Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Conscious Kitchen by Alexandra Zissu

The Conscious Kitchen by Alexandra Zissu

This is a very enlightening book. Also a little frightening to me. It gives great ideas on what foods to eat only organic and which things are ok if not organic. It explains why non-organic foods are bad for you - and sometimes I think ignorance is bliss. It is interesting that canned tuna is healthier than fresh - because it is from smaller species w/ lower levels of mercury. This book has made me think about and become more aware of where my food comes from, how it is grown and how it is packaged. The book also discusses proper kitchen ware - the proper materials for pots and pans and food storage, appliances and more.
I was inspired to clean out my pantry, refrigerator, and pot and pan cabinet yesterday. When I went shopping today, I paid more attention to where the food I bought came from. I bought locally made corn chips (ok, I know corn is bad and chips are bad, but I hope the local part helps), and local milk and yogurt and eco-friendly kitchen trash bags. It would take a lot to pry me away from all the plastic in my kitchen - food storage and zip lock bags - although I do use glass jars for many things. Reading the part about getting rid of all plastic made me feel like the rich man in Mark in the Bible:

And she said to her, “author, all these healthy things I am trying to do.” And the author, looking at her, said to her, “You lack one thing: go, recycle all the plastic kitchen items you have and give your aluminum pans to the poor and throw away your non-stick pans, and you will have a healthy, conscious kitchen. Disheartened by the saying, she went away sorrowful, for she had many plastic storage containers and non-stick pans in her kitchen.         

1 comment:

  1. I know what you mean, all the "here's how we should live to be healthy" stuff can really overwhelm me.I enjoyed your parallel story at the end, though right now I'm in a place of deciding that I'm not sinful for living "in the world," it's just part of being a human.... I take baby steps as I can and feel good about each little improvement!

    By the way, if you have any book reviews (or other writings to share!), I'd love for you to submit for publication in our digital magazine: details here http://www.mamawit.com/submit

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