WHO: Holistic nutritionist Jae Steele, 27, is the author of Get It Ripe: A Fresh Take on Vegan Cooking and Living (Arsenal Pulp Press, $23.95, 272 pages), her first full cookbook after several years of publishing “cookzines” and maintaining a food and health minded blog (www.domesticaffair.ca). Get It Ripe is packed with recipes for everything from herbal drinks to muffins and cakes to meals-in-a-bowl (like Chipotle Black-Eyed Peas with Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Collard Greens), but it also includes straightforward, easy-to-use nutritional guidance.

Though it’s written from the perspective of a committed vegan, Steele never adopts a strident tone and she offers invaluable information for anyone who wants to be more conscious about what they eat (even for those who like the odd burger or who, in the words of a friend of mine, “can’t seem to cut the cheese”).

GET FRESH: While Steele understands the convenience factor of hitting the local Price Chopper or Loblaw’s, she finds they don’t have the same options (“I can never find organic cilantro”) and prefers to know where her food is coming from. Since recently relocating back to Toronto from Montreal, she has been a regular at the Sorauren Farmers’ Market (where she’s pictured at right), which runs every Monday from 3-7pm through Oct. 27. “I love it because it’s so close to my home and there’s a good selection of stuff,” she says. “The people who run it have a really neat vision.”

Steele points out there are lots of markets to choose from in Toronto, including the Dufferin Grove Farmers’ Market (www.dufferinpark.ca), which runs year-round in the ice-rink house every Thursday (also 3-7pm). “We’re really gifted with that stuff here,” she says. (For a list of farmers’ markets near you, check out www.farmersmarketsontario.com.) She picks up anything else she needs at Karma Co-op Food Store (739 Palmerston, 416-534-1470) in the Annex, where she’s been a working member since 2003. “I wish every neighbourhood had a Karma,” she says.

START SMALL: When Steele works with clients, she’d rather give them a few new ideas to try than a list of 20 big changes. “If you introduce things slowly then you have a better sense of what works for you,” she says. Three simple moves she suggests for starting out are adding more veggies to your meals (“vegetables take care of so many of our nutritional needs — be it minerals or fibre or beta carotene or antioxidants — we can’t go wrong by including more of them”), avoiding foods that cause inflammation (such as sugar, wheat and animal products) and adding essential fatty acids to your diet every day (she recommends fish oil for meat-eaters and flax for vegetarians). “Don’t do anything you don’t want to do,” she stresses. “Find the foods you actually like, or it’s not worth it.”

FIND FRIENDS: One of the best ways to enjoy a healthy sea change around eating is to incorporate a social component to it. After all, breaking bread (or flax crackers) with others is how we build community, and having a support system never hurts. That’s why Steele is hosting a Potluck Picnic in High Park on Aug. 17 from 12:30-3:30pm (meeting southwest of the Grenadier Restaurant; signs will be posted from the Parkside Drive Entrance). If you want to go, RSVP to getitripe@gmail.com, bring a blanket to sit on and a vegan, wheat-free dish to share. Kids are welcome — and there will be croquet!

To find out more about Jae Steele's nutritional services, visit www.getitripe.com.

Wellness is a new weekly column by Damian Rogers. Email drogers@eyeweekly.com.

Email us at: LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM or send your questions to EYEWEEKLY.COM
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1