Invested in wellness with Jessie Sarafian – July 23, 2025

[00:02:01] Jessie Sarafian: Good afternoon, and welcome to Invested in Wellness. I'm Jessie Sarafian. I'm super excited for today's show as it's part two of our Nourish and Thrive Naturally series. We're joined again by special guest, April Cockshutt. She's a clinical herbalist and certified nutritional practitioner. Today we'll be chatting about summer salads that heal, how to build a balanced salad to promote vitality and calmness, and dressings to support digestion and intuitive eating. April, thank you so much for joining us again.

[00:02:34] April Cockshutt: Yes, thank you. I'm excited to be back for part two and show you guys a whole bunch of healthy, full foods.

[00:02:39] Jessie Sarafian: Great. I'm looking forward to our conversation. For those tuning in, if you have any questions for April throughout the show please type it in the Q&A box at the bottom of your screen. We want this to be interactive. April, during the first part of the series we chatted about eating mindfully and then the importance of whole foods. What were some of the key takeaways?

[00:03:01] April Cockshutt: Great questions. I feel like there are so many key takeaways but I think one of the biggest ones is eating mindfully. You are what you eat and digest. We need both those components. As much as we can eat a really lovely, nutritious lunch, a great salad, if we're rushing, if we're stressed, we're not going to be able to digest that as effectively as if we were eating mindfully, slowly so we can really let those stomach acids build. We can have those stomach enzymes to digest and absorb all those great minerals and vitamins that are in those whole foods that we talked about last session. That, I would say, is one of them.

[00:03:39] The second one is enjoy whole foods in the summer. We live in Canada where we have access to such great produce that is so full of minerals and vitamin that allows us to be hydrated and be energized to really enjoy all those summer activities.

[00:03:59] Jessie Sarafian: I completely agree. Speaking of whole foods, today we're chatting about salads specifically, I know salads can be boring and plain so let's start with the basics. What makes a salad truly healing from a nutritional perspective?

[00:04:16] April Cockshutt: That is a great question. I think the first thing, and I think we've done webinars before, and one of the top five foods I suggest to have every single day are dark, leafy greens. That is truly the base of a great salad. The darker, the better. That goes for most all fruits and vegetables. The darker the vegetable, the more vibrant the colour, it's means it's going to be more rich in minerals and vitamins. We have another one, this is a tiny iceberg head of lettuce, it's pretty much white. There's not much nutritional value in here. It's pretty much just water. Is it crunchy and delicious? Yes, it is. It's hard sometimes to pick the dark leafy greens over that crunchy iceberg lettuce, however, there's going to be minimal nutrients in that and there's also going to be minimal fibre. The darker the green there's more fibre. That's going to be so good for your gut health, so good for digestion. Definitely, the best base for a salad are dark leafy greens. I know some people complain about kale and how it's hard to chew and hard to digest, sometimes it's good to get in there and sometimes chop up your greens. Get in with your hands, put them a bit of oil and salt and kind of squish them and squeeze them and that will break down some of the fibres so they turn a bit more silkier and softer, and they're just more enjoyable to eat. I would say one of the key components of a good salad, get those dark, rich greens in.

[00:05:49] I would say the second most important part of a good salad is protein. We need protein. We're usually more active in the summer. Protein's really great for stabilizing our stress and keeping us fuller for longer. Things like our animal proteins, chicken. I love making steak and having leftover steak in my salad. Lunch is also a really great place in the summer to have lighter protein, I have some marinated chickpeas for us later, boiled eggs. Don't be scared of eggs, eggs are actually so nutritious for us. They're not high in fat, they're actually really balanced in all those healthy fats we need. Don't be scared of eggs, it is the good cholesterol. We need cholesterol, just the good stuff. I would say those are probably my two most important parts of my salad, a good amount of protein, probably 20 to 30 grams of protein, and a dark leafy green as the base.

[00:06:50] Jessie Sarafian: Nice, and when you speak about leafy green, you see all the packaged spinach and arugula or the mixed greens in grocery stores, what is the proper way to wash them? I know some of them say already pre-washed, is that healthy? Can you just grab it and go, put it on your plate? What are your thoughts there?

