Back to basics

“I suddenly thought ‘this is just not right– it’s just not what we should do’.”

Claire Turnbull was living life at full throttle – and growing a career to match. These days she runs her own nutrition practice, writes for Healthy Food Guide magazine, wrote the book Lose Weight for Life, has a second book on the boil, and – deep breath – speaks at conferences, works for the Millennium Institute of Sport, volunteers at Monty Betham’s Steps for Life programme fighting youth obesity in South Auckland – plus is a regular on TVNZ’s Breakfast and Danny Watson’s NewstalkZB radio show.

Yet amidst all the bustle of building this mini-empire Claire had a nagging feeling something was wrong.

“I used to work stupid hours. When I was setting up my business I was working 16-hour days. I ended up having to spend money on rubbish just to make life more convenient – easy, quick and convenient products – except the food of course, that never got overlooked!”

Claire would shove the dishwasher on half-empty, biff plastic bags and buy new things rather than reuse old. At cooking shows she would smile as she demonstrated how to make healthy, nutritious food – yet when the crowds left, the packaging would be piled up like snowdrifts.

“I kind of knew it wasn’t right. I was always taught to look after things and the environment, but you get pulled into this life, where you carry on going for the easy choice. I just got to a point where I realised it wasn’t good.”

So Claire sat down and took a hard look at her impact on the world and the way she used her time. She started a garden, took small steps to reduce waste in her life and built a chicken coop in her modest North Auckland yard, where she now shows off her flock to visitors like a proud mother hen as she gathers the day’s eggs.

Taking responsibility

Part of Claire’s shift to a greener lifestyle was the realisation that no one was going to make her change – that if she wanted the environment cared for she would need to do the work herself.

“It’s become normal to think it’s someone else’s problem, and that really, really bothers me.” she says.

“That comes from my background in nutrition where people say ‘oh it’s the government’s fault that our health is suffering’ and absolutely, the government can do big things, but we still have the choice to do what we want with our life. It’s our responsibility. Why wait ‘til someone comes out with a big stick and says ‘this is what you have to do’?”

These days, Claire says that, while she still has a long way to go, little sustainability-minded actions have become habit. “I’ll never buy a vase again, for example.” A reused glass sake bottle does the job of holding flowers beautifully on her dining table. Pumpkin seeds live in a former coffee jar. She shops at PAK’nSAVE to cut her plastic bag use – and any she does get are used over and over.

“This country is awesome and it makes me really sad that people – including myself – think it’s always going to be nice tidy New Zealand. And it’s not. It’s up to what we do as individuals. Every little thing we do adds up.”

Feel well, do well

Chatty, smart, outgoing and phenomenally productive, it’s natural to assume Claire, 31, has had it easy but she has overcome huge challenges to get where she is.

For one thing, the UK native who has called New Zealand home for the last eight years is dyslexic. “I can’t read without a highlighter pen,” she says.

Claire grew up in Wirral in Northwest England with two brothers in a medically minded family. Her father is a doctor and mother is a nurse. When her mother went to university to study for a Masters, Claire took on the family cooking duties, learning her nutritional skills young. Not only did she have to cater to her mother’s many allergies, the family was vegetarian throughout the mad cow disease scare years. “I can make any lentils taste good,“ she says.

It was a loving, supportive childhood but that couldn’t protect Claire from battling depression during her late teens to early 20s. “Some people struggle with themselves because they come from difficult circumstances. It wasn’t like that with me at all,” she says. “Whoever you are in this world you can go through depression. I think people need to talk about it more.”

That dark experience is now her motivation. “I’ve been at the bottom. I know what that black hole looks like. I decided that I was going to basically dedicate my life to help other people not go through that.”

Claire believes feeling good and looking after yourself is about much more than just food and she’s keen to steer people to healthy choices overall. For her, winding down by hitting the wine just doesn’t work psychologically. She loves to have a laugh with mates and will still enjoy a glass or two, but these days she knows that curling up on the couch to watch her hero Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the English chef of River Cottage fame (and a big advocate of sustainable living) is a better stress-beater.

Likewise, growing her own food and tending to her chickens is part of Claire’s “active relaxing” approach to feeling good.

Cheap is better

Claire was no expert when she first dug in. Her tomatoes became an unruly bush and her coriander constantly withered – so she researched books and blogs and is steadily developing her green thumb. A meticulous organiser, Claire even has a colour-coded list on her laundry door stating what the garden needs when. The glossy silver beet blossoming like bouquets from the soil is testament to her dedication.

Gardening is a hobby that has caught on with her husband Troy, too. An IT professional who travels a lot for work, he is discovering the rewards of getting his hands dirty. He even built the chicken coop from scratch. Claire’s next plan for the garden is planting herbs in wooden wine boxes that she bought cheap from a French restaurant. Managing a garden need not be expensive, she insists, though it’s taken time to work that out. “I used to think you had to spend loads of money on gardening,” she says.

