a toxin) in organic crops.

* Some experts such as David Wolfe believe that organic foods might be the missing link to weight loss.

>>> How to include organic foods on a budget in your healthy meal plans:

There are some simple tips you can follow to include organic foods in your healthy meal plans that won’t break your food bank budget.

* Visit your local farmers’ market because you’ll not only get great deals on the produce, but you’ll also be able to get to know the person who grows your food.

*Make sure you check weekly flyers for deals on organic foods.

* There are loads of unannounced store specials and many organic foods once they are on sale are the same price as conventional … this is the perfect time for you to make the switch.

* Buy real foods and that will cut back on your food budget and allow you to buy more organic foods. Processed and pre-packaged meals/frozen dinners are quite expensive and can be easily prepared at home with the right set of recipes.

* Stop eating supersized portions! If you start eating normal size portions, you’ll logically eat less food and you’ll also need to buy less food. This means that you can allocate some of the dollars you were overspending on your foods bill to organic foods.

* You don’t have to buy all organic foods to start off. You might just want to start with the most important ones and work your way up. Many food experts believe that foods such as strawberries, apples (because most North Americans eat so many and they are heavily sprayed with pesticides), potatoes and milk should be organic. I switched to organic milk over a decade ago because a friend of mine advised me that as a woman … I should be concerned about the levels of hormones injected into conventional milk. I’ve never looked back and since then I also buy organic yogurt (which I often get on sale or use coupons to buy at a reduced price).

* If organic meats are beyond your budget, you might want to consider grain-fed or grass-fed meats which are a bit more reasonably priced, but they are so much better than conventional meats.

>>> The following two posts are excellent guides to help you determine which foods should be organic foods:

1) Dr. Oz grocery shopping tips to buying organic foods

2) Foods experts NEVER eat

Healthy meal plans that include organic foods are not an impossible task. You might have to do a bit more planning in advance, but in the long run … your body will thank you as you age.

Do you buy organic foods? Has the recession cut back your organic food budget or will you make concessions elsewhere in your life in order to keep eating organic foods?

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Healthy meal plans can really change the way your body functions.

Healthy meal plans aren’t just for people who want to lose weight, they are also for people looking to improve the quality of their lives by increasing the energy levels and hence their productivity. Healthy meal plans (or weight loss meal plans for those looking to shed some pounds) should be that complicated to integrate in your life if you try to keep your meal plans to real foods.

A lot of people are quite intimidated by the idea of having to prepare meals from scratch, but that’s the beauty of working with a healthy meal plan … you prepare yourself in such a way that you actually have a plan that allows you to have your weekly meals prepared in advance and you simply need to reheat food when you get home after a long day at work.

If you’ve never followed a healthy meal plan in the past, you might not know where to start. There are a few simple tips I can share with you, but I’d highly recommend that you looking into using a proper structure if you intend on making healthy meal plans part of your lifestyle as you age.

>>> Healthy meal plans to improve your quality of life:

1. Don’t diet, eat better: Dr. Oz has officially said that he doesn’t see anything wrong with dieting for a few weeks to kick start your metabolism and start losing weight, but you cannot survive on a diet for a long period of time because it’s impossible to live your life under such tight food restrictions. It’s best to learn how to eat real foods like vegetables, lean meats, fruits, healthy fats, fish, and low fat dairy products, seeds, and nuts. Include a fitness plan and you most likely will never have to think of another diet in your life.

2. Not all foods are created equally: If you ditch the junk foods and start eating essentials foods like:

* Protein (Choose lean protein more often than not)

* Carbohydrates (Stay away from refined carbs). The brain uses mostly carbohydrates. When you strip these from the diet to lose weight, your brain function slows and damage can occur. You will feel sluggish and lack energy. Concentrating on the smallest things will be difficult if you cut out carbs from your diet because the brain has no fuel to run on.

* Unsaturated fats (Go for extra virgin first press olive oil instead of vegetable oil)

* Raw nuts and seeds (You should not eat too much of these, but a small handful is quite healthy)

* Vegetables and fruits (If you eat a lot more veggies in your diet your health will improve in such a big way. Remember that it will be unlikely that you’ll get fat by overeating vegetables unless you eat them with a pound of butter)

* Drink water or green tea instead of pops. You’ll also want to keep the fruit juice to a minimum.

3. Eat smaller meals throughout the day: If you only eat one or three meals a day, you expose yourself to a few unwanted things: 1) binge eating because you get famished between meals 2) your body will hold on to every possible calorie because you don’t feed it sufficiently.

If you break you meals into smaller portions and eat four-six meals a day, you’ll have a better chance of dropping the weight and of burning more calories because you’ll automatically be boosting your metabolism. Remember that the body tends to store fat when it is deprived or there is no regular food schedule. It is out to preserve itself and the storing action is a way to make sure it has something to run on later when the food supply is not being given.

>>> Creating your healthy meal plans:

You can surely hire a nutritionist to help you plan, but you’ll have to account for the fees, which can be quite considerable.

If you want to learn how to take better control over your own health, why not learn from one of the best in the industry and build your own healthy eating plan. Meal planning does not have to be difficult to work through. The more you practice and work on it, the easier it will be every week to create.

