Wellspring Issue #93 by The Wellspring

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Chag Sameach from all of us at PHC!

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Primary Care, Always There

Under Our Roof, You're Always Covered! PHC shelters you with care and love—year-round. In this season of gathering and gratitude, we're thankful for the trust and faith you've placed in us. New Facilities

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Fire in his heart Fiery passion and joy of life burn in Simchale's heart. Rayim instills in him the knowledge and love for Yiddishkeit, igniting his inner spark and kindling a true simchas yom tov.

Watch him hold his Rayim torch high.

‫חג שמח‬ 4

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

‫מי שלא‬ ‫ראה‬ ‫שמחה׳לע‬ ...‫זו‬

W W W. R AY I M . O R G

Boro Park // Williamsburg // Orange County // Rockland County

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

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Shaya is on his way to spend a fulﬁlling day at Day Hab. While the skills and knowledge he gains there are impressive, for Hamaspik of Kings County, it’s not enough. Spark Library – built with care for individuals with special needs – is where Shaya runs the show. He shines as he manages subscriptions, organizes shelves, and checks out books, engaging with hundreds of guests from the community who come to enjoy his library.

It's the extra mile like Spark Library that makes all the difference.

718.387.8400 • hamaspikkings.org

*Spark library is run by the participants of Achosainu Academy, a Williamsburg-based Day Hab

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

COPY & RESEARCH

Editor In Chief Shiffy Friedman Deputy Editor Libby Silberman Nutritional Advisory Board Dr. Rachael Schindler Laura Shammah, MS, RDN Tamar Feldman, RDN, CDE Bashy Halberstam, INHC Shaindy Oberlander, INHC Shira Savit, MA, MHC, CHC Esti Asher, MS, RDN, LD Nutrition Contributors Tanya Rosen, MS CAI CPT Shani Taub, CDC

Health Advisory Board Dr. Chayala Englard Chaya Tilla Brachfeld, RN Fitness Advisory Board Syma Kranz, PFC Esther Fried, PFC Child Development Advisory Board Friedy Singer, OTR/L Roizy Guttmann, OTR/L Coordinating Editor Liba Solomon, CNWC Feature Editors Rochel Gordon • Rikki Samson

$99.00

Proofreaders Faige Badian • Meira Lawrence

WELLSPRING MAGAZINE: 718-412-3309 info@wellspringmagazine.com www.wellspringmagazine.com 670 Myrtle Ave. Suite 389 Brooklyn, NY 11205

FOOD CONTENT Food Editor Esther Frenkel Recipes Yossi & Malky Levine Charnie Kohn Elky Friedman Styling & Photography Malky Levine Charnie Kohn Pessi Piller ART & PRODUCTION Cover Design Aryeh Epstein Designer Rivky Schwartz Digital Media Rivkah Shanowitz ADVERTISING Executive Account Manager Goldy Kolman 718-412-3309 Ext.2 ads@wellspringmagazine.com SUBSCRIPTION 718-437-0761 subscribe@wellspringmagazine.com DISTRIBUTION Weekly Publications INC. 347-782-5588

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The Wellspring Magazine is published monthly by Wellspring Magazine Inc. All rights are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part or in any form without prior written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher reserves the right to edit all articles for clarity, space and editorial sensitivities. The Wellspring Magazine assumes no responsibility for the content or kashrus of advertisements in the publication, nor for the content of books that are referred to or excerpted herein. The contents of The Wellspring Magazine, such as text, graphics and other material (content) are intended for educational purposes only. The content is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your health care provider with any questions you have regarding your medical condition.

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EDITOR'S NOTE

Many Pathways, One Goal

t the inception of this magazine, an acquaintance asked me, “How will you find enough content to keep Wellspring running? Once you’ve explored the basic components to healthy living, the ‘well’ will inevitably go dry.”

Well, we’re inching toward an entire decade of fresh content. And there’s still so much to explore. If there were only one path toward health and wellbeing, we’d have covered all the bases. But that’s not the case—and experience is our best teacher for the truth of this principle.

In our childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, we’re prone to believing that there is only one effective approach to any facet of living: ours. This underdeveloped worldview offers a sense of security during those developmental stages. We seek to affirm for ourselves that we—and anything associated with us—are wholly good and that concepts can be understood in squares and straight lines. Then, as we garner these incredible new lenses called life experience, we tend to mellow. Part of growing up is coming to the realization that what works for me—even if it feels almost magical for me—won’t necessarily yield the same results for someone else. In fact, the same intervention or approach may even engender adverse effects in others. The basic health needs, such as hydration, nutrition, and sleep, are universal, but how we attain these needs is unique to each of us. How many cups of water? How many hours of sleep? There is no one right answer because no one’s physical makeup is the same as another’s. In the same vein, certain foods that are good for some are detrimental for others. For some people, salt is a necessary part of their diet; for others, it’s toxic. The same goes for gluten, coffee, dairy, and sugar. Some people have cake or candy and feel unaffected, while for others even a speck wreaks havoc on their mood, digestive system, or energy levels. Some find spelt flour light and easily digestible, while others opt for whole wheat as their first choice. Part of our maturation and growth process is to accept our unique makeup—this is how Hashem created me, and there’s a purpose in that—and also to accept that just because something has been helpful or harmful for me, that’s not necessarily the case for someone else. And so, as the frum community’s health magazine, we see it as our responsibility to bring it all to you, dear readers. We won’t be running out of content any time soon because our mission is to lay all the options out on the table, from the very conventional to the very alternative, and everything in between. The goal is for you to come to your decisions with awareness, to tend to your physical, emotional, and spiritual health in a way that gives you the

most chiyus possible. n this issue itself, you’ll find various articles that convey this sentiment. Whether it’s a newly discovered treatment for inflammatory diseases, which we bring you in this issue’s compelling cover feature, or the Sarno approach to healing, which the inimitable Libby Silberman tests in her Lab, getting acquainted various healing methodologies with an open mind—a willingness to experiment and watch for results—is at the crux of overall health. Although Wellspring does not endorse all of the interventions or approaches featured in these pages, by serving as a platform that presents the various options available for healing, our readers can make an informed decision. The idea that many pathways may lead to one goal is true not only vis-à-vis physical health. It’s true in regard to emotional health—our nefesh is entirely unique to us—and in ruchniyus. Just as there is no one right way to heal, there is no one right way to serve Hashem. While certain dictates are set in stone, as established by the Shulchan Aruch, so much else in our relationship with Hashem is hinged upon our unique traits, background, and culture. The goal of kirvas Elokim is shared by all of us, but how we get there is largely determined by the individual means that propels us toward this goal. Some of us are stirred to this connection through the words of Tehillim; others through stringencies in halachah. For each of us, something else ignites our neshamah. As the arba minim convey, each of us, with our unique package that makes us who we are, plays a vital role in the collective goal of serving Hashem. When we recognize that we each deserve our space, that every approach has its own merit, we can gather together—tikareiv echad el echad— as one united entity. Standing at the Kosel this past Rosh Hashanah, I took in the sight before my eyes, the array of Yidden who had all come to the place where the Shechinah never leaves to connect more deeply to Hashem, each with their own traditions and customs. This thought came to mind: we are all our unique selves, coming together to serve Him. May we merit ushering in the geulah very soon, the time of kibbutz galuyos, when Yidden from all corners of the globe will come together to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the place we’ve been longing to celebrate His glory for so long.

n a m d e i r F y Shiff

A simchas Yom Tov to you all,

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

‫יוֹם טוֹב ָה ִראשׁוֹן ֶשׁל ַחג ֶשׁ ָחל לִ ְהיוֹת ְבּ ַשׁ ָבּת‬ It's Erev Sukkos on a Friday, and Yidden are rushing with their final preparations for Yom Tov. The streets of Yerushalayim are bustling. Some are finishing the their little sukkahs, while others are preparing their lulav. You can feel the excitement as the fast-approaching Chag radiates.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

As the sun gracefully descends, Klal Yisroel harmoniously makes their way to the majestic Bais Hamikdash. Holding tightly onto their splendid lulav bags embroidered with honor, they deliver their precious packages so they'll be ready for the big mitzvah right after Shabbos. Everything proclaims Hiddur Mitzvah. Everyone sings Keter Yitnu Lecha!

‫ניש‬ ‫ט גע‬ ‫'‬ ‫ד‬ ‫אג ה ' ע ט‬

‫‪17‬‬

‫‪WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784‬‬

‫‪1-888-68-KETER · KETERJUDAICA.COM‬‬

‫שוין באלד‪,‬‬ ‫ע וו ע ט‬ ‫ט‬ ‫ש‬ ‫ז‬ ‫י‬ ‫י‬ ‫נ‬ ‫ס‬ ‫י‬ ‫מער‬ ‫ן…‬ ‫ק יי ן ח ל ו ם‬ ‫אידן‬

CONTENTS

OCTOBER 2023 TISHREI 5784 ISSUE 93 Our next issue will appear on Wednesday, November 1st iy"H.

64 80

WELL INFORMED 20

Springboard

Spiritual Eating

Torah Wellspring

40 Health Updates

LIVING WELL 46

Fitness

Tribute

Ask the Nutritionist

FYI

60 Community 64

Cover Feature

Sample

Cup of Tea

100 Serial Diary 103 DIY

WELLBEING 104 Tap In 106 OT@Home

109 SEASONED 18

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

FAREWELL 146 TorahHolistic Wellspring will return next month.

no r f idge needed

Snack It Toss It Top It Enjoy perfectly-shredded, crispy Cheese’A’Lech as a snack, garnish, or to uplevel soups, salads, and pasta. Great source of protein

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

SPRINGBOARD

On Vegetable Consumption, Early Rising, Bach Remedies, and More

Not Mutually Exclusive Issue #91: Sample

As a self-proclaimed “veggie smuggler,” I wanted to thank you for the engaging and informative article on the topic. As always, Libby did an excellent job with her trial in the lab, bringing us the pros and cons for the practice she explored. I understand mothers for feeling like they’re “fooling” their kids into eating more wholesome foods when they’re throwing some zucchini into the potato kugel or avocado into a chocolate cake (gasp, I’m guilty of both), but I don’t see why adding in these bonus veggies should in any way detract from kids getting 20

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

used to consuming vegetables in the conventional way as well. Just because I’m also fortifying less nutrient-dense foods (like kugel) with “concealed” veggies, that doesn’t mean I can’t also set out a platter of “revealed” vegetables on the table. These two options shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. As a fellow mom chiming into the conversation, here’s how I see it: the more veggies the better. If enriching the foods our kids eat with more nutrients doesn’t significantly alter their taste, it only gives them a higher daily intake of what their body really needs. Especially if our kids aren’t eating that many wholesome foods when they’re at school, which is the case for most kids I know nowadays,

the home is the place where we should be giving them whatever we can. Thanks for a terrific publication that I look forward to every month, Racheli L. Howell, New Jersey

Too Much of a Good Thing Issue #91: Holistic

I found myself nodding along as I read Shaindy Oberlander’s nugget regarding foods that are considered

Eye have a headache The eye tells a story

way beyond sight

Did you know that headaches and other health issues can be eye-related? That’s why, at Ahava, we investigate your eye health, exploring potential links to external issues that may appear unrelated since there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Ahava’s comprehensive eye exam. An in-depth addition to our regular eye exam. WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

Quick Question

SPRINGBOARD

Question: My six-year-old son recently had strep for the second time in three months. When he catches the infection, he runs a very high fever, and his body seems not to respond to antibiotics. According to our pediatrician, it’s very probable that he has a viral strep. Can you offer guidance regarding how we can treat this?

Answer: If your child’s strep does not respond to amoxicillin, your doctor may prescribe second-level antibiotics to target a different bacteria. It’s always important to treat strep with an approach that targets bacteria, but you can simultaneously treat the infection with interventions that help combat viruses. Natural treatment includes gargling with salt water, echinacea, raw honey, elderberry, and essential oils such as thieves spray, which can be sprayed directly on the tonsils. Due to the high allergy levels at this time of year, not all sore throats are testing as strep and many don’t require antibiotics at all. Sneezing and nasal drip can cause the throat to become irritated, so I recommend plenty of herbal teas, quercetin, Panto C, and thieves oil. Take care, Miriam Schweid, Kinesiologist and Health Consultant

healthy but may not be conducive to weight loss. But the issue with these foods isn’t only that many of them may be contributing to weight gain. Even if weight loss isn’t a goal, and one is happy to maintain their current weight, a lot of what the world considers “healthy” can actually be detrimental to health. Particularly for people who have a hard time with portion control, many of the products that are considered wholesome turn out to be anything but in the long run. When an individual is under the impression that they’re consuming a good-for-them food, they’re at risk of overconsumption. For over a year, I used to have an acai bowl for breakfast almost every morning. While I didn’t experience any significant weight gain over that time, I did learn that this relatively healthy food was the culprit for a rise in my blood sugar levels. Without even realizing it, I was consuming way more fruit than my body could handle. As 22

the

magazine

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

that

brings

awareness on a variety of health topics, I was happy to see this seemingly self-understood aspect of health covered here. Most people know that when they’re going for ice cream, they’re going for a hefty serving of sugar. But not enough people know that when they’re having oversized servings of fruit or even vegetables, that’s not healthy either. As the Rambam famously expressed, most illness stems from not only consumption of unhealthy foods, but also overconsumption of healthy foods. Many thanks for bringing this to your readers’ attention, L. D.

Caught the Bug Issue #90: Cover Feature

Just writing to say that it’s been

two months since I caught the early-to-rise bug—and it’s just been incredible. Thanks so much for a wellrounded publication that leaves me with so much food for thought month after month. My only complaint is that the magazine doesn’t appear often enough! Yasher koach, M. Lewin Baltimore, Maryland

Maintaining the Ties Issue #90: Wellbeing Feature

I’m always excited when the magazine has a Wellbeing feature as the articles in this space have proven to be deeply insightful and helpful for me in regards to improving my selfawareness, as well as my marriage and parenting.

Eye am tired The eye tells a story

way beyond sight

Did you know that fatigue and other health issues can be eye-related? That's why, at Ahava, we go beyond just assessing your eyesight. We delve deep into understanding the underlying causes of tiredness because there's much more than just what meets the eye.

Ahava’s comprehensive eye exam. An in-depth addition to our regular eye exam. WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

The Doctor Is In

SPRINGBOARD

Question: My child occasionally bed-wets at night even though he has been potty trained during the day for several years. When do I start getting concerned?

Answer: Bedwetting, or nocturnal enuresis, is a common issue among children and can be caused by a variety of factors, including a delay in the maturation of the nerves that control the bladder, an overproduction of urine at night, or a smaller bladder capacity. Emotional factors like stress, changes in routine, or anxiety can also contribute. In some cases, bedwetting can be linked to family history, as it tends to run in families. There are several strategies you can try at home to help manage bedwetting. Encourage your child to urinate before bedtime and limit their fluid intake in the evening. Using waterproof mattress covers and providing extra sheets can make cleanup easier. It’s also important to be understanding and supportive, as negative reactions can worsen the situation. Behavioral strategies like bedwetting alarms can help condition your child to wake up when they need to urinate. In some cases, a healthcare provider might recommend medication to temporarily reduce nighttime urine production. While certain foods and drinks can increase urine production and potentially contribute to bedwetting, dietary factors are usually not the primary cause. However, limiting caffeine and sugary drinks in the evening may help reduce the likelihood of nighttime accidents. In most cases, bedwetting is not a sign of a serious medical condition. However, if your child experiences other urinary symptoms, such as pain or discomfort, it’s important to consult a healthcare provider to rule out any potential issues. In addition, if your child has been dry for at least six months and then starts having accidents suddenly, it’s a good idea to get him evaluated. There are a few things to try if you and your son are very motivated to reduce the frequency of bedwetting: 1. Fluid management: Encourage your child to drink more fluids earlier in the day and limit his intake in the evening. 2. Bladder training: Teach your child to practice holding his urine for gradually longer periods

during the day. Over time, this can help increase his bladder capacity. 3. Cranberry juice: Some parents believe that cranberry juice can help strengthen the bladder and reduce the frequency of bedwetting. While there isn’t strong scientific evidence supporting this, it’s worth a try for its potential benefits to urinary health. 4. Wakeup routine: Establish a routine of waking your child to use the bathroom before you go to bed. This can help break the habit of sleeping through the urge to urinate. 5. Limit caffeine and sugars: Reducing or eliminating caffeine and sugary drinks, especially in the evening, could help minimize nighttime urination. 6. Balanced diet: Ensure your child is getting a balanced diet with plenty of fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. This can support overall urinary health. 7. De-stress: Stress and anxiety can contribute to bedwetting. To help your child manage these factors naturally, consider relaxation techniques like deep breathing. Creating a calm and supportive bedtime routine can also help alleviate stress. While some herbal remedies and supplements are believed to have potential benefits, it’s important to consult a healthcare provider before introducing any new substances into your child’s routine. Desmopressin is a synthetic hormone that can sometimes be used to reduce nighttime urine production, but its usage should be discussed with a doctor due to potential side effects. Remember, natural remedies can be a helpful addition to your efforts, but it’s important to have open communication with your child’s healthcare provider. They can provide personalized guidance based on your child’s medical history and needs. With patience and the right approach, you can support your child in their journey toward dry nights. Wishing you and your child the best of health, Dr. Jennie Berkovich, Pediatrician JOWMA Director of Education

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Eye am restless The eye tells a story

way beyond sight

Did you know poor focus and other health issues can be eye-related? That's why, at Ahava, we go beyond simply assessing visual acuity. Restlessness and fidgeting could be linked to eye health, as there's much more to consider than meets the eye.

Ahava’s comprehensive eye exam. An in-depth addition to our regular eye exam. WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

Who cares?

Eye Problems That Can Cloud Your World

Refractive Errors Presbyopia Eye Muscle Problems Dry Eye Syndrome Cataracts Eye Diseases Computer Vision Syndrome

Ahava Vision Services ● OPTICAL ● THERAPY ● EYE EXAM ● CONTACT LENSES ● MEDICAL EYE CARE

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O C U L AR D I S E A S ES C AN B E DE TE C TE D WH E N TAKI N G A C O M PRE H E N S IVE E Y E E X AM

Cataract | Glaucoma | Diabetic Retinopathy Macular Degeneration

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Evaluation of Anterior Segment

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5HG ēDJV LQ NLGV H\H KHDOWK » Sudden loss of interest in reading or homework » Losing their place or poor comprehension while reading » Tilting the head or closing one eye when reading

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Blessings from above, these gifts of sight we hold, We can trust what we see more than the stories we are told, Ahava’s here to nurture, safeguard, and help you realize, Caring for your eyes is crucial, and the ability to do so is a precious prize, We’re bringing care to the community beyond compare, Because ‘eye don’t know about you, but eye care.’

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

SPRINGBOARD

Even though our family has come together by now after our summer “separation,” I’m writing to say how helpful I found the article about how to maintain family ties. I tried putting all four tips into practice over the summer and I’m happy to report a certain shift in the closeness within the family. In fact, one child even commented on it when we spoke over the phone while he was in camp. He mentioned a certain issue he was struggling with, and when I let him get it all out before intervening with my suggestions, he said to me afterward, “Wow, Mommy. I’m so happy I shared this with you because I feel that you really care.”

Wishing you lots of continued hatzlachah with your important work, G. M.

ease my anxiety somewhat, and he did not recommend that I increase the dosage. However, I did feel that I needed more support toward being a calmer, more present mother for my children.

I read in Wellspring about the efficacy of Bach remedies some time ago, and as a young mother struggling with anxiety, this subject piqued my interest.

Soon after reading the article, I started taking some of the Bach remedies (rock rose, gorse, cherry plum, and elm), and they’ve been a real help for me since then. One perk is that I’m able to take them as often as I feel the need—no need to watch the clock. Thanks for bringing this intervention to my attention.

