The Order of What You Eat

Illustration © D. Yael Bernhard

Springtime holidays are upon us. Tonight the sun sets on the eve of Passover, and will rise on Easter this Sunday morning. Ramadan began just after spring Equinox. For millions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, these holidays are the most sacred of the year, celebrating liberation from oppression, transcendence of human suffering, and the gift of revelation. All three holidays feature special meals, with customs and foods that vary from culture to culture. Is there a message in these traditions for our nutritional health?  It’s a question that arises naturally out of holidays that center around what and how we eat. 

Let’s begin with Passover, which begins tonight. At the Passover seder, holiday foods are woven into the story of Exodus. The word “seder” means “order” in Hebrew; accordingly, as we make our way through the ritual meal, symbolic foods are eaten in a specific order. The very first food tasted is parsley, dipped in salt water that symbolizes the tears of the Hebrew slaves in ancient Egypt. Parsley represents spring and the green of hope and renewal – and as I write these words, tiny green sprigs from last year’s parsley plants are pushing up through the straw in the corner of my vegetable garden, still damp with snow melt. It’s a welcome sight each spring that coincides with the return of the robins and the sound of peeper frogs in the nearby woods. Parsley does indeed have a cleansing and renewing effect on our bodies, as it is rich in antioxidants that help neutralize toxins, as well as vitamin K1 and carotenoids such as eye-nourishing lutein and zeaxanthin.¹More important, however, is that parsley provides fiber, which sets the pace of everything that follows. Fiber slows down digestion and along with it, the secretion of insulin. Flattening the curve of insulin can make the difference between a low and high glycemic meal – just by changing the order of what you eat.

The next food on the seder plate is charoset, a mixture of chopped apples, walnuts, and wine representing the mortar used by the slaves in their brick-building labors. Many variations exist today, but in keeping with tradition charoset should not be too sweet. Apples and nuts provide more fiber as well as protein and fat, both of which set the pace of digestion like a steadily-chugging train. It’s customary to eat this crumbly mixture on a small piece of matzah, the unleavened flatbread that introduces the first refined carbohydrate to the meal. But since the wheat flour in matzah has already been preceded by several forms of fiber, protein, and fat, its effect on blood sugar is tempered.

Next comes horseradish root, finely grated and eaten in small quantities to remind us of the bitterness of slavery. This sharp and spicy root might symbolize hardship, but it’s a blessing to us. Horseradish offers benefits too numerous to name, but you can get a taste here. Could the holiday remind us to bring this ritual food, with its sinus-purging intensity, into our diet more often?

Other foods on the seder plate include a roasted or boiled egg, more greens, a roasted lamb shank, and in some households, a “sacrificial yam” as a modern substitute for meat. The entire seder is slowed down by the reciting of blessings, reading of passages from the Haggadah, and telling of stories – interspersed with blessings and sips of wine. By the time the festive main course is served, the digestive process is well underway at a slow, steady pace. With all that fiber, fat, and protein before it, sugary macaroons or honey cake served for dessert will not create the sudden spikes of insulin that cause chronic, low-grade inflammation and cellular damage. In our ancestors’ times, such treats would be both less sweet and less common. These traditions find their origins in an era when flour and sweeteners were not always readily available. Grain was precious and eaten sparingly – and may deserve less prevalence in our present-day lives, too.  

Compare this order of eating to an ordinary day in modern times, when people of all faiths in the Western world typically begin their evening meal with bread, and start their day with a high-carb breakfast. Cereal, muffins, bagels, and toast are all composed of flour, which quickly breaks down into sugar in the gut. This onslaught of carbohydrates arrives in an empty stomach like a runaway train, triggering a precipitous spike of insulin. Few people exercise after eating, so the insulin is not absorbed by muscles in need of energy. Like a plume of black smoke from an over-stoked locomotive, excess insulin pollutes the bloodstream, quickly breaking down into free radicals, causing oxidative stress not unlike the black smut that collects on railroad tracks.

A breakfast based on fruit can also wreak havoc on morning metabolism. “Free fructose” that is separated from its fiber, such as fruit juice, smoothies, or jam is processed by the liver and stored as fat. This train carries worthless cargo, as the energy that sugar provides is short-lived, resulting in a loss of energy within a matter of hours, and over time, unstable blood sugar.

By contrast, a savory breakfast has a completely different effect. The pre-fast suhor meal eaten during Ramadan traditionally includes eggs, labneh, beans, vegetables, and whole fruit – fiber, protein and fat with slow-burning energy that carries the day and lasts until sundown. A practice of such intermittent fasting for a whole cycle of the moon can yield both physical and spiritual benefits. Starting your day with protein, fat, and fiber makes for steady brain energy and a clear mind. Giving your body a break from digestion for part of each day also enables the process of autophagy to clear away damaged cells and regenerate new ones. Merely by changing the timing and order of what you eat, you can increase your insulin sensitivity and change your metabolism. 