[00:07:12] April Cockshutt: Great question. My thoughts are lunches sometimes are a bit rushed, and I want to eat mindfully and we'll talk about [indecipherable] at the end. I do find for me because it's easiest, and if viewers on the line are pressured for meal prepping time or lunchtime, I do get a box of organic greens, the big box from the store that's pre-washed. That way I can kind of just grab and prep, and it's quite simple. It's going to have a good array in there. I usually do the spring mix and it has arugula and spinach and dark leafy greens all mixed in. I find that easiest. If I'm buying it from a grocery store and just the lettuce head, I'll make sure that I put it in a colander and then I put it onto a tea towel and I pat it dry. I find that's kind of the easiest way to wash my greens if they're not pre-washed.

[00:08:05] The other thing too is mix and match. Sometimes I'll buy two different types of lettuces, I'll have a box of arugula and a box of spinach and I mix them together. The next day I'll have spinach. Salads can get boring, guys, so it is about variety and having fun with it. If you've had spinach the last two weeks I dare you to go into the grocery store and get a different type of lettuce. The other thing, too, is if we love iceberg lettuce and you guys are like, ugh, dark leafy greens, those seem scary, do half iceberg and half arugula or half spinach. You don't have to change it all at once. I want you to enjoy your food. I don't want you just eat it to eat it. This webinar is about understanding how can we make a salad that's both nutritious but also delicious and satisfying.

[00:08:53] Jessie Sarafian: I love that. You spoke about leafy greens and adding protein, how should we plate it? What should we always have on our plate when making a salad?

[00:09:06] April Cockshutt: That's a great question. At the end we're gonna plate a salad. I have a whole bunch of fun ingredients here. When we're making a salad I would always say, again, have that base of dark, leafy greens. Then choose your protein. After that go for dark coloured vegetables. Like I said, the darker, the more colourful, the fuller of vitamins and minerals it will be. I would say have your dark, leafy green, have your protein, and then go ahead and find three different colours, three different colours of vegetables to add to your salad. Those bright pink radishes, oh gosh, they are so good for your liver. They're so cleansing.

[00:09:43] Tomatoes, tomatoes are actually a fruit, but I find we live in Canada and Ontario has such a great crop of tomatoes so I do like eating tomatoes in the summer. A weird thing but a fun thing for vegetables and fruit, smell them. Have you ever gotten a tomato off the vine, Jessie, and smelled it?

[00:10:06] Jessie Sarafian: Yeah, it's completely different.

[00:10:10] April Cockshutt: Completely different, whereas in the wintertime you get a tomato and you smell it and there's no smell to it. Smell your fruits and vegetables. You can be that person at the grocery store. You can smell the nutrients. You can smell that it's local because it's going to have a stronger, fresher odour. The other thing, too, herbs. This is parsley, all herbs are good for your body. They are almost packed dense with nutrients. Parsley, dill, dill's so great for your gut, it's a carminative so it's really good if you get gassy or you get heartburn. Parsley is extremely good for your liver, as is cilantro. I always try to kind of have a herb in there to add to my salad as well, and it's a great flavouring agent. It's going to just add a bit of complexity to your salad and a really great taste on top of the health benefit.

[00:11:04] I would definitely add those three vegetables, one of them being a herb, and then two darker vegetables. We can, again, just like tomatoes, I don't usually love carrots but in the summer those carrots are local. Oh my gosh, they smell just so juicy and they're so much sweeter. It's amazing when you buy produce and whole foods close to home, like we talked about last session, how much more flavorful and full of nutrients they are. So definitely that.

[00:11:36] Another really great addition to salads is usually I have one sort of carbohydrate. Today I have sweet potatoes. They're white sweet potatoes, I like these, they have a better texture to them. I'll generally have about a quarter to a third cup of a carbohydrate. Don't be scared of carbs, guys. A lot of times, depending on who you are, some people need more carbs than others. It's how your metabolism is or if you're an athlete. Carbs are good if they're complex carbs. Think of sweet potatoes, quinoa, you could do kind of a wild rice. I usually make sure to add about a quarter cup or a third of a cup of complex carbohydrates which is going to add more nutrients and also more fibre, which is, again, super important. This is going to be your soluble fibre which is really healthy for your gut.

