Top Five Ways to EAT Green!

How does one ”EAT Green”?

It’s a popular topic, and everyone has an opinion.  Here is my answer:

1.  Eat something green every day

And I don’t mean green and fuzzy with an odd smell to it.  ”Greens”, as defined by most people, refer to leafy vegetables – kale, chard, collards, spinach, mustard, lettuces and the like.  But don’t forget about sprouts, microgreens, and herbs.  Lots of them.  And, generally, the more saturated the colour, the more potent it will be.

At one of our annual events, a friend told me, after politely declining my offer of salad, that he’d rather let the cow eat the greens and then he would gladly eat the cow.  Charming reply, chuckles all ’round.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the time or the place to inform him that unless he was buying free-range beef, his cow wasn’t getting his greens.  Why not just be the cow?

2.  Eat diversely

Variety is the spice of life.  It’s also the sweet, the salty, the savoury, the sour, the bitter, the tangy, the succulent, the pungent, the whatever-turns-your-crank.  Variety means you get a wide range of taste sensations, a full spectrum of colour on your plate, and a nice cache of nutrients for your body.  And for those of us who do not buy exclusively organic food, it may mean we’re spreading our toxins a little bit thinner (so to speak).

One of the best, and most affordable, ways to eat diversely is to sign up for a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) group or any other organic food delivery program.  Every week you will receive a mind-blowing bounty of fresh, mostly local, produce, and you will be forced to try new things.

3.  Eat raw

It’s quick, convenient, uses less energy, less packaging, fewer dishes.  Food also retains more of its healthful properties when it is not cooked.  Most importantly, I like to know what I am eating.  The more removed a whole food is from its original raw state, the less I recognize it.  A fresh tomato is a tomato.  A dried tomato still looks like a tomato; a frozen tomato still looks like a tomato; a canned tomato still looks like a tomato.  Ketchup no longer looks like a tomato, and I must consult the list of ingredients to find out why it no longer looks like a tomato.  Try making your own fresh raw sauces and salsas; or just eat the tomato.

4.  Eat organic

I know what “organic” means to me.  In some cases, it means Certified Organic; in other cases, it means wildcrafted; in other cases, it means grown on my own property; in all cases, it means I know where it came from and how it was produced.  Figure out what organic means to you.

5.  Eat your weeds

Again, just be the cow.  Range free over the countryside (or your yard) and graze on some of the most nutrient-dense foods available to you:  cress, dandelion, plantain, purslane, nettles, lamb’s quarter, and many others.  Where I live, it’s a daily struggle to tame the chives, mint, and wild marjoram.  And the lemon balm – the @#$%^&* lemon balm!  Every yard is different.  Barter with friends and neighbours, or have an annual foraging party.

Toss your weeds in salads or juice them with your other greens.  You don’t need much; just a sprig or two will do.  And don’t forget the roots.  It’s worth doing a little research to find out what kind of wild superfoods are available right in your back yard.

In our house, these are the five principles that govern our consumption of food.  Sometimes we stray because we have to; sometimes we stray because we choose to; but we feel the effects of every decision we make.  For us, eating green is not just about health – we’re always going to have that.  It’s about Invincibility.

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