Renée Elliott, Founding Director of Planet Organic, shares her top tips for eco-living and healthy eating.
Currently living in Tuscany with her husband and three young children, Renée is Founding Director of the UK’s largest chain of fully-certified organic supermarkets, Planet Organic. With the launch of her first store in 1995, the company now has four central London locations and another on target to open this year. Renée has spent the last 20 years promoting the benefits of organic food and is a Trustee of the Soil Association.
Tell us where the idea for Planet Organic came from?
It was 1991 and I had lived in London since 1986 but did not know what I wanted to be. My husband Brian and I went to the US for a course for 6 months and I found myself shopping, lunching, and hanging out at a great, large, health food store in Connecticut. The idea was born there and cemented when I visited a natural and organic supermarket in Boston before we came back to London.
Have you always been eco-conscious when it comes to food?
No. I think it started at university when I read a book – can’t remember the title – on how dumb it is to keep cows indoors and feed them soya when they can be outside and turn grass into protein, and the implications that has on starving populations. The eco-conscious theme developed when I decided to open the first organic supermarket in the UK. And I was completely hooked when I learned about conventional farming in detail as I studied organic farming shortly before I opened Planet Organic.
How did you incorporate that into your family life?
I am thoughtful about everything we do and buy, not just food, from the solar panels that heat our water to hanging wet laundry on a clothesline instead of having a drier, to the organic food we grow and buy.
Any tips on how to get children to eat healthily?
Yes, I’m a big believer in offering children a wide variety of foods. Also, make it fun for them; let kids eat veggies with toothpicks and dip them in hummus, mayo, or olive oil. Also try baking with wholemeal wheat or spelt flour, start buying some wholemeal products like pasta, biscuits, and bread and switch to brown rice.
Are there any mums out there who really inspire you?
My girlfriend Veronica; not only is she beautiful and deliciously stylish, but she is a fabulous mum. My girlfriend Allison; she is always calm and understanding. And my girlfriend Molly; she is very straightforward, and the most ‘normal’ person I know.
What could you never travel without?
Other than the childrens’ favourite soft toys and comfort muslins (not worth your life to leave them behind!), I always carry healthy travel snacks, homeopathic remedies and Dr Hauschka face care.
Do you make new year resolutions? What will yours be for 2012?
Yes, I do and I have just started thinking about 2012. Each year is a progression of mastering or including something else in my life. Having said that, I usually take on more than I can manage (I love the start of a new year), and there are usually some that I don’t manage to embed from the previous year. From 2011, I’ll be trying again with ‘explore a new town each month’, ‘go out to dinner alone with Brian once a month’, and ‘read to the children every night’. Those, plus ‘spend time alone with each child once a week’ and ‘go for a little family walk just from the house’ is probably enough.
Visit planetorganic.com.