[00:12:28] Jessie Sarafian: I love that, and I love how adding colour to your plate can make it more exciting to eat, for sure. I know I love adding roasted vegetables like sweet potato, I like adding corn. We had a question from an audience member about nuts. I love adding that crunch in the salad. I know nuts can be high in fat, what are your thoughts there of adding nuts? What's the amount of quantity there?

[00:12:55] April Cockshutt: I love this question. Today I actually have pumpkin seeds for our salad for later. Nuts and seeds, I would suggest to add and make it as a key ingredient to all your salads. Thank you for asking that question, it's a really great question. Nuts and seeds are such a power food. They're high in healthy fats, those anti-inflammatory fats that we need for good cholesterol for our gut. They're high in fibre which, again, we need for digestion, we need for lowering our cholesterol levels, for getting all those toxins out of our body, and they're high in protein. They're hitting all the boxes to add to our salad. If we don't have an animal protein or a vegan protein nuts and seeds are a great addition. Also, yes, the texture component. Let's make our salad satisfying. That texture component's really going to add that kind of kick to our solid and that topping, that'll be really enjoyable. For nuts and seats always buy raw. When you roast a nut, yes, they're delicious but they de-nature those healthy fats that we need for our body and kind of turn them into a saturated fat, whereas right now raw nuts and seeds, they're really high unsaturated fats. Those are those really anti-inflammatory supportive fats that we don't get enough in our diet.

[00:14:12] Jessie Sarafian: Got it. Thanks for that, that's so interesting. April, are there any specific conditions or imbalances that salads can help address, like inflammation, fatigue, digestive issues, the list goes on.

[00:14:26] April Cockshutt: The list goes on and on. You kind of answered it right there, it does. Salads are so, so, so important for energizing our body. We are mammals. We need to consume foods from the earth, that's how we were created. The closer that food is to the earth the more nutritious it's going to be. Salads are very hydrating, that's why we eat them in the summer. We're sweating, it's like 35 degrees in Toronto and humid. We're sweating more, we need to recharge our body with all that water, those electrolytes, those minerals that we're losing. Also, in summer we have a lot more fresh produce than in the winter and minerals and vitamins, a lot of them, some of them are water soluble but a lot of them we store. Summer is a great time to eat more whole foods and store those mineral and vitamins so that when we go into fall and cold and flu season our body's like, okay, I have a store of zinc, I have a store of manganese, I have a store of all these minerals and vitamins I need to be protective and preventative to that cold and flu season. That's another great reason to have salads.

[00:15:32] Another great reason to have salads is for digestion. Those dark, leafy greens are insoluble fibre so that's going to create that bulking matter to cleanse our digestive system. Things like the sweet potato, the chickpeas, have a lot of soluble fibre in them which is going to move things out of our body and cleanse our digestive system. Salads are really great for digestion. If you're someone who finds you are struggling with digestion I would suggest to almost do a blanched salad or focus on more roasted cruciferous or roasted vegetables because they're going to be easier to digest. If you find you eat a salad and you're like, oh gosh, I'm really bloated after or I'm in a bit of pain, it might mean that you have quite a weak digestive system and all those lovely fibres and complex fibres in a salad might be too intense to digest wo we almost need to pre-cook that salad or steam it and [indecipherable] the fridge, or a warm salad to support the digestion. That's also something to be aware of for viewers who are like, oh, I want to eat salad but it hurts. It's like, okay, what is your body telling you? Let's understand what that's telling you and how can we adapt that salad to support.

[00:16:55] Jessie Sarafian: Another question, thoughts about adding dairy, cheese into the salads. How much is too much?

