My First BeamGreen Experience

The absolutely amazing Gena invited me to BeamGreen last night for their July event.  Read Gena’s description about Beam Green here.

According to the website,  BeamGreen is an eco-educational community dedicated to The Green Baby Movement! BeamGreen is a Green Social Club for MEN & WOMEN OF ALL AGES – a forum created for the sharing of Green knowledge and wisdom in order to guide people towards superior health and wellness.

You might be wondering why I — young and unmarried as I am — would be attending an event from an organization dedicated to the Green Baby Movement! Well, let me just say, BeamGreen is so, so, SO much more than that. It is a community where like-minded people (and those who want to learn more) can come together and share delicious food, listen to inspiring and motivating speakers, win raffle prizes and come home with a wealth of new knowledge and information.

At least that’s what it was for me.

I wanted to attend last month after a number of events: reading about the meetings on Gena and Heather’s blogs, meeting the founder’s mother and learning more about it, and getting even more encouragement to attend from another friend! Unfortunately, I had a work event the same night and was not able to attend last month, which was unfortunate because Gil Jacobs was speaking and I wanted to hear what he said, as I am quite familiar with his business. Luckily I got to hear all about it from Diana. And Gil will be speaking next month, and every month through November!

I held the date for July’s event and last night was the night! I arrived at Tavern on the Green at 7 (my first time there!) and Diana arrived seconds after me! And seconds after that? Gena showed up! It was so nice to catch up with the bloggers. I hadn’t seen Diana since our last painful Physique 57 experience and Gena since March at the blogger brunch!

We entered the room where BeamGreen was being held and I was impressed by the array of foods available! There were fruits, veggies, veggie sushi, vegan cookies from Babycakes and fresh juice from Liqueteria. I got a few avocado rolls, a chocolate chip cookie and a green juice. There were also wheatgrass shots, but I wasn’t brave enough (yet) to try them. Later in the night? Well, that’s another story! More on that soon.

Diana and I sat down and snacked on our foods and then the founder, Mary Boehmer, took the stage. Let me just tell you — this woman is my age but from her poise, personality, drive and presence, you would think she was older. I’m not saying she looks old (far from it!), but she just carries herself in a way that is so . . . different from myself! And keep in mind, she is my age and started this amazing foundation. I forgot to take a picture of her but here is one Gena posted from a previous event:

Some information about Mary, from the website:

Mary K. Boehmer, HHI, CEC, ICF, founded Beam Green, LLC in January 2009. She has dedicated her life to the creation of children who are strong, vibrant, and healthy who will contribute to the world in countless ways. Her belief that through love and proper nutrition all of humanity can grow stronger motivates her to research and bring the best to The Green Social Club.

Mary spoke for a few minutes and gave us rundown of what our night would be like. She introduced the first speaker, Jared Koch, author of Clean Plates NYC, AKA my new favorite book that I won’t leave the house without. If you live in NYC, please get this book!

Jared, a wellness counselor and nutritional consultant, decided to create what no one had created before — a guide to NYC restaurants based on quality of ingredients (what types of oils, free range chicken, grass fed beef, etc), taste and overall health. There are many guides to vegetarian eating, but they don’t necessarily give the healthiest or best tasting options. Jared, along with food critic Alex Van Buren, set out to hundreds of restaurants in New York City.

The book is combined into two sections. After an introduction which explains the restaurant criteria for appearing in this book and an explanation on why we should eat healthier, part 2 consists of Jared’s five precepts that he believes will help us all find the best diet for ourselves. The second section includes 75 restaurant reviews, written by Alex, the food critic — these are the 75 tastiest, healthiest restaurants in NYC. I plan to use these as my guideline for going out to eat from now on. Luckily for me, the boy is on board! I haven’t read the entire book yet (I just got it last night, sheesh!) but from what I have read, the reviews are fantastic. There really is something for everyone, as each restaurant is marked by a number of criteria, such as price (the restaurants range from fast food to super fancy), vegetarian friendly, flexitarian friendly, meat-based, vegan, macrobiotic, raw, naturally swetened desserts and more.

