Food For Thought And A Thought For Food

At one time, eating was merely to keep up the weight. I swam 8 miles a day and ate a large pizza and a dozen donuts…to keep up the energy level. A reason for gluttony peered around every corner. After age 30 foods became a right. Not a right of passage, but a right of status. The better the restaurant the more successful we were. The more gourmet the food, the more sophisticated we were. Our many travels exposed us to many foods of many cultures. We were rich.

Then one day it all did not matter. Our daughter developed debilitating eczema. It was not the taste of food, nor its appearance; it was its purity and simplicity that mattered.

Asian Spring Rolls have taken a unique place in our heart. Their simplicity beckons a yearning for more. Their healing effects beckon repetition.

We were often asked what kind of diet Lexi was on. Our first responses were that of “she is on an elimination diet.” Elimination is a misnomer. You start the diet eating only fruits, vegetables and brown rice. No matter how creative you are it is really difficult to make fruits, brown rice and vegetables interesting to a six year old. The key to an elimination diet is actually testing foods and adding those back in that Lexi did not have any reactions to. Through the course of this process it was the simplicity and purity of foods that proved their magic. Soon Lexi was not on a diet. Rather she was eating properly.

The key to Lexi Approved meals was simple natural tastes created from ingredients of five items or less (i.e. whole chicken with salt, pepper and olive oil). The real beauty of a Lexi Approved meal is creating a uniquely tasty meal from simple ingredients that cleanse and heals. The more basic you eat, the better simple spices and herbs taste.

Asian Spring Rolls. They don’t come more simply. This was the one meal that stood apart for Lexi - as a lunch, dinner or snack they were eaten completely. A moistened organic rice wrapper with no preservatives, thinly sliced organic vegetables found in the refrigerator (carrots, red peppers, green peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, and celery, whatever…it is magic). Next, a little bit of peanut sauce (Braggs amino acids (soybean and purified water) and Maranatha Crunchy Peanut Butter (peanuts and sea salt), garlic a little organic brown sugar – that’s it) and you have Tai Peanut dipping sauce. A more adventurous Lexi Approved meal included organic rice noodles (same ingredients as the wrapper only in noodle form). A little more filling if you wish to make the spring rolls a stand alone meal.

Seeing your daughter thrive after a debilitating illness merely by eating chemical free, preservative free foods is not a fond memory, but a wake up call to the healing power food can really have on the body as well as the soul. After all, what goes in is what comes out…in a manner of speaking!