[00:17:04] April Cockshutt: That's a great question. I don't eat dairy so that's why I don't have any dairy here. For many people dairy is a good source of protein and of calcium. I find I get my protein from things like the animal meats or my eggs and my chickpeas and my nuts and my seeds. Also, nuts and seeds are so high in calcium, as are dark, leafy greens. A lot of people think we can only get calcium from dairy but actually dark, leafy greens, parsley, pumpkin seeds, cashews, those are all high in calcium as well. We don't need to have dairy but if dairy is something agrees with your gut I would, again, try to find more of a higher fat cheese so it's better to digest, and a hard cheese. That's what I would suggest there.

[00:17:47] Jessie Sarafian: Got it.

[00:17:56] April Cockshutt: Cheese [indecipherable] high in fat so that's the only thing, don't have too much of it, and be careful of salad dressings, which we'll talk about later, high in dairy because that's going to be a lot of saturated fat. Salads are mainly unsaturated fat so we don't want to cover that salad in an unhealthy dressing that is is high in saturated fat. That's a really good question.

[00:18:12] Jessie Sarafian: Okay, one more question because I know we're going to get into the demo shortly, speaking of the raw nuts, you mentioned by roasting them it could diminish some of the nutrients, what if we air fry them?

[00:18:23] April Cockshutt: That's a great question. Air frying is probably even worse because air frying is actually at a higher temperature. If anything, you want to kind of slow roast them at a very, very low temperature, or I guess [indecipherable]. Again, if the majority of your nuts and seeds are raw as like a snack and then you're making roasted ... sometimes I'll do glazed pecans on my salad, everything in moderation. If you're having nuts every single day I'd suggest them raw. You're not going to hurt your digestion or hurt your body if you eat them roasted. I would just say, again, if it's going to be something you're eating every day let's make it nutritious.

[00:19:02] Jessie Sarafian: Got it. I'm going to pass it on to you. You're going to demo us one great summer salad recipe as well as a dressing so I'll pass it over to you.

[00:19:11] April Cockshutt: Lovely. I'm going to take my screen down so you guys can kind of see what I'm playing with. There we go, we have my dark leafy greens and I have a whole cutting board full of a lot of different ingredients that I went to my local farmer's market and I picked up. These are all local,  they're grown here. They're full of nutrients, minerals, vitamins, they're going to help with the gut. I have my lovely base of greens. Again, let's keep it simple. This is from a big box of organic spring mix. I choose to buy organic spring mix because, again, I want my salads to be grown from a rich soil, high in nutrients, so I have organic. It's going to put more minerals and vitamins into my greens so that's why I do choose organic for that.

[00:20:01] I have my greens there, what I'm then going to add on top is my protein. Today I chose... I had a lot of animal protein yesterday, I try to be a reducetarian so I try also to eat a lot of plant-based proteins as well. They have their benefits, they're high in fibre. Sometimes they're a bit more economical, they're cheaper, and they're good for the environment. Today I'm going to make more of a plant-based salad. I've marinated some lovely chickpeas in some parsley and some olive oil so I'm going to add those on there. What I'm aiming for my protein, I'm aiming for around 20 to 30 grams of protein. I have a lovely boiled egg, again, really high in vitamin B, those healthy fats, those omegas that we need. I'm going to put the eggs on there. Guys, don't be scared of eggs. Eggs are another thing that I try to buy free range or organic. You'll notice a yolk of a free range egg or organic egg is going to be a lot darker than a conventional egg and that's showing you, again, there's a lot more minerals and healthy fats in there.

[00:21:09] Jessie Sarafian: Sorry, April, to interrupt but that is one thing I really look forward to in my eggs. The yolk has to be bright, bright, bright yellow.

[00:21:16] April Cockshutt: It's so satisfying and you can taste the difference. Let's give your body that nutrients if we're eating eggs, especially if we're eating them daily. Last but not least, seeds. Pumpkin seeds are super high in zinc. Zinc is something we really need in our bodies for cold and flu season. It's amazing for digestion. Pumpkin seeds are also really great for antiparasitical, really high in fibre. They're cheap, they're delicious, they are school safe. That is my protein. Right there I have a really good base of protein. Next, I'm going to add my complex carbs. Here I have a third cup of roasted sweet potato. Again, instead of sweet potato you can also do quinoa, you could do wild rice, I also really like to throw in some couscous, which is yummy if you're not gluten-free, but those are all options there. I have a really lovely carb there.

