How I approach healthy eating and exercise as I near 50 | Canada Voices

As Kristi Manikel approaches 50, she is focusing on building muscle. Over the past year, she has upped her game, increasing her workouts from three to five times a week and including more protein and whole foods in her diet.

“I’ve slimmed down and tightened up and I just have a lot more energy now,” she says.

Recently divorced, Manikel now uses Sunday mornings to batch cook and plan for the week ahead. She buys protein in bulk. Often at Costco and occasionally from a meat wholesaler, she picks up a month’s worth of chicken thighs and breasts, ground beef and steak, storing it all in her deep freezer.

She cooks one pound of ground beef at a time and prepares the meat for taco bowls or meatballs for tossing in marinara for meals throughout the week. She also freezes the chicken thighs and breast in individual portions to use when she needs.

She supplements her Costco runs with frequent trips on foot in her Toronto Bloor Street West Village neighbourhood to green grocer Carload Food Market. There, she stocks up on her favourite fruits and vegetables such as blackberries, Honeycrisp apples, bananas, avocados, lemons, broccoli, spinach, sweet potatoes, squash and brussels sprouts. She also makes regular visits to her local fish monger, grocery store and butcher shops Meaty Eats and Bloor Meat Market.

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Beyond the slimming effect, the 48-year-old’s workouts may be increasing her longevity through muscle building.

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, which looked at the difference in the effects of exercise on men and women, found that women who do muscle strengthening reduced their cardiovascular mortality by 30 per cent. As well, women who did moderate-intensity exercise – such as Manikel’s brisk walks around her neighbourhood – five times a week reduced their risk of premature death by 24 per cent, compared with 18 per cent for men.

“As I get close to 50, I’m trying to pay more attention to these things, and I’m realizing they’re more important,” says Manikel.

How I save money on groceries: Meal planning and going grocery shopping about twice a week for only what I need for a couple of days. This helps me not waste any groceries.

How I splurge on groceries: Fresh berries can be a splurge, given their price. I also buy precut pineapples from Carload as a snack, head up to Bloor Meat – my local butcher – for a nice steak, or a fishmonger – Snappers – for a nice piece of fish like pickerel or salmon.

The hardest shopping habit to keep up: Prepping lunches. I default to leftovers or grazing. My fallback is Momofuku noodles, which I order on their Instagram site, and prepare with spicy chili crisp and some leftover chicken.

How I’ve changed my eating habits recently: Now that I’m cooking for one, I’m not as creative. I’m more focused on simple meals. I use my air fryer often now, to roast vegetables or chicken or meatballs. I’ve also cut back on alcohol.

Five items always in my cart:

1. Stracciatella Cheese – Bella Casara – $7.99: Stracciatella is great – it’s the filling of burrata cheese. I make a great salad with beets, radicchio, endives, walnuts, fresh dill and lemon vinaigrette with honey and mustard, and top it with the cheese.
2. Farro – Bertozzi Organic – $8.99: I enjoy the taste of farro and I like to eat it as my carbohydrate. It’s a good source of fibre and protein.
3. Poblano peppers – $4.99/lb: I usually sauté them, grill them or toss them in my ground beef with onions. I don’t like the taste of green peppers, but these are milder and give my dishes bit of kick and flavour.
4. Hemp hearts – Kirkland – $18.99/907 g: ​​I add hemp hearts to my oatmeal every morning. I don’t like them very much, but they give me an extra boost of protein (10 g per serving).
5. Chocolate coconut bars – Unreal – $20.99: These are a great sweet treat. It has minimal ingredients with coconut and dark chocolate, and they’re packaged in small servings (they’re about 50 calories each) so you get just enough for a fix.