A Greener Passover

Passover always starts off with a bang: matza tastes good, yeast un-missed, family time being enjoyed. By the second or third day the matza tastes dry and bland and the food selections make one feel as though they are locked inside a tiny box. Since going green I have found my Passover food options expand. For starters I avoid high fructose corn syrup in my day to day life, which is in everything. Without the corn syrup in my cabinets something as simple as jam is now acceptable. And quinoa is kosher for Passover, a food I never tasted prior to this journey. I used quinoa in my soup and had a delishious chicken and quinoa soup for the week.

This year I made passover rolls for the first time. I followed the directions on the box for matza meal, substituting honey for sugar for health benefits and a little sweetness. It was delishious! Hit the bread craving spot and my little boy enjoyed shoving whole rolls in his mouth and eating them.

Another first time food was Matza Brie. I had a recipe for banana matza brie but I didn't have enough bananas. Instead I added one more egg. The recipee called for maple syrup in the mix and it was yummy.

As one might be able to tell, I'm rather reformed, so this substitution might not work for someone else. What I do realize works for anyone is the more natural food one is eating the less complications arise. I'm looking forward to Passover next year already, and wondering what other foods I can find to help celebrate the holiday.

The mystery of foods

Meeting with the integrative health coach opened my eyes to the mystery of foods. I had basically accepted what was mass marketed as "right" and even used to tell myself that "everything was natural in some way shape or form." I now have a very, very, different point of view.

Step one was to pay attention to the ingredients. If you have never taken a good hard look at what's in packaged foods now is the time. It's shocking to see how many ingredients are not words that regular people know (TBHQ? Does that grow in the ground?). This shock alone modified my diet significantly. I pay attention (most of the time) to what I buy and what I eat. Certain well loved foods are now a rarity but I've found replacements in the healthy food stores that, dare I say, are better in taste as well as nutrition.

For some reason I never fully equated the food I ate with how I felt until taking this class. I still have my days where I'm feeling crappy and just want chocolate. And I still eat chocolate. But I have a better understanding that the chocolate is only a temporary mood shifter.

One can not talk about natural foods, green foods, without talking organics. I have learned about the pesticides used on our fruits and vegetables, and the growth hormones and antibiotics used on our beef and cattle. I don't think these chemicals are healthy for the plants or animals, and therefore certainly not healthy for us. But I don't buy 100% organics. I follow the dirty dozen list. Simply put if it's a dirty item I try my best to buy organic. If it's clean I buy conventional. If it's in the middle I'll go back and forth. This saves me money while still allowing me to eat more organics.

One organic item that I always buy is milk. For some reason I'm still lagging behind in cheese and butter though, a bit of a contradiction. For both cheese and butter I do buy items that have few identifiable ingredients. The organic counterparts are harder to find and at a much higher cost so I haven't made the switch 100% yet.

Speaking of cheese: I got a chance to meet with a Cabot representative at Whole Foods this past weekend. I inquired about them not being organic. I learned that Cabot went organic before it was popular, and their farmers got burned when people weren't buying. Now they don't use growth hormones and the farmers know each cow by name. Nice information to know! I'm thinking that the next block of cheese I buy may have Cabot's name on it.

Eggs is another item I buy organic. It's been a slower change, but one where I can't remember the last time I bought non organic (or at least hormone free) for my family. My favorite eggs are from a local farmer's market: they feed their chickens flax seed. The eggs were good and had the extra nutritional content. Makes me happy that farmer's market season is just around the corner!

Going green with foods is a lot about paying attention to what you are eating. Check out the labels when you purchase, do research, become more aware. I still buy doritos every now and then, but I know what I'm getting into when I make that purchase. I also find myself in the potato chip debacle: we are big snackers. I am addicted to reading ingredients before purchasing. I will read ingredients for different munchies and end up with potato chips. Unless it's a sweet potato there are not a whole lot of nutrition in them. And I can't find any organic. But I'm usually able to be found with a bag of potato chips in my house.

One of the flaws I have found in going green is my obsession with the ingredients list. So many foods have such a long list of ingredients that I don't buy them. So I buy a lot of natural (i.e. only three ingredients) potato chips. Although the potatoes are on the dirty dozen list I can't find any organic. I should be munching on fruits and veggies but I love me some carbs, and usually don't feel full on fruits and veggies alone.

Where green began

My life changed two years ago when I had the opportunity to view Food Matters. Something clicked inside of me and green eating appeared so logical that I wondered why I wasn't already on this path. The first change I made was changing my primary care doctor to a holistic doctor, who happened to be my husband's doctor. He had switched a few years prior when his seasonal allergy induced asthma was cured through supplements (Stinging Nettle and Quercetin C) where conventional medication had failed. My second step was signing up with an Integrative Health Coach to learn more about eating green and reevaluating my diet.

It worked out to be perfect timing as I become pregnant a few months later. Going green was more important then ever as I was caring for another human being beyond myself. Although the fatigue of pregnancy made a lot of these changes more challenging (along with those pesky fast food pizza cravings) I was proud to make these changes to benefit my unborn child as well as myself.

Today we continue towards a greener lifestyle. What started off with food has spread to other areas of our lives. My son is now a happy and healthy toddler. I was either blessed with a healthy baby or am doing something right with raising him green. I'd like to believe it's a combination of both.