Joy Feldman Really Does Believe We Are What We Eat

It takes a lot of carrots to make 8 ounces of carrot juice – as many as 10 carrots. I know this because I’ve been making 8 ounces of carrot juice every morning this week, ever since I sat down to interview Joy Feldman, East Greenwich resident and nutritional consultant.

In her gentle but persuasive way, Feldman inspired me to pull out the juicer my husband had bought for the family at Christmas and make carrot juice.

"It's great for the liver," she said. Now, I can't speak for my liver, but I have felt brighter this week. 

Feldman, who lives in East Greenwich, has been preaching the gospel of carrot juice (and healthy foods in general) for almost 20 years, ever since she had a health crisis after the birth of her first child. 

She became sick with an autoimmune disease that severely limited her ability to care for her baby.

"I can’t spend my life sick like this anymore," she remembered thinking.

Feldman met with a nutrition consultant who analyzed her hair, had her eat "lots and lots" of cooked vegetables and told her to stop eating sugar, processed foods, and wheat. 

"It took me a year to come back to myself," she said. But when she did, her life was changed. Feldman had been a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions. She gave up law, studied with the very consultant who'd helped her get healthy, then began doing her own nutritional consulting.

Feldman and her husband and two children moved to East Greenwich 10 years ago. She has an office in North Kingstown but works with clients all over the country and the world, thanks to Skype. 

"Diet’s powerful," said Feldman. "Junking out just doesn’t work for the body – I don't think most people feel great. People are tired, they are run down, they have headaches, they have digestive issues."

She wants people to think differently about what they are eating. But she recognizes that we tend to have emotional ties to food – family events, traditions, comfort – so she said the way to make changes in our diet is slowly, over time. And the first thing to do is easy and cheap: drink more water. 

"It’s one of the easiest things to do and it saves money," she said. "And it's a very simply way for cutting back on sugar."

The other "first thing"? Get in the kitchen and cook.

"On the weekends, the family could get in the kitchen together and make a nice hot soup," she said. "I think you can get a lot done in the weekend. And there’s nothing wrong with pulling into the supermarket and buying a rotisserie chicken."

Feldman advocated stocking the freezer with lots of frozen vegetables – "fresh is best, but there's nothing wrong with frozen vegetables" – and serving-size packages of meat. In the pantry, she said, load up on beans and rice. 

"It’s really a matter of reorganizing your priorities and rethinking how your day goes," she said. Although she concedes, "It takes a bit of planning." 

Needless to say, Feldman is passionate about all this. 

She's particularly passionate about getting children to eat more better. So she visits lots of schools and, invariably, brings along her juicer. She makes carrot juice with the kids. After they try it, Feldman she asks them what they think.

"In every single school I’ve been to, the carrot juice gets a 'yum!' instead of a 'yuck!'" she said.

In March, her book "Is Your Hair Made of Donuts?" was read at schools across the state – including at Hanaford, Eldredge and Cole in East Greenwich – for National Nutrition Month. Feldman herself has participated in many, many readings, wearing her very fun and funny donut wig. It gets people's attention.

The idea for the story came when Feldman was at an airport with her family, waiting for their flight. It was morning and there were several families with young children in the same area and the children were eating things like donuts. The kids got hyper, then complained of not feeling good. It was so clear, the connection between what went into their bodies and how it made them act and feel. 

Part of Feldman's practice focuses on hair analysis because, she said, you can get a pretty clear picture of someone's state of health that way. 

Donuts ... hair ... the book just flowed from that. 

The book features Matt and Maddie, two kids with a mom who provides healthy food for them. Naturally, they want the foods they see their friends eating. So, one day at the market, their mom lets them buy all the junk food they want. They eat it and start to turn into the food they're eating. The story's engaging and the illustrations pop off the page.

It's a fun book, but Feldman is very serious about the topic. 

"We have to reclaim our kitchens, reclaim our lifestyles, simplify," she said. "And we have to advocate for our children's well being. Not to sound hokey, but these children are our future."

To read more about Joy Feldman, check out her website here. And click here for the "Is Your Hair Made of Donuts" website, which is very child-friendly. To read about her other book, Joyful Cooking, click here.