Illustration by Kat Frick Miller
Welcome to The Globe’s series What’s In My Cart?, where we ask Canadians how they stock their kitchens.
With her daughter now in her teenage years, Sandra Elia has lost some control.
Her 14-year-old now plans more outings with friends, can purchase lunch from her high-school cafeteria and has the freedom to frequent coffee shops with the spending money she has. As a certified food addiction counsellor and educator for the non-profit Obesity Matters, she worries most about those coffee shop visits, where her daughter can be exposed to sugary drinks and treats.
Elia, 52, dealt with childhood obesity herself, a condition that is increasingly common in Canada, where a third of youths between the age of 12 and 17 are overweight or obese.
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She worries that her own experience with obesity, which began at 13, predisposes her daughter to the condition.
As an expert, she works with and educates children and more widely their families on the harms of obesity as well as treatment.
“Children can’t drive themselves places or go grocery shopping, so we need to treat the whole family,” she says.
There are a few food-related behaviours that she says she would never do: tell her daughter to finish her plate of food, tie the discussion of healthy eating or success to weight, or put her daughter on a scale. A child’s weight, she believes, is a number for only their physician to know.
She avoids prohibiting her daughter from eating processed foods and snacks at her friends’ houses or while out. Using her Apple Pay, which her daughter has on her phone with spending limits, Elia takes time to educate her daughter on her finances and her health.
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The payment service offers an electronic log of food items her 14-year-old purchased, which they look at together and use to discuss the ingredients – often hidden – in blended café beverages or treats, such as Crumbl Cookies, that she bought while with friends.
“It’s not about restricting her from buying these things. It’s about teaching her to make good decisions when I’m not around.”
In her own Toronto home, she avoids keeping highly processed foods easily accessible, takes her daughter grocery shopping to teach her how to read labels for ingredients rather than for calories, and stocks her fridge with chopped up vegetables and fruits such as broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, cantaloupes and blueberries, which she knows her daughter likes.
“As a parent, I’m in charge of what’s in the fridge, my daughter is in charge of how much [she eats] and when,” she says.
How I save money on groceries: I hunt for sales on household items such as detergents, soap and toilet paper at the grocery stores in my area, which helps me cut costs off my food bill.
How I splurge on groceries: Whenever I can, I buy organic meats, eggs and fruits and vegetables. I can taste the difference, and it’s important to me that the animals were raised humanely.
The hardest shopping habit to keep up: Picking whole, single-ingredient foods, instead of the instant, packaged foods. The prepackaged things are easier to prepare, but I’m looking to reduce the chemicals I feed my daughter.
How I’ve changed my eating habits recently: I’ve decided in the past four to five years to value taking the time to cook a meal. During the week, I still make a meal in 30 to 40 minutes, using my air fryer and indoor grill. The gadgets help.
Five items always in my cart:
- Tuna – Rio Mare – $7.99 for three packs: With tuna, a can of beans and a box of lettuce, I just made an incredible salad. I love the taste of this one. I try to look for it when it’s under $6 and buy as many as I can since it doesn’t go to waste.
- Toast – Ezekiel bread – $9.99: I like this bread, the taste is good and it’s healthy. It’s made with natural, sprouted grains and is flour-free. It’s sold frozen.
- Cereal – Dorset – $9.99: It’s the only cereal that I found that contains only ingredients that I recognize on the package. It’s full of pumpkin seeds and dates, which I enjoy the texture and taste of.
- Canned beans – Unico – $1.99 a can: I buy the mixed ones or white kidney beans, which I sauté with olive oil and garlic and throw on rapini.
- Cheese – Laughing Cow – $4.90: I grew up eating Laughing Cow. Now, I spread it on my Ezekiel toast and put a fried or soft-boiled egg on top of it. My daughter really enjoys it.
