Everything's kosher: fitting food for a fit lifestyle. (food).(Brief Article)

David Lewin is an extra-careful label reader. Not only does he want to provide a healthy lifestyle for his family, he also seeks out products that meet the requirements of Jewish dietary law: kosher health food.

What makes a food or product kosher? "The word `kosher' means proper, appropriate, fit," says Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer of Temple Israel Community Center in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. Only certain animals, fish and fowl are considered kosher. All kosher-slaughtered animals undergo rigorous inspection, and meat and fowl must be thoroughly cleansed of blood. Milk and milk products may not be consumed with meat or fowl.

Animals, fish and birds that prey on others are forbidden, but not a single fruit, vegetable or herb is prohibited. "There's a lesson to be learned there about the kind of people we should be," Engelmayer says.

According to the rabbi, the three most important elements of the kosher dietary laws are "animals that are healthy, a production process that is as clean as possible and a sense in the consumer that even this most basic human action of eating for survival requires thought and care." In the vernacular, "kosher" means any food that doesn't contain forbidden ingredients--lard, for example, in whole-wheat bread.

These elements account for the popular belief that kosher food is cleaner and more healthful than ordinary food, Engelmayer says. Also, E. coli scares and other tainted-meat alarms have sent many consumers in search of kosher meat.

A favorite store of Lewin's is his local organic market in Rockville, Maryland. There he checks labels for kosher certification. Often enough, he finds it.

"In almost any food category, at least one product line is kosher-certified, so keeping kosher doesn't prevent us from having a varied, healthy diet," he says.