Lifestyle reporting

How registered dietitian Abbey Sharp shops for groceries

As someone who has been helping people improve their health with food for more than a decade, Toronto-based registered dietitian (RD) Abbey Sharp has answered a variety of questions, including whether stress is making you lose weight or gain weight and what she eats in a day, on her YouTube channel Abbey’s Kitchen. Using research from scientific journals, she informs her hundreds of thousands of followers about nutrition and eating habits.

Her main goal is to combat disinformation around diet c...

How a lobster fisherman and professional Strongman shops for groceries

Welcome to The Globe’s series, What’s in my cart?, where we ask Canadians how they stock their kitchens. Have your own personal grocery story? Share it here.

Between April and June each year, Lucas DesRoches begins his day before sunrise to fish for lobsters just off the north coast of Prince Edward Island.

The work is tough – it’s physically demanding, requires strength and takes place in cold and wet conditions. DesRoches parks his boat alongside the 123 other lobster fishermen who typically...

How this Nunavut grandfather grocery shops for his 12-person family

Welcome to The Globe’s series, What’s in my cart?, where we ask Canadians how they stock their kitchens. Have your own personal grocery story? Share it here.

Alan Sim grocery shops for a family of 12. Feeding a dozen people – including a son, his girlfriend, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild – is a feat in itself, but on top of having many mouths to feed, Sim has also dealt with the challenge of grocery shopping in Canada’s Arctic for 30 years.

The 68-year-old lives in Cambridge Bay...

How a doctor with iron deficiency shops for groceries

Welcome to The Globe’s series, What’s in my cart?, where we ask Canadians how they stock their kitchens. Have your own personal grocery story? Share it here.

During her second trimester of pregnancy, Justyna Bartoszko’s shortness of breath and fatigue became undeniable.

She, like one in four women, had become iron deficient during her pregnancy, and her levels of the mineral reached so low that she became anemic.

“After I had my iron infusion, it was really remarkable how much better I felt,”...

How this PEI-based chef shops for ingredients for West African dishes

Welcome to The Globe’s series, What’s In My Cart?, where we ask Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

When Ghanaian chef Ian Mensah Bonsu moved to Canada in 2017, it was difficult to find West African food or grocers where he lived: Charlottetown.

Compared with Canada’s multicultural hubs such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, the population of the Prince Edward Island capital has been relatively homogenous. But, spurred by provincial efforts to boost PEI’s declining population, there has...

Travelling 30 times a year, I’ve learned how to buy healthy groceries at home and abroad

Welcome to The Globe’s series, What’s In My Cart?, where we ask Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

Twenty-five to 30 trips a year can sound taxing for the average person, but for Jennifer Bain, it’s become the average. The Toronto-based freelance travel writer, and former Toronto Star food and travel editor, is used to jetting off frequently. But constantly eating in airports and restaurants made it hard for her to maintain healthy eating habits, and eventually, after more than two decade...

To battle hypertension, this 82-year-old looks for low-sodium foods and natural flavour-boosters

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

Meticulous measuring, testing and documenting were routine for Sandra Nowlan when she was a microbiology and biochemistry student at Cornell University in the 1960s. Years later, she took that attention to detail she practised in the laboratory to the kitchen after changing careers from scientist to writer.

She tested hundreds of recipes before publishing Delicious DASH Flavours i...

How a woman with rheumatoid arthritis shops for food that keeps her symptoms at bay

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

Cristina Montoya was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation, at the age of 21. The onset was quick, says Montoya, whose symptoms began with swollen fingers.

“I wasn’t able to lift a piece of paper without hurting myself,” says Montoya. The pain in her fingers became so unbearable she needed help showering, getting dressed and feeding he...

The best change for my wallet and diet? Giving up my car and getting groceries delivered

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

Giving up his vehicle began as an experiment, says Dale Henry, a 65-year-old Toronto resident. He retired from a 23-year career as an emergency services worker last year and, shortly after, retired his car to see if he could make do without one. Almost immediately, he found it fundamentally changed the way he grocery shopped.

“Without my car, I can’t do those major marathons where...

As an ‘anti-diet’ fitness instructor, my grocery trips are guided by intuitive eating

Welcome to The Globe’s series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens. If you’d like to tell us your story, fill out this form or e-mail reporter Daniel Reale-Chin at: realechin@gmail.com

Before Daniela Luchetta became a personal trainer in early 2020, she had always enjoyed keeping active. She felt healthy and physically capable, but she was overweight – food was always a significant part of her Italian-Canadian family life growing up in Toronto’s Little...

How this parenting expert prioritizes protein when grocery shopping for her young daughters

Welcome to The Globe’s series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens. If you’d like to tell us your story, fill out this form or e-mail reporter Daniel Reale-Chin at: realechin@gmail.com

Natalie Syrmopoulos describes her two young girls (ages 11 and 8) as gladiators: strong-willed and full of energy. In her own career as a parenting coach, the 46-year-old has been using her own experience as a mother and a wife, coupled with her background in psychology...

Hunting is a long-standing tradition in my family. Here’s how I shop for groceries

Welcome to The Globe’s series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens. To share your thoughts, fill out this form or e-mail reporter Daniel Reale-Chin at: realechin@gmail.com

Michael Caufin had his first experience hunting as a 13-year-old adolescent when he and his 12-year-old cousin joined their fathers’ hunting group at the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area, about two hours west from where he grew up in Vaughan, Ont.

