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Great healthy food accounts on Instagram

It’s no secret that I am addicted to beautifully photographed cook books, but in Paris I will be without my library. (I know I could use an e-reader but I’m a weirdo; reading cookbooks on an e-reader doesn’t work for me. I need to flip through pages. So for cooking inspo in Paris (aside from the obvious of….being in Paris…) I am turning to Instagram. I’ve been researching healthy food accounts and have found some really good ones.

@deliciouslyella Lots of variety here and very family friendly food from Ella Mills who has a line of food available commercially. There are a lot of sweet treats and pastas on here too that will appeal to kids especially.

@thedelicious She had me at “Good Food, Bad Attitude” Hahaha, perfect. Lots of ideas for making platters full of bountiful healthy yumminess, for a crowd.

@livegreenhealthy This is a beautifully appealing array of daily vegetarian meals and snacks. Everything is gorgeously presented but seems attainable.

@naturally.jo This gal is UNBELIEVABLE. She is a 17 year old vegan and makes food look like nothing I’ve ever seen. Her motto is “life is too short to eat boring food.” All I can say, is amen to that. Life IS too short not to be delighted, amazed and surprised by all sorts of daily things, like food. I think her creations appeal to the kid in all of us.

Bottom right is a self portrait in pie form. Where vegan eating meets magic!.
….whaaaaaat?!….. Jose is a vegan vixen of amazingness!

@nutritionstripped A beautiful nutritionist posting equally beautiful and healthy daily meals.

@mynewroots A wholistic nutritionist and her food creations are varied with lots of grains. And some yummy looking sweet treats too.

@hemsleyhemsley Sisters in London creating lots of daily green yumminess.

@thebodycoach Joe Wicks is on a mission “to inspire one new person every day to exercise and cook a good meal”. He appears to have Richard Simmons-like levels of energy and inspiration.

@fitmencook Kevin Curry makes healthy ‘manly’ food. (In the current era of political correctness am I allowed to call food ‘manly’?….) Think sloppy joes and mile high burgers. He has an infectious joie de vivre vibe and his account has great inspo for hosting healthy super bowl parties or parties full of big eaters (I’m thinking hungry teenagers.)

@therealfoodrds Healthy foods your whole family will happily eat, made by a pair of dieticians.

@gatherandfeast The gorgeous food collages and stunning photography are reason enough to follow this account, but the food itself looks equally impressive and appealing. “Beautiful food, simple recipes & resources for styling gatherings.”

@shutthekaleup This account has healthy family food that looks like it is made from stuff we all have in our kitchens and doesn’t look it took half a day to make. She is a busy mom so it’s a great practical account!

@choosingchia I love me a little bit of happy chia-mania. Those, like Georgia who have Trypophobia may not gel with this account. (See what I did, there, ‘gel’…chia…get it?…. And yes, trypophobia is a real thing, and I guess I have to admit it and stop terrorizing G with various creations that freak her out. It is described as an “aversion to the sight of slightly irregular patterns or clusters of small (organic) holes or bumps.” So chia that is gel-ed up and looks like frog eggs sends trypophobes (that might not be a word, oh well) into fits of terror. But I’m a huge fan of chia so bring on the creepy organic gels.

@cleanfooddirtycity Lily Kunin runs what looks like a great healthy market called ‘clean market’ and her food blog is filled with simple healthy things, great product shots and recommendations. Plus her cute canine completes the package.

@lonijane Loni Jane’s account is a visual portrayal of a perfectly balanced and beautiful family life in Australia. Everything is stunning here…its a visual feast for all the senses.

@sproutedkitchen THE most adorable family…and Hugh and Sara are quite the creative team. She cooks and he photographs. Their cookbooks are inspirations of delicious, healthy gorgeousness for any palate.

Dairy and gluten-free lava cakes from @sprouted kitchen

@abbeyskitchen Dietician making family friendly yumminess from infinity and beyond.

@realandvibrant Incredibly varied ‘power plant bowls’. I get hungry just glancing at this account because everything looks like a perfect blend of what you need in a quick and delicious meal. It reminds me a bit of the Chobani yoghurt cafes in that you can’t go wrong with anything you’d choose.

@thrivingonplants Marie Kondo meets Martha Stewart meets Veganism. Wow….it’s just a whole lot of green creative magic happening here.

@clemfoodie “I enjoy love romantic walks to the fridge.” Hahaha How french!! This account (to me) is probably the most ‘normal food’ looking. Clementine is French. Of course she is….a woman named Clementine who brings romance into food. :0)

@walderwellness Carrie Walder is a Vancouver dietician and her food and approach is totally doable and features a great variety of healthful and filling looking dishes for hungry healthy people.

@cupcakeree mmmmmm. Spicy, vibrant, fragrant deliciousness. I’m also really distracted and intrigued with where/how she photographs her plates. She uses some kind of dark grey stone background. I love dark backgrounds (as you can see) and love this distinct approach to food photography. Now I’m thinking about using deep charcoal colored plates.

Paneer and spinach curry

@nadiaswholesomekitchen Nadia Damaso’s cookbooks are photographed beautifully and are so inspiring. Her motto is “Eat Better Not Less’ and you will want to eat her creations. She seems engaging and just seems like a beautiful person as well.

