A passionate business developer, marketer and strategist for leading and start-up conscious brands and personalities, Lisa Borden is a woman of many talents.
Founder of Borden Communications + Design Inc, she’s led the movement for healthy, honest living since the early 90s when ‘green’ was considered ‘granola’ and asking companies to clean-up their ingredients or packaging seemed outlandish.
My, how far we’ve come!
A mother of three (if you’re not following already, you must follow her foodie-blogging son, Ryan Storm!), she’s also an enthusiastic philanthropist, inspiration agent, wannabe organic farmer, and contributing writer for publications including Huffington Post and Metro News.
For Lisa and her family, food is meant to nourish – and provide enormous, delicious joy. For the most part, this means stocking-up on foods that are local-organic, made from the cleanest, healthiest ingredients – including the packaging (if any) it comes in. If it doesn’t fit the bill, she’s not buying it! And why should anyone else for that matter?
But don’t think for a second she and her family of five eat organic greens and nothing but. In Lisa’s household, there’s always room for salted caramel ice cream – only hers is vegan, and topped with homemade salted coconut caramel sauce.
Hungry for more? Read on…
How would you describe your eating style? Vegan, gluten-free, flexitarian?
Because of my business and background, the articles I write and people I support, people often want to label me a strict vegan, or a difficult eater. So I created my own label: Lisa-tarian. It’s an evolving term, however for the most part, I’ve summed up my stance on food, how I eat, and why. Essentially, I don’t deprive myself of anything. But it’s got to be of high quality, traceable and good for the planet as it is for the stomach and taste buds too!
Any foods you must always have in your fridge or pantry?
I’m not even sure how to begin answering this. I am part of a family of five. One child needs (!!) dates, another at least five hot sauces and a dozen mustards, another broccoli microgreens. I definitely need kimchi and kraut. Variety is key, as is mostly filling our fridges with the best of the season, and always having our favourite pantry items on-hand.What do you eat on a typical day?
What IS typical about a day? I don’t do typical! Breakfast is simple – smoothies, superfood oatmeal, acai bowls and teas for breakfast for us all. Then it’s based on what’s in our fridge. I can tell you that there are not many days that go by without having some really excellent dark chocolate.
Do you allow yourself sweet or savoury treats? If so, they include:
Absolutely. Always. Everything I eat is a treat – I don’t eat things that aren’t real, or that I don’t like. As far as sweet indulgences, I have many…as simple as a fresh medjool date, or a generous helping of vegan, organic ice cream – usually Salted Caramel with my homemade salted coconut caramel sauce and chocolate fudge.
Is it true your kids do not eat Halloween candy – or sugar of any kind?
We have tons of fun eating, and are not on a restricted diet. I like to watch my kids make good choices for themselves, and explain why we’re doing something, or not. Happily, for now, my kids all would choose kombucha over Coke, and even understand why – both have sugar in them, but are VERY different drinks. I see no reason to have refined sugar in our kitchen – we do use coconut sugar, dates, raw honey and maple syrup. It’s not all kale chips around here! As for Halloween, we give out candy, and my kids enjoy their own kind of sweet overload. I wrote about it for the Huffington Post, which garnered a bit of attention!
Favourite food, product, cookbook or recipe(s) you’re enjoying these days?
I’m asked this a lot, so I’ve started to break down my lists here: www.thebordenbiglist.com.
Do you have any tricks or strategies for eating healthy and staying on-track when you’re busy with work, constantly on-the-go, feeling rushed or under stress?
If you want to eat well, you do. If you don’t want to eat poorly, don’t. Stay out of restaurants and coffee shops. Batch cook. Prep veggies when you bring them home and store in glass containers. Always have frozen fruits and veggies, too. Spend one time/day during the week to make quinoa, rice, beans, lentils etc., and keep them in glass containers too. Doing this makes it very easy to throw meals together. Keep good food in your kitchen – then you’ll eat good food!
Your son Ryan recently caused a “sugar shake-up”, making headline news. Has there been any follow-ups or updates to that?
Ryan has just continued doing what he does best – appreciating good food, and getting outraged by deliberate health washing (he comes by that honestly!). He didn’t intend or expect such a situation when he asked questions at school, but he certainly learned a lot (we all did) about the sugar industry, how political our food system really is, and how the media handles things. Life lessons are everywhere, this was just one of them.
If you could look inside someone else’s fridge, whose would it be? Alice Waters’ fridge at Chez Panisse. Mark Ruffalo’s fridge, too. After I look inside, do I get to cook or share a meal with them?
Why not, Lisa? There are no rules in Refrigerator Reveal!
