Wellspring Issue #45 by The Wellspring

Combatting Cancer Naturally Is that even possible?

Just because it’s common, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be addressed

Dr. Eli Halpert on varicose vein prevention and treatment

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OCTOBER 2019 // TISHREI 5780 // ISSUE 45

Dessert? No, Thanks My mother-in-law loathes my healthy eating habits

Beth Warren’s tips for a nutritionally balanced Succos

2 new columns!

MEGA SUKKOS EDITION

Midlife Matters

By Miriam Liebermann & Fryde Rekant, RN

What are you doing to keep your bones healthy? What Renders a Food Good or Bad?

Shira Savit, emotional eating coach, weighs in

4 women set a goal for themselves Will this formula for success help them achieve it? A Wellbeing experiment Heart to Heart

My mother’s sulking pains me Special Theme Section

Clay in the

ISSUE 45

OCTOBE R ‘19 TISHREI 5780

Expanded Section! Heart Heart to r’s My motheme sulking pains

7 foods to improve your mood

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At Your Nutritionis t’s Table What’s her favorite Succos dish?

Enhance your Yom Tov with these mouthwa tering dish es that are good for you

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W�at was the greatest medical achievement during your time?

About Dr. Finkel Dr. Finkel graduated in 1993 from SUNY Downstate, followed by a shomer Shabbos pediatric residency. What sets him apart is his extra training with pediatric specialists, including ENT, GI, ophthalmology, dermatology, and radiology. This afforded him intimate knowledge in these areas, honing his diagnostic skills significantly. For most of his 26 years in pediatrics, he was in a private practice with renowned Dr. Robert Adler, followed by 4 years in Williamsburg in Rutledge Pediatrics, after which he recently joined ParCare’s pediatrics team. Dr. Finkel is a devoted father of seven young children. What parents and patients love most about him is his gentle attitude, soothing voice and sincere care. A mother who wants a doctor to truly listen, she knows she can count on Dr. Finkel’s calm demeanor and unhurried listening ear, keen on picking up specific circumstances. In this signature relaxed, gentle fashion, Dr. Finkel gave Wellspring a few minutes of his precious time answer some questions.

People might be surprised, but the pneumococcal vaccine (PCV13) has changed everyone's life – baby, parent, and physician. Before this vaccine, blood infections, pneumonia, and even meningitis were common enough that parents of an infant with a fever would wake up their favorite pediatrician, who would often meet them in the emergency room to perform blood work and a spinal tap in the middle of the night. Since the introduction of the vaccine, these infections have become much less common, and everybody sleeps better!

W�at’s your favorite part of the job? I am always happy when the trust I built with a family pays off. When I can save a child from the dreaded needle, I feel I did something real for the child. For example, a mother called me from the country this summer concerning her child who fell and cut her lip. She consulted two medically knowledgeable people who both recommended stitches. I asked her to send me a picture, and was comfortable advising her that this type of laceration might heal even better without stitches. When I saw the child a few weeks later, the mother gratefully showed me how it did heal beautifully, even better than another case that she knew of that was sutured!

W�at would you wish parents knew about pediatricians? I strongly believe in respecting the wishes of the family of the patient, and always make an effort to take into consideration their opinions and feelings. On the other hand, I wish families understood that their physician has an opinion that needs to be sought out and valued. I am sometimes surprised when an important medical issue comes up, and people have already decided on their approach even before asking their doctor. I believe that parents who have a caring doctor who knows their child well and whom they deeply trust have a real advantage over those who do not.

Can you share a tip for parents? Please NEVER promise a child that they won't be getting a needle, especially if you know they will! Be vague, but don't lie to a child. And after he gets a shot, don't tell him that it doesn't hurt if he is upset, just gently calm him down and move on. Most importantly – remember that good medical care is simply your proper hishtadlus, so daven to Hashem for it to be effective.

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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.

KOSHER DAIRY

Y v o l o h C , &J

WISHING ALL OF KLAL YISROEL A DELICIOUS YOM TOV!