@we_are_food Anna Jones has a great cookbook. Anna Jones is a food stylist and her visual journey of food and life is lovely. She also reviews books and like so many people on here seem to have a deep appreciation for food and family togetherness.

**Image at the top of the blog is carbonara pasta from @gatherandfeast

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What we can learn from butterflies…

There is a story about a man and a butterfly:

A man spent hours watching a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon. It managed to make a small hole, but its body was too large to get through. After a long struggle, it appeared to be tired, and remained absolutely still, seeming to give up.

The man thought he would help the butterfly, and with a pair of scissors, he gently cut open the cocoon, thus releasing the butterfly. However, the butterfly’s body was tiny and shrunken, and its wings were all crinkly and wrinkled.

The man continued to watch, thinking that at any moment the butterfly would unfold its wings and fly away. Nothing happened; in fact, the butterfly spent the remainder of its brief life crawling around with its body emaciated and its wings drooping, incapable of flying.

What the man – out of kindness and his eagerness to help had failed to understand was that the close-fitting cocoon and the efforts the butterfly was forced to make in order to squeeze out of that small hole were Nature’s way of training the butterfly and of strengthening its wings.

8 lessons from the butterfly story:

  1. We are all butterflies waiting to emerge. The talents and skills dormant in us will likely bloom if given a chance.
  2. We never know what tomorrow will bring and we can try not to lose hope in ourselves and our process. As much as is possible we can look forward with optimism.
  3. No stage is permanent. When bad things happen, we can try and remember as Birbal said, “This too shall pass.”
  4. We must want to fly so much that we are willing to give up life as we know it on the ground (as a caterpillar).
  5. We can try and remember our struggle is worth it. “Behind every beautiful thing, there is some kind of pain.” (Bob Dylan)
  6. The journey itself is as important as the destination, and has a beauty all its own.
  7. Transformation occurs slowly from the inside out and isn’t easy. “The wings of transformation are born of patience and struggle.” (Janet S Dickens)
  8. “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” (Richard Bach). Even if it feels like our life is going to end, and all hope is lost, it may just be the beginning of another, more beautiful stage of life.
Caterpillar….into….cacoon….into…..butterfly…

https://www.kidsworldfun.com/blog/lessons-we-can-learn-from-a-butterfly

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Printemps – I could move in here

I’m not a huge shopper but I must say this store feels like a place I could just cozy up in and call home. There are two multi level stores. One for women and kids and other stuff and one for men. The mens’ is definitely my favorite. The shoe floor alone is a like a museum and everything is just so beautifully ‘merchandised’ (I’m trying to get hip to the fashion lingo G will be teaching me.)

And the Printemps food floor and restaurants are a little piece of heaven. You can find all sorts of amazing yummy things.  I love wandering that floor just to admire the gorgeous attractive packaging.   And of course things are displayed so thoughtfully. There is a champagne bar and cart, and the display of bottles alone is a work of art.

The food in the restaurants is delicious from what we tasted.  I can already tell this will be my go-to hang out spot for a treat, a glass of bubbles and a stunning view.  And the view is nothing short of spectacular:

 

It’s a birdcage of cheese. Georgia loves her cheese!!!
View from Printemps on a cloudy day, March 2019
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ESMOD

Georgia will begin studies in Sept 2019 at ESMOD (Ecole Superiere des Arts et Techniques de la Mode.) It was founded in 1841 by the master tailor Alexis Lavigne. It’s in a beautiful building with an interior courtyard covered in intricate stained glass. The day we visited wasn’t particularly sunny but I can imagine how pretty the light would be coming in filtered through the coloured glass above.

Georgia is in the 3 year Fashion Design and Merchandising program. The first year seems to be mostly technical. She has found a sewing machine from a recent grad and I expect it will be close to her side for the next 3 years. Years two and three are a combination of business studies and practicums. Apparently 98% of the students are placed in local fashion houses. I’m curious to see how/who gets what I imagine might be considered the primo practicums at the established fashion houses. Having said that, I could imagine that the newer houses might allow students more hand-on time so I’m sure all practicums have merit.

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Planning for Paris

As of July 25, 2019 our small clan of Anglophiles will be domiciled in the 8th Arrondisement in Paris. We are a stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe. I consider it a major ‘triomphe’ that we have found an apartment about which we are all thrilled. The address has us located on a main street but our ground floor apartment is actually in the building beyond/behind the courtyard so it fronts onto the interior courtyard and backs on what seems to be a fairly quiet street.

The day we saw the apartment in March 2019 when we came for a quick visit was a gloriously sunny one and Georgia opened a window in the living room to look outside. She was just opening the second window when we heard the dulcet tones of a trumpet playing La Vie en Rose. Georgia looked through the window to see a gentleman walking down the sidewalk toward her and their eyes met. He paused and continued his song, serenading a welcome to her to the City of Lights.

The building is a combination of residential and commercial space and our neighbor across the hall is a medical clinic. This feels a little like an inauspicious nod to the health traumas we’ve weathered the last 8 years but instead I’m choosing to focus on the fact that having medical specialists right next door is just extremely lucky. #Optimist Hahahaaa

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