As January rolls in, many of us are looking for ways to shed the extra pounds we have undoubtedly packed on over the holidays.  I’m thankful that my parents pounded into my head the importance of exercise and healthy eating at an early age  (of course, I  wasn’t so thankful when I was 10 and searching endlessly for the hidden Halloween candy in my Mom’s closet). Now that I am older, I usually seek out healthy food naturally. I actually love and crave big salads with lots of different toppings. I have come across some pretty amazing salad and prepared food bars in Toronto which are both healthy and delicious.

My favourite place to grab a prepped salad is Whole Foods. I LOVE Whole Foods. Its totally yuppie and I don’t care. The salad bar and prepared foods section is amazing. First, you have a choice of romaine lettuce, baby greens and baby spinach, before working your way through toppings like sesame tofu, grilled eggplant, baked cloves of garlic, candied yams, mini potatoes, 3 different types of quinoa and at least 6 cultures of cheese. Their prepared food section doesn’t end there. They also have a hot bar for anyone looking for fresh lasagna, turkey meatballs or beef stir fry. The list goes on, but those are my favourite dishes. I usually mix the hot and cold bars – because I am a grazer, and at the end of the day I have a hard time saying no to food.  Whole Foods does not sell any products that contain unnatural ingredients like dyes or preservatives and most of their food is organic.  For between $10.00-$15.00 dollars you are guaranteed a delicious, filling and totally good-for-you meal!

I used to work downtown at Bay and Queens Quay, which is rammed with lots of bad-for-you, fast food. If are in the financial district a lot and looking for a good place to grab a salad the Longo’s Market (BCE Place) is a safe bet. Like Whole Foods, they have a wide variety of salad toppings – chicken, boiled eggs, seafood salads, smoked salmon, and a ton of veggies and cheese. I usually paid about $12.00 for lunch and looked forward to treating myself at least once a week.

Bay and Elm houses one of my other favourites called Commensal. I uncovered this restaurant back in my vegetarian and vegan days. All of their food is vegetarian friendly, but it is so amazingly delicious you would never know it. They have a hot and cold bar as well as a full counter of deserts! Because this is a vegetarian menu only, you get more variety than your typical hot/cold bar. I especially love that you can choose between 2 types of hummus and a variety of other dips and spreads, not to mention their vegetarian lasagna, quiche, chilli and stir fries.  Yummy! I haven’t been vegetarian/vegan for years, but I still love going back to Commensal. This is the more expensive of the three – usually upwards of $15.00-$20.00 per person.

Do you have a favourite prepared food spot? Any good hot or cold bars in Toronto that I am missing?