[00:22:08] Then I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to add my three vegetables. Again, I am going for colour. We have carrots, really high in vitamin A, really lovely. Vitamin A is really great for your sight. Again, these carrots, I know you're like, carrots, it's so conventional, but guys, when you buy carrots from a farmer's market, oh, my gosh, you can go and you can eat it and it's almost like candy They are so sweet and they're so delicious. Really emphasizing buying local and buying close to home. Same thing with tomatoes. Tomatoes, do I usually eat tomatoes, no but in the summer I'm going to go, I'm going to get them off the vine because they just smell so fresh and they're so juicy. I'm going to put those on there. Another thing from my farmers market that they're always selling, and you can also grow in your backyard, you can grow on your outdoor dining table, herbs. Herbs are so lovely. I have kind of this box of mixed herbs, I have rosemary, I have parsley, I have dill, I have sage, and every day I kind of go out, I get my scissors, I do a little cut and I just kind of change up the flavour every day. I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to add my parsley in there.

[00:23:15] Then last but not least, sprouts. Sprouts are like mini, tiny vegetables that are jam-packed with, again, protein, fibre, mineral, vitamins. They're also a beautiful presentation piece because you can just put them right on top but they're also so high in vitamins and minerals that they're a really great addition, even adding those to sandwiches if you're a sandwich person, a really good addition. There's my salad right now. Very easy, super presentable. I find it's really fun to kind of ... you can roast vegetables, as Jessie said. Also, I find grating is really nice, it adds a different texture component. Sometimes I'll grate zucchini, I'll grate beets. Beets are another really great ingredient for a salad. So super easy. We have veggies, we have protein, we have a complex carb and a base. Mix and match with whatever you have but that is what I would suggest to make for your salad.

[00:24:08] Okay, now, a salad is lovely but you're like, April, that's kind of boring, where's the dressing? This is true, we do need a dressing. For dressings, conventional dressings, we have those branches, we have the Caesar dressings, they're delicious but if we cover this beautiful nutrient dense healthy salad in a salad dressing full of saturated, hydrogenated, processed ingredients it's not going to be as productive. What I want to suggest to you is making your own salad dressing because it's super easy and nutritious. Usually I get a jar and I'll make enough salad dressing for a couple of salads and I'll keep it in the fridge. The first two ingredients of a salad, we're going to make the salad dressing eight parts, the first four parts is going to be two parts healthy oil and two parts healthy acidic ingredient. When we're talking about oils, the only oils you should be really using on your salads are cold pressed seed oils, a flax seed oil, a pumpkin seed oil, a hemp seed oil because those are going to be really healthy, anti-inflammatory, unsaturated fats to coat your salad, to support your body. We want to be avoiding canola oil. We want to be avoiding any processed corn oil. Sometimes sunflower oils that are hydrogenated, read your ingredients on your salad dressing. Extra virgin olive oil, another great one, or avocado oil. Those are two saturated fats I'd highly recommend. Flaxseed oil, oh, my gosh, it's so good for digestion. It is the best oil you could probably get. Make sure you buy it refrigerated if you do.

[00:25:53] We're going to do two parts oil, that's going to make the nice creaminess of the salad dressing. We're then going to do two parts of a vinegar. The vinegar is going to add a lovely acidity and it's going to balance out the fat of the oil. I really love apple cider vinegar, it's one of the best things you can possibly do for your gut. I think, Jessie, we did a digestive webinar and I really talked a lot about apple cider vinegar and how it's so helpful for your gut. we'll do two parts vinegar, you can also do a balsamic vinegar, a rice wine vinegar, etc. The next thing we're going to do, we're going to do a one part of some sort of flavour. I absolutely love Dijon mustard. It's also high in potassium, which is a really great electrolyte for the summer. I'm going to add one part to that. Guys, I lied, I said eight parts, it's six parts. We're going to do one part Dijon. You can also do tahini as well and that'll make it nice and creamy instead of the Dijon. Tahini is made from ground sesame seeds so you can also do that.