Teaching a nutrition program recently at a local middle school, I polled a group of 8th graders about their breakfast. Only one student raised his hand when I asked if anyone had eaten eggs or protein. This young man was more alert and asked more questions than any of his classmates. He was also the least restless and disruptive. Was he more mentally engaged because his brain was running on protein and fat, or did he choose to eat a healthy breakfast because he was curious about the effects of nutrition to begin with?  Either way, starting your day with the right macronutrients creates an upward spiral in both academic and athletic performance.  

My no-carb breakfast consists of eggs with sautéed cruciferous vegetables (brussel sprouts, broccoli, collards, spinach, or kale), nutritional yeast, perhaps some canned mackerel or sardine, olive oil (often from the canned fish), raw garlic, avocado, and salt. I alternate between duck and chicken eggs from three local farms. While I’m cooking I munch on arugula, which I crave like I once craved morning glory muffins. Fiber is first to pass my lips, and no carbs until lunchtime. 

My favorite lunchtime ensembles include full-fat yogurt with nuts and berries; quinoa and yams sprinkled with sunflower seeds; and celery, snap peas, or sliced daikon radish topped with goat cheese. I also love bone broth simmered with carrots, bok choy and seaweed; or buckwheat with curried chickpeas and pumpkin seeds. Sliced apples with tahini or almond butter do the trick if I’m in a rush or on the run – often with a piece of dark chocolate (90% cocoa or higher) grabbed on my way out the door. 

As for Easter, it’s unfortunate that the holiday is dominated these days by chocolate rather than real Easter eggs; and that the colored holiday confections that are so popular are made with nasty ingredients, including food dyes that are associated with cancer, attention deficit disorder, and more.² And while abstention from meat on Fridays during Lent may symbolize a positive personal sacrifice, in terms of nutrition the greater good would be served by eating meat sparingly all year round – or abstaining completely from eating lamb or pork raised in factory farms. The nutritional profile of these animals bears little resemblance to that of the grass-fed herds we imagine in Biblical scenes. A nutritional seeker today must find the Kingdom of Heaven in a world of mass-produced food.  

You can turn the tables on these trends by making small changes. Lately I browse on lettuce or parsley while I’m cooking dinner, just to set my food train in the right order. Restaurants that serve salad first have the right idea. Bread should be last, so as not to start your meal with refined starch that quickly breaks down into sugar. Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach also carries risks for anyone with blood sugar issues³– or who wishes to avoid them. Fifty percent of Americans are diabetic or pre-diabetic, nearly 9 million of whom are undiagnosed⁴ and unaware of the underlying causes of the chronic inflammatory conditions that are epidemic in today's world: cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, dementia, eczema, acne, polycystic ovary syndrome, fatty liver disease, IBS, and so much more. Insulin resistance is increasingly understood as a major underlying cause of all chronic disease. The good news is that no matter what plagues you, you can reduce inflammation and improve your health merely by switching the order of what you eat. For many people, this first step is easier to swallow than giving up foods entirely. Make carbohydrates the caboose in your meal, not the engine. 

If you’re a lover of desserts, consider eating them after lunch instead of dinner. Without a big insulin spike at the end of your day, you might sleep better, and have a less precipitous drop in blood sugar during the night.

Whether they knew it or not, our ancestors passed down more than just spiritual value in the ritual meals of holidays. In keeping with the springtime themes of rebirth and renewal, we can bring the wisdom of these traditions into our modern lives. Just as spiritual teachings help us find our place in Creation, the sequence and timing of how we eat can create harmony and order within our bodies. The order of Passover, the abstinence of Easter, and the intermittent fasting of Ramadan all bear nutritional gems we are only just beginning to rediscover. Turn a gem at a different angle, and it refracts new light. The benefits go beyond special occasions, rippling out into our daily habits and routines. Isn’t that the real purpose of holidays, to positively inform the ordinary days in between?   

Happy holidays to all my readers who celebrate Passover, Easter, and Ramadan! I invite you to share your own holiday foods in the comments below.

To your good health –

Yael Bernhard
Certified Integrative Health & Nutrition Coach

Yael Bernhard is a writer, illustrator, book designer and fine art painter with a lifelong passion for nutrition and herbal medicine.  She was certified by Duke University as an Integrative Health Coach in 2021 and by Cornell University in Nutrition & Healthy Living in 2022.  For information about private health coaching or nutrition programs for schools, please respond directly to this newsletter, or email dyaelbernhard@protonmail.com. Her art newsletter, “Image of the Week,” may be found here. Visit her online gallery of illustration, fine art, and children’s books here.

Information in this newsletter is provided for educational – and inspirational – purposes only.

1. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/parsley-benefits#TOC_TITLE_HDR_6

2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23026007/

3. https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/selfcare-instructions/diabetes-and-alcohol

4. https://diabetesresearch.org/diabetes-statistics/