MANSFIELD — While the stay-at-home order can limit a person’s activity, options for healthy eating remain available in Richland and Ashland counties.
Susan Vander Maas, owner of Doc’s Deli can relate to the people less inclined to be active during these times of staying inside and working from home.
“I’m in front of the computer a lot more too,” she said. “I feel like I’m not as active as I was either, so I’m sure that’s the case for a lot of people,” Vander Maas said.
Since opening in 2007, Doc’s Deli has always offered vegan/vegetarian and gluten free options such as salad, wraps and a variety of low fat and low carb soups. In the past few years, she’s seen an increase of vegans and vegetarians coming into Doc’s Deli.
“You don’t want to keep yourself from eating your comfort foods, but I also feel like if you’re less active, now’s the better time to focus on healthier options,” Vander Maas said.
Looking for a lighter lunch? Doc’s can design a salad for you. Picture above via Doc’s Deli’s Facebook page.
Doc’s Deli is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. They also now offer non-contact delivery and curbside pick up.
In Ashland, Greens Bistro & Pub sits in the Wellness Community Center at the Brethren Care Village. With its many options of healthy food choices, the restaurant serves as one of the healthiest in the City of Ashland.
While the restaurant remains open during COVID-19, only two employees are currently working.
“We have limited the staff, which was really hard to do, but everyone is understanding, so that’s worked out well,” said Manager Sonja Crooks.
Although there are a lot of local restaurant options in Ashland, Crooks—at one point being a vegan herself—saw the need in Ashland to have some healthier options.
“We’re working on more vegetarian and vegan options, but everything you can get is sort of modified to reach your individual dietary needs, and we’re trying to learn a lot about some of the different ones to make sure that we can help all of our customers do that,” Crooks said.
Some of their healthiest options on the menu include: smoked salmon salad, house vinaigrette and smoothies made with organic fruits and vegetables, blended with a milk of the customer’s choice.
Choose two: half whole-grain sandwich, a cup of homemade soup, half fresh salad. Picture via The Greens Bistro & Pub’s Facebook page.
“All of the food we get in we try to buy organic when possible. We cut everything fresh in the mornings to be able to put it on any of our sandwiches,” Crooks said.
The restaurant also focuses on gluten free options with its butterstick bakery. With the exception of cakes, all baked goods are gluten-free, including pizza, wraps and bread.
Another unique detail about Greens Bistro & Pub that Crooks said often confuses people is how the restaurant doesn’t use an air fryer.
“The focus is to have a healthy, lighter option, with a rotating menu and as fresh as possible,” Crooks said. “I think it’s necessary, especially with what we’re going through as a country with coronavirus to sort of buckle down and start focusing on our health a little bit.”
After launching DoorDash, Crooks said it’s helped with the influx of delivery orders they’ve received. In addition, they also do no contact delivery and curbside carryout.
The restaurant is currently open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“There’s nothing wrong with the life balance of eating french fries, but… to have a place where you can come and you know that we try our absolute hardest to get a healthy balance (is important),” Crooks said.
More Richland County & Ashland County eating options:
Explore Ashland created this local dining guide during COVID-19 shutdown, which provides details on carryout, delivery and ordering notes.
Destination Mansfield Richland County did the same for dining in Richland County.
The Richland Area Chamber provided a list of grocery options with special instructions.
Whether you’re eating healthy or treating yourself, check out a locally-owned restaurant or grocery option that you haven’t been to yet and keep supporting our local establishments.