“The most important lesson I got fr...

What we eat affects our brain. As a neuroscientist, here’s how I shop for whole foods, healthy fats and high protein

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens. To share your thoughts, fill out this form or e-mail reporter Daniel Reale-Chin at: realechin@gmail.com

Amy Reichelt is an expert on nutritional neuroscience, a field that combines psychology, neuroscience and nutrition to understand how what we eat affects our behaviour and our brain.

The 41-year-old doctor runs a nutrition, health and lifestyle consulting service she founded in...

Being a student is getting more expensive. Here are tips for living on a budget

Sign up for the Globe Advisor weekly newsletter for professional financial advisors. For more from Globe Advisor, visit our homepage.

High youth unemployment, the rising cost of living and overbooked student housing are making life more complicated than usual for students returning to – or beginning – university and college this year.

A Maru Public Opinion survey conducted on behalf of Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) released in late August found that 65 per cent of students defined themselves as f...

I’m a vegetarian on a tight budget. Here’s how I make meals for one on $50 a week

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens. To share your thoughts, fill out this form or e-mail reporter Daniel Reale-Chin at: realechin@gmail.com

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

While food prices have risen across British Columbia since last year, near Beth Jay’s home in Halfmoon Bay, they are especially high.

The single and recently retir...

I’m a pastry chef who makes high-protein baked goods. This is how I shop for groceries

Ali Deris began making his own protein bars during the COVID-19 lockdowns, looking for healthier alternatives to the high-priced popular brands on the market, which sometimes contain artificial sweeteners.

The 24-year-old experimented with ingredients such as protein powder, psyllium husk powder, Greek yogurt and mashed fruit and pumpkin, leading to his first few recipes, which leave behind artificial sweeteners in favour of those derived from natural sources such as monk fruit. Now, a few year...

I’m a pastry chef who makes high-protein baked goods. This is how I shop for groceries

Ali Deris began making his own protein bars during the COVID-19 lockdowns, looking for healthier alternatives to the high-priced popular brands on the market, which sometimes contain artificial sweeteners.

The 24-year-old experimented with ingredients such as protein powder, psyllium husk powder, Greek yogurt and mashed fruit and pumpkin, leading to his first few recipes, which leave behind artificial sweeteners in favour of those derived from natural sources such as monk fruit. Now, a few year...

With my doctor’s help, I’m on my way to losing 150 lbs. This is how I grocery shop now

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

Elisabeth Van Dusen says she’s lost 47 pounds since she began her weight-loss journey in November last year. Around nine months into her diet, she’s lost about one-third of her overall goal of 150 pounds, which she plans to lose over two years. The 64-year-old acknowledges that her goal is epic, and says that cutting out carbohydrate sources from her diet – including natural ones,...

As a nutritionist specializing in autoimmune disease, I shop for a supercharged version of the Mediterranean diet

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s in My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

It was in the parking lot of North York General Hospital in Toronto where Vanessa Bond, 53, decided she would dedicate her nutrition practice to people with autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

That was nearly six years ago. Bond says the idea to shift her Toronto-based practice, Bond with Health, from a general focus to one centred on autoimmune conditions was actually her d...

Surreal Estate: $13.3 million for one of the most striking architectural concepts in cottage country - Toronto Life

A four-plus-one-bedroom, six-plus-one-bathroom marvel of design in Caledon sitting on a staggering 100 acres of forested grounds. The home is equipped with oak and metal finishes; a copper roof; green, purple and white marble throughout; a 14-foot-wide hot tub; an in-ground pool; a jaunty wine cellar and a half-kilometre driveway. Residents are about an hour’s drive from Toronto, with the 410 nearby.
The current owner, a video game designer, completed this standout in 2019. Its design was a part...

Every dinner I cook is under $10. Here’s how I grocery shop

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

Retired teacher and social worker Nancy Jones typically tries to buy groceries sourced locally, within a 100-mile radius of her home in Invermere, eastern B.C.

“I avoid buying anything exported from the U.S., because of politics,” says the 74-year-old, who adds that she has strong views on gun control, women’s rights and the Donald Trump presidency.

Instead, she’s found creative...

Surreal Estate: $13.9 million for a Port Carling mansion with a bathroom that looks like a painting - Toronto Life

A five-bedroom, seven-plus-one-bathroom estate in Port Carling with spectacular views of nature on all sides. The property overlooks Sugarbush Bay and has its own two-storey boathouse and private waterfront spanning 130 metres. It’s a quick boat ride from Huckleberry Rock Lookout Trail and a short drive from the 400.
The original owner, an entrepreneur, built this spot in 2022 and used it as a family cottage.Turn around and you’re in the kitchen. Its island is loaded with storage and two dishwas...

I’m pregnant and eat gluten-free. Here’s how I shop for groceries

Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens.

Sasha Faraone was in her first year of teachers’ college when she experienced food-intolerance symptoms.

“I’d wake up in the middle of the night with sharp stomach pain. … It was so bad that one time I went to the hospital,” she says.

At 23, Faraone’s first colonoscopy and endoscopy revealed a gluten allergy and lactose intolerance. A little more than a decade later, the 36-year-...
Load More

Let's get social