Create A Custom Meal System That’s Fast, Healthy, and Bursting with Flavour
Your pantry should work for your health, not against it. A good food prep system means it’s easy to experiment with flavour, everyone can eat the food and feel good, and you get more joy out of cooking. Even if you’re moving to a low-inflammation or IBS diet, or eliminating gluten, dairy, or sugar!
Hi there! I’m Duncan Ebata and I’m extremely passionate about healing with the power of food.
If you’re in Nova Scotia, you may know me as co-founder of the Front Street Community Oven or through my work with How We Thrive, and the Narrative Project.
I’m on a mission to help people eat well and get more joy out of food and cooking – especially those tackling acute or chronic inflammation and pain, or those who trying to eliminate certain foods from their diet.
I know it can all seem overwhelming, but I’m here with some fantastic news: with a little support, making this transition can be both easy and delicious.
I know, because back in 2015 I had a wrecked digestive system, stressed immune system, and terrible acne. I could hardly last half a day before needing a nap. My joints and head ached all the time, I was constantly stuffed up, and experienced frequent brain fog.
That all changed when I learned to cut dairy, wheat, and sugar – staples in North American cuisine – out of my diet! It was hard at first, but I’ve spent the past 9 years rebuilding my body, eating healthy, delicious, exciting meals every day. Turns out, making food without dairy, wheat (all the highly refined food-like powders really), sugar, and other allergens doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it can be liberating!
With the help of some incredible naturopathic doctors, holistic nutritionists, and top chefs, I’ve created kitchen systems and processes that make it easier to eat well and live a pain-free life full of energy every day. And now they’re available to you.
Together, we build healthy kitchen systems and habits that make yummy, exciting meals doable. We start with setting personal goals, then build a system that works for your life and your favourite foods.
Would you like connect on a quick call to see how you can get more energy and joy out of the food you prepare?
Kitchen Coaching Principles
The 90/10 Rule
Find New Pleasures
Problem: Learning how to balance flavour isn’t included in most diet shifting program. Solution: If you love and get deep pleasure from the food you eat, you’ll train more body eat healthy and feel great for the rest of your life.
Replace with Delicious
Problem: Most diet changes focus on eliminating problem foods, not replacing them with delicious, healthy ones. Solution: Countless research studies show that diet changes are more sustainable when we focus on replacing junk foods with healthy foods.
Think Southern Hemisphere and Traditional
Problem: Westernized diets are rich with gluten, dairy, wheat, preservatives, and processed foods. Solution: Look to foods from the global south to boost flavour and get more veggies and quality protein into your diet. They’re easily adaptable to northern climate produce and taste amazing!
Focus on Food Energy Burn Rate
Problem: We’re hooked on empty carb junk foods that give us a quick sugar and dopamine rush followed by a quick crash. Solution: focus on whole foods that are nutrient dense, healthy fat rich, and flavour dense that slowly release energy in our bodies over time.
Eliminating Gluten, Dairy, and Sugar from your diet can be a joyful and delicious foodie discovery process.
Our Delicious Food Program designed to support you in cooking yummy meals that meet your unique dietary needs and decrease inflammation, feed your gut, and calm your mind, and bring the joy back into cooking and baking again!
Is Shift Food for Me?
The Shift Food program creates a tailored approach that can help just about anyone – no matter what your food issues are.
If you feel sick, tired, or bloated after eating, we can help. We also tailor programs for people with inflammatory conditions, joint and muscle pain, and stomach or gut issues such as IBS, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, gas, or indigestion. We even support clients with ADD / ADHD, diabetes, and dairy and gluten issues.
In short, if you’re motivated to feel better, find delicious foods that work well for your body, and you like to cook, Shift Food is for you.
Why It Works
Diet changes are more successful when people replace foods that don’t work for their body with foods that do that are delicious and deeply satisfying. After a detailed intake to understand the unique food needs and flavour preferences we meet for a kitchen consultation (online only right now) to create a customized recipe guide, a list of what to buy, an anti-inflammatory go-to snack list, a food swap list (so you don’t feel like you’re giving up your favourite foods), and food hacks we’ve accumulated in the past 10 years.
Most of the recipes we provide are designed to be simple, focusing on quality of ingredients over quantity of ingredients. But we’ll also include a few complex recipes to impress your friends.
Check-In & Support
Did you know it takes at least 6 weeks of diet change to shift your body to crave the foods that give you the most energy? That’s why we’re there every step of the way. We’ll check in with you weekly during that time with an email or a quick call so we can make refinements to your kitchen system, food prep setup, and add recipes or food options you want more of. And if you need, we can do live co-cooking and prep sessions, so you get the hang of getting into a new rhythm of cooking that works for your schedule, diet, and delights your taste buds.
We often do co-cooking learning sessions with clients and their partners or spouses. The most popular topics are:
- Protein-rich gluten free bread, crepes, pancakes, and waffles
- Rapid food prep for veggie bowls, stir fries, rice wraps, etc.
- Chef Methods, Italian Grandma Tricks, and Ayurvedic Cooking Methods for Curries, Soups, Chilis, and Slow Cooked Meals
- Go-to Freezer Meals for the times you’re too tired to cook
- Snacks and Desserts like Energy Balls, Vegan Cheesecake, and learning how to improvise with whatever you have
Shall we connect on a quick call to see how you can get more energy and joy out of the food you prepare?
But act now! We have just two more openings for 2022.
What People Are Saying
Any time I can spend with Duncan in the kitchen is inspiring!
I always walk away re-energized and with new ideas for tackling what can sometimes feel like an every day battle. From a-ha moments about tools like a food processor (wow, what a game changer for food prep), to new flavour combinations or even new ways to cook old favourites- he always shares new gems with me.
I have IBS and another chronic health condition that can make meals a challenge and even at one point in my life it was daunting. Duncan has always been able to bring the fun and joy back for me. Sharing food together, always learning new things and most often accompanied by a good playlist or laugh- it is always a pleasure and re-invigorating.
I wholeheartedly recommend spending time or talking food with him. Duncan is an excellent listener and incredibly empathetic about how food impacts different health needs. His passion for local foods and farms shines through too. I always wish we could spend more time together!
If this sounds helpful for you, would you like to have a 15 min chat to see if we may be good fit to work together
Please note, I am only taking on 2 more clients in 2022
Snippet of the 44 Flavours of the World Cheatsheet