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From the Editor shiffy@wellspringmagazine.com

On the Miracle of Life I’m writing to you from the motherbaby convalescent home, having been blessed to give birth to a healthy baby girl several days ago.

If there’s a time that encapsulates the gift of life, it is certainly now — when we simply sit and marvel at the massive miracle that has transpired, second by second, leading up to this moment, and represented by this tiny bundle. With every baby I’ve been blessed to bring into this world, my amazement at the wondrous, intricate workings of Hashem only intensifies, and my appreciation for the miracle that is life grows more profound. In addition to the array of informative reading on all things health you will find in this issue — be it registered dietitian Tamar Feldman’s guide to healing hormonal issues through diet and lifestyle, Laura Shammah’s comprehensive piece on fats, or Syma Kranz’s excellent explanation of the three exercises that build a firmer core, in honor of Yom Tov, we present you with a special theme section that offers a dose of inspiration, as well. This Yom Tov addition to Wellspring explores the gift — and fragility — of life. Only a few days ago we stood with our machzorim on Yom Kippur, reciting the moving stanzas of “ki hinei kachomer beyad haYotzer.” In this prayer, we acknowledge that we are like clay in the hands of a potter, like an anchor in the hands of a sailor. We are powerless, we admitted, to the workings of Hashem’s hands. While this recognition requires letting go of our fantasy of control, as this issue’s Torah Wellspring

16 Wellspring | October 2019

article explores, this acknowledgement gives us an incredible sense of comfort. That sense and security is, in fact, the essence of the joy that we feel on Succos, the very thing we celebrate in v’samachta b’chagecha. At the same time that I admit that I’m not determining anything, including my state of health or how long I’ll live, I also realize that the One Who is in control cares more about me than I can ever imagine. Every moment that I’m around to experience it is another gesture of kindness from His end. And what could truly bring me greater joy than that? Simply sitting and staring at a newborn baby is enough to inspire us not to take every breath for granted. So, so many details have to go right for us to reach this blessed moment. My illustrious great-grandmother, after whom our new addition has been named, was the matriarch of a family of 17, bli ayin hara. She knew enough about life — and about the many, many things that have to go right — to say, “Kinderlach, what we need to daven for first and foremost is for our life to go keshurah, as it should.” Before we have in mind all the extras that certainly enhance life, we want the basics.

After every one of her seventeen births, this grandmother would take the new baby in her arms and count: one finger, two fingers … one toe, two toes … and my grandfather would do a little dance in the halls of the Jerusalem hospital. “Is this your first child?” a nurse once asked him, curious about his extraordinary overflow of emotion.

“Yes! It’s our first child — this year!” he quipped.

“Isn’t that reason enough to rejoice?” Sitting here in the kimpeturin home, I’m getting to hear my fair share of miracle stories: there’s the healthy baby boy born after four girls, whose mother was told, upon undergoing an early scan, that the doctor would only open a file for the pregnancy at the next visit — on the slight chance that there would be one. There’s the set of full-term twin girls whose mother was advised to terminate five months ago. And I sit here with my baby girl, thanking Hashem, remembering my grandparents’ message. Can there be a greater miracle than making an uneventful entry into this world? No news can be the best news. Throughout our life cycle, this is what we ask for again and again. As Miriam Liebermann and Fryde Rekant highlight in the first installment of their new column, “Midlife Matters,” when we merit transitioning into middle age, we don’t take anything for granted. At a stage when not only our body, but also our responsibilities and perception of the world changes in ways

we couldn’t have imagined, our appreciation for what we have motivates us to guard it further. I’m excited to present our readers, especially the ones inching toward and in their midlife years, with this important column, written with care and concern by a wise, inspiring duo who are in these years of life themselves. Miriam, an inspirational speaker, author, and community activist, partnered with her friend Fryde, a registered nurse and mother of a large family, to bring you the latest health-related information and advice pertaining to what they fondly refer to as “Act III.” Regardless of your current stage in life, and no matter how hectic this time of year is for you, I hope you’ll make the time for yourself on Yom Tov — at least on Chol Hamoed — to pull up a chair and enjoy the pages of this issue of Wellspring. As this issue’s Wellbeing feature explores, it is you, first and foremost, who can give yourself what you need most: recognition for the hard work you invested in making this Yom Tov the beautiful experience that it is. Treating yourself to a good, inspiring, informative read is one great way to do so.