After the reviews (which include Citrus & Josie’s, two of my fav restaurants!) are lists of restaurants that didn’t make the cut for the main list, but are still better options than most restaurants. These are divided into two lists:

1. Restaurants that passed the health standards but didn’t make it past the taste criteria (hey, they can’t ALL be featured as the “best in NYC!”)
2.Restaurants that tasted great but didn’t meet all the health requirements (ie, some of their meat was sustainably-raised, but not all. Or not enough vegetables on the menu)

There is also a list of great health food markets. In addition, there is a helpful glossary of terms and a comprehensive appendix so you can easily find whatever it is you are looking for.

This book is my guide! I even bought a signed copy for my best friend (oops! just ruined the surprise!) because we never know where to eat when we are in the city — and now we will always know! It is nice to have a friend who is interested in this — and she plans to join me at BeamGreen next month!

Anyway, I just want to say — get that book! The more we demand high quality, healthful ingredients, the more restaurants will serve them!

Something else Jared mentioned stuck with me. He talked about how he went through this panel of food sensitivity testing, where they tested like 80 foods and gave him a list of what foods caused inflammation for him that he should avoid. Once he started avoiding these foods, he felt so much better. More energy, less medical problems. I had vaguely heard of this before, but once Jared said it I started getting angry that none of my doctors mentioned this. I am not saying my GI problems are because of a food allergy — because they are most definitely NOT — but because if there are foods I eat every day that I am sensitive to and make me feel even worse, I don’t want to eat them!

I called my doctor today and he wasn’t thrilled about my request, since we already know I don’t have a food allergy. I responded to him: I don’t think I have a food allergy, I just think that if I can avoid foods that cause inflammation for me and make me feel even worse, maybe I won’t suffer all the time as I do now.

He gave me the name of an immunologist, and I have an appointment to see her next Thursday!

Moving forward.

After a short break (where I got another juice!) we sat back down to hear from Green Depot, a company that sells anything you need for the home — all environmentally friendly and affordable. It’s like Home Depot, as they said, but smaller and better for the environment. Whether you need cleaning products for your home or you are redoing your house or building a new one, this is definitely the place you would want to shop at and support. Especially if you have or plan to have kids.

After this, Mary announced raffle winners. We all received a ticket when we came in, and had a 1 in 6 chance of winning something! People walked away with prizes such as really cool wheatgrass shot glasses (okay, regular shot glasses but they should be used for wheatgrass!), books such as The China Study (which I really want to read!) and the Engine 2 Diet, (author speaking at BeamGreen next month!), organic bath products, gift cards to Liqueteria, a coconut cleaver, a tomato knife, yoga toes, wheatgrass from Greengrass Life and more. Not to mention the prize I really wanted to win — a complimentary food coaching session with Gena! (I forgot to take a picture of her when she got up on stage. I’ll steal Diana’s later.) I kept hoping I wouldn’t win the other prizes so I could have a chance to win Gena’s. But then I didn’t win anything! Maybe next time. 🙂

The next presentation was absolutely incredible. Husband and wife team Melissa and Jovany spoke about their company, Greengrass Life (website under construction; it will be up and running on Monday!) They plant, grow and delivery wheatgrass all around the NYC area. Jovany and Meliza both come from Hispanic backgrounds, where they grew up on feasts of rice and beans and beef and chicken. Jovany questioned this food from an early age, seeing how it made his uncles feel after meals. He became a personal trainer and eventually met his wife-to-be, Meliza, who was overweight herself.

Someone close to Jovany suffered from Hepatitis C which led to cancer. He watched this person become worse and worse, and after the doctors told Jovany (who, by the way, bears a striking resemblance to Dave Matthews) that he could not donate his liver, and in fact there was nothing he could do, Jovany took matters into his own hands. He gave this person a shot of wheatgrass every single morning. At her next blood test, all her stats had stabilized and she was doing MUCH better — and feeling much stronger.

From there, Jovany began to realize the wonders of wheatgrass. His wife, Meliza, had a slew of medical problems from being overweight. She lost the weight (in a fairly unhealthy way) and her medical problems remained. She began taking wheatgrass twice a day, every day. Six weeks later, her medical problems were  gone.

