Introducing our New Series: Foodemental Fridays!

Our goal is to introduce you to others who make healthy eating a priority and share how they make it happen. We all have different lifestyles and diets, so we thought it might be nice to see and hear how others make time for cooking, fit in fitness and shop locally. After reading these interviews you will have new ideas about what to make when you are short on time, Shopping strategy and maybe realize how you stock your cabinets isn’t so weird after all ! …Oh and if there is someone you would like us to interview, leave a comment below and let us know who!

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We would like to introduce you to Olivia Lane!

We stumbled upon Olivia’s Website about 6 months ago. Since then we have became real good Cyber Friends! What we really love about Olivia is how real she is, she doesn’t sugar coat anything! Olivia is an expert in Cleaning Green (she has this awesome book) and is a Health Coach studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. 

Below she gives it to us straight and we wouldn’t expect anything else……

1). Your food secret: When in doubt, add cinnamon.

2). Favorite thing to eat: Broccoli

3). How often do you cook? My fiance usually makes dinner for us; but I’ll cook once a week. I make breakfast and lunch for myself every day. I’m not a big fan of New England restaurant food, so we don’t eat out much.

4). Favorite restaurant of all time: That said, we have an amazing Ethiopian place a few blocks from my house, Abyssinia.

5). Why is that your favorite restaurant? All their vegan dishes are amazing – made with as many local veggies as possible; colorful, fragrant, flavorful, and fresh. I love that I get to have a little bit of everything when I order the combo platter.

6). Your ideal food day consists of:  The freedom to eat whatever my heart wants – usually lots of green things, drinking lots of water, savoring a little dark chocolate, and, most importantly, enjoying it all with friends.

7). Someone you look up to: Oprah, Martha Stewart, and Mama Gena. They are my trio of goddess role models.

8). Do you buy Organic? Local? I prefer to buy organic and usually do. When choosing all organic isn’t available or affordable, I usually let EWG’s Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen list guide me in making that decision.

I eat a lot of local food during warm seasons and always try to toss into my cart whatever local produce I can find during the cold seasons. Still, I eat lots of Mexican avocados and random frozen veggies and nuts from god-knows-where.

9). If we were to look in your kitchen, what would we be most impressed by? I have a mizillion big appliances in my little Kitchen – Vitamix, juicer, huge food processor, mini food processor, stand mixer, ice cream maker, waffle maker… It’s kinda bonkers.

10). If we were to look in your kitchen, what would we be most surprised by? Despite my having written a book on green cleaning, it is so not always clean! LOL!

11). How often do you go grocery shopping? Once a week.

12). Your short on time, what’s your go to meal? Reheated vegetable soup. We make a big pot every Sunday evening.

13). When did you first learn to cook and from who? I taught myself how to cook. When I was six, I used to boil leaves, acorns, and twigs to make soup for the squirrels. I’d put it outside in little bowls.

14). If you were to host a dinner party what would you make? Soup! Soup is so easy! I also like making big salads and casseroles for guests. I’d also probably pick up a fresh loaf of bread.

15). Green juice or green smoothie? Both please!

16). Do you exercise? 9 months of the year I’m fairly active: I walk through the waterfront park near my house twice a day. I play on the swings.  I hula hoop. I take random long walks. Sometimes I run. Winter, the most exercise I get is shivering. Well, I also take a dance break every day.

17). Morning person or night owl? I’m a total afternoon person. 11am to 7pm I’m ready to get things done. After that, it’s pajama time!

18). Vegetable you could eat every day? Broccoli. I once saw a bunch of broccoli abandoned in a busy intersection and getting run over by cars. I My heart broke a little and my mouth salivated in a primal way.

19). Coffee or Tea? Tea. I love trying new herbal teas wherever I go.

20). You’re studying at Institute for Integrative Nutrition. How is that going?! Wonderfully! I love IIN! I feel like I’ve grown so much as an individual in the six months I’ve been studying there. Also, I have a lot more knowledge about nutrition, wellness, and how to just be there for people – to support without judgement. These are skills that I am applying to all areas of my life.

21). What is your goal for after you finish the program? I am starting a private health coaching practice to support women who want to control sugar cravings and unleash their desires. I’ve already begun working with clients as a student. I look forward to working with more when I graduate in July.

22). Where can our readers find out more about you? itsolivialane.com

23). Final Thoughts? I love the community that you guys have created through Cooking With CSA. I think it’s a good model for how we’re going to get America healthy – through friendship, experimentation and encouragement. (And for the record, we didn’t ask Olivia to say that) :)

Thanks Olivia!

Oh My – We love this girl! Broccoli… favorite thing to eat?!

And soup for squirrels? Love it! Oh and Olivia… we are envious of your ice cream maker!

We hope you go check out Olivia and leave us a comment Below!

• What’s your favorite thing to eat?

• Who taught you how to cook?

• And did you ever make food for animals as a kid? (Pretty sure I made Mud Pies… but maybe those were for me)