Wishing you a wonderful, truly simchadik Yom Tov,

Shiffy Friedman

Well-Put! If we can increase awareness and help people understand why their legs are bothering them, they’ll know what to do to prevent them from getting worse and to help make them better. Dr. Eli Halpert, vascular physician, Cup of Tea

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 17

Contents

OCTOBER 2019 TISHREI 5780 ISSUE 45 The next issue of Wellspring will appear iy”H on November 13th.

WELL INFORMED 30 TORAH WELLSPRING By Rabbi Ezra Friedman 36 SPIRITUAL EATING By Rabbi Eli Glaser, CNWC, CWMS 38 DENTAL HEALTH By Dr. Jacques Doueck, DDS 42 SECRETS OF A KOSHER DIETITIAN By Beth Warren, RDN 44 HEALTH UPDATES IN THE NEWS By Esther Retek 50 FIGURES By Malka Sharman 52 HEALTH ED Not All Fats are Created Equal By Laura Shammah, MS, RDN 58 DEDICATED TO HEALTH 10 Questions for Rabbi Simcha Scholar By Esther Retek 66 WEALTH OF HEALTH Conference with Miriam Goldberger of 5 Meals By Sarah Weinberger

ISSUE 45

OCTOBER ‘19 TISHREI 5780

7 foods to improve your mood At Your Nutritionist’s Table What’s her favorite Succos dish?

Tradition

Nutrition Enhance your Yom Tov with these mouthwatering dishes that are good for you

Charnie Kohn gets acquainted with her husband’s Moroccan traditions

153

nk i h t u ... o When y bout mornings a

Contents

LIVING WELL

126

70 IN GOOD SHAPE A Firmer Trunk By Syma Kranz, PFC 72 ASK THE NUTRITIONIST Toeing the Line By Shani Taub, CDC 74

HEALTH PROFILE Client: Rivka M. By Rachel Esses

FEATURE Combating the C Word By Miriam Koenig

86 AT THE DIETITIAN Estrogen Dominance By Tamar Feldman, RDN, CDE 90 CUP OF TEA With Dr. Eli Halpert By Shiffy Friedman 94 CLAY IN THE HANDS OF THE POTTER Special Theme Section NEW COLUMN

118 MIDLIFE MATTERS Maintaining Optimal Health By Miriam Liebermann, MSW & Fryde Rekant, RN, BSN 122 MEMOS FROM A KINESIOLOGIST When the Fear is Worse Than The Pain By Miriam Schweid 123 DIY Succah Decoration By Miriam Schweid

WELLBEING 126 COVER FEATURE Climbing to the Top Compiled By Shiffy Friedman 140 CHILD DEVELOPMENT By Friedy Singer & Roizy Guttman, OTR/L 144 EMOTIONAL EATING By Shira Savit

NEW COLUMN

146 HEART TO HEART My Motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sulking Pains Me By Shiffy Friedman 148 SERIAL DIARY By Zahava List

SHIFFY FRIEDMAN

ON THE BIRTH

OF YOUR DAUGHTER

SHANI TAUB

ON THE BIRTH

OF YOUR DAUGHTER

Springboard

Letters

On Lactation Consulting, HIIT, Non−Dominant Hand Journaling, and More

Reviews on Rivkie

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.

22 Wellspring | October 2019

The A-Z on Arthritis

Issue #43: Cup of Tea with Rivkie Schwartz

Issue #42: HealthEd

Thank you for an excellent publication. Your recent issue had a beautiful “Cup of Tea” feature with Rivkie Schwartz, the lactation consultant, written by Chaya Breindy Kenigsberg. The article was well-written and encapsulated in detail Rivkie’s outstanding work.