“I would go out and buy all these expensive organic fertilisers – and I was throwing away my chicken poo! And then people were like ‘do you know how good for the garden chook poo is?’”

Labour Weekend she’ll be busy planting out her summer crop. Sweet corn, green beans and courgettes are all good to grow and save on the supermarket bill. Though she hasn’t bothered yet with onions or carrots as they are cheaper to buy.

Grow your own, know your own

Knowing the origin of our food and what ingredients go into what we eat is key for Claire. She makes all her own cooking sauces, curry pastes and nut butters. Not only is it cheaper, it eliminates added salt, sugar, preservatives and packaging – and means she can avoid foods that damage the environment or aren’t cruelty-free.

That sounds time-intensive yet Claire never spends longer than 20 minutes preparing dinner. It’s all about planning. She shows me a scrappy piece of paper scribbled with the meals for the week and a corresponding shopping list on the back.

Recently she’s also taken a more proactive approach to food sustainability issues, urging people to sign the Unmask Palm Oil petition, which calls for more transparent food labeling. Producing palm oil is controversial as it often involves clearing large amounts of Southeast Asian forest, home to endangered animals such as orang-utans and tigers. “It’s completely unnecessary for animals to die because we use palm oil,” Claire says. “People can make their own choices in the world but I think people need to understand the impact of what they’re buying.”

Claire shares her sustainable eating philosophy with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and her dream is to follow in his footsteps presenting a cooking show based on all round healthy living, with a New Zealand twist. So stay tuned. This passionate powerhouse tends to make her green ideas reality.

Getting started: Claire’s tips for new greenies

• Start a simple garden with herbs and easy green vegetables in winter and salad lettuce in summer.
• Plant what is expensive to buy but easy to grow – like spinach. It’ll save you at the checkout.
• Don’t feel you need to fork out on expensive equipment.
• Read up and plan for your garden’s care, eg spinach: water twice a week, feed once a fortnight and take slugs off when you get home from work.
• Reduce and reuse. We all focus on recycling and that’s great but focus on reusing things like plastic bags, glass bottles for vases and jars for storage.
• Use reusable containers instead of wrapping in plastic.
• Get a reusable water bottle. Buying water is a waste of money. Flavour water with ginger, lemon or mint from the garden.
• Start a compost.
• Buy reputable eco products.
• Plan your meals for the week and shop to a list. It cuts waste.

Make your own: Claire Turnbull’s versatile tahini recipes

If you can use your own lemons, garlic and eggplant for these recipes, that’s great – and much of the rest can be bought in bulk. Making your own spreads and dressings cuts loads of packaging waste, and the result is healthy and tastes superb.

Tahini

1 1/2 cups sesame seeds
1/3 cup neutral-flavoured oil (like canola)

Step 1 Place sesame seeds on a baking tray. Dry-roast in a medium oven (180°C) for 5-10 minutes until golden brown – keep your eye on them at all times to make sure they don’t burn, you will need to move them around 2-3 times so they toast on all sides. Allow them to cool.

Step 2 Place sesame seeds into a food processor and put it on high – nothing will happen initially, but after a few minutes they will begin to break down a little (it all depends on how grunty your blender is).

Step 3 Gradually pour in oil and this will help you blend it to a thick paste – you can add extra oil if you like a thinner consistency.

Step 4 Pop into a clean jam jar. Keep in the fridge.

Hummus

1 cup cooked chickpeas / 1 can drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons tahini
juice of 1 lemon
1 crushed clove of garlic
salt and pepper, to taste

Step 1 Blend together – add either 2 tablespoons water, natural yoghurt or olive oil to help bind together.

Step 2 Flavour with either: 2 teaspoons ground cumin or 1 tablespoon chopped jalapeños (you can replace the lemon juice for lime juice if you use jalapeño).

Tahini dressing

1/2 cup low-fat natural unsweetened yogurt
2 tablespoons tahini
1 small clove garlic, crushed
squeeze lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste

Step 1 Mix everything together in a jug or clean jam jar

Step 2 For a thinner consistency add a little water or runny yoghurt (like Bio Farm).

Step 3 Delicious with falafels or use in place of your normal salad dressing.

Baba ganoush (eggplant dip)

1 large eggplant
2 heaped tablespoons tahini
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed (to your taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
salt, to taste (less is best health-wise)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Step 1 Bake eggplant whole on a baking tray in a medium oven (180°C) for 20-30 minutes or until very soft to the touch. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, then peel off the skin and discard.

Step 2 Place the eggplant flesh in a bowl and using a fork mash until it breaks up and forms a thick paste.

Step 3 Add the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and cumin – mix well. Season very lightly with salt and add more tahini/lemon juice/garlic if needed.

Step 4 Decorate with chopped parsley. Serve with wholegrain crackers, raw chopped veges or warm wholemeal pita bread.

Find out more about Claire's work

www.claireturnbull.co.nz