My doctor had recently prescribed Klonopin, which did

Name withheld upon request

Calmer Mother Issue #61: Cover Feature

Get in touch! Wellspring invites readers to submit letters and comments via regular mail or email to info@wellspringmagazine.com. We reserve the right to edit all submissions and will withhold your name upon request. We will honor requests for anonymity, but we cannot consider letters that arrive without contact information.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

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WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

When they add their own TASTE to the sukkah. Product of USA

!‫א פרייליכן יו"ט‬ WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

SPIRITUAL EATING By Rabbi Eli Glaser, CNWC, CWMS

The Mizbeiach in Our Own Home A common quip to describe our Yamim Tovim: “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat!” It does seem like much of our time during the Yamim Tovim is spent with the machzor, or at a plate of food.

All kidding aside, it must be that these two acts possess the opportunity to maximize the potential of the day, and to fulfill the transcendent promise inherent in these moments. Even with their outward contrast—prayer being an instance of spiritual reflection and eating an event of physical sustenance—Chazal orchestrated both as awesome occasions to connect with our Creator.

was lost after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Sefer Vayikra outlines in great detail the many korbanos we had the opportunity to offer during the time of the Mishkan and First and Second Batei Mikdash. It’s commonly known and relatively easy to understand that prayer today is in place of our service in the Beis Hamikdash; both are sublime circumstances in which to elevate ourselves above our mundane daily tasks.

In fact, tefillah and achilah are nothing less than the principal form of service for every Yid, for every day of the year—not just on the Yamim Tovim. When describing the vessels of the Third Beis Hamikdash, the verse in Yechezkel (41:22) says, “The Mizbeiach was of wood, three amos high, and its length two amos, and its corners and its length and its walls of wood. And he [the malach] said to me, ‘This is the Table that is before Hashem.’”

But how can eating bring about the same result? If anything, it seems to be a spiritual stumbling block for so many of us. Propelled by our physical desires and controlled by our appetites for the tastiest morsels and yearnings for more and more, we’re left feeling chained to our bodies instead of connected to our souls—anything but spiritually enriched and closer to Hashem.

The Gemara in Menachos (97a) learns a prophetic lesson from this verse, which begins with an account of the Mizbeiach and concludes with a reference to a “Table,” and serves as the source for a well-known concept in Yiddishkeit: now that we don’t have a Beis Hamikdash, our [dining room and kitchen] tables will serve as the replacement for the Mizbeiach: “Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish both said: During the period in which the Beis Hamikdash stood, the Mizbeiach would atone for sin. But now that the Beis Hamikdash is not standing, a person’s table atones for him.” The Be’er Mayim Chaim, in the beginning of Parashas Tzav, explains that prayer and eating are the primary acts of service for all Yidden in place of the avodah that

The Maharsha (Sukkos 45b) explains that by sacrificing our taivos for more, and literally leaving behind that extra serving we so much want to consume, we gain control over our guf, thereby elevating our neshamos and achieving great atonement. This is not a recipe for restriction; we’re supposed to make sure to eat enough of the right kinds of foods, and make them as tasty and enjoyable as we can. It is a recipe for redemption—personal and national. The singular way everyone can help rebuild the Beis Hamikdash and bring Mashiach is to focus on the service that is solely in their hands to accomplish. We have to first take responsibility for our own avodah and ruchniyus if we want to make the biggest impact in ending this galus. Put down the fork, and bring the geulah.

Rabbi Eli Glaser, CNWC, CWMS, is the founder and director of Soveya and the author of the best-selling book Enough Is Enough—How the Soveya Solution Is Revolutionizing the Diet and Weight-Loss World, available on Amazon and at Barnes & Nobles and Judaica Plaza in Lakewood. He has worked with thousands of clients around the world and has maintained a 130-pound weight loss for the last 19 years. For more information about Soveya’s programs call 732-578-8800, email info@soveya.com, or visit www. soveya.com.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

‫בס”ד‬

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WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

TORAH WELLSPRING By Rabbi Ezra Friedman

Unshackled

Why Sukkos is a time when we can experience the ultimate simchah

With Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur behind us, we enter Sukkos with a clean slate. Now that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has forgiven us for all the aveiros we committed in the past year, we’re in a rare state of purity. The Rambam says that when a Yid repents, even if he felt “distanced and was repulsed in the eyes of Hashem,” he is now “beloved and close, like a dear friend.” 34

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Only now, in such a state of purity and closeness to Hashem, can we properly fulfill the primary commandment of Sukkos: “Vesamachta bechagecha—Rejoice on your chag.” As the Vilna Gaon says, this is one of the hardest mitzvos in the Torah: not to be meisiach da’as, lose focus, from feeling happy for eight entire days, and to constantly feel joy, joy, joy.

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TORAH WELLSPRING

Still, if there’s ever a circumstance in which we’re able to feel it, it’s now. How so? This is actually the Yom Tov in which we leave behind all material pleasures to enter a hut in the street. What is it about Sukkos that enables us to feel simchah despite the material scarcity? The Guilt Baggage In truth, we shouldn’t have to do anything to feel joy. Like a child who’s naturally happy just by being, we all have an inner fountain of joy within. If you ever took the time to watch an infant delight in every moment of his life, his eyes shining as he offers an endless supply of laughs and smiles, you know what it means to be happy just to be. Why is it that as adults, we lose touch with this inner wellspring of simchah? As this delightful child grows up, he commits deeds—many of them good, some of them not so. Since guilt is a natural consequence of wrongdoing, with every aveirah he commits, his guilty conscience grows. When a Yid does aveiros, no matter how happy he appears, his inner world is ridden by guilt. So, over time, he not only finds it difficult to bear his deeds, but also to bear himself. Because self-disgust is a horrible feeling, an individual who can’t bear himself will seek every possible avenue to distract himself from this feeling—be it through food, technology, or other material pleasures.

teshuvah. As long as one commits sins, since he feels distanced from Hashem, he feels broken and guilty and therefore can’t connect to himself. Feeding his deep yearning with various distractions only drags him deeper into the rut. Once he does teshuvah, however, and he is able to taste the feeling of connection, he is finally able to experience the simchah he longs for all year long. Now that Yom Kippur has passed, we’re at a point in the year at which every Yid feels this good feeling. It is most appropriate that the Yom Tov that follows Yom Kippur requires us to move out of our homes, to leave all vestiges of material comfort behind and reside in a more spiritual environment. Only now that our slate is clean can we finally sit with ourselves and listen to the sound of our soul. Until now, we were desperate for all the material stuff, like the sick child who’s bombarded with candies and gadgets so he can experience counterfeit joy while in pain. But once we rid ourselves from the illness—from all that guilt, from the great distance between us and Hashem, and our yearning has been fed through connecting to our spiritual essence, we’re finally able to feel true simchah. The Sweet Taste

Isn’t it ironic, then, that the person who is best able to distract himself is in turn viewed as the happiest person? On the contrary, the person who is okay with who he is—who has no need to distract himself in order to feel joy—experiences the highest possible level of simchah.

The Chazon Ish was known to say that if a non-Jew would know the sweet taste of learning before davening, for that alone he would convert. Perhaps we can say that if a nonobservant Yid would experience the good feeling we have on Motzaei Yom Kippur even once—the feeling of being unburdened, of being pure of sin—he would return to a life of Torah.

Once we’re cognizant that true inner peace is only possible when the guilty conscience is out of the way, it becomes clear that attaining this level of happiness is achieved through

When we experience the true simchah that comes with freeing ourselves of our aveiros, which in turn rids us of our guilt and allows us to feel happy with who we are, we

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want to take this good feeling with us all year long. Indeed, teshuvah is not designated only for the Yamim Nora’im. As the sefarim teach, this is the time when we get instructions for “derech hateshuvah—the way to repent,” so we can engage in it throughout the year to come. Why would we want to carry our sins with us all year long? Even if we manage to distract ourselves from guilt with various material pleasures, we’re only distancing ourselves from our ability to feel simchah. Withholding ourselves from engaging in teshuvah leads to sadness; we can’t wait until the next year to repent and live with this feeling of joy once more. It would be much wiser for us to do teshuvah as soon as we realize we’ve erred. I Erred If we have the potential to experience the heights of simchah through repentance, why is doing teshuvah on a daily basis so challenging for us? That’s because admitting we erred doesn’t come easily for us; our human instinct (aka ego) propels us to protect our faults. We see this phenomenon frequently in our dayto-day lives, from trivial decisions to those with serious repercussions. As a petty example, when we buy something that’s defective, instead of throwing it out, we’d rather use it as is despite its inefficiency or inconvenience. Getting rid of it would be admitting we made a faulty purchase. On a more serious note, an individual may cause great suffering to himself or his loved ones only to protect an erroneous decision he made in his parenting or marriage. For example, he might keep his children in an institution that doesn’t enable their growth or conduct himself in a manner that doesn’t allow him to develop a relationship rather than admitting he erred and undertaking to correct it. If a

Quiet down, boys!

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

TORAH WELLSPRING

Now that Yom Kippur has passed, we’re at a point in the year at which every Yid feels this good feeling.

person involved in a feud would take the difficult albeit liberating step and say, “I made a mistake, but the past is the past. From this second onward, because I did teshuvah, I’m a new person,” how much heartache would he spare for himself and others? How many things do we do just because we made one mistake a while back that we still feel compelled to protect? Instead of retracting on it, we live with the consequences of that error, many of which are supremely painful. We can go through living a whole year with fear, anxiety, bad moods, rage, or seclusion only because we can’t admit that we made a mistake. We’re tangled up in our quest to buffer our ego. Because I once did it this way, or said I don’t or do like or believe in something, 38

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I’m committed to that decision for the rest of my life. Ironically, the more we try to protect our mistake, the more guilt we experience, because we’re still subconsciously bound to our wrongdoing. Every time it comes up for us, we need to protect it again. This phenomenon is especially true when it comes to aveiros. If a Yid would stop and say, “What I did for the past twenty years/last month/ yesterday/right now was a mistake,” what a different life he would lead. He would absolve himself of the heavy baggage of guilt, along with the constant need to rationalize and justify the wrongs. Hashem waits with open arms to

accept our teshuvah. If we would stop at least once a day and say, “All the aveiros I did until today were wrong,” put our ego aside, and stop protecting our wrongdoing, we would live happy lives. We would finally be okay with ourselves. Now, when we are granted a fresh chance to start all over again, is the time to make a choice. Is it worth it for me to keep protecting my mistakes, to carry around the guilt, or would I rather say, “Hashem, I’m ready to start from scratch. I admit that I erred,” and to be happy all year long? May we merit doing a teshuvah sheleimah, a teshuvah from ahavah. As a result, may we all be blessed with a true simchas Yom Tov and a simchas tamid.

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UPDATES By Bayla Brooks

No Need to Aim So High Walking Just 2,500 Steps a Day Can Reap Health Benefits Overwhelmed by the well-known motto “ten thousand steps a day to health?” Don’t have two hours a day to spare for exercise? Well, you’re in luck. New research suggests that people may not have to walk 10,000 steps daily to receive health benefits—2,500 steps per day may be just enough. That’s only thirty minutes of movement. Sounds more doable, right? It’s long been known that walking can boost heart health and prolong longevity. However, prior research suggested a person needed to walk at least 10,000 steps a day to reap the health benefits. In fact, the CDC recommends that everyone should aim to walk 10,000 steps a day, but many people don’t even come close to that—especially busy, working adults. Until this study, research has consistently shown that sedentary behavior, which is defined as taking fewer than 5,000 steps a day, can dramatically increase a person’s risk for chronic conditions. The recent study, recently published in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, found that walking 3,967 steps each day (slightly less than two miles) can lower a person’s risk of dying from any cause. And walking 2,337 steps a day (slightly more than one mile) can reduce a person’s risk of 40

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complications from cardiovascular disease. The study suggests that we don’t need as many steps to have health benefits as previously thought, and the benefits can manifest when people walk 2,500 to 4,000 steps a day. Even walking for short amounts can combat health issues. Estimates suggest that around 28 percent of people worldwide, particularly women and people in high-income countries, don’t get enough physical activity. According to the World Health Organization, low physical activity is the fourth leading risk factor for death worldwide. As the new analysis shows, even a slight increase in physical activity can have significant health benefits. Here are some ideas for built-in increased walking in your day: parking the car farther away in parking lots, scheduling walking meetings or calls, and making a point to take steps whenever you are able. Also, keep in mind that you don’t need to get all your steps in at once. Breaking exercise into several daily walks is as effective as one continuous walk. Over time, try to gradually increase the number of steps you walk each day. Just “start somewhere”—with even fiveto-ten-minute walks at a time—to develop it as a daily habit. It’s that easy.

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Too Hot in the Sukkah? How temperature plays a role in sleep quality Along with diet, exercise, and lifestyle, getting enough sleep is one of the foundations of a person’s overall health. According to a new study published in Science of the Total Environment, one of the factors that determine our quality of sleep is the temperature in the room. The optimal temperature for older adults, the study suggests, is between 68–77°F. For initiation of sleep, low surrounding light and temperature sends signals to the body that it’s time to secrete neurotransmitters that facilitate sleep. During sleep, we oscillate between phases where our body temperature is regulated differently. Eventually, during REM sleep, the human capacity to regulate temperature is impaired. This means that if the room temperature is high, the body is unable to adjust to the heat. This leads to frequent arousals from sleep. Participants in the study wore sleep monitors and environmental sensors, which monitored the length of sleep, efficiency, and restlessness. Researchers gathered data from 50 older adults, which included 11,000 nights of sleep and environmental information. Findings revealed a 5–10 percent drop in sleep efficiency as temperature escalated 42

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from 77°F to 86°F. The study found a rapid decline in quality of sleep as the nighttime temperature rose above 77°F. This means that as the summer fades away, we can expect an incline in sleep quality throughout the country. In general, as we age, the depth of sleep and sleep duration are usually impacted. Additionally, our physiology also changes as we age, with sleep preferentially moving to earlier bedtimes. Aging adults with baseline medical conditions, mental health conditions, underlying sleep disorders, and those on certain medications are among the most vulnerable to environmental disruptions. Consistency is key for improving sleep health, and that requires adopting certain habits. Experts recommend maintaining low light and low temperature. Continuous stimulating activity, particularly toward the evening, disrupts the brain’s sleep-initiating networks. Therefore, individuals prone to sleep-onset insomnia would benefit from a consistent winding-down schedule. For a good night’s sleep, adhere to a consistent sleep schedule, keep the lights and temperature low in the bedroom, and wind down at the end of the day.

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Part

10 in a series

Demystified

Myth: Egg Yolks Are Bad for You Fact: Eggs have gotten a bad reputation, but the truth is that these handy little breakfast staples are mostly good for you. Eggs are low-calorie and nutrient-dense, meaning they pack a powerful health punch. They’re also a great source of protein. It’s true that there is cholesterol and fat in egg yolks. This includes saturated fat, which should generally be avoided for heart health. What many people don’t know, though, is that egg yolks aren’t all bad. They’re a great source of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats—healthier fats that help lower “bad cholesterol.” In addition, egg yolks are one of the few natural sources of vitamin D, which we need for our bones and teeth. In fact, eggs contain several essential vitamins and minerals to help maintain muscle mass, promote eye health, boost cognitive development, and prevent memory loss. In general, it’s safe to say that eggs have many nutritional benefits. However, it’s important to pay attention to what goes with those eggs. For example, cooking them in butter or eating them with white toast makes for a less-healthy breakfast. On the other hand, a piece of whole wheat toast with mashed avocado and a hard-boiled egg is a meal rich in fiber and healthy fats. 44

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WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

FITNESS

CUE THE YOM TOV STROLL 10 WAYS WALKING CAN WORK FOR YOU

By Chaya Tziry Retter, RDN, BS, CPT Chaya Tziry Retter is a Monsey-based Registered Dietitian, ACE-Certified Personal Trainer, and group fitness instructor. She is passionate about helping others lead healthier lives in a way that suits their needs. She can be reached at 845-540-4487.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

The Yom Tov season is upon us, and with it comes many opportunities for walking. Time is tight and there’s lots to do, but most of us can squeeze in a short walk here and there, whether dropping off a child at playgroup, taking a few spins around the block after dinner, or even trying to park at the far end of the grocery parking lot when you don’t have an extra minute. Even a Yom Tov stroll to and from shul or for a seudah half a mile away counts toward our daily steps. In a world obsessed with high-intensity workouts and fancy gym equipment, we often overlook the basics. Surprisingly, walking, a fundamental human activity, is one of the most effective weight loss tools. In the words of Dr. Thomas Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s “the closest thing we have to a wonder drug.” Let’s explore these wonders.

1. CONSISTENT CALORIC BURN While walking might not burn as many calories per minute as running or high-intensity interval training, it’s an activity that can be sustained for longer periods. This means that over the course of an hour or more, you can achieve a significant caloric deficit.

2. LOW IMPACT Unlike many other forms of exercise, walking is gentle on the joints. This makes it suitable for individuals of all ages and fitness levels, including those who might be carrying extra weight or have joint concerns. The lower risk of injury means you can walk regularly without long recovery periods. Several studies have found that walking reduces arthritis-related pain, and that walking five to six miles a week can even prevent arthritis from forming in the first place. Walking protects the joints—especially the knees and hips, which are most susceptible to osteoarthritis— by lubricating them and strengthening the muscles that support them.

3. ACCELERATES FAT BURNING When we engage in moderate-intensity exercises like walking, our bodies tend to use a higher percentage of fat as a primary source of energy. While high-intensity workouts might burn more calories overall, a larger proportion of those calories come from glycogen stores rather than fat.

4. SUPPORTS MENTAL WELLBEING AND STRESS REDUCTION Walking, especially in natural settings, can be a form of moving meditation. It helps reduce levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. Elevated cortisol levels have been linked to weight gain, particularly around the abdominal area. By reducing stress, walking indirectly aids in weight management.

5. BOOSTS METABOLISM Regular walking, especially when combined with interval training or added resistance, can increase muscle mass.

Muscle tissue burns more calories at rest compared to fat tissue. So, the more muscles one has, the higher their resting metabolic rate, aiding in weight loss even when they’re not actively exercising.

6. REGULATES APPETITE Moderate exercises like walking can help regulate appetite by balancing hunger hormones. This can prevent overeating and make one more attuned to their body’s actual hunger signals.

7. TAMES THE SWEET TOOTH A pair of studies from the University of Exeter found that a 15-minute walk can curb cravings for chocolate and even reduce the amount of chocolate one consumes in stressful situations. And the latest research confirms that walking can reduce cravings and intake of a variety of sugary snacks.

8. BOOSTS IMMUNITY Walking can help protect you during cold and flu season. A study of over 1,000 men and women found that those who walked at least 20 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, had 43 percent fewer sick days than those who exercised once a week or less. And if they did get sick, it was for a shorter duration, and their symptoms were milder.

9. PREVENTS VARICOSE VEINS Walking is a proven way to prevent varicose veins from developing, says Luis Navarro, MD, founder and director of The Vein Treatment Center in New York City. “The venous system includes a circulatory section known as ‘the second heart,’ which is formed by muscles, veins, and valves located in our calf and foot,” he explains. “This system works to push blood back up to the heart and lungs— and walking strengthens this secondary circulatory system by strengthening and preserving leg muscle, which boosts healthy blood flow.” If you already suffer from varicose veins, daily walking can help ease related swelling and restlessness in your legs, says Dr. Navarro. “Also, if you are genetically predisposed to have varicose and/or spider veins, walking daily can help delay the onset.”

10. STIMULATES DIGESTION Instead of a morning coffee to kick-start your system, try a walk instead. A regular walking routine can greatly improve bowel movements, says Tara Alaichamy, DPT, the manager of rehabilitation services at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. “One of the very first things an abdominal surgery patient is required to do is to walk because it utilizes core and abdominal muscles, encouraging movement in our GI system,” she says. In other words, when the legs start moving, the bowels start moving, too. While there are many ways to maintain good health, walking stands out for its simplicity, accessibility, and the myriad benefits it offers beyond just calorie burning. It’s a holistic means toward weight loss, addressing both the physical and mental aspects of wellbeing.

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

TRIBUTE

MY ROLE MODEL OF WHOLESOME By Chava Beer

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

A Brief Tribute to Rebbetzin Yitty Neustadt a”h As the frum community’s health magazine, it is only fitting for Wellspring to feature a tribute to the unforgettable Rebbetzin Yitty Neustadt a”h, who among her many attributes and roles dedicated herself to encouraging women to lead a more wholesome lifestyle. As she often noted, emotional and physical health are the cornerstones for spiritual wellbeing and by following the dictates of venishmartem me’od lenafshoseichem we open the space for ruchniyus growth to burgeon. May this tribute serve as an aliyah for her neshamah and may her family and students be comforted among the mourners of Tzion.

It was over a decade ago that I discovered you. An avid listener of Torah shiurim, I was familiar with many speaking styles. The passionate fire-and-brimstone speeches that could melt a heart of rock. The deep shiurim that wowed listeners with their profundity and despite the lack of pathos. And then there was Rebbetzin Neustadt. That perfect blend: a healthy mix of mind and heart, of research-backed information and emotion-laden messages, delivered in your trademark articulate fashion. Always with Torah-true sources, you delivered your messages with confidence and authority that did little to diminish your innate humility and charm. Ah, that sweet voice of yours, the gentle, lilting style in which you delivered powerful messages that smoothly made their way into the hearts of your many listeners. To women the world over, you were and continue to be a role model of Torah-true femininity. One lecture that particularly resonated with me was on the topic of mental, emotional, and spiritual preparation for the ethereal experience of bringing a neshamah down to this world. The hour or so spent listening to the class was an investment that paid itself off, many times over. Despite the horror stories I heard from so many others, for me, the birth experience hasn’t been something to dread or “get over with.” Instead, thanks to your inspiring and empowering words, I learned to view childbirth as a unique opportunity to capitalize on my special feminine connection with Hashem. Your soft, soothing words, laced with wisdom borne of experience and learning, entered my heart, and stayed there. You candidly shared how, after eight of your children were born, you were so depleted that you could barely function. This turned out to be the catalyst of your health transformation and being more cognizant of taking care of the vessel of your neshamah.

Over my dirty dishes, I listened to more of your captivating, thought-provoking shiurim. It was so refreshing to hear how the seemingly mundane aspects of womanhood deeply impact the fabric of our homes. I distinctly recall you teaching about the vital physical foundations of a Yiddishe home. The three most important resources we must tap into, you stated, are, in order of importance: sleep, hydration, and food. What? I had always thought the reverse to be true! As life gets more hectic with a growing family and an ever-growing list of things to do, the truth of your words resonates and I’ve learned to make sleep, or at least taking a nap, a priority. You taught about both emotional and physical health in such a grounded, real way. You taught us how to find Hashem in our lives, how to care for ourselves so that we have the capacity to properly care for our nearest and dearest, as the akeres habayis of our homes. And you were real. Not just a preacher with a polished tongue; you genuinely burned with a desire to increase awareness and kevod Shamayim in this world and to help women the world over live life to the fullest, in the way the Creator intended for us. I will never forget how I stood there, a young newlywed at a bus stop in Yerushalayim, a month or so before the birth of my oldest child. The bus was long in coming, and the heat was unbearable. It was after a day of work and I was thoroughly drained. And then the miraculous happened; a taxi passed by and the woman in the passenger seat asked me if I’d like to join her. After ascertaining that we were heading in the same direction, she graciously invited me into the cool car where we exchanged pleasantries. She was the epitome of all she spoke about. Beautiful on the inside and the outside—Rebbetzin Yitty Neustadt in all her glory. That act of kindness will never cease to touch me. It's hard to believe you’re no longer with us. Your words will continue to inspire us to tap into the wellspring of womanly wisdom to bring the geulah ever closer.

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

ASK THE NUTRITIONIST By Laura Shammah, MS, RDN

Satisfied at the Seudah

Q 50

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Along with the wonderful family time that I’m looking forward to on Yom Tov, there are many meals in which we sit around to eat together. As the mother of a large household baruch Hashem, including several married children, the long and robust Yom Tov meals pose an issue for me as I try to eat healthfully on a regular basis. Since my children don’t go for healthier cooking, I aim to prepare meals that keep them happy and satisfied. I serve white challah, and all sorts of fish, kugels, and desserts. I’m wondering how I can partake in every seudah without veering off from my healthy habits. I don’t want to seem aloof and out of the Yom Tov spirit, yet I don’t want to lose my healthy eating habits either. Any ideas?

Thanks for submitting this important question. Sometimes, we get so carried away with healthy eating that we forget a very important factor: balance. Let’s discuss the concept of balance in healthful eating. Hopefully, that will provide insight into your question. Being healthy is essentially about finding balance. Balance is defined as “an even distribution of weight to enable something to remain upright.” How apropos to our food intake! We should do our best to balance our food intake, to find a way to incorporate the foods we enjoy into our diet. We don’t need to deprive ourselves to eat well. Food should be a pleasure, and that’s still true even if a person is trying to eat healthily. We should experiment with different foods to find the ones we love. Although some food plans focus on negatives, implying that we have to cut out everything we like, this doesn’t always have to be the case. In fact, completely cutting out foods or even whole food groups isn’t a good idea. Not only is it potentially unbalanced, but it can also lead to a sense of failure when we can’t resist something on the “banned” list—making it more likely for us to give up altogether. In any case, a food regimen that feels like a chore will be difficult to stick to in the long term. Eating healthily by focusing on positive steps rather than negative ones is much easier, and often more effective too. This means we should aim to establish a diet with a giveand-take that sits well with us. Why is that so important? The mind is the most important part of the body that needs to be balanced and nurtured. Having fun, enjoying the atmosphere with family, and eating pleasurable foods is also part of being healthy. It feeds our mind with good, happy thoughts, which in turn make us stronger and healthier. How we deal with food doesn’t only affect only our body; it affects our mind, as well. A balanced diet, rather than

a very strict, narrow one, often leads to a healthy mind. Enjoying meals with others has many emotional, social, and biological benefits. It gives us a sense of rhythm and regularity in our lives, a chance to reflect on the day and feel connected to others. Talking and interacting with others also slows us down, so we don’t eat too fast. Yes, it’s important to feed ourselves good, nutrient-dense food, and it’s important to do exercise and stick to our eating and movement schedules. But we must always remember that a healthy mind is a prerequisite for a healthy body. We’ve got to incorporate our mind into the eating process—to bring it to a relaxed state around food—so that all parts of the body feel satisfied. So, back to your question. I’d assume that sitting around and participating in a beautiful, delicious, homemade family meal would make you very happy. The camaraderie, the smiles, the singing, the compliments on the food, and the divrei Torah shared are surely a great pride for you. Would sitting on the side, eating something “healthier” give you more pleasure than that? I’d imagine not. So, relax into the moment. Take pride in your family. Enjoy the food in moderation and focus on your nachas! You’ll be glad that you did. As a side point, you can find creative ways to spruce up your cooking with more healthful options (without anyone being the wiser!). Add extra salads and vegetables to the menu to get your key nutrients in, and still stay satisfied. Add a variety of colored vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach, yellow peppers, beetroot, carrots, and sweetcorn to make your meals look great on the plate, and more nutritious too. It’s also wise from a nutrition perspective to eat a range of colors, as different fruits and vegetables have varying nutritional benefits. Another idea to prepare your day for success would be to eat a breakfast and lunch that is high in fiber and protein prior to the family meal. This way, you’ll feel nourished from your regular foods so that you won’t have to heavily rely on foods that you’re not used to consuming. This may make it easier for you to participate in the family meal later on in the day. Remember, balance is the key to healthful living. Enjoy the foods you eat, and be sure your emotional self is satiated too, by spending quality time with those you love. Savor the precious moments in life, the memories and the flavors.

Laura Shammah MS, RDN, has been operating a private practice in New York and New Jersey for over 20 years. Her clientele runs the gamut from people with eating disorders to those dealing with hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and cancer. She also helps clients who run in marathons or are looking to lose or gain weight in a healthy way. Her nutritional guidance is published in MaryAnne Cohen’s book Lasagna for Lunch: Declaring Peace With Emotional Eating. Laura can be reached at 718-376-0062 or Laurashammah@aol.com.

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

ALTERNATIVE VIEW

BY FAIGY SCHONFELD

TOURETTE’S SYNDROME THAT CHILD WHO’S EXHIBITING AN INVOLUNTARY REPETITIVE TWITCH? HE’S NOT ALONE. THE CDC ESTIMATES THAT ONE IN 160 KIDS AGED 5 TO 17 HAVE TOURETTE’S SYNDROME—A TIC DISORDER THAT USUALLY PRESENTS AS A COMBINATION OF TICS AND LASTS MORE THAN A YEAR—WITH NEARLY HALF REMAINING UNDIAGNOSED. SYMPTOMS USUALLY WANE OVER THE YEARS, BUT MANY ADULTS STILL STRUGGLE WITH THE SYMPTOMS. HERE ARE A VARIETY OF WAYS TO ALLEVIATE TICS AND KEEP THEM UNDER CONTROL.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

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ALTERNATIVE VIEW

WHAT IS TOURETTE’S SYNDROME? Tic disorders typically make their appearance in very young kids—somewhere between the ages of five and seven (with ten being the age where they tend to be most severe)—and present as involuntary and repetitive motor and/or vocal tics. Tourette’s is often, but not always, an add-on to a host of behavioral conditions, with more than one third of people with Tourette’s also suffering from OCD. According to some experts, before the tic manifests, the person feels an intense urge in the muscle associated with the tic movement. Simple tics include eye blinking, lip or nose twitching, clearing the throat/coughing, swallowing, jerking the head, or shrugging shoulders. Complex tics can be a combination of two or more simple tics, walking in a specific pattern, repeating words or phrases, touching or smelling objects, or bending.

WHAT CAUSES IT? The exact cause of Tourette’s syndrome is yet to be discovered, but it seems to result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, with boys being three to four times more likely to develop a tic. Sometimes, tics can come following an infection, such as strep. In a small survey conducted in 1996 on people with Tourette’s, several environmental factors were noted as triggering or aggravating symptoms: chocolate; artificial colors, sweeteners, and flavors; preservatives; MSG; wheat; peanuts; caffeine; perfume; and pollen. Stress is a definite trigger, and stress can manifest in many different ways. Anger, excitement, boredom, and fatigue can all stress a child’s system.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

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ALTERNATIVE VIEW

CONVENTIONAL TREATMENT The standard treatment is medicine, and often, the meds are far from innocent. Most come with significant side effects and in some cases (like ADHD meds), they can exacerbate symptoms. Therapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy and psychotherapy, as well as habit reversal training, are often recommended as well. And then there are the nutrients.

VITAMINS, MINERALS, AND OTHER NUTRIENTS Magnesium is a biggie. Tasked with supporting the central nervous system and stimulating healthy muscle action and reaction, it makes sense that kids dealing with tics often have magnesium levels that are not quite excellent. A magnesium deficiency may be linked to anxiety, depression, and chronic fatigue—all conditions that have been associated with Tourette’s. In 2008, researchers in Spain noted decreased total tic scores in children with Tourette’s syndrome after orally administering magnesium and vitamin B6 solutions. One way to boost magnesium levels is to serve up a lot of magnesium-rich foods; think bone broth, avocados, almonds, spinach, dark chocolate, and pumpkin seeds. A magnesium supplement can be a good idea as well. (Some report that magnesium citrate or magnesium glycinate work best, but the citrate is not advisable for a child who tends to have loose stools.) A dosage between 250 to 500 mg can often be helpful in reducing tics. Another way to up magnesium levels is through Epsom salt. Try adding a cup or two of Epsom salt to a nightly bath, or consider a twenty-minute foot soak with warm water and Epsom salt. The magnesium will be absorbed right into the bloodstream, plus many people find it soothing, which is always a good idea around bedtime. A good night’s sleep goes a long way in alleviating tics. B vitamins, particularly vitamin B12, are little powerhouses—they support the nervous system, resist stress and depression, boost good cholesterol, regulate mood and sleep, reduce inflammation, fight free radicals, and promote healthy skin and hair. Once you know how damaging stress is for Tourette’s, you want to promote these innate stress busters. Vitamin D is the underestimated, overlooked, but absolutely critical nutrient that nearly 90 percent of the population is believed to be deficient in. Vitamin D supports the nervous system, promotes muscle health, and combats depression. Sunlight is the best choice for getting your vitamin D, but during the winter—or if you don’t manage to get sunlight for a minimum of twenty minutes daily—make a point of eating lots of vitamin D-rich foods, such as eggs, liver, spinach, oranges, bananas…and best of all, cod liver oil. There’s a kosher one around by now! NAC is an amino acid that increases the brain’s glutathione levels, which are necessary for detoxification. Plus, NAC serves as an antioxidant as well. Research has shown NAC to be helpful for children suffering from OCD and it seems to be promising for tic disorders too. Studies typically use 600 to 3,600 mg of NAC daily (in divided doses), depending on the age, weight, and symptoms of the child. Omega-3 fatty acids are long known as goodies for the brain and heart, as well as for cancer prevention, but they may be of particular benefit to those with tic disorders as well. A trial conducted by researchers at New York University Child Study Center at NYU School of Medicine found that omega-3 fatty acids were associated with reducing tic-related issues.

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DIET A healthy diet is a big deal for all children—and certainly for those dealing with tics. Certain foods may irritate a child’s immune system, which can lead to inflammation in the brain and body, and that can lead to developing a tic. It might be worthwhile to work with a healthcare practitioner to identify food allergies or sensitivities. You can also try an elimination diet: remove one category of food at a time from the child’s diet, while keeping a precise food log to track symptoms. Tics tend to come and go though, so it’s not always easy to figure out if eliminating a certain food is what really caused a reduction in symptoms. Common culprit foods include gluten, dairy, corn, eggs, artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors, coffee, soda, or other sweetened drinks. It is best to have your child abstain from dyes. Research shows that artificial food dyes can be very disruptive for children’s health, and tics are just one of the many problems they can cause. Chemical dyes overexcite the brain and can induce tics, as well as ADHD, anxiety, and behavioral issues, among others. When shopping for food, it’s wise to read labels and stay away from items listing food dyes, like Red 40 and Yellow 6.

THERE’S MORE Body-mind relaxation, such as meditations and massages, are excellent, proven ways to soothe a stressed nervous system. To induce a wholebody relaxation response, you may want to guide your child through a tensing/releasing muscle massage. Start at the feet, then move upward, squeezing muscles hard for 5 seconds, then releasing for 15 seconds. Repeat at each muscle group until you reach the top of the head. Acupuncture is proven to be helpful for insomnia, stress, pain, and now also Tourette’s. A Chinese study found that acupuncture had a 97.1 percent success rate in treating Tourette’s syndrome.

A NO-NO FOR PARENTS Watching a child tic is no picnic, and refraining from commenting or otherwise drawing attention to the behavior can be supremely difficult. But it’s crucial not to shine the spotlight on a child’s tic. Tics are like pink elephants in the room—the more you try to not think or react, the greater the urge to do just that. It’s best to place as little attention as possible on tics or twitches; the last thing you want to do is create more stress. In any case, keeping children calm starts with keeping Mom calm. Remember that tics are common, they can go away on their own, and the One Who sent them did so for the very best reasons, and He can make them vanish in good time.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Please consult with a medical practitioner before administering any treatment or implementing lifestyle changes.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

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Treating Enlarged Tonsils

In this space, we feature a health-related question or predicament submitted by a Wellspring reader. Fellow readers are invited to participate in the conversation by sharing their tried-and-true advice and suggestions. Join the community!

My daughter is suffering from enlarged tonsils and her ENT is strongly advocating for surgery. I’m really hesitant to do that. Are there any other options to help me avoid surgery?

Enlarged tonsils can be really uncomfortable for anyone, especially for a child! I’m assuming that over-the-counter relievers aren’t helping much. Try to guide your daughter not to strain her voice. Perhaps voice lessons for this particular predicament can be of help. Also, be sure she is getting adequate sleep. Like with any health issue, this will help boost her energy levels so she can heal faster. - Tova D., Lakewood. 60

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

My daughter suffered from breathing issues and snoring for a full year. At night, her breathing was so labored that at one point, each breath sounded like a low, tortured whistle. The tonsil surgery helped clear the airways for her to breathe easier. In our case, there was absolutely no other choice, considering her difficulty in breathing. I hope that everything works out for you and your daughter! - Raizel Sara D., Brooklyn

That sounds painful. I say to follow your doctor’s advice. Keep in mind that as your child gets older, enlarged tonsils will often become smaller and smaller. That’s the natural way Hashem created us. But if the tonsils are causing problems with sleep or are making it difficult to swallow, go for the tonsillectomy. I’m sure it will alleviate the painful symptoms. - B. Singer, Boro Park

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I was also mindful to give my son soft foods, especially since swallowing was painful. A couple of times every day, I’d encourage him to gargle with warm salt water (¼ teaspoon salt in 8 ounces of warm water). They say that adding a bit of baking soda to the mixture can help fight the bacteria more effectively, but I didn’t go that far because of the taste. Sucking hard candies helped, too. Over time, the symptoms lessened, and we did not have to go ahead with the surgery. I hope these ideas help your daughter. - B. Borchardt A fairly new procedure called somnoplasty is currently being used to treat sleep apnea and snoring by shrinking the tongue, nasal tissue, or the soft palate. This method is being tested on tonsils as they are very close to the carotid artery, which carries blood to the brain. This alternative to tonsillectomy will be less painful and allow for a quicker recovery. The idea is to shrink the tonsils rather than cut them out. I would advise you to ask your doctor if he’s heard of this method, and if it’s recommended for your daughter. - Pnina Schoss, Jackson, New Jersey

The air conditions in the place you live may have an impact on your daughter’s condition. Often, enlarged tonsils can be a sign of infection from smoke or polluted air, which varies in intensity in different parts of the world. For example, where I live, in California, the pollution is terrible, and that can cause or exacerbate tonsillitis. Have you tried a humidifier? Humidifiers can help relieve the sore throat if the air is too dry. When I had enlarged tonsils, I found that dry air really irritated my throat. The humidifiers helped soothe the discomfort by adding moisture back into the air. Cool-mist humidifiers are the best way to go. I used the Vicks brand and was very happy with the results. Keep the humidifier on as much as possible until the tonsillitis subsides, especially during the night. If you don’t have a humidifier and want fast relief, sitting in a room filled with steam from the shower can also provide humidity that can reduce symptoms. I found that the power of the humidity from the shower was truly relieving for me. - Shira F., Los Angeles My son had on-and-off strep throat for two years. As strep throat occurs in the tonsils, I asked my doctor what he thought of a tonsillectomy for my son. My doctor first advised us to try whatever medication there was available before opting for surgery. We did that, and thankfully, the recurring strep abated. Were you able to get antibiotics? Did you try different regimens? Maybe push that route first and see where it takes you. - S. Link, England

Warm tea with raw honey has strong antibacterial properties. Encourage your son to drink it as often as possible. Be sure to stir the honey well until it’s dissolved. Cough drops containing healthy licorice as an ingredient can be helpful in reducing the swelling, too. My pharmacist, who is familiar with the gamut of homeopathic remedies, has recommended Hepar sulphuris and Mercurius solubilis for tonsilitis. Track it down at your local health store. It works wonders. I hope your daughter feels better soon! - Devora Leah H., Chicago

Next Up: Mold has developed on our bathroom ceiling due to moisture, and now I've noticed mold mites on the ceiling and walls. I was told to use bleach to destroy the mold but I’d prefer not to use such strong chemicals in the house. Any suggestions for safe and effective mold removal?

Want to share what worked for you with a fellow Wellspring Community member? Send your response to info@wellspringmagazine.com.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Please note: These suggestions should not be implemented in place of guidance from a medical practitioner.

My seven-year-old son had the same issue, and I also very much wanted to avoid the surgery. Here’s what I did, which baruch Hashem greatly helped to ease his symptoms. I made sure he was drinking plenty of fluids, more than the average boy his age would drink. I also fed him lots of warm, soothing liquids, like chicken soup, or tea with honey and lemon. It was interesting to watch my son drink his daily tea, like a mature adult!

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COVER FEATURE

GIFT WORLD TO THE

The breathtaking story behind ValAsta, a novel evidence-based intervention for inflammatory diseases, including cancer. BY MALYA SIMON

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

COVER FEATURE

As the magazine that has been dedicated to bringing awareness regarding the latest health research to the frum community, we’re honored to be granted the merit to introduce a breathtaking, relatively novel discovery with our valued readership. After having heard the incredibly positive reviews about ValAsta from several health practitioners and readers, we reached out to Miriam, the shaliach through whom the formula has become known in our community, on behalf of our readership. Here, we bring you the details of a product that may, with the help of Hashem, be just what you or someone you know may need to facilitate healing and recovery. The Editors

New tab. Browse. Click. Miriam’s eyes roved the screen, her mind working feverishly. A friend’s friend was ill. She would leave no stone unturned. Medical journals, health reviews, scientific studies. Outside, the calls of night dimmed, and the world stood still. In her lit, quiet home, Miriam forged forward into the night. Sleep was irrelevant. Follow that link. Search that word. Open that site. And then, in the wee hours of the morning, she struck gold. A Golden Platter “Looking back on the momentous day, I can truly say that it wasn’t me. I had no plan to uncover ValAsta. Simply put, Hashem sent it to me on a golden platter,” Miriam shares. Since she was familiar with online research and had an intuitive sense for which information to believe and which to disregard, she simply sought to contribute her expertise toward helping her friend’s sick friend.

“Typically, I’m not easily swayed by products as the market is saturated with countless claims of efficacy. It takes a lot to get me excited about a product,” Miriam admits. But she immediately felt differently about ValAsta, that it might just be the intervention she had been searching for. Before going full throttle on the research, Miriam called her friend and told her she might have found something that could be helpful to her and to others, and that she would confirm this once the research was in. Looking back, she still cannot explain how she’d called her friend without conducting any research at all.

Indeed, as Hashgachah would have it, Miriam landed on the correct website, but not the one she had intended to find. Incredibly, that “chance landing” has already led to the healing and improvement of hundreds of people in our community.

“Birds began chirping, the world was waking up, but I didn’t hear any of it. I was in another world, where time does not exist. I was engrossed in reading and researching, and like for a kid in a candy store, everything around me simply faded into the background. I felt like I was in a dream, and I was being handed treasure after treasure with each research document I read. The more I looked, the more evidence I found on ValAsta. Checking out the multitudinous research available, including the mountain of studies from the National Institute of Health, as well as the science and testimonials, by the morning, I knew in my gut that this was an extraordinary find.”

In doing her medical research for her friend, Miriam “chanced upon” a review that mentioned a product called ValAsta. Although this specific review lacked details, for some inexplicable reason, she felt compelled to visit the ValAsta website and learn more.

Friday morning arrived and Miriam immediately enlisted the help of a family friend who is also a doctor to validate her discovery. He shared the same level of initial excitement she had experienced. (In the following weeks, he and others in the medical field conducted intense research and

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

eventually met with Sam Shepherd, the scientist behind it all.) Although accustomed to taking in Shabbos early, that week Miriam couldn’t pull herself away from the research. “It was really only on Shabbos that I began to process what this all meant. It then hit me deeply that I wasn’t dreaming—Thursday night had happened! Thursday night had not been a dream; it had been a gift. Hashem had allowed our eyes to be opened to this gift of ValAsta, a conduit to channel His blessings to so many people. My feelings of exhilaration and gratitude knew no bounds.” That Shabbos, Miriam’s father was given an aliyah in shul. He was called up to the Torah for the portion that concludes with the following words: “You shall serve Hashem, your G-d, and He will bless your bread and your water, and I [Hashem] will remove malaise from within your midst.” The Ramban explains that the phrase “I will remove malaise from amongst you,” means that Hashem will provide foods and beverages that will not only be unharmful but will actually heal people and provide cure from sickness and disease. “In these words,” Miriam reflects, “the Torah promises that Hashem would send a food to heal us, through which He would provide healing, recovery, strength, and vitality.” This pasuk hit the bull’s-eye and gave Miriam clarity: ValAsta is not a medical drug or dietary supplement; rather, it is a food, a gift from Above. Food, Not a Drug What is the groundbreaking formula known as ValAsta, which has been so helpful as a healing aide for a host of different diseases? To grasp the magnitude of ValAsta’s power, a brief explanation of inflammation is in order. Inflammation is a healthy part of the body’s defense as a response to injury or infection. However, inflammation becomes damaging when it lasts too long. Known as chronic inflammation, it may persist for months or years. Chronic inflammation is the root cause of most diseases, some of which are becoming more common and severe in our day and age. Some examples of inflammation-based diseases: • Autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis • Cardiovascular diseases, like high blood pressure and heart disease

• Gastrointestinal disorders, like inflammatory bowel disease • Lung diseases, like asthma • Brain health/neurological diseases • Metabolic diseases, like type 2 diabetes • Neurodegenerative diseases, like Parkinson’s disease • Many types of cancer • Fatty liver disease The most powerful inflammation scavenger known to man is astaxanthin, which helps prevent the onset of inflammatory diseases and either eliminates or slows down the progression of existing ones. Astaxanthin is generated by a microalgae known as Haematococcus pluvialis and is consumed by many aquatic animals. When this algae becomes stressed, astaxanthin is produced in an effort to protect itself. Astaxanthin has powerful protective qualities, making it one of the most powerful free radical fighters. The reduction of free radical concentration in the body reduces inflammatory disease onset and stops the further progression of inflammatory diseases. Astaxanthin is known to be notoriously difficult to absorb, but this is where ValAsta comes into the picture. Through a patented process (of encapsulating the astaxanthin molecule inside a fat molecule) that took world-renowned scientist Sam Shepherd (see sidebar) eight years to develop, Hashem has orchestrated for humankind to be blessed with a healing formula like no other. ValAsta, a scientific breakthrough, is a plant-based treatment that is potent in astaxanthin. ValAsta is like juicing a thousand carrots, a thousand tomatoes, two and a half salmon, and over 1,200 cups of blueberries—all in one dose. With anti-inflammatory properties like these, it’s a powerhouse of health benefits. The Research Interestingly enough, the plant that produces astaxanthin is a microalga, which comes from the sea. The algae plant itself is green, but it produces the astaxanthin, which is bright red in color, in order to protect itself from the sun’s harmful rays, similar to how humans produce sweat in order to protect themselves from excessive heat. (For this reason, ValAsta is red in color.) The astaxanthin that the algae produces has such powerful healing properties that it can keep the algae alive, even if it has been washed

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COVER FEATURE

ashore and dried up, for over forty years. This healing ability is what first attracted scientists in the Far East to study astaxanthin. Their initial interest was that if astaxanthin can protect microalgae from the sun, then could it perhaps do the same for humans and act as a kind of sunscreen? The scientists later learned that its abilities to neutralize and heal the harmful effects of UV was only a small part of its healing capacity. Scientists also took a keen interest in salmon. As well as being hardy and strong, wild salmon show almost no incidence of cancer or chronic illness. Their pink color and incredible endurance in being able to swim across an entire ocean and then have the strength to swim up multi-

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

ple waterfalls in order to spawn is impressive. Scientists wondered if this could be attributed to their diet, which is highly enriched with astaxanthin. The algae and salmon were starting points of interest that brought to light the tremendously potent healing properties in ValAsta. ValAsta has a robust backing in science and ValAsta Astaxanthin is FDA GRAS approved. There are countless testimonials to what ValAsta has cured. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published over 1,000 research studies on astaxanthin. The astaxanthin used in ValAsta is kosher and is grown and produced in the USA in closed vessels. The extraction

of the astaxanthin is done under strict guidelines using critical CO2 extraction techniques, and the fat is pure organic kosher olive oil. Why Now? With the community’s interest exploding regarding ValAsta, which has been welcomed with open arms, Miriam has fielded a host of questions on this product. The most common question of all? How can it be that we didn’t know about this incredibly healing product until now? “Hashem chose to open our eyes to it,” is Miriam’s response. “As Chazal tell us, ‘Hakol bechezkas sumin, ad sheHakadosh Baruch Hu mei’ir es eineihem.’ As Yidden, we believe that our eyes were simply shut, until Hashem showered His blessing upon us and opened our eyes to this gift.” How did Miriam manage to spread awareness about ValAsta so quickly and reach so many in the Jewish community worldwide? “The rapid dissemination of information about ValAsta is not a result of my personal efforts at all,” says Miriam, brushing off any credit. “Rather, it is the nature of ValAsta itself and the fact that individuals who have benefited from it are sharing their experiences with others.” While word of Valasta’s efficacy has spread like wildfire through word of mouth, Miriam also feels passionate about getting the word out herself. “I was astonished that such a remarkable product existed and that our community was completely unaware. There was an inner voice urging me to reach every Yid who might benefit from ValAsta. I felt a tremendous responsibility to spread the word. When a family member contacted a friend who is the son of a Gadol beYisrael, he was given a message that we should prioritize this endeavor, even if it meant working on it during Shabbos! From this, I understood the significance of the mission. I have set aside other important enterprises to ensure that as many people as possible have access to this knowledge.” Miriam reflects that the entire sequence of events, from finding ValAsta to the way desperate people have heard about the intervention, are revealed acts of Hashgachah, which she has been fortunate enough to witness firsthand. “It is a tremendous gift to be part of this journey, and like everyone else who has become aware of it, we all feel compelled to spread the word about something of this magnitude.” Only a mere few months after her initial finding, countless individuals within the frum community all over the world have been experiencing positive results. People with

Esther’s initial experience with ValAsta was when her husband tried the intervention to relieve the debilitating headaches he’d been suffering from for years. both lesser and more serious diseases are being helped, and the list of ailments that ValAsta can assist with is ever-growing. Conditions of Every Kind With an anti-inflammatory content so potent, ValAsta has been proven helpful in bringing relief to a host of inflammatory diseases, including cancer. According to current research, ValAsta is safe to take along with chemo, radiation, immunotherapy, and any other cancer treatments. The formula attacks the cancer in six different ways and works synergistically with the conventional cancer treatments. Many cancer patients have reported significant change in their general wellbeing, energy levels, and elimination/reduction of treatment side effects, as well as addressing in the disease itself. But it’s not only for serious illness that ValAsta has shown to be an effective intervention. “We keep a bottle of ValAsta handy to use even for everyday ailments,” says Esther Reichler, a Brooklyn-based volunteer. Indeed, Esther’s initial experience with ValAsta was when her husband tried the intervention to relieve the debilitating headaches he’d been suffering from for years. After several days of taking the capsules, he experienced the relief he’d been seeking for so long. “The other day, my daughter got burned while frying in the kitchen,” Esther shares. “I immediately applied some of the liquid to her skin and the healing was instant, baruch Hashem. My daughter reported that she felt absolutely no stinging as the liquid seeped into her skin, and in literally seconds, the skin was completely healed, with no scarring whatsoever. I’ve never come across a product that’s so potent, so safe, and also so multifunctional.” Esther has a host of anecdotes to share, stories that highlight the natural gift from Hashem that is ValAsta—all of which she shares with permission from the users. “Very often, when I get a call from someone regarding the product, it’s because they just heard one miraculous story or another and they too are desperate for healing of some sort. Many times, users will call back to relate their posi-

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COVER FEATURE

tive experiences, and hearing from them is so gratifying. Just last week, a grateful woman called to let me know that after years of taking thyroid medication, she received permission from her doctor to stop doing so, thanks to her ValAsta intervention.” In other cases, individuals with diabetes were able to stop their medication because their numbers were looking so good. “Because this potent formula reduces any kind of inflammation in the body, it has the potential to impact so many facets of health. And because it has no known negative side effects, it doesn’t hurt to try it for any condition one might be struggling with. I have personally seen excellent results with my own psoriasis, watching my skin clear up in a relatively short while,” Esther shares. “Because ValAsta synthesizes in the stomach, and not in the liver or kidneys—as most anti-inflammatory medications do, many with liver and kidney malfunction have found it to be especially helpful toward their healing. In fact, a young father of four who was already on the waiting list for a liver transplant has been removed from the the list after having taken the ValAsta route for several months. As volunteers involved in this important endeavor, we’ve been zocheh to witness incredible nissim.” Besides for witnessing such miracles, Esther points out another powerful benefit of her volunteer work. “Seeing how dedicated Miriam is to the klal is nothing but awe-inspiring. All she wants is to help people, with a selflessness that’s rare. Every step of the way is guided by daas Torah, and the question she keeps asking is, ‘How can we help more Yidden?’” Indeed, in compiling this article, taking note of Miriam’s desire to stay out of the limelight and to share only what she must in order to help more of klal Yisrael has been a learning experience of its own. “Hashem, our Pilot, is always ‘landing us’ where we are meant to land and ‘handing us’ what we are meant to have,” says Miriam. “Sometimes it takes a while until we see the reason for the ‘landing and handing,’ and we may sometimes never see it in this world. At other times, we merit to see the reason immediately,” she says, referring to her “encounter” with ValAsta, and her subsequent involvement with the product. The team of volunteers sees it as a zechus to play a role in the miraculous healing of so many. As Esther asserts, “Never in my wildest dream would I have imagined the miracles we have seen.” May this be a year of true healing for all of klal Yisrael. 70

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Their initial interest was that if astaxanthin can protect microalgae from the sun, then could it perhaps do the same for humans and act as a kind of sunscreen?

Which Conditions Can ValAsta Help? The following is a list of conditions that ValAsta can address. Additionally, within the frum community, astounding results have also occurred with conditions that are not listed below. If you’re seeking a cure or relief from a disease that is not mentioned, reach out to a ValAsta community volunteer via the phone line.

• Cancer

• Depression

• Gout

• Post-cancer care

• Mood swings

• PANDAS

• Chemo and radiation side effects

• Neurological disorders

• Lyme disease

• Autism

• Lupus

• ADHD

• Allergies

• Neuropathy

• Asthma

• Crohn’s disease

• Lungs

• Colitis

• Chemo-induced hearing loss

• IBS

• Many skin conditions

• Sciatica

• Long-haul COVID

• Thyroid Issues

• Kidney disease

• Fatigue

• Fibromyalgia

• Liver, including fatty liver disease

• Blood disorders

• Benign tumors • Heart disease • Blood pressure • Cholesterol • Diabetes • Autoimmune disease

• Joint and back issues

• Healing after injury and surgery

• Eye health, including cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration

• Pain relief and chronic pain

• Raynaud’s disease

• Headaches and migraines

• Reproductive issues

• Multiple sclerosis

• Arthritis

• Sacroiliitis

• ALS

• Varicose veins

• Takayasu arteritis

• Mental health issues, including anxiety and depression

• Carpal tunnel syndrome

• Cycstic fibrosis

• Tendonitis

• Hay fever

• Alzheimer’s and dementia • Stroke • Parkinson’s disease

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COVER FEATURE

Powerhouse According to research, ValAsta is: • one of the world’s strongest natural anti-inflammatory interventions • one of the world’s strongest natural antioxidants (it does not become a prooxidant like other antioxidants) • 6,000 times stronger than vitamin C • 500 times stronger than vitamin E • 560 times stronger than green tea catechins • 800 times stronger than CoQ10 • 3,000 times stronger than resveratrol • 1,000 times stronger than aspirin

Meet the Scientist: Who Is Sam Shepherd? Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention, and that was the impetus behind the development of ValAsta by Professor Sam Shepherd, a scientist, physicist, and biochemical engineer. In 2003, Shepherd was diagnosed with a rare type of bone marrow cancer that could not be treated with conventional treatments. Thanks to his desperate desire for survival, Samuel Shepherd developed what has now become ValAsta. He honed in on his years of education and experience as a researcher and inventor to find a solution for his condition. After years of innovative experimentation, he developed and patented ValAsta, a glycosidic astaxanthin, which is the only astaxanthin supplement patented to treat cancer and other inflammatory diseases available on the market today.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Acquiring ValAsta ValAsta can be purchased on the ValAsta website directly from the supplier at www.valasta.net with coupon code 1234. Through Miriam’s network, there are various pick-up locations where people have volunteered throughout the United States, Europe, England, and Israel, with new locations being added. ValAsta is sold in people’s homes at a reduced price, and those stocking it in their homes do so as a chessed. ValAsta has no known side effects. For detailed information on how to take it, please call the phone line.

Usage ValAsta is not pre-filled in capsules, as the heat used in the encapsulation process can degrade the potency of the product. Rather, it’s available as a liquid formula in a dispenser, and users pump the liquid into a capsule. (When purchasing a bottle of ValAsta, users receive empty capsules.) Each capsule holds 3-4 pumps. The bottle pumps best at room temperature (leaving the cap off afterward to avoid dripping). If pre-filling capsules for the month, place the filled capsules in the refrigerator. Alternatively, ValAsta can be consumed by pumping the liquid directly onto a spoonful of cold (not hot) food.

Questions Answered As word spread in the community regarding this newly discovered intervention, the questions started pouring in. Anyone struggling with an inflammatory condition wanted to know: Can this help me? Having experienced or witnessed their own improvement thanks to ValAsta, many kind Yidden around the world have volunteered to answer the phones that buzzed around the clock. Then, in order to answer the questions in a streamlined fashion, Miriam and the volunteers set up a phone line that features recordings with information regarding the product. The phone line includes the following: • The scientific background and research behind ValAsta • Interviews with experts • NIH research and clinical studies • Verified testimonials from the ValAsta website • Personal experiences from within the community • Q&A with Sam Shepherd • Important user information • Guidance on where to purchase ValAsta locally and online Via the phone line, people have access to all the necessary information about ValAsta, positioning them to make an informed decision on whether they’d like to pursue the intervention. The US phone number of the line is 845-584-8485.

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COVER FEATURE

The Relief I’d Been Seeking A Personal Account The following is a personal account from Sarit, a friend of mine from Australia with an extraordinary journey, who has agreed to share her story. For the past five years, I’ve been suffering from a rare kind of leukemia. It’s been a long road. Since my diagnosis, I’d been trying many different pathways of hishtadlus, all with no success. The conventional methods seemed to be shutting down on me and not brought me to any path of healing. I know that Hashem has a plan, and I’ve tried to stay strong throughout it all. This past April, I was at the doctor’s office, waiting for the latest results. The room was stuffy, and the wait was long. I pulled out my trusty Tehillim and begged Hashem to please allow the sunshine to finally peek out from between the clouds. It had been so long since I’d basked in its warm rays. To the right of me was a short woman, who was sitting in a very relaxed manner. She eyed me and offered a knowing nod. I smiled back tersely, as not to be rude. I was dizzy, nauseous, and in desperate need of a bed. The woman introduced herself as Shula. She made small talk, trying to pass the time as we each waited for our turn to see the doctor. Eventually, I asked Shula why she was in this office, and she said, “My annual check-up.” I was truly happy for her. Just a well-visit. That sounded nice. Then Shula shared her story with me. “I suffered from chronic back pain for twenty years,” she started. I opened my eyes wide. Oh, how horrible. “Nothing helped to alleviate the pain. That is, until I started on ValAsta,” she said, “and it’s all gone.” I looked at Shula. That sounded magical. ValAsta, did she say? I decided to look that up later on, after the appointment.

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But Shula wasn’t done. “My sister-in-law has breast cancer and was expecting a baby. After feeling so ill for months, she followed my lead and took ValAsta. She felt like a new person. After the birth, the tumor shrunk to half its size, and while continuing ValAsta, she was able to handle the chemo. By now, she baruch Hashem has a clean bill of health.” I sat there in my waiting chair, muted, staring back at Shula. Here I thought I had already maxed out on every route of healing, but there was a new idea out there; there was hope. I grasped Shula’s hands, and said, “You barely know me. But you may have just saved my life.” My name was called, and I rushed into the doctor’s room for another round of results I preferred not to hear. I never met Shula again, but her words pierced my heart. I made it my business to purchase ValAsta and take it religiously over the next three months. Prior to starting on ValAsta, I was generally stuck in bed, barely able to function, and deteriorating quite fast. Now, three months in, I am back to my regular functioning. My daily activities are no longer a drag, and my energy levels are as high as ever. Baruch Hashem, my numbers are improving week by week, and we are slowly, finally, catching a glimpse of the shining light at the end of the tunnel. My non-Jewish oncologist told me that G-d loves me, because they have no explanation as to why the disease is shrinking and my numbers are looking so good. Thank you, Hashem, the Rofei Chinam, for arranging for me to meet Shula and for the incredible creation called ValAsta. Miriam can be reached through Wellspring. Disclaimer: Please consult with a licensed medical practitioner regarding any lifestyle changes or interventions.

pivotgroup.nyc

a c k n s i n r g u o y e Tak up a nosh.

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GRINDING THE GRAIN MULLING OVER THE MILLING MATTER

WELLSPRING / SEPTEMBER 2023

We Are What We Eat R’ Shlomo Efraim Sandel, founder of Grain Brain, was exposed firsthand to the repercussions of modern food processing and the healing and vitality found in traditional grains as a teen. After struggling with digestive and bowel issues for a while, a Williamsburg nutritionist advised his mother to have him eat specific organic grains. This was a turning point, both for his physical wellbeing and in sparking his interest in learning more about nutrition. He shares that the first thing in his diet that changed was the bread he ate. “I discovered that there are three main issues with the white flour most commonly used today. The first is that it is bleached and stripped of all of its nutrients. Secondly, common white flour is full of preservatives, stabilizers, fertilizers and pesticides. Some also contain bromate, which is banned in Canada. The third issue – and this might come to a surprise to many people – is that the white flour is ground too finely.” Milling Practices Really do Matter In previous installments, we’ve discussed the harmful chemicals added to standard flour today and the components cut out of the kernel in details. What about the last step in the flour production process, the milling? Although mostly unnoticed, the type of mill used to ground the flour we use has a significant impact on the nutritional value the person ingesting the food will receive. When the modern steel roller mills were invented in the 1870s, switching

production of flour to these powerful machines was a no-brainer. Aside from separating the kernel parts automatically and easily, the complete flour grinding happened a lot faster and the end product was a much finer powder than the traditional grain grounding or milling process. This was a plus for everyone involved, except the end consumer, who remained largely unaware of the negative repercussions of this technological advancement. The farmers sped up production and produced a larger volume of flour, the wholesalers had a way more shelf-stable product to sell, and the bakers were able to create quick-rising delicacies more easily and in-bulk. Of course, the costs of white flour decreased, as well. Within around ten years, almost all of the stone mills around the world had been replaced with the steel roller mills, and it seemed that they were making life easier and tastier for all.

ensures that temperatures remain low, which breaks down the starches, releases sugars, and does not damage any nutrients and vitamins. The slow process also ensures that the germ and bran are ground into the flour and all healthy component are retained. The taste of the flour, too, is said to be fuller and nuttier with this grinding method. These flours are high in fat and protein content, and are therefore excellent in bread and challah baking. How Is Stone-Ground Healthier? Organically Cultivated Stone ground flour is often derived from grains grown in farms with organic practices, which is already a reason for the flour to be more nutrient and vitamin rich. Weight Loss Boosting

Traditional Milling Processes You may have noticed the terms ‘roller milled’ or ‘stone ground’ on flour. Are these tiny words worthy of your attention? Let’s dissect these processes and how they affect the end product you will use while baking in your kitchen? Stone Ground Flour The original method of grinding flour, stone-milling, was used even before there was electricity to power flour mills. With the use of two stones, one kept in place on the bottom and one slowly turning above it, grains are crushed. The slow speed of the stone mill

The high dietary fiber content is also beneficial for weight loss. Not only due to it’s health properties, but also because it is less likely that you crave more baked goods when using heathy grains, which contain micro and macro – nutrients which provide us with the satiated feeling. \ Diabetic Friendly Interestingly, with the rise of mass-produced flour consumption, research is showing an increase in in Type 2 Diabetes, as well. This is mainly because of the dietary fibers retained in the stoneground flours, which balances the effect of the starch content when

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digested and prevents a sugar level uptick.

that switching the grains in their diet to healthier options has made a huge difference. Here, too, it is amazing to note how the grains were designed by Hashem to be ground and consumed in their original form, and every part of the process that is modernized wreaks havoc to our digestive and other body systems.

Is Old-Fashioned Really Better? Why does it make a difference how fine the flour is ground?

Roller Milled Flour The traditional roller mill creates a more refined, whiter flour at a much faster speed than the stone-ground process. Still, this milling type is designed to extract as much white flour as possible from the grains after separating the endosperm from the bran and germ. This way, a high-volume flour is obtained, which is a great benefit when baking challah and bread.

R’ Sandel explains that healthy, full ground whole wheat takes a while for the body to digest, which ensures you get the proper delivery of all nutrients. The white flour is so finely ground that the body digests it too quickly, which causes a sugar spike and other problems.

When he began paying attention to what was entering his body, R’ Sandel’s stomach issues resolved themselves. We can make the choice to feed our bodies wholesome foods to help energize and satiate our families.

Indeed, many people with blood sugar level issues attest to the fact

HOW FLOUR IS MILLED (A SIMPLIFIED DIAGRAM) IT STARTS HERE…

in a series of purifiers, reducing rolls and sifters. MAGNETIC SEPARATOR-iron or steel articles stay here.

BARGE

broken wheat is sifted through successive screens of increasing fineness.

SIFTER

ELEVATOR-storage and care of wheat.

RAIL

Flour

TRUCK

PRODUCT CONTROL-chemists inspect and classify wheat, blending is often done at this point.

WASHER-STONER high speed rotors circulate wheat and water-stones are removed.

PURIFIER

REDUCING ROLLS air currents and sieves separate bran and classify particles (or middlings).

PURIFIER

BRAN

SIFTER

Bran and Shorts

SEPARATORreciprocating screens remove stones, sticks and other coarse and fine materials.

air

air air

TEMPERING BINS

BLENDING-types of wheat are blended to make specific flours.

ASPIRATOR- air currents remove lighter impurities.

REDUCING ROLLSsmooth rolls reduce middlings into flour.

TEMPERING-water toughens outer bran coats for easier separation-softens or mellows endosperm.

Shorts

SCOURER-beaters in screen cylinder scour off impurities and roughage.

PURIFIER

CLEAR FLOUR

SIFTER GERM ROLLS Flour A series of purifiers reducing rolls and sifters repeat the process.

ENTOLETERimpact machine breaks and removes unsound wheat. DISC SEPARATORbarley, oats, cockle and other foreign materials are removed.

SHORTS

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GERM Flour

BLEACHINGflour is matured and color neutralized

GRINDING BIN

FIRST BREAK-corrugated rolls break wheat into coarse particles.

BULK STORAGE

ENRICHINGthiamine, niacin, riboflavin and iron are added. SACKEDfor home and bakery use.

NOTE: This chart is greatly simplified. The sequence, number and complexity of different operations vary in different mills.

SIFTER

PATENT FLOUR BULK DELIVERY to bakeries…

by truck

by rail

BAKING TIPS • If you want to try baking with whole grains, but are not ready to give up on the fluffy texture you are used to, begin with 50% substitution and see how you and your family enjoy the taste and texture. • It’s worthwhile to transfer your dough to a large bowl with a cover or big bag before leaving it to rise. Not only will it be so much easier to clean the bowl, your dough will also have a lot more room to expand. • When making a snow, it is best to have cool eggs and a completely dry mixing bowl.

MILLING NUTRITION FACTS Stone Ground White Flour

Roller-mill Bleached White Flour

Extraction

81%

72%

Protein

11.20%

10.70%

Fat

1.20%

0.70%

Carbohydrate

67%

80%

Calcium mg. per 100 g

Iron mg. per 100 g.

Vitamin A (units per 100 g)

200

Vitamin B1 (units per 100 g)

150

LITE SPELT FLOUR Lite Spelt Flour is replete with health benefits that have helped lower blood cholesterol and boost the immune system, and is easily tolerated and digested even by people with allergies and sensitivities. 100% organic, stone ground, and sifted of the bran, Lite Spelt Flour results in light and fluffy baked goods while retaining the vitamins and minerals, authentic taste, and digestive health qualities of whole spelt flour.

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SAMPLE

SAMPLE By Libby Silberman

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

The Sarno Method Part I Hey, everyone! Welcome back to the Lab. Wow, look around the room. We’ve got a lot more participants here this month! Now that Yom Tov’s here, more readers are settling on the sofa, Wellspring in hand, eager to enjoy a quality read. I waited with this Sample installment for a month like this one, wanting more readers, more exposure. That’s because I want as many readers as possible to know—even if you’re going to vehemently disagree with me—that this modality exists, and how millions of people across the globe have experienced so much healing through it. To be honest, I’m writing these words before I’ve conducted the trial itself. I’m excited about it. I just know it’s going to work. It’s worked for so many people, and it’s got to be one of the most groundbreaking modalities known to the world of holistic medicine. The mastermind behind the modality was actually a medical doctor. In his practice, he saw hundreds of people with all kinds of pain, and he observed how prescription drugs and heat and rest and even surgery didn’t really alleviate his patients’ suffering in the long term. His peers mocked his ideas, and he is known as the doctor who ate lonesome meals in the cafeteria at the hospital where he practiced while fellow doctors turned their noses up a few tables over. In the doctor’s own words, “99.9 percent of the medical profession” disagreed with his approach. Interestingly, his theory gained posthumous traction, and now, it’s quite the rage. (That’s a pun you’ll only get later.) This approach is absolutely free and has zero side effects. It’s the Sarno method we’re talking about. But before we bring the method into our Lab, a (quite lengthy!) introduction is called for. Dr. John E. Sarno, author of Mind Over Back Pain (1982), Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection (1991), The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain (1998), and The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders (2006), conceived the diagnosis tension myoneural syndrome (TMS), which has since been renamed tension myositis syndrome. Dr. Sarno’s philosophy is built upon the idea that many chronic pain conditions, such as back pain, neck pain, and even headaches, are primarily caused by emotional factors rather than physical issues. He believed that these conditions were often the result of repressed emotions, particularly rage and stress manifesting in the form of physical pain.

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SAMPLE

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

How Does the Mindbody Connection Work? Here’s the breakdown, based on the elucidation of Sarno coach Miriam Brieger. The human mind is divided into two sections, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is responsible for all cognitive activity and voluntary actions, like walking, talking, and cooking. The subconscious mind, on the other hand, takes care of all involuntary body processes, including digestion, the cardiopulmonary system, and the immune system. In addition to its job of running the body systems smoothly, it is also the storage center of all emotions the person has experienced in his life. Your subconscious brain is an incredibly organized system, retaining all kinds of emotions for many, many years—as long as your soul is in your body, that is.

The Third Option When the subconscious mind feels twinges of discomfort from painful emotions, either past or present, it gets alarmed. Since the mind has a hard time dealing with the unpleasant emotion, instead of allowing the person to get caught up in a whirlpool of challenging emotion, it creates a clever diversion tactic: physical pain. As aforementioned, the subconscious is also responsible for many body systems, holding the keys to many parts of the body. Thus, it sends messages to divert blood and oxygen from a particular area in the body, thereby creating pain. Of course, you don’t know about any of this. What you’re feeling is terrible back pain, which is the most common manifestation of TMS. Or a migraine. Or chronic heartburn. Or even colitis and autoimmune diseases. Instead of dwelling on emotional pain, which can be messy and more complicated to deal with, you dwell on physical pain. That, in comparison, is easy. Pop some Motrin, see a doctor, take a blood test, go for an X-ray. There’s a charted plan to treat whatever ailment you’re facing so you can feel in control. In other words, the subconscious prefers the physical pain. The pain your subconscious creates is real. It’s not in the head or imagined. Oftentimes, various ailments can even be seen on an X-ray or blood test despite the cause being solely emotional. No one likes the emotional pain option. No one likes the physical pain option. Dr. John E. Sarno came up with the genius third option. Release the emotion! Don’t live in the emotional pain. Get it out of your system and relieve your subconscious from its emotional hold duty.

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SAMPLE

How? First of all, before embarking on an emotionally healing journey, pay attention to the physical symptoms. Remember, Dr. Sarno was a medical doctor. First, he performed a full physical exam, including any testing required such as X-rays or MRI. (While this is beyond the scope of the article, the specific physical problems Sarno looked out for were infections, fractured or broken bones, and tumors. He believed he could cure all other problems solely via the emotional route. Usually, when Sarno spotted structural damage in an MRI in a person complaining of back pain, he dismissed it as a “normal abnormality,” proving it by showing X-rays of hundreds of pain-free individuals’ spines that had the same “abnormality.”) Once you’ve established that none of your physical symptoms require your attention, you’re ready to take a deep dive into the work. (Again, in certain cases there is a physical symptom that requires medical treatment, but even while taking that route you can practice this method as well. As always, consult a professional regarding this matter.) 1. Acknowledge the stresses in your life. Think about them, verbalize them, or write them down. Too often, we bury our emotions, waving disappointment and pain away, “It’s okay,” “It was bashert,” or, “Never mind, it was nothing.” These are all mature “adult” statements, but when we fail to acknowledge that something really is bothering us, we repress the emotion without ever letting it get away. It gets stored in our subconscious forever. Not surprisingly, individuals with a perfectionist nature are especially prone to this kind of thinking.

er excruciating and incapacitating it can be—is driven by emotion, the more you will be able to get out of its hold. This includes gradually stopping painkillers and resuming regular function despite the pain to give the body the message to “stop pretending to be sick and get on with it.” 3. Verbally express your belief. Talk to your body out loud. Create your own mantra— write it down as a script if you wish—and say it every morning, and whenever you feel pain. Here is an example. “Although my back pain feels very real, it’s only my subconscious trying to distract me from my emotional pain. Subconscious, stop trying to distract me from my emotions. I don’t need you to tell me that I’m stressed out. I know what my stresses are. I’m feeling very alone/afraid/ small/etc., right now because…” As you keep doing it, your subconscious will hear you and get the message that it’s okay to release the physical symptom or pain and resume sending blood and oxygen to the area in which the subconscious withheld healthy flow. ***

2. Believe it’s just your subconscious giving you physical symptoms.

For most people, this treatment is enough to bring healing within approximately one month. However, when it is not effective, there may be more buried emotions that the individual isn’t capable of digging up on his own for various reasons. For example, their painful experiences may have happened too long ago or they might not believe that certain life circumstances “warrant” negative emotion. In such cases, a Sarno coach can be helpful in guiding the person through the modality, through guided journaling and other techniques.

There is nothing structurally wrong with your body. The more you can internalize the fact that your pain—howev-

Sometimes, individuals are encouraged to seek counseling so they can “clean up” their emotional baggage.

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Tell Me the Truth… and Only the Truth While there are a staggering number of positive reviews of Dr. Sarno’s books and method on Amazon and on dozens of sites, most of the medical world hasn’t quite picked up on the enthusiasm just yet. What’s one to do? Who do we go with? The smart-looking folk with multiple degrees and offices in multistory buildings? Or the calling of thousands of Sarno-cured patients? Enter Sample. Hat tip. Here to solve the world’s problems. You’re very welcome. No less than seven Sample readers suggested coverage of the Sarno method over the years, but I was one reluctant scientist. How would we quantify the results? After all, emotions can’t be cut into neat and even squares. They’re more like the mushy pudding with unidentifiable components. Add our “perfect” society to the emotional world equation and we’ve got something so sloppy, I’m not creative enough to it give a name. The more I thought about tackling this subject in our Lab, the less inclined I felt to try it. I could encourage participants to follow the method—but who could measure to what extent they applied themselves to it? What if it took too long? What if the participants needed more guidance? And then, after all that, would the participants even want to share? Despite this idea percolating in my mind for the past two to three years, it took until recently to realize that we could run this Sample slightly differently than usual. For this Sample, I put out a call for people who have already used the method, either successfully or unsuccessfully, and were happy to offer their reviews. I was out to hear each one’s story, as much as they were willing to share, and I present them to you on the following page. You’ll notice how appropriate the Sarno method is for our Lab, as virtually everyone who dabbled in it started out seeing it as an experiment. “I figured I’d give it a try,” is a common refrain many contributors expressed. The results of their trial? Read them for yourself right here. Next month in this space, we’ll share some more, along with some tips for making the Sarno method work for you, with the help of Hashem.

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SAMPLE

Henny’s Experiment I was 34 years old when I started suffering from terrible neck and back pain. The doctor I saw confirmed that I had slipped discs in two locations, and these were causing the agony. I tried resting and getting a heat massage, but neither helped. For a while, I survived on super-strong painkillers and tried looking into alternative options. A friend of mine suggested Dr. Sarno’s method, and kindly dropped off a paperback copy of the book at my front door, telling me to enjoy it and not return it. I skimmed through a couple of pages with disdain. Emotional pain? Not me! I was fine. More than fine. Very offended that she thought otherwise, I trashed the book. I went down the acupuncture route, religiously attending appointments for well over a year. It didn’t help. I saw a chiropractor, pouring money and time into another futile endeavor. I was in such hopping agony, I could hardly sleep at night. Three pain-filled years passed. At some point, I was so incapacitated by the pain that I was willing to do literally anything to help myself. Someone gave me a phone number of a man in Ramot, Jerusalem. This man’s wife had been in a horrific road accident and suffered multiple injuries. She underwent numerous procedures that were successful in mending her body, but she remained in constant pain. The doctors told her she would live with this pain for the rest of her life and that there was nothing more they could do for her. After trying many different modalities, they got hold of Dr. Sarno’s book. Following the method proved to be miraculous and the woman was completely cured. Her husband, awed by the power of a simple mind shift, committed himself to spreading the word to help others see the light as well. I contacted him, not quite believing I was at salvation’s doorstep. “And I’m not talking to you about emotional pain, yada yada. I don’t do this,” I said as I introduced myself and my problem. “We won’t,” he replied. “You’ll do that yourself.” After explaining the science behind the theory, he instructed me to get off all medications and painkillers for four weeks. Every day, I was to say a statement to myself, to my subconscious. My statement was, “Body, dear, thanks for serving me. I just want you to know that you do not have to provide me with a distraction from my emotional pain. You can allow blood and oxygen to flow through my body, to my back and neck. I’ll deal with the emotional things, and you do your job and keep my body strong.” I got off the medications but was so dependent on them that I suffered from severe withdrawal symptoms. I got back on them and slowly weaned myself off. In the meantime, I practiced saying the above statement, while really internalizing it, every day. I hated having to think of the things that were bothering me—who likes to think of problems? But I did it, as much as possible. In less than four weeks, I was 100 percent pain-free. Now, ten years later, I am still completely pain free. Sometimes, when I go through something stressful at home—Erev Yom Tov, a child in shidduchim, or a challenging work schedule—I feel the pain coming up in my back and neck. When that happens, I take a deep breath and remind my body about the deal we’ve made. My body doesn’t have to deal with my emotional aches. I’ll deal with that. And each time, it listens to me and takes care of the pain. I am so grateful to Hashem for guiding me down this path to healing and would love for others to realize how potent it can be. I have already guided many to this modality, including people who were already scheduled for surgery, and people who were literally crawling on the floor because they couldn’t stand anymore. Everyone has emotional pain. It doesn’t mean that you’re messed up. It means that you’re living real life.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Dina’s Experiment For years, I suffered from sciatica at the top back of my left leg. The pain was excruciating, especially when it traveled all the way down my leg. My general physician prescribed strong painkillers, which helped, but after a while, the pain returned. Once I’d exhausted the medical route, I went for several sessions at a chiropractor, emptying my pockets but failing to see any change in my pain. One day, I noticed a request for a Dr. Sarno book on a neighborhood Neshei email list from someone looking to borrow it. Intrigued, I googled it and got reading. Then, I borrowed the book from someone on the same Neshei email list and read it. I tried the basic premise: the pain is repressed emotions that the subconscious expresses as physical pain instead of dealing with the emotions. This basic step is that you tell your subconscious that it’s just repressed emotions and not actual pain—you don’t even have to deal with the actual emotions (although in more complicated scenarios you would have to). All I needed to do was talk to my subconscious. I did that and, in a matter of days, I was baruch Hashem totally cured. Occasionally, I feel a twinge in my leg. I promptly tell the subconscious that the pain is just repressed emotions, and then it disappears. From my experience, one can totally be successful using this method without reading through the entire book. All one needs to know is the basic theory and understanding of how to rid oneself of the pain.

Miriam’s Experiment Twelve years ago, I started waking up each morning with a headache. I tried regular painkillers as well as alternative remedies, but nothing seemed to be effective. After approximately a year of these debilitating headaches, I came across one of Dr. Sarno’s books. I was impressed with the principles and proceeded to read it from cover to cover. However, the method did nothing to alleviate my constant headaches, and I continued suffering for another full year. Feeling desperate, I revisited the Sarno method and educated myself further in the details. I learned that some people need to dig deeper and do more inner work to get to the root—and eventual end—of the pain. With nothing to lose, I set about trying it. Within no time, I was healed. It was an incredible, unbelievable experience. Five years ago, I finally had the opportunity to dive further into the subject, and I trained to become a Sarno coach and got additional certifications in the mental health field. I felt that so many people were suffering in vain, and I so badly wanted to help them understand the source of the pain. Baruch Hashem, I have been successful in helping dozens of clients come to a place of permanent healing.

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SAMPLE

Baila’s Experiment I am extremely passionate about the Sarno method. I even have a lending gemach of Dr. Sarno’s books, and I encourage whoever I can to try his method. But I wasn’t always like this. Back in seminary, I started suffering from leg pain. It was hard for me to get out of bed and painful to walk. Worried, I saw a doctor who referred me to an orthopedist. I had some X-rays taken, but all seemed clear. I then tried the gamut of medical professionals, but there was no physical indicator of anything. But boy did my legs hurt! When I got married and moved to Eretz Yisrael, the pain increased tenfold. Looking back, it’s obvious to me that a new marriage plus a stressful move across the ocean contributed to the pain. Being in shanah rishonah but feeling creaky and incapacitated like an arthritic old man wasn’t fun at all. Someone encouraged me to see an acclaimed chiropractor in Har Nof who, incredibly, helped me feel better after one session. The treatment helped for around a week, so I returned to him on a weekly basis. After nearly a year of this expensive yet effective treatment, the chiropractor encouraged me to stop seeing him.

Here are some ways I try helping myself via the method. 1. I talk to myself, telling myself that I am fine. I am okay. There is nothing physically wrong with me. 2. I read a section of the book, usually the part that details the treatment plan. 3. Using an unlined white paper, I scribble anything and everything that is on my mind. My stresses, my worries about my children, my resentment about having to host or cook or work, my challenges in a relationship. Everything. I trash it when I’m done. 4. I visualize the spot of pain in my body. Then, I select a different spot that is not hurting, my toes, for example. I picture the blood flowing from my toes and spreading the feeling of good health outward, until we get to the place of pain. If you have a great imagination, this can work really well.

“Do you want to keep seeing me forever?” he asked. “I don’t mind. but you’re paying good money for something that’s not permanent, and it’s a shame.”

5. I try internalizing the message that this is life. I’m not going to get all the stresses out of the way. I want my family and job and home, with all of the accompanying challenges—and if I want to have these things, I must accept the stresses that come along with them. It’s okay. Somehow, acceptance of stress eases the physical reminders of them. Bitachon plays a big role here too.

“Do you have a better solution?” I asked, thinking back to the years of limping and pain that I most definitely did not want to revisit. He wrote down something on a post-it note and gave it to me. “Healing Back Pain, by Dr. John Sarno,” he said. “It’s one book you should read.”

Over the years, I read up loads on the topic of psychosomatic disorders and healing. My husband is known in his kollel as the go-to guy for all things Sarno and has helped dozens of yungeleit and their families by guiding them to this book.

I got the book and read every single page over the next few months. And then again. It took time for me to absorb the messages, to be honest. I wasn’t used to the language of emotion.

When I suggest this book to people, many get defensive. They have many explanations as to why their issue is solely physical: how it happened, why it happened, and why it has zero emotional roots. I’ve learned by now that most people must go through the medical wringer to get “desperate enough” before trying the Sarno route. It’s a shame, but I can’t force people to accept the facts that I see so clearly.

Eventually, I started feeling much better. These days, whenever it gets stressful at home, my legs start hurting. I try not to get alarmed and just practice Sarno. The pain is clever, however. It travels to my back and other places to avoid detection. When I wake up with awful side pain, it’s easier to start thinking, “Oh, where did I hurt myself? Did I twist something? Did I overdo it at the gym?” Instead, I muster the emotional energy to tell myself, “No, it’s just emotional issues manifesting themselves in physical pain.” The work is not over with that. Sometimes, I can feel better just from this knowledge and awareness. Other times,

it takes more.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

What we all must realize is that there is nothing wrong with having emotional pain. We all have pain on different levels. In fact, my husband just helped a rav who’s at the helm of a large community through this approach as he was suffering from constant headaches. This rav was, very understandably, experiencing a tremendous amount of stress, whether due to his own very human struggles, as well as from hearing about other’s troubles and dealing with communal issues, and his body was attempting to distract him from the emotional turmoil.

Yaakov’s Experiment I had debilitating migraines for years. If you’ve been there, you know horrible that was. I knew when one was coming. It was a no-brainer that whenever things were stressful, whether at home, Erev Yom Tov, before a deadline at work, or after a late night, I’d get a migraine that would take several days to fully lift. A fellow employee sent me a link to The Mindbody Prescription on Amazon, together with a long email explaining in his own words how the method operated. Things began changing for the better once I started using this modality; it really helped me. These days I hardly suffer from headaches and if I do, they’re mild and manageable.

Let’s Get the Stats Straight Quantifying emotional healing, we already agreed, is quite impossible. However, since this is the Lab we’re sitting in, where we are interested in findings that are scientific and quantifiable, here are some stats on the long-term success rates of TMS treatment. Dr. Sarno’s first follow-up study took place in 1982 and involved a random selection of 177 patients whom he had treated in the preceding three years. The participants were interviewed regarding their quality of life and pain levels. A whopping 76 percent of the interviewees reported that they were leading normal and pain-free lives. His second study in 1987 selected patients who’d seen him specifically with the complaint of herniated discs that had been confirmed via CT scans. Of the 109 participants in the study, 88 percent said they were completely pain-free after 1–3 years of TMS treatment. Years later, in 2007, Dr. Sarno’s research assistant and student Dr. David Schechter published a study of TMS treatment, which surveyed 51 patients with chronic back pain with an average pain duration prior to the study of nine years. His study showed a 54 percent reduction in the average pain intensity scores in these patients. This study outperformed other studies of psychological cures for chronic back pain. It must be mentioned that this study appeared in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, a journal that accepts and advocates mainstream as well as alternative medicine. Very few mainstream medical circles have accepted the Sarno method as legit due to lack of scientific evidence. However, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School of Boston, Massachusetts, are running an ongoing Mindbody Chronic Pain Study. So far, this has produced notable results, including a report of 64 percent of patients treated via the Sarno method having complete remission of pain, compared to only 25 percent in the control group. The question remains: How long will it take for the medical world to come to terms with this totally free treatment that could put Big Pharma on the poverty list?

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SAMPLE

Possible Manifestations of TMS

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Lower back and leg pain

Abdominal pain

Sciatica

Cramping

Degenerative osteoarthritis

Colitis

Spinal stenosis

Tension headaches

Herniated disc

Migraines

Scoliosis

Acne

Osteoarthritis of the hip

Eczema

Fibromyalgia

Hives

Post-polio syndrome

Psoriasis

Tension myalgia

Allergies

Cranial nerve pain

Frequent colds

Pinched nerve

Recurrent UTI

Whiplash

Herpes

Repetitive stress injury and carpal tunnel syndrome

Yeast infection Epstein-Barr syndrome

Knee and shoulder tendonitis

Dizziness

Pulled hamstring

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Shin splint

Hypertension

Heartburn Ulcers

Autoimmune disease, such as Graves’ disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and lupus

Diarrhea

Hypertension

Constipation

Heart disease

All the Rage Rage is the primary contributor to TMS. Anger is not rage, but very intense anger can be classified as rage. If rage builds up to a sufficient magnitude, this may create the need for physical symptoms and TMS as a distraction. Most of the rage we experience in life is suppressed, and this unfortunately contributes to the development of physical symptoms. What Are the Three Primary Sources of Rage? When practicing the Sarno method, while it is not necessary to solve all your emotional problems, it is crucial to identify what the emotional pain is, and where it is coming from. Here are the three most typical categories that contribute to rage, and consequently, TMS. 1. Childhood Anger and Sadness This category includes past events that we either haven’t processed or have kept inside for whatever reason. This category is referred to as childhood anger, but it does not have to come from childhood experiences only. Also included in this category are milder forms of emotional “abuse” that occur in childhood, for example, not being allowed to cry and tantrum because “big kids don’t cry,” and being forced to share and behave. Dr. Sarno also lists childhood problems such as having a psychologically inadequate parent or disordered attachment. 2. People-Pleasing and Perfectionism Several articles could be written about this one alone. Dr. Sarno writes in his book, “Virtually every patient I have seen…has been to a greater or lesser degree perfectionistic.” He says that most people don’t call themselves perfectionists, but as they share more, it is apparent that they are highly responsible, conscientious, concerned, ambitious, hardworking, and self-critical—all personality traits of the perfectionist. Another Sarno buzzword is “goodism,” a concept many of us are all too familiar with. The term is used to describe a compulsion, in which the need to be good is primary. Individuals who are propelled by their “goodism" are generally driven to be helpful, often to the extent of sacrificing their own needs. They have a desire to ingratiate, to want everyone to like them. Isn’t this behavior impressive? From a societal perspective, it’s great. However, in an individual, it can generate a lot of internal anger if the goodism stems from a place of personal inadequacy, feelings of being “forced into it,” or having to be good, even if the individual is not aware of it. 3. Everyday Stresses This includes challenging relationships, problems at work, childrearing struggles, and home management challenges. Dr. Sarno lists 43 life stresses and challenges from greatest to least that may contribute to rage. The list includes big challenges, such as death of a loved one, but also minor challenges like moving to a new house, pregnancy, change in work hours, and even vacation!

Look out for more thought-provoking content on the Sarno method next month. A special thanks to certified Sarno coach Miriam Brieger for contributing to this article. Miriam guides individuals on their journeys to health via private coaching both in-person and remotely via phone or Zoom. She also gives seminars in which she teaches the intricacies of the Sarno method process and how to help various disorders through this method. Note: This article is for informational purposes only. Please consult with a healthcare provider regarding treatment for any ailment or disease.

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

SAMPLE

Operation Summer Projects The Photoboard + Winners!

Kudos to all Wellspring readers who took advantage of their downtime this summer to experiment with and develop new health hobbies. From sprouted beans to sourdough bread and fermented vegetables, we received an awesome collection of submissions from our contestants. Here are some snapshots.

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Winner #1

Winner #2

L. Katz

L. Kasten

Winners will receive a 6-month subscription to Wellspring.

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

CUP OF TEA

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

Cup of Tea with

Dr. Barry Dinner Dr. Barry Dinner

AGE: 68 LOCATION: Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel FAMILY: Married with eight children OCCUPATION: Family physician and fellowship in anti-aging medicine PASSION: Using cutting-edge medical knowledge to optimize patients’ health

HE WISHES PEOPLE WOULD KNOW: That there are steps they can take to age well

By Roizy Baum WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

D CUP OF TEA

Despite being comfortably far from the aging stage, interviewing Dr. Barry Dinner makes me feel at least ten years younger. His passion, vitality, and profound expertise are just what you need to add value to your life.

“I’ve had patients who were yawning through their days, gaining weight or suffering from headaches, and despite following everything their doctors advised, they weren’t responding well to treatment. I was determined to help them,” Dr. Dinner shares of how it all began. With a passion for helping individuals extend and optimize their lives, Dr. Dinner devoted himself to studying functional and anti-aging medicine. How does functional medicine differ from conventional or alternative medicine? “Functional medicine seeks to understand and address the root causes of illness, rather than simply managing symptoms or applying a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment,” Dr. Dinner explains. “It’s a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease.” It’s common for individuals to believe that diseases are caused by a single factor. For example, cardiovascular disease may be caused by cholesterol. But there are many factors other than cholesterol. A diagnosis can be the result

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

of more than one cause. In functional medicine, the practitioner looks at the entire picture and addresses all different systems in the body. By embracing an integrative and systems-oriented approach, the patient will have lasting benefits beyond symptom suppression. Dr. Dinner shares an analogy that explains functional medicine very well. “Imagine a roof with 36 holes. What happens when you patch up one hole? The remaining 35 holes will still cause damage to the roof. Dr. Dale Bredesen, an internationally recognized expert in neurodegenerative diseases, uses this analogy for Alzheimer’s. He managed to identify 36 causes of Alzheimer’s and insists that just like the roof with 36 holes, all those need to be tested for and repaired.” Indeed, over the course of the past three decades, Dr. Bredesen’s research has led to a significant finding: pharmaceutical drugs have shown limited effectiveness, but his multi-system approach of fixing all the leaks in the roof lead to significant improvement.

Dr. Dinner’s fervent passion resonates clearly when he says, “This experience has opened an entirely new world for me.” Age without Aging What do you get when you combine functional medicine and an incredible approach to aging well? Introducing Beyoung, a comprehensive and practical program that combines anti-aging and functional medicine principles. Dr. Barry Dinner is the driving force behind Beyoung. As a certified anti-aging and functional medicine specialist and veteran physician of more than 30 years, Dr. Dinner views the human body as a unified machine and works with thousands of patients to hone his treatment methodology. By enrolling in Beyoung, patients gain access to a wide array of tools, expert guidance, and unwavering support, empowering them to enhance their overall health and enrich their lives. “As explained,” Dr. Dinner shares, “functional medicine

goes beyond treating just symptoms. At Beyoung, we delve deeper, uncovering the reason for premature aging. We don’t only assess physical health but include the powerful effects of stress, purpose in life, social health, and spiritual health to achieve comprehensive wellness. The idea is to have a full assessment and repair the issue from the root cause. Every patient gets a unique care plan for their specific goals and health needs.” Unfortunately, when a patient begins experiencing memory decline, it often sets a precedent for further deterioration. However, Dr. Dinner shares the compelling case of a patient who underwent a memory test and subsequently followed his program. “One year later, we observed remarkable improvements. Many people in their 70s enter our program with a stooped posture, yet upon completion, they emerge with a transformed stance, confidently walking out with an upright posture.” Beyoung offers various programs—both in-person and virtually— catering to every need. From the diagnostic

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

CUP OF TEA

program to the maintenance program and everything in between, individuals can select a track that works for their specific goals and preferences. “Age is inevitable,” Dr. Dinner quips, “but aging well is a choice.” And in a beautiful clinic in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Dr. Dinner, along with his team of experts, brings his knowledge to reverse the signs and symptoms of premature aging. Dr. Dinner believes that many processes leading to aging can be slowed and even reversed. In his desire to help his patients, Dr. Dinner is in the process of producing anti-aging supplements. “These supplements have been developed based on my protocol, which serves as the cornerstone for a more enriching and purposeful life, regardless of age. Essentially, we have condensed all the knowledge and intelligence of anti-aging into a single capsule.” With products ranging from bone support and glucose support to skin, joint, and cholesterol support, Dr. Dinner is aiming to address every aspect of the aging process in his upcoming line of supplements. His comprehensive range of products is designed to provide support for all of aging, showcasing his commitment to promoting overall wellbeing and vitality. No Signs of Slowing At the age of 68, one might expect Dr. Dinner to exhibit signs of slowing down or taking a more leisurely approach to life. However, quite the contrary is true. The practitioner’s schedule is more vibrant and active than ever. Most of his patients are in their 40s and 50s, but he has treated the full range, from teens to octogenarians. Juggling his thriving family practice, making remarkable contributions at Beyoung—from 8:00 in the morning—and prioritizing his own physical fitness, Dr. Dinner continues to demonstrate unwavering dedication and energy. Moreover, he cherishes precious moments with his family, exemplifying a well-rounded and fulfilling life. Originally from South Africa, Dr. Dinner left a thriving practice behind for the zechus of practicing and living in Eretz Yisrael. “My 98

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

They were yawning through their days, gaining weight or suffering from headaches, and despite following everything their doctors advised, they weren’t responding well to treatment.

wife and I were just deciding to upgrade our beautiful home in South Africa when my friend, a doctor in Yerushalayim, called me. ‘If you come to Israel in two months’ time, you have a job.’ And just like that, we picked ourselves up and made the move. “People often ask me how we’ve made it work financially. It’s known that in Eretz Yisroel you can’t charge like you charge elsewhere, but the zechus of living in Eretz Yisrael and serving my Jewish sisters and brothers is invaluable. I have no regrets.” Dr. Dinner credits his wife for where he is today. “I’d never have managed without her,” he says. “Already back when I was in medical school, we had two children and I wasn’t even earning anything. My wife was busy being the breadwinner and raising the children!” For the Books In spite of his tight work schedule, Dr. Dinner also sets aside time to write. His first book, The Heart of the Matter, is about conquering stress before it wreaks havoc on the body, mind, and soul. Dr. Dinner’s second work, Be Young, is about just what the title suggests, his area of passion and expertise. Recognizing the potential risks associated with retirement, Dr. Dinner was compelled to address this concern by embarking on the creation of a third book. He strongly believes that every individual should have a sense of purpose and a personal mission in order to experience a profound sense of fulfillment in life. Furthermore, leading a stress-free lifestyle, cultivating a healthy social circle, and adhering to a well-balanced nutrition and exercise regimen are crucial components for maintaining overall wellbeing. All this will be included in his third book—one still in the making. Quoting from Dr. Dinner’s second book, here’s the excerpt that encapsulates his important message: “If you’re feeling your age, then something is wrong. There is no reason your body should start closing shop after forty—in fact, there’s no reason for your body to ever stop performing at its best.”

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SERIAL DIARY

Recap: Fradel braces herself before letting her good friends and close family members know about her hidden medical condition. I dial Faigy’s number quickly, eager to crack down on my Operation Open Secret mission. After three rings, my almost-a-sister friend picks up. “Hi, Faigy, how are you? Is Yitzchak feeling better?” Faigy lets out a deep sigh. “His fever went down, but his appetite isn’t that great. How’s Miriam?” “Oh, she’s more or less back to her regular self.” After a pause, I clear my throat. It’s time to face the music. It’s gonna be beautiful music, Fradel; just plunge right in. “Faigy, I wanted to tell you something.” “What?” “I know you might be shocked to hear about this, given the extent of our friendship.” I take a deep breath and continue with the well-rehearsed message I reviewed mentally before making the call. “I wanted to let you know that I have a condition called colitis, which means inflammation of the colon, the large intestine. It’s not a dangerous condition, but it’s a chronic one that I’ve been living with for a while now, and it flares up every now and then—” “Oh. So that explains all your weight loss?” “Right. And terrible stomachaches. And that’s why I’ve

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been taking those pills you were wondering about. Until now, I kept this issue to myself, but I realized recently that it would be healthier for me to share it so I can get the support I need when I’m going through a hard stage.” “Oh, wow.” It feels good that Faigy’s accepting the news so graciously. Still, to offset her shock, I quickly add, “Feel free to ask me how I’m doing or anything else you may want to know about my condition. I have no issues answering your questions. And please, still treat me like the same old Fradel, ’kay?” “Okay. Wow. You always seem so put together and super capable. I mean, it’s hard to believe this. Like, I kvetch all day about Yitzchok’s midnight parties and you…” Her voice trails off, and she seems at a loss for words. “That’s not the point, Faigy. Everyone has their own challenges to deal with. And beneath that cool front there was a storm brewing, though I myself wasn’t aware of it. I hope that being open about it will help me deal with this challenge. By the way, when are we getting together for some aerobics again?” “You’re up to it?” “Sure. I’m feeling great these days, baruch Hashem. And I promise, if I don’t, I’ll let you know.” And so the phone calls continue. A bit of chitchat. The grand revelation. And some soothing for the shocked oth-

Chapter 3 Operation Open Secret by Fradel Bergstein, as told to C.L. Beer er-side-of-the-wire. After sharing my so-not-a-big-deal secret with those nearest and dearest to me, I feel a delicious sense of freedom. For the first time in nearly a decade, I’m letting go of the heavy burden of secrecy I’d been lugging around. Now it’s time for me to seek out and avail myself of ways to support myself. This doesn’t mean I’ve now become a self-pronounced “case;” on the contrary, reaching out for a helping hand has only increased my energy and ability to give. Indeed, now that I’m no longer focusing my energy on keeping my secret safe, I’ve joined MyTeam, an organization whose mission is to confidentially support frum girls and women with invisible chronic illness. I’ve been set up with a “teammate,” with whom I share the details of my evolving colitis journey. Although our initial connection comes from our shared experiences, I find a true friend in her, and by now we’ve schmoozed about a host of non-health-related topics. On a communal level, I gain tremendous chizuk from joining events held for women suffering from IBD (an umbrella term that includes colitis and Crohn’s) and later, those organized by MyTeam. Just scanning the room of normal-looking people in attendance gives me a shot in the arm, restoring my equilibrium and sense of normalcy. *** “Dissolving” my secret has empowered me in ways I would never have dreamed. Led by my newfound dynamism, I’ve become a mentor for MyTeam. Listening, empa-

thizing, advising, and encouraging those dealing with similar gastro issues turns out to be the best form of therapy for both the girls and myself. Even beyond the confines of support organizations, I’ve had no qualms about mentioning my condition in casual conversation. Since I now view colitis as a badge of honor and not one of shame, the reactions I get are of admiration and respect, and never of pity. Soon after this became my new reality, I couldn’t help but notice a predictable pattern: Once I reveal the proverbial skeleton in my closet, the listener often follows my lead. Whether it’s a long-held secret or an issue that’s weighing on their mind, my openness invites them to unload their own emotional baggage. It’s been intriguing to note the universal human tendency to cover up the less-than-perfect parts of life. It takes courage and wisdom to realize that imperfection is innately woven into the human condition. Having discovered the joys of unencumbered living, I found the “secret mentality” intriguing. And so I made it my project to research the topic and set out to ask real people for their perspective on keeping challenges and personal struggles a secret. But in order to give my study credence, I knew I’d need to gather many responses. How would I get the word out there?

TO BE CONTINUED WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

101

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DIY

n o i t a x a l e R d n e l B By Miriam Schweid Bach Flower remedies are known to facilitate wellbeing and emotional health and are an awe-inspiring example of the healing properties found in nature. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or anxious during this hectic time of year, here’s an excellent Bach Flower combination to take the edge off your stress and help you feel calm and content so you can enjoy this special time.

In a 1-oz bottle combine the following: 10 drops rock rose 10 drops rescue 10 drops elm ½ oz spring water 20 drops plum brandy (or any brandy of your choice, as a preservative) Mix well. Take 3 drops every 3 hours or combine with 8 oz of drinking water and sip throughout the day.

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TAP IN

TAP IN by Gila Glassberg, RDN, CDN, Certified Intuitive Eating Coach

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QUESTION One of the aspects of Intuitive Eating I appreciate very much is that it’s not only about “What am I in the mood of eating right now?” but also about the thought before making the choice: “Is the food I’m about to eat good for me?” On this topic, I have the following question. How can I balance self-care (this food is comforting for me) with restrictive eating (this food isn’t good for my body)? For example, I know that gluten makes me feel bloated, but when I think of abstaining from gluten, I find myself going into restrict/binge mode. The knowing that I can’t have it doesn’t do well for me, but having the food doesn’t do well for me either. How can I make choices that are good for my body but also for my wellbeing?

ANSWER

Thank you for your fabulous, nuanced question.

To answer this question, I will repeat something I’ve mentioned in a previous response. The Intuitive Eating approach dictates that food choices should stem from a place of self-care and not self-punishment. Sometimes, this is clear to us. We know we love the way a food tastes, and we also know how terrible it makes us feel. In that case, coming from a place of self-compassion, we’ll make a conscious choice to avoid the food. But other times—more often than we’d like to think—the effect the food has on us isn’t so clearcut. Is it the actual food that is detrimental for our body, or is it the fear of the food? Is it the combination with another food? Is it the quality or quantity of that food? Does it depend on the time of day? Is it the feelings we have upon eating that food? I don’t want you to be obsessed with figuring this out, but I want you to become good at looking for a middle path, one that is not extreme. Very often, it’s not so much the food per se that isn’t good for us as much as the associations and assumptions we’ve

built around that food. If you tell yourself you can’t eat gluten because no matter how much, what type, when, where, you will feel horrible, it’s very likely you’ll find yourself bingeing on it soon after. Is this restriction really helping you? It’s safe to assume that the answer is no. If you believe that one kind of food, which in your case this might be foods with gluten, does not make you feel good, and you have a history of dieting/ restricting and bingeing, cutting it out completely will probably not help—just as it hasn’t helped until now. I would recommend keeping a journal and recording when you eat that food, how much, where, etc., and see if you notice a pattern. See if there is a way for you to incorporate that food into your diet in a way that doesn’t come along with a host of negative side effects. And take it slow and steady. Feel empowered to make a choice to either eat it or not, not to just restrict yourself or feel out of control with bingeing. And when you do choose to say no, remember that the more rooted your choice is in self-compassion, the less likely you’ll be to overconsume it shortly afterward.

Have questions about the Intuitive Eating approach? Send them to info@wellspringmagazine.com and Gila will be glad to answer them in this space. Gila Glassberg is a Master's level registered dietitian and a certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. As a teenager, she was faced with constant diet talk, body shaming, and obsessive guilt around food, but now that she has found food freedom through the process of Intuitive Eating, she's eager to share its wisdom with others. Gila works privately with clients and she also presents workshops. The name of her podcast is Get INTUIT with Gila, and she writes blog entries on her website, www.gilaglassberg.com. She can be reached at 570-878-3642.

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OT@HOME

by Miriam Frankel, OTR/L

From , B o t A y l h t o o Sm s to 5 Technique itions Ease Trans

During the busy Yom Tov season, parents might find their kids displaying more challenging behaviors than usual, which makes tapping into the uplifting joy of the Yom Tov more difficult. One way to mitigate the challenge is by realizing that for some children, transitioning between the different kinds of activities or tasks such as mealtimes, going to shul and interacting with family members can be difficult, thus triggering big emotions. As parents, there are various techniques we can employ to help make these Yom Tov-related transitions smoother. Here are six of them.

1. Transition toy. Letting your child play with or use their comfort toy, such as a security blanket, can offer a welcome distraction as you transition to the next activity. 2. Hold something. Giving your child something to hold, while they transition, helps inhibit the Moro primitive movement pattern so that they will be less aggressive or reactive. 3. Motivation. Offering your child something to look forward to with the next task or activity, such as a snack or drink, can help motivate them about the change. 4. Use rhythm. Use rhythm to help kids regulate into a transition. For example, say your instruction repetitively, using a staccato voice. You can also march, clap, or use a maraca or any instrument while you chant, to match their heartbeat. 5. Be consistent. Consistently offering a child a cue that an activity is coming to an end can help them anticipate the end of one activity and begin the transition in their mind. “This is your 2-minute reminder,” or “Time to pick your last thing to play on at the park before we leave”. 6. Be clear about how much longer an activity will last. Using a visual timer can be great to remind kids how much time they have left to complete their current activity. Show them where the long and short handle will be on the clock—when it will be time to go home, go out or end the activity.

Whether you have a toddler who tantrums when leaving their relative’s house, getting ready for bedtime, or calming down enough to sit for a meal, or a teenager who cannot handle changes in routine, these transitions can be made easier with an intentional approach and a few tricks in your parenting toolbox.

Miriam (Manela) Frankel OTR/L is a mental health occupational therapist, founder of the online platform ChildrenBloom.com, and The Thrive Group, with offices in Brooklyn and Passaic. ChildrenBloom.com provides toolkits for parents and educators to deal with struggling children. Miriam is the author of The Parent-Child Dance and an international speaker.

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*PRODUCT OF USA

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OCTOBER 2023 / TISHREI 5784 / ISSUE 93

Oneg Yom Tov

BAKED GOODS THAT WORK FOR YOU

ENCORE NOT YOUR TYPICAL GREEN BEANS

6 SHELF-STABLE SNACKS

SWAP POTATOES FOR ARTICHOKES FOR A LIGHTER SIDE DISH

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FIND US IN YOUR FRONTYARD We’re all about growing food closer to where it’s sold—like a store near you.

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130 Encore By Charnie Kohn

134 6 Shelf-Stable Sukkos Snacks By Esti Asher, MS, RDN, LD

121 Of Home and Heart By Yossi & Malky Levine

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SWAP By Yossi & Malky Levine

My Table Wellspring contributors

WELLSPRING / OCTOBER 2023

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Ideal measurement for challah baking WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

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ne's o y er

v a f

Leben e t i or is no

w everyo

favorite

nes

ice cream pop. Whether you’re young or young at heart, this classic chocolatey and creamy classic will melt in your mouth and leave a smile on your lips.

Product of USA

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EDITOR'S NOTE

Dear Cooks,

Every year before Rosh Hashanah, my husband’s yeshivah sends out gift arrangements as a token of appreciation for their staff and their family. This year, knowing how much women appreciate a gift that is useful, I offered to take care of this project. At the gift shop, I had a hard time taking my pick. The wide array of beautifully displayed dishes and gadgets left me wondering, How can I possibly know what the staff members’ wives would appreciate more? To be on the safe side, the saleswoman recommended we go with a neutral choice—a set of dip holders that can also work as serving bowls for nuts, chocolates, or any other finger foods. But having just done a deep cleanse of my kitchen cabinets and gotten rid of any kind of dish I don’t use on a steady basis, I wasn’t keen on replenishing my dip-holder collection. I’m perfectly happy opening my cabinets these days and seeing some white space on the shelf. Still, as wife of a staff member, I had the opportunity to choose something for myself as well. For serving savory foods I have just the right utensils, but I noted that my serving supply for sweet treats is actually nonexistent (unless you count disposable dishes!). And so, I went with a dish that will hopefully serve a purpose in our home, especially with the fabulous recipes in this issue’s Seasoned that I’m so looking forward to trying: an oblong cake tray.

As the Levines point out in their introduction, the Yom Tov season focuses highly on the cooking aspect of the kitchen, but at the same time, baking is also an important part of the preparation process. We want to serve not only delicious savory dishes, but to treat our family and guests to tasty, sweet treats. Whether we choose to tweak family favorites to make them more wholesome—as our contributors share in this issue’s My Table—or we choose to go with the original version, it’s over these delicacies that memories are created. This year, with wholesome baked goods to serve my family and guests (thanks to this issue’s Seasoned!), I’m looking forward to displaying them in just the right tray. And for me, as the hostess, that’s a real treat. For many of us homemakers, one great way to treat ourselves before Yom Tov is to buy a new serving dish. Whether it’s a set of drinking glasses, a pretty tray, or chargers, it brings us so much joy when the foods we’ve worked hard on preparing look appealing to the eye. Go for something that’ll be purposeful in your home and it’ll bring your Yom Tov joy up a notch. Wishing you a simchas Yom Tov,

Esther

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Of Home and Heart Much of the culinary Yom Tov preparation is in the cooking arena, which is very understandable when there are so many meals to serve and enjoy. But then there’s also the baking department, which brings with it such delight. If you manage to make the time for baking as well, and you’d love to have a cake or two that’s actually wholesome, here are some recipes that may very well become your go-tos. These cakes pair perfectly with a morning coffee or as a treat for the long afternoons. They’re also a blessing when unexpected guests drop by. Wishing you a true simchas Yom Tov, Yossi and Malky

Recipes, Styling, and Photography by Yossi & Malky Levine

OF HOME AND HEART

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Almond Butter Bundt Cake Treat yourself to this moist, nutty masterpiece that melts in your mouth with each bite. The perfect item to keep on your counter on Yom Tov.

2 cups whole wheat flour

Almond Butter Glaze

1 cup almond flour

¼ cup almond butter

1½ tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup

½ tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp milk/almond milk

½ tsp salt

Roughly chopped nuts, optional

1 cup almond butter ½ cup unsweetened applesauce ⅔ cup honey ¼ cup melted coconut oil 4 large eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract ½ cup almond milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a Bundt cake pan and lightly dust it with flour to prevent sticking. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add rest of ingredients and mix until well combined. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan before removing. For the glaze: Whisk together almond butter, maple syrup, and milk until fully combined. Once cake is completely cooled, remove from mold and drizzle glaze over top. Optional: Garnish with roughly chopped pistachios or your favorite nut (if using during Tishrei). Yield: 1 Bundt cake

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OF HOME AND HEART

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Whole Wheat Carrot Muffins These muffins are a classic favorite. They’re not too sophisticated or overly complicated, just the kind of homemade goodness that’s sure to satisfy your sweet tooth and add to your Simchas Yom Tov.

1½ cups whole wheat flour

½ cup maple syrup

Cream Cheese Frosting

½ cup rolled oats

¼ cup melted coconut oil

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tsp baking powder

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp maple syrup

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp instant vanilla pudding

½ tsp salt

1½ cups grated carrots

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, until well combined. Add the applesauce, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla extract and mix until fully combined. Fold in grated carrots and chopped nuts, distributing them evenly throughout the batter. Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about ⅔ full. Bake for 18–20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Remove muffins from oven and let cool in pan. For the frosting: In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with maple syrup and instant vanilla pudding until stiff and well combined. Use a piping bag with a star tip to top muffins with frosting. Note: For a thicker frosting consistency, add more instant vanilla pudding. Yield: 10–12 muffins

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SWAP

SWA P

By Yossi & Malky Levine

Mashed Potatoes

Artichokes

Artichokes, also known as sunchokes, are a versatile and nutritious vegetable. Incorporate artichoke puree into your meals for a tasty and health-conscious choice. Some of the benefits of artichoke puree over mashed potatoes: • Lower in calories • Lower in carbohydrates • Contains more dietary fiber, which aids digestion. • Packed with antioxidants, such as quercetin and anthocyanins, which help protect cells from oxidative damage and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. • Promotes heart health by reducing cholesterol levels and blood pressure • Provides a different set of nutrients than potatoes, including vitamins C and K, folate, and minerals like magnesium and potassium. It’s worth noting that while artichoke puree can be a nutritious alternative to mashed potatoes, the specific health benefits will depend on how you prepare and season it. Be mindful of any added fats or sodium, as excessive amounts can offset some of the health advantages.

Jerusalem Artichoke Puree Jerusalem artichokes have a slightly sweet and nutty flavor, and the puree has a creamy and velvety texture. 2 lbs Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunchokes), peeled and chopped

Place Jerusalem artichoke chops in a large pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil over medium heat and cook until fork tender, about 20–30 minutes.

2 Tbsp olive oil

Drain water and transfer artichokes to a food processor or blender.

4 cloves garlic, minced

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté minced garlic until fragrant, about 1–2 minutes.

¼ cup almond milk (optional) 1½ tsp salt Dash black pepper Fresh chives, for garnish

Blend mixture until smooth and creamy, adding more milk if needed to achieve desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with olive oil, freshly chopped chives, and black pepper.

Black pepper, for garnish

Yield: 6–8 servings

Olive oil, for garnish

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Pour heated oil with garlic into food processor or blender. Add milk, salt, and pepper to food processor or blender.

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Grab-and-Go Goodies Guide

Placesa calling re an Imustg d o.

Pack us up, we're travel-ready. Up, up, and away, with Mehadrin all the while, all the way. Mehadrin's delicious and convenient lineup is the food for every adventure. Whether you're having a late in-the-Sukkah breakfast, or you’re at the park, the zoo, or on rides, – we're there, making every moment on the go a moment of fun and flavor.

Cheese’alech 100% cheese, double-crisped and expertly seasoned. Perfect for snacking, enhancing dishes, or adding a delightful garnish. Available in Pizza, Jalapeno, and Garlic.

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When hunger calls on the road, reach for our Yo Bar. It's a snack-tastic adventure in every bite, featuring creamy Greek yogurt inside a sleek dark chocolate coat. Available in Coffee, Hazelnut, Vanilla, and Peanut Butter.

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Cheese Snack A miniature, flavor-packed cheese pie with a generous serving of creaminess. Perfectly snackable and utterly irresistible. Available in Original, Chocolate, Greek, Greek-Lite, and Plant Based Parve. Ifyou’r e travelin glite

aws ckstr dtopa e e n o N

4 Leben

Sip by sip, with flavor in each gulp, Leben is a creamy-classic childhood treat that is mess-free to eat.

Pudding Don't miss out on the party. Our silky, smooth pudding is the perfect sweet treat on your trip. It's a creamy cloud that'll take your taste buds places. Available in Mochachino, Chocolate, Classic and Fit-N-Free Vanilla and Chocolate.

Yo Smart Prepare for a creamy escape with huge taste packed in a pouch - the epitome of convenient, healthy, and downright delicious travel snacking. No mess, just flavor. Available in Vanilla, Strawberry, Very Berry, Greek Vanilla, and Greek Strawberry.

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Product of USA

ENCORE

Vibrant Green Beans When I was contemplating what to name this recipe, the one adjective that kept coming my mind was “vibrant.” This word defines the recipe to a T— it’s full of favor, color, and texture.

14 oz green beans, edges trimmed 3-4 slices cooked meat (or 1 pkg pastrami), diced 1 red pepper, thinly sliced 1 Tbsp minced onion 1 Tbsp minced garlic 1 tsp mustard ¼ cup avocado oil 2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 425°F. Combine all ingredients in a large ziplock bag and shake well. Spread onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.

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ENCORE

Zoodles ’n Cabbage Noodles and cabbage is a traditional and beloved Yom Tov side dish for many. This vegetable version will give you all the good feel and nostalgia, minus the heaviness.

16 oz shredded green cabbage 4 Tbsp avocado oil 2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp black pepper 2 Tbsp honey 1 large zucchini

Sauté cabbage in oil over medium heat, until browned. Add salt, black pepper, and honey. Remove from heat. Using a spiralizer or a julienne peeler, cut zucchini into zoodles. Sauté for two minutes and remove from heat. Slice the zucchini, wrap in a paper towel, and set aside. When ready to serve, preheat oven to 375°F. Combine all components and bake only until warm. Alternatively, heat up the dish on the stovetop. Do not overcook as the zucchini will lose its noodle-like texture.

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TIDBITS

6 ShelfStable Sukkos Snacks

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Over the course of a weeklong Yom Tov, opportunities for snacking abound. What if we want to munch on goodies that work for us? Many healthy options, such as cut-up fruits, require refrigeration. If your sukkah isn’t right off the kitchen, and even if it is, here are 6 shelf-stable beneficial-for-your-body snacks that can be enjoyed (and even stored) in the sukkah.

Nuts

Popcorn

Nuts are a great shelf-stable source of protein, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and fiber. Switch them up by incorporating different textures of a variety of nuts, and also consider including sliced or chopped options. Opt for raw nuts for a more wholesome and organic feel, or dried and roasted for a salty and crunchy snack.

While the microwave bags of popcorn may be more popular, did you know that it is very easy (and economical) to pop your own popcorn? For stove-top popcorn, all you need are popcorn kernels, oil, and a pot with a lid. Simply pour enough oil to cover the bottom of the pot, add popcorn kernels (less is more: it may take some experimenting to see how many kernels your pot can handle), cover the pot with a lid, and turn the flame onto medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot enough, the kernels will pop into popcorn. Turn the flame off once the popping slows down to prevent your popcorn from burning. Season your homemade, high-fiber snack with salt to taste and/or get creative with other spice-blend combinations.

Whole grain crackers

Dried fruit

I always recommend including a protein with meals and snacks, so try pairing crackers with a protein such as a nut butter or a slice of cheese. When choosing crackers, a whole grain option is a great choice because it is more satisfying and beneficial to the body.

Dried fruit such as apricots, prunes, and raisins can be a great way to add nutrient density, as they provide a lot of fiber and antioxidants per ounce. That being said, it’s always best to opt for the “no sugar added” options so they are more representative of a fruit than of a sugar-sweetened candy. Also, be careful not to eat too much, because a surplus of dried fruit may be uncomfortable for the digestive system.

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TIDBITS

Dry cereal Think beyond breakfast! A dry cereal can be eaten as a quick snack (on its own or with milk). Just as we want to aim for crackers that are whole grain, it’s also a good idea to generally choose cereals that are higher in fiber and lower in sugar. Feel free to compare nutrition labels and ingredient lists for a more informed choice.

Whole fresh fruit A bowl or basket with prewashed fresh fruit can serve as a pretty centerpiece/decoration within your sukkah and can double as an easyto-grab snack option. Consider including a variety of colors and shapes for added visual appeal. Great in-season options include apples, pears, nectarines, peaches, and plums.

Esti Asher, MS, RDN, LD, is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Self-Care Enthusiast on a mission to help women reach their ultimate health and wellbeing potential inside and out. She shares credible, clear, and inspiring nutrition information with women via her virtual private practice. To contact Esti with feedback or inquiries regarding her nutritional services, please email her at: esti@ estiashernutrition.com or visit estiashernutrition.com.

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Long-Term Artificial-Sweetener Intake May Be Related to Greater Volume of Fat Tissue Previous studies have shown that artificial sweeteners are associated with higher BMI and may promote adipose (fat-storing) tissue accumulation, which may therefore cause an increased risk of obesity. A recent study aimed to discover whether habitual long-term artificial-sweetener or diet-drink intakes were related to a higher amount of adipose tissue. The researchers of this study administered a questionnaire at baseline, year 7, and year 20 of a greater study called the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults cohort (CARDIA) study. Over 3,088 participants with a mean age of around 25 years old, and BMI of 24.5, were included in the study. Ultimately, total artificial sweeteners (with the exception of sucralose), aspartame, saccharin, and diet-beverage intakes were associated with higher adipose tissue, in addition to greater risk of obesity. Researchers admit that further studies are needed to better understand the link between artificial sweeteners and adipose tissue, and they do not yet have concrete recommendations. However, they caution that since there may be consequences for the use of artificial sweeteners, consumers should consider other alternatives as well.

Minimize Risk of Kidney Stone Formation by Focusing on Diet According to the Mayo Clinic, kidney stones are “hard deposits made of minerals and salts that form inside kidneys.” A recent study aimed to explore the correlation between kidney stone formation and diet took place in Switzerland. Study participants included 261 adults with either more than one kidney stone episode, or one episode with other factors such as having a history of nephrolithiasis (i.e., kidney stones) or stone formation before the age of 25 years old. The subjects were then compared to a control group of participants from the general Swiss population without a history of kidney stones. Ultimately, findings showed that people with kidney stone history had a similar diet to those without any history of kidney stones, with a few notable differences. Individuals who had suffered from kidney stones had a history of drinking more diet soda and less alcohol, in addition to consuming less vegetables. More studies are necessary to fine-tune recommendations, but in the meantime, this study shows even more reason to eat more vegetables and focus on increased consumption of unsweetened beverages such as water.

In the pages of Wellspring, we share expert advice from some of the community’s most popular and competent dietitians and nutritionists. In this column, you get to see how they practice what they preach in their own kitchens. Pull up a chair at “My Table” and join the chat.

THIS MONTH

CHILDHOOD FAVORITES, REINVENTED With Yom Tov approaching, the memories that come up for us inevitably include the special foods we enjoyed in our childhood. While some of them were nutritious, like Bubby’s golden chicken soup, others could benefit from slight tweaking to up their nutrition profile. Is there a particular Yom Tov dish you’ve recreated so it works for your healthy preferences?

Shani Taub, CDC

Soup is one dish that we enjoy very much over Sukkos. It’s hearty, appropriate for the cooler weather, and filling. While soup can easily become a carb-laden course, it can also provide a wholesome veggie fill. At our Yom Tov table, we enjoy Zucchini Soup over and over again. It’s easy to prepare and is deliciously creamy despite its lack of potatoes. To prepare the soup, sauté onions, then add zucchini cubes, cauliflower, and spices. Cook until soft and blend.

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Bina Gottdiener, CN, CHC

Compiled by Shiffy Friedman

Growing up, my mother cooked incredibly delicious food with nutritious, wholesome ingredients. She was way ahead of her time, and she got it from my grandmother, who’s super into health too! I credit all my love for nutrition to them. One of the Rosh Hashanah classics we always had was potato-leek soup à la Susie Fishbein. To make my current meals lighter, I’ve swapped that soup for an absolutely delish CauliLeek Soup, using cauliflower in place of the potatoes. I love having a less starchy soup as it lends more room for the main. I garnish with a splash of pesto oil, toasted pine nuts, and a bit of pulled brisket. It’s divine!

We tell your brand’s story.

MediaOTG.com

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Plum Pie ½ cup coconut oil, softened 1 cup coconut sugar 1 cup flour 2 eggs 1 tsp baking powder 8 Hungarian/ Damson plums, halved and seeded Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients. Pour into a 9-inch round pan. Arrange plums on the top of platter, allowing them to sink in slightly. Bake for 45 minutes.

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My approach is not about restricting; it’s about finding foods we enjoy that feel good in our body. In order to make the foods I prepare more wholesome, I like swapping out white flour for white whole wheat or regular whole wheat flour. I use a mixture of whole wheat panko crumbs and cornflake crumbs on schnitzel, and it lends a great crunch and flavor. I also usually substitute half of high gluten flour with white whole wheat flour. Here’s an amazing zucchini kugel recipe everyone loves—the key is the four caramelized onions!

Dr. Rachael Teichberg

I created this plum pie recipe for last Rosh Hashanah. The results were so incredible, I’ve been preparing it on repeat since then. It freezes well, so you can triple the recipe for the long Yom Tov season ahead.

Gila Glassberg, RDN, Intuitive Eating Counselor

Shaindy Oberlander, BS, INHC

MY TABLE

My favorite Yom Tov dish is a healthy, hearty, and colorful take on tzimmes that is festive and a real palate pleaser for kids and adults alike. The smell is so inviting, and the meat becomes fall-apart soft. You can add more meat or even substitute tofu for vegetarians. My kids wait for this dish every year. Meat-Veggie Mix 1 white onion, finely chopped Olive oil, for sautéing

Zucchini Kugel

3 lbs meat or chicken, cubed (I buy a lean roast and cut it myself so there are no ligaments.)

4 onions, chopped

4 large carrots, cubed

6 medium zucchinis

4 potatoes, cubed

1 cup flour (not almond flour)

2–3 sweet potatoes, cubed

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 butternut squash, cubed

4 eggs

2 cups orange juice

¼–½ cup olive oil

2 Tbsp cinnamon

Salt and pepper

3–5 prunes and/or apricots (optional)

Sauté onions in olive oil on a low flame for about an hour until they turn gold. Keep mixing so they don’t burn. Blend zucchinis in a food processor, and add to a greased 9”x13” baking pan or oven-to-table dish. Add rest of ingredients to pan, including caramelized onions, and mix well. Bake on 375°F for about 1½ hours. The top of the kugel should be golden.

Sauté onion in olive oil, then add meat or chicken. Only cook until half done, then remove from pan. Divide the vegetables, orange juice, and cinnamon evenly into the two 9”x13” baking dishes. (You can also add prunes and/or apricots for added sweetness and depth of flavor.) Add half of meat/chicken mixture into each pan and mix well. Bake at 400°F for two hours.

It’s not a bagel with cream cheese, It’s

cream cheese with bagel. lic r a g | e v i l o | o Jalapen f at ) d e c u d e r ( n i a d an P l WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

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Side dishes are one category that often require “reinvention” in order to yield a final dish that is light and wholesome. In place of high-carb kugels and pies, these are my two favorite vegetable side dishes that have become personal and family favorites at our Yom Tov meals. They not only taste delicious, they look pretty too. Three-Layer Kugel This one has been recreated to be low carb. There is no starch or flour in this recipe.

layer, and bake for about 1½ hours. Variation: Make each layer separately and freeze for a bit to set before adding the next layer. Bake at 350°F for about two hours.

Yaffi Lvova, RDN

Bashy Halberstam, INHC

MY TABLE

Vegetable Rollup

½ cup toasted sunflower seeds

1 zucchini

5 oz baby arugula (or other green if preferred)

1 onion ½ red pepper

2 oz (about ½ cup) goat cheese or feta, crumbled (optional, if you want a dairy salad)

½ green pepper

1 large ripe green apple, thinly sliced

1 sweet potato (can omit for low carb or sub with kabocha squash)

1 Honeycrisp or Gala apple, thinly sliced Arils from 1 pomegranate Ginger Dressing

1 carrot

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, to taste

1 lb carrots

For every pound of vegetables, use: 2 eggs ½ cup mayonnaise 2 Tbsp onion soup mix Sauté carrots, transfer to a bowl, add rest of ingredients, and blend with hand blender. Pour into a loaf pan and bake for 10 minutes on 350°F. Meanwhile, sauté broccoli, adding a bit of water when needed. Transfer to bowl, add rest of the ingredients, blend, pour over carrot layer, and bake for 10 minutes. Repeat with cauliflower layer, pour over broccoli

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1 Tbsp Dijon mustard Blend all vegetables and drain.

1 Tbsp honey 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

Then mix separately:

¼ tsp fine sea salt

½ cup oil

About 10 twists of freshly ground black pepper

½ cup flour (can replace with ½ tsp guar gum) 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt Combine all ingredients. Spread onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour. When cooled, roll up jelly-roll style, smear with egg, and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Slice and enjoy. Here’s a variation that yields really pretty results: Spread spinach onto rollup after baking, before rolling. Then proceed as above.

Sheindy Unger, CDC

1 lb cauliflower

This salad recipe is a great addition to the table: Salad

1 clove garlic

1 lb broccoli

I find that using the simanim for inspiration can result in a table full of beautiful produce. Some recipes shouldn’t be altered—the ones that connect us with our past can be enjoyed as they are. By including a balance of fresh fruits and vegetables with all meals and snacks, we can enjoy all the flavors available to us.

I find that the savory Yom Tov foods are easily adaptable. The challenge is to have fruit or compote instead of the sugar-laden, tempting desserts. I take the compote up a notch by adding summer fruits. In the summer months, I stock up on this flavorful, tart compote and enjoy it for all of Yom Tov. Fruit Compote Equal amounts of Cortland apples (peeled), peaches (unpeeled), and plums (unpeeled). Core and cut the fruit into chunks. Fill pot ¾ with water and cook 3–4 hours. Tip: This recipe can be baked in a deep 9”x13” disposable pan on 400°F for 3–4 hours.

A Dreamscape in Every Spoonful

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No Yom Tov meal is complete without an apple crisp of sorts, and here’s a version that is actually good for you. Baked Apples Filled with Oats 4 large apples 1 cup rolled oats ½ cup unsweetened applesauce

Shira Savit, INHC

Tanya Rosen, MS, CPT

MY TABLE

For some reason, a typical honey cake recipe contains more sugar than honey. Over the years, we have recreated a honey cake recipe that contains only honey as the sweetener, along with other wholesome ingredients. Healthier Honey Cake

2 Tbsp honey

2½ cups spelt flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup honey

1 tsp lemon zest (optional)

3 eggs ¾ cup coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350°F. Core and slightly hollow out apples with a spoon, leaving them intact to create a well for the filling. Place apples in a pie pan. In a medium bowl, combine oats, applesauce, honey, vanilla extract, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and optional lemon zest. Fill and top each apple with oat mixture. Bake for 40 minutes or until sides of apples are soft and easily pierced with a knife.

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2 tsp vanilla ½ cup almond milk Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix gently. Transfer to a baking pan and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes (or until it looks ready). Enjoy!

(THEY'LL NEVER KNOW)

PRODUCT OF USA AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL GROCERY

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HOLISTIC

C I T S I L O H Should I Supplement?

Shaindy Oberlander, INHC

Physical Health

In an ideal world—and that’s how it was back in the day—we would obtain all our essential vitamins and minerals through the foods we consume. However, modern-day food is processed and often genetically modified. The typical American diet is heavy in nutrient-deficient foods, refined grains, and added sugars—all linked to inflammation and chronic disease. Even if one eats a healthy, well-balanced diet, they may still fall short of needed nutrients. The best way to find out if you should be supplementing your diet with vitamins is to run regular labs at your doctor’s office, at least annually. Your doctor will let you know if your levels are okay or if you’re lacking in certain vitamins. Say your bloodwork came back indicating that your iron levels are low. You may choose to first focus on eating foods that are naturally rich in iron, such as red meat and green leafy vegetables. It’s very likely that your iron levels will be elevated to the recommended amount with slight nutritional intervention. But then there are times when nutritional intervention on its own is not sufficient and supplementation may be necessary. Expectant mothers should take their prenatal vitamins, and individuals who had gastric surgery should be supplementing as well. Those with thyroid issues often also require supplementation. Also, if someone is suffering from high cholesterol but their iron levels are low, eating more iron-rich red meat is not an option for them. In such cases, supplementing is highly recommended. With your doctor’s guidance or with the help of a nutritionist, you can purchase the supplements that are right for you. Since some vitamins cannot be taken together with certain medications, always consult with your doctor before starting with supplements. Also, keep in mind that not all brands are created equal. There’s a multimillion-dollar vitamin empire out there, so be careful with the brands you purchase. Be an educated consumer and find out what you’re paying for. You deserve the best. Shaindy Oberlander, BS, INHC, a graduate from Mercy College and IIN, runs her functional medicine– based nutrition practice in Toms River, New Jersey, and virtually. Shaindy has tracks for teens, nursing and pregnant mothers, and women peri/post menopause, and tracks for women suffering from hormonal issues. She can be reached at 347.228.1198 or via her website at www.benefithealthprogram.com.

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Balancing Hormones (Part I)

Tamar Feldman RDN CDCES

Women’s Health

Since the female hormone system is so intricate, and it varies based on the life cycle, without proper nutrition and lifestyle habits, many women can experience some degree of imbalance at one of these transitional stages. The good news is that women don’t need to suffer from the symptoms of hormonal imbalance. The human body is designed to function with a precise hormonal balance, and although we do not live in an ideal environment, most minor to moderate defects in this delicate balance can be resolved through nutritional and lifestyle changes. Common symptoms of hormonal imbalances in women include PMS, monthly weight fluctuation, swelling or water retention, bloating, mood swings, depression, premenstrual food cravings (especially sugar or salt, irregular cycles, infertility, premenstrual migraines, hot flashes, unexplained weight gain, particularly around the abdomen, dry skin and hair, and facial hair.) The human body is a physical entity very much affected by the micronutrients and chemicals introduced into it. Simply put, if the body needs a particular vitamin or mineral as part of the process of producing a hormone, and one’s diet falls short of providing what’s needed, that specific hormone’s production will be compromised. In addition, intake of foods that contain certain negative compounds or chemicals can also compromise the production of hormones. In a nutshell, the saying that you are what you eat is quite true! Just as you cannot fill a car tank up with orange juice and expect it to have the ability to run properly, the same holds true with providing the body with a poor diet and expecting hormone production to function properly. So what can you do to balance your hormones naturally? More on that in Part II. Tamar Feldman, RDN, CDE, is a dietitian whose mission is to improve lives by empowering individuals to use nutrition to improve their gut health and hormone balance. She is a recognized expert on IBS/SIBO and has developed the Gut Dietitian training protocols on IBS and IBD for Registered Dietitian education. She writes, lectures, and counsels extensively on IBD, IBS, PCOS/ fertility, and thyroid health, and is the founder of the gutdietitian.com virtual practice and co-founder of the Belly app.

In the Privacy of Our Sukkah

Shiffy Friedman

Spiritual Health

One of the more common messages we extrapolate from Sukkos regarding our spiritual health is that by leaving the haven of our home and stepping into a zone that doesn’t provide all the material comforts we’re accustomed to, we’re inspired to tap into what really matters. But there’s another layer that’s worth exploring: leaving our home also alludes to moving past our spiritual comfort zone. During the Yamim Nora’im, the stage is set for our connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Whether it’s the hours-long tefillos in shul or the fasting, we find ourselves actively engaged in spiritual pursuits. Come Sukkos, and we experience the stepping out of our comfort zone, which alludes to an abandoning of all those external expressions of our relationship with Hashem. When all the layers are removed, what do we stay with? When I’m not in shul, when I’m not listening to a shiur, when I’m not saying viduy on Yom Kippur, what remains? What kind of relationship do I, the I at my core, have with Hashem? Shlomo Hamelech writes in Shir Hashirim: “Mah yafu pe’amayich bane’alim—How beautiful are your footsteps in your shoes!” When the Kohanim were engaged in their avodah, they removed their shoes. On Yom Kippur, the height of kedushah, we remove our shoes. The commentators explain that in this verse Hashem expresses how precious we are to Him even—or rather also—in our mundane life, in our shoes. Now that we’re back in our gashmiyus life, eating and drinking and enjoying Yom Tov together with our family, the Ribbono Shel Olam cherishes our relationship so deeply. “Ki yitzpeneini besuko.” Sukkos alludes to the “hidden,” more personal aspect of our relationship with Hashem. How connected we feel to Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the “privacy” of our sukkah, how much heart and mind space our Yiddishkeit takes up in our life at a time that isn’t centered on formal avodah, is an excellent indicator of the heights we’ve reached in the realm of kirvas Elokim. It’s when all the exteriors of our avodas Hashem are stripped away that we get a peek into what lies at the core. In addition to her work as a writer, teacher, and counselor, Mrs. Shiffy Friedman is the founding director of LAHAV, an initiative that spreads awareness about the pathways to connection, contentment, and inner peace through Torah. To receive her free thought-provoking messages on the topic or to learn more about LAHAV, please write to info@lahavinitiative.org. Shiffy is currently teaching an 8-week series based on Chovos Halevavos, Steps to Serenity, on the Nishmoseinu hotline at 718-759-1111. She is also teaching a 14-part series on Mesillas Yesharim, Journey Inward, on Inspire by Wire at 718-906-6451.

WELLSPRING / TISHREI 5784

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‫בריא אתה‬ ‫בצאתך‬ THANKS FOR THE VISIT, NOW STEP OUT IN GOOD HEALTH.

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