Having been recently diagnosed with arthritis, I found Laura Shammah’s article on the topic to be just what I needed — and more. I especially found her list of which foods to avoid to be very helpful. The comprehensive piece gave me much food for thought, as well as wise advice, to ensure that I keep my body safe and that I continue functioning just as I would like to, despite the condition. I would like to thank you for being such an invaluable resource on all things regarding health, for myself and the community.

From my personal experience, when I spoke with Rivkie, she provided excellent nursing advice and I felt as if I was the only one she was helping! She provided professional lactation information with utmost devotion. She truly cared for the well-being of my baby, as if he was her own child. Rivkie’s humorous personality added flavor to her professional advice. She’s truly a hero. The article concluded with a powerful phrase. Women ask how they know if their baby is eating enough, since they find it challenging that they can’t see exactly how much he’s getting. Rivkie answers poignantly, “The Eibishter didn’t want us to know because brachah lays in the hidden.” Mrs. K. Brieger

Yaeli L.

Why the Non-Dominant Hand? Issue #42: Cover Feature

The article regarding the inner child was fascinating. Although I’ve always felt that our inner world is way more complex than it appears, Shiffy Friedman did an incredible job

‫כתר וואונטשט פאר גאנץ כלל ישראל א שמחת יום טוב‬

‫‪Beautify‬‬ ‫‪Your‬‬ ‫‪Mitzvos‬‬

Springboard

Letters

Quick Question

My daughter is back in school for barely a week and I found her to have nits. I’m really nervous about it. She has long hair, and I would prefer not to cut it. Of course, I don’t want my toddler to catch them from her, either. Can you recommend a product that is safe to use to get rid of lice and nits? That’s an unpleasant surprise. There are some products that are sold for this purpose in local pharmacies. Make sure to check that they do not contain chemicals that are known to have undesirable side effects, such as pyrethrum, an active ingredient in lice shampoos that is “possibly” safe when using less than two grams. Otherwise, it has been reported to cause headaches, ringing in the ears, difficulty breathing and other nervous system issues. Lindane, another active ingredient, has been shown to have side effects as well, such as stinging, burning of the skin, and dizziness. Organochlorine, another ingredient, can be toxic to the brain if not used correctly.

at explaining just how sensitive and delicate it really is. I ended up rereading the article a number of times and I plan to do so again in the future because I found it validating, encouraging, and empowering. I read the interview with Hudi Guggenheimer with much interest and I appreciate her tips on exploring our inner child. Hudi says that she recommends that her clients journal using their non-dominant hand. I would like to understand what power lies in using the non-dominant hand when performing this activity.

To do a completely natural treatment, use tea tree oil and/or vinegar. A product called Liceaway (available in local health food stores) both prevents and kills lice, and is a hundred percent natural and safe to use. Regardless, bear in mind that you will need lots of time and patience to comb your daughter’s hair with a lice comb to remove the nits so that they don’t lay fresh eggs in her hair. There may be no need to cut your daughter’s hair just yet. Give yourself some time for that. To prevent re-infestation, braiding the hair may be a good idea, since that keeps the hair tied up nicely. Take care, Miriam Schweid, health kinesiologist

Thanks for an enlightening, professional publication, H. Kraminer

Hudi Guggenheimer responds: Dear Reader,

It’s happened a number of times that individuals have said to me, “Hudi, I’ve been in therapy for a quite a few years. I’ve tried method after method, and nothing has brought me close to where I’ve come to in these two weeks of working with you and doing the exercises using my non-dominant hand.” Too often, an individual feels like a lost case because she feels she’s exhausted all her options, and therapy and/or psychiatric meds didn’t do enough to alleviate her sit-

24 Wellspring | October 2019

uation. She’s frustrated and exhausted, and suddenly, this simple technique of self-expression with the non-dominant hand easily changes her story completely.

connections are what helps us process emotions, so strengthening them allows all those intense feelings that live in the subconscious mind to easily flow to consciousness.