[00:26:54] Last but not least, the sixth part that we're going to add, I like to add a bit of sweetness to the salad dressing which off balances the acidity, adds a bit complexity. I'm just gonna use maple syrup, Kirkland's best. Canadian, we'll add a little bit of maple syrup so I'm going to add one part maple syrup. You can also use a raw honey, that's absolutely lovely as well. If you don't need sweetness you don't need to. Sometimes a balsamic vinegar is a little sweet and that's really lovely. I'm just going to stir that up there, you can always shake that. What I'm also going to do, and we talked about that in our last webinar as well, I'm going to add a bit of mineral salt, making sure that's pink salt or it's a Himalayan sea salt. This salt is really going to  bring out the flavour of all the ingredients in our salad. It's also just going to bring out kind of the sweetness and the acidity of the salad dressing, and we'll mix that in. Don't be scared of salt, guys. Salt is so important. We can over hydrate, we need salt to absorb those electrolytes — well, it is electrolyte,  to absorb the water so we don't become dehydrated. We're scared of salt because there's so much processed salt in our conventional diet and not enough of that mineral salt that's high in those trace minerals that we need.

[00:28:11] There's a salad dressing there. I just made a small amount but you can make a bigger amount. What I'm going to do is I'm just going to go ahead and pour that over my salad. This is just going to be absolutely delicious. It's going to really bring out all the different flavours of my salad, it's also adding that much more nutrition and preventative health to my meal. That is the key to a healthy salad. It's also a really great way to enjoy what our local markets and our local soils have to produce for us. I hope you guys enjoy and did learn a lot from today's webinar.

[00:28:51] Jessie Sarafian: I love that. That salad looks beautiful and now you have a ready-made salad for lunch. Looks great. Question about lemon, can lemon be an alternative to the acidity, you can use that instead of the apple cider vinegar?

[00:29:07] April Cockshutt: Yes, great question. Guys, have fun with your salads. It's kind of just a rough guide, a base, which is an oil and acidity, which is like a lemon or a vinegar, a flavouring and a little bit of sweetness and salt. That's kind the base. Now just go have fun with it.

[00:29:22] Jessie Sarafian: We had an audience question about goat cheese and mixing goat cheese with olive oil and lemon. What are your thoughts there?

[00:29:30] April Cockshutt: Delicious. I don't eat dairy, I do eat goat dairy sometimes, goat cheese is actually wonderful. My favourite thing to do is caramelize onions and then put the goat cheese into the warm onions and then put a balsamic reduction over top. Now, that is a good salad. Maybe that's next. Maybe that's a good fall salad recipe we can dig into next time.

[00:29:51] Jessie Sarafian: Yes, I love goat cheese. We're almost up. I want to talk about kitchen zen. Can you explain this concept to us?

[00:30:02] April Cockshutt: We want to eat mindfully, why not cook mindfully? There is this period of time of 10 minutes, 15 minutes before we eat where our digestion preps itself and gets ready for our food. Rather than jumping from work and rushing to the kitchen and being really highly stressed, I like to, before I get in the kitchen, roll my shoulders back, take a deep breath, and enjoy the process. Be calm, take those deep breaths, let that belly relax and get it ready and zen for when the food's about to arrive. Doing things like putting on music to really slow down your heart rate, put your apron on and change roles from your work role to your kitchen role. Just enjoy the process of chopping and cooking and washing all these beautiful foods that you're about to put in your gut. It's a really great experience to have. We rush too much during the day, why not enjoy that [inaudible].

[00:30:54] Jessie Sarafian: I completely agree. Having that amazing food eating experience will just elevate the lunch and your dinner and the digestion. for sure. Well, thank you so much, April. This was so insightful. I hope everyone got some value from this and I can't wait for part three. Next week we're back on the mat to ignite our core so it'll be a dynamic yoga class designed to build strength, stability and balance. We'll see you next week. Take care.