This couple saw firsthand the healing powers of wheatgrass, and made it their mission to heal others in this way too. They started Greengrass Life and set out to find the perfect wheatgrass to plant. As you might know, wheatgrass often tastes bad and does not go down easily. It can also make you nauseous and not feel great. They and their two year old daughter tasted different types until they found the perfect — sweet — type. This is what they plant — and by the way, when they do plant it, they think of the sick people they know, think of positive healing thoughts and inject positive energy into each batch. Each tray is personalized to the individual getting it — their names are on it — so it truly is a caring and personal company. While they have employees working for them — weighing, messengering — Meliza and Jovany do all the planting themselves. They truly believe in their product and put so much care and thought into it, I knew I had to try it.

And I did. And I loved it! So much that I bought a wheatgrass shot today at my local juice bar — expecting it to not taste as good — and was pleasantly surprised when it was sweet as well. I am considering joining Greengrass Life and making it every day for the boy and I (he expressed an interest! but first, he needs to try some this weekend) and see if we can improve our own health. I am considering it, but for now, I am happy to buy it at Elixir.

Greengrass Life works like this: You buy a wheatgrass juicer (Greengrass Life will deliver it to you with your first greengrass delivery if you want) which run as low as $45. Every week, you get a fresh delivery of wheatgrass to your door from a messenger. It costs about $23 a week, which is about $3.25 a day. While that was the price I paid at Elixir, I didn’t have it first thing in the morning when it is most beneficial, and that was only one shot. I am not totally sure, but I think you’d get more than that each day with Greengrass Life’s delivery. Also, Greengrass Life uses only organic soil and organic seeds. Who knows what I am getting at Elixir? The price is definitely worth it if you are committing to drinking wheatgrass. (And Gena was generous to offer me her wheatgrass juicer!)

Of course, they spoke about the benefits of wheatgrass and I came home and researched it some more. Once the Greengrass Life site is up and running on Monday, it will explain their growing process and benefits of wheatgrass. For now, read the benefits of wheatgrass here. The chlorophyll is particularly a healing agent for diseases such as cancer. And Jovany explained that 2 shots of wheatgrass is the equivalent of 5 pounds of salad. Think about eating a 5 pound salad! And as I can’t eat salad, you will be sure I will be taking my wheatgrass!

I have the pamphlet here but I can’t transcribe it. I will link to the website again once it is up and running so you can read the history of Greengrass Life and more nutritional benefits.

We also received a folder full of information. There were pamphlets and fact sheets about wheatgrass and Greengrass Life, a Nutrition for Kids pamphlet, a guide to when fruits and vegetables are in season by month, and a Nutrition Rainbow from The Cancer Project, which shows what essential nutrient each color fruit and vegetable contains and what it protects against.

Very cool, right! I love all the contents of the folder and sat with the boy when I got home (close to 11!) and went over all the material with him. I am SO excited to go back next month, and I am strongly considering joining. The boy might come with me next time, and my best friend will. If you are in the NYC area and would like to attend, I think you should really give it a try.

A large part of the reason I am so into this is because of my chronic GI illness. Thanks to the blogging community, I have come across incredible resources that will help me achieve the best health I can. Not only do I want to feel better, but I want to give my body everything it is missing from 2 years of not being able to eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Thanks to Gena, I now drink green juice first thing every morning and see a friend of hers who helps me improve my condition. Thanks to Gena, Heather, Melissa and Diana I attended BeamGreen, where I will continue to learn more than I could ever imagine on my own. Thanks to BeamGreen, I will now be adding wheatgrass to my diet on most days. Thanks to BeamGreen, I am seeing an immunologist next week and might learn what foods to avoid in order to feel better.  Thanks to other bloggers, I saw Food, Inc and read books like In Defense of Food and Real Food and Naturally Thin and Rethinking Thin and The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The China Study. I am taking my health into my own hands, learning what is best for my body (which no doctor has advised), doing what I can to prevent cancer and other disease, doing what I can to improve my own unfortunate medical condition, learning as much as I possibly can about how to get vital nutrients into my body, how to eat REAL food and how to thrive. The more I learn about health and nutrition, the more I feel like I am in control of my body and my illness.

I look forward to more BeamGreen events!