What makes this so effective? First, the non-dominant hand (NDH) is proven to connect us to the right side of our brain. This is where our emotions, creativity, spirituality, personality, and subconscious mind is. Using the NDH fuels the imagination, inspires childlike imagery, and opens up parts of the personality that have long been suppressed. When used properly, it will open up an entire new world that has often been closed or untouched for years. It strengthens the neural connections in the brain and even grows new ones. Neural

Also, the NDH is the weak hand. Using it feels awkward and creates a messy outcome. It’s untrained, like a young child. When we use that hand, we access the childlike, more primitive, part of us — the part that is uninhibited and naturally emotional, creative, and expressive. We all come into the world fully expressive. We’re not born with rules about how to express ourselves or any idea of how society believes we should behave. As we grow up, we’re often forced to shut down parts of ourselves, and as we do that, the freely expressive part of us gets shut

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Letters

down too. Therefore, using the NDH gives that beautifully emotional, authentic, personal part of us the space to exist, survive, and most importantly to thrive. And that is powerfully healing.

Health for the Body -- and the Soul Issue #43: Torah Wellspring

As a subscriber, I thoroughly enjoy your magazine from cover to cover every month. I especially appreciate that you focus on presenting well-researched articles on fascinating topics that actually pertain to me and my family. From each issue, I end up culling advice and information that impact my life in a real, hands-on way. While this usually happens in regards to physical health and nutrition, in the past issue, I found that my greatest, most profound takeaway was from the Torah Wellspring column, which offers a wise take on emotional and spiritual health. I was awed by the beautiful perspective on Elul presented by Rabbi Ezra Friedman. It’s one that made me appreciate, for the first time in my life, that “the King is in the field.” I would like to express my appreciation to Rabbi Friedman and the rest of the Wellspring team for not only providing content that helps nourish my body, but also my soul. Best wishes for continued success, Mrs. Toby P.

26 Wellspring | October 2019

Curing Allergies Naturally

informative, well-written magazine. I look forward to it every month.

Issue #44: Cover Feature

Firstly, I’d to like to thank you for your monthly magazine. I was very impressed with the sidebar in last month’s feature about Dr. Jimmy Scott’s method of curing allergies. I use this method a lot in my practice as a health kinesiologist (HK) and have seen excellent results, baruch Hashem. (Of course, along with other HK corrections.) This is a very easy technique that most of my clients do on their own. I did want to mention, though, that the list of points for tapping has two small errors that need to be corrected. The point on the big toe is medial (spleen 1), not lateral. And there was a point missing, lateral second toe (stomach 45). Another important thing to mention is that all eight points need to be tapped on both sides of the body (bilaterally), 40–60 taps. Thanks again for your beautiful work.

Yitty Friedman

Certif ied HK Practitioner and Teacher

Is High Intensity Interval Training Safe During Pregnancy? Issue #44: Fitness

Thank you so much for such an interesting,

In the past issue, I especially enjoyed the article on exercise during pregnancy by Syma Kranz, PFC. As an avid exerciser, I’ve always wondered about how much and what type of exercises are safe during pregnancy. Thanks so much for this important information.

The sidebar in the article listed certain exercise moves that should be avoided during pregnancy. Since I exercise regularly and vigorously, I’m wondering if high intensity interval training (HIIT) is safe to be done by an individual who does it regularly. Or is all running and jumping not recommended? What about yoga and crunches?

Thanks so much,

S.W.

Syma Kranz, PFC, responds: Dear Reader,

Typically, the first rule of thumb is if you were physically active before you were pregnant, it’s probably safe to remain active during pregnancy. It’s more than likely that your healthcare provider will tell you to remain active, as long as it is comfortable and there are no other health conditions indicating otherwise, but you should definitely ask to confirm. Yoga can be very beneficial during pregnancy, as long as you take certain precautions. If you’re attending a regular yoga class

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease.

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Letters

Quick Question

Every year, during this season and before Pesach, when the weather changes, my son got a terrible case of croup that became so bad that we had to call Hatzolah. The last time this happened, he was hospitalized for a week for what the doctors called a croup virus. I had my son checked out by an ENT, who declared him and his airways perfectly fine. My question to you is: How can I avoid the croup virus and croup cough? Are there any foods or scents to avoid that may be causing this reaction?