>>> If you are looking for a proper structure if you intend on making healthy meal plans part of your lifestyle as you age, Precision Nutrition would be my recommended choice because I’ve been following the program for a long time now and the results are incredible. I was a healthy eater well before starting the Precision Nutrition, but the program has really helped me improve on my healthy even more and I can tell you with a word of a lie that I have not had a cold for a couple of years now … considered my long work days … I can only attribute this factor to the fact that I’m putting the right foods into my body.

* Precision Nutrition System: The Precision Nutrition System is a complete nutrition program containing seven guidebooks, a gourmet cookbook (Gourmet Nutrition), and access to member’s only resources. It’s everything you need to get into the shape of your life. From the strategies to the food!

Get ready to begin your new lifestyle with healthy meal plans and be as healthy as you can!

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I’ve never liked raw celery sticks! I’m sorry, but celery as a vegetable has never really excited me at all.

There I’ve said it! Yes, a healthy eating expert that doesn’t like a particular vegetable is shocking, I know.

I’ve always found celery sticks to be tasteless and I used to make an effort to eat them, but not before covering them with a lot of salt to try to give them some taste (which really is not the best idea).

I will buy celery to cook. I make a delicious and simple meat pie and I love adding loads of vegetables in my pie and cooked celery is one of my favourites!

A few days ago, I posted about a recent grocery market tour with Sam Graci at Whole Foods Market where he took me around the store to show me how to eat a balanced diet of pH-balanced foods.

>>> Here’s a photo of all the food I got from Whole Foods Market (I guess I can thank Sam Graci for helping me discover organic celery):

The highlight of the day (other than learning from one of the top experts in healthy eating and spending time with one of my favourite people in the industry) was going home with two big and heavy bags of mostly organic foods from Whole Foods Market!

The bags were filled with greens and I remember looking at the celery with little interest.

That said a few days after coming back home with all that good food, I found myself needing a quick and easy dinner so I grabbed some leftover chicken breast to prepare an open-face sandwich and decided to skip the organic blue corn chips and eat the organic celery and carrots.

I was automatically reaching for the salt with one hand while putting a piece of organic celery in my mouth with the other hand and I truly could not believe what was happening in my mouth.

I thought it was a mistake so I dropped the salt container, cut up another piece of organic celery and put into my mouth and closed my eyes to make sure I could take in the flavour of this newly discovered vegetable.

Organic celery is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tasty! I mean it’s worlds away from conventional celery!

>>>> Here are some photos from the grocery store:

1) Conventional celery

2) Organic celery

You cannot even compare the two and had I put salt on the organic celery it would be impossible to eat it because organic celery contains a lot of natural salt (and it already tasted perfectly salty).

If you read the post I wrote on Dr. Oz’s organic food recommendation, you’ll see that he doesn’t think that we necessarily have to buy all of foods organic (if we cannot afford to do so), but certain food are imperative.

Here’s something I learned thanks to my delicious basket of food from Whole Foods Market, certain organic foods tastes dramatically different from their conventional counterparts and that’s a good reason to buy the organic produce or product.

Now, I know there is a price difference between the two.

I checked at my local grocery store and there is a difference of price as you can see below, but I can assure you that once you buy (and eat) organic celery … there is no going back!

Top photo by Muffet

All other photos by

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As must know the organic food movement has been HUGE for a sold decade now.

The organic movement has been so strong because consumers are more in touch with what they eat and how it’s cultivated. Contrarily to conventional faming, organic farming strictly limits the use of artificial chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Antibiotics for animals are kept to an absolute minimum. Instead organic farming emphasizes farming methods such as crop rotation to keep the soil healthy and natural pest-control systems. Genetically modified crops are forbidden. Organic bodies also demand more space for animals and higher welfare standards.

The organic movement went from a grass route movement to a commercial movement since now you can buy StonyField Farm Organic products at Wal-Mart (the big daddy of conventionalism)!

In the past few years, the sale of organic foods has become equivalent to several billion dollars each year in countries like the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France and Australia. In the U.S. alone organic foods accounted for (before the financial crash) 3.5 per cent of U.S. food sales in 2008!

I’ve been wondering if all this gloom and doom talk has not affected the sales of organic food products. A recent article in Investors.com confirms that sales of organic foods at Whole Foods Markets have “receded as cash-strapped customers swap out pricey offerings for more value”.

Nielsen reported recently that: “The recession and the resulting uncertainty it has created among Americans has prompted most consumers to look at every dollar they spend,” said Director of Industry Insights, Tom Pirovano. “At this point, it appears that cost beats the potential benefits of organic products when shoppers head to the grocery store.  It will be interesting to watch if sales of organic products rebound along with the economy, or whether that trend will be a victim of the vast changes affecting consumer behavior.”

The sad reality is that there are a lot of people who have lost their jobs since October 2008 and many people find themselves in a situation they’ve never (EVER) been before! Also, for the first time in history there are sooooooooo many people who have lost their homes or who are on the verge of losing their homes.

Since organic food products are more expensive than conventional foods and food prices have been creeping up, I wanted to know if my readers are still buying the same amount of organic foods as before, or if you’ve had to cut back on your organic food purchases or did you have to give up organic foods altogether.

I’d love to hear from you. I’d really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to fill out our poll below:

Photo by iLoveButter