(one not specifically geared to expectant women), be sure to tell the instructor that you’re pregnant and which trimester you’re in. From the second trimester onward, when your center of gravity really starts to shift, do any standing poses with your heels to the wall or use a chair for support, to avoid losing your balance and risking injury to yourself or your baby.

If you know that your child is susceptible to croup at this time of year, have him avoid dairy products and reduce his consumption of wheat products. Spelt is fine. Don’t use potpourri sprays and detergents with ammonia, such as the blue Mr. Clean. If your son is on formula that is milk-based, try changing to soy-based; or if he’s older, switch to almond or rice milk. As soon as your son’s nose starts running, give him immune-boosting acidophilus and vitamin C to build up his immune system, thus preventing croup. A humidifier in his bedroom is helpful to keep him from drying out. To your health, Chaya Tilla Brachfeld, RN, health kinesiologist

Steer clear of “hot” yoga — working out in an overheated room. Studies have shown that overheating can endanger the health of the growing baby.

When bending forward, hinge from the hips, leading with the breastbone and extending the spine from the crown of the head down to the tailbone. This allows more space for the ribs to move, which makes breathing easier.

Keep the pelvis in a neutral position during poses by engaging the abdominals and slightly tucking the tailbone down and in. This helps relax the muscles of your glutes and the hip flexors, which can help reduce or prevent sciatic pain down the back of the leg, a common side effect during pregnancy. It also helps prevent injury to the connective tissue that stabilizes your pelvis.

If you’re bending forward while seated, place a towel or yoga strap behind your feet and hold both ends. To avoid compressing your abdomen, bend from the hips and lift the chest. If your middle is too enlarged for this movement, try placing a rolled-up towel under your glutes to elevate the body, and open the legs about hip-width apart, to give your middle more room to come forward. When practicing twisting poses, twist

28 Wellspring | October 2019

more from the shoulders and back than from the waist, to avoid putting any pressure on your abdomen. Go only as far in the twist as feels comfortable. Deep twists are not advisable in pregnancy. In regards to HIIT, if you’ve regularly trained at a high intensity before you were expecting, you may be able to continue a modified version of your regular workout regimen throughout your pregnancy. Pay close attention to the following physical symptoms that may signal that you are overdoing it: *Onset of discomfort or pain

*Weakness, shakiness, or dizziness *Extreme shortness of breath

*Profuse sweating and flushed skin *Feeling unwell

*Abnormally rapid heartbeat

*Feeling drained and exhausted after exercise

*Nausea Advanced abdominal moves, like full situps or double leg lifts, can pull on the abdomen, so they’re best avoided when you’re expecting. If you do crunches early in a pregnancy, it’s best to try a modified version that keeps your knees elevated. Compared to standard crunches or sit-ups, this position reduces your risk of developing diastasis, a condition where the abdominal muscles separate too much as the uterus expands into them. Listen carefully to your body. If you feel any discomfort, stop. You’ll probably need to modify each pose as your body transforms. A good instructor can help you customize your yoga to suit your stage of pregnancy. And it’s always a good idea to discuss your fitness program with your medical practitioner for clear, professional guidance. May it be b’sha’ah tovah!

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease.

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Spare me the science mumbo jumbo. Why doesn’t Devash A1 Free milk hurt my stomach? - A formerly dairy deprived guy who can’t get enough of the purple stuff.

Hey guy, great milk mustache btw. In short, A1 free milk doesn’t have the amino acids that can cause discomfort. It’s as simple as that. Studies have shown that as many as 90% of people who self diagnose as lactose intolerant may in fact not be, many of them may have a problem with the A1 protein.

If your milk is supposed to be so easy on the system, why is my stomach growling like an angry bulldog? - Confused Chai Latte Drinker

Ah, someone didn’t read our ads carefully enough. If you’re lactose intolerant our milk won’t help you, it still has lactose because it’s regular milk, just without the A1 protein. Only people who are sensitive to the amino acids in A1 protein can throw out the cashew milk and rejoice. (So if you’re self-diagnosed as lactose intolerant, you should give this milk a chance).

Listen Devash, this A1 free stuff sounds all nice and good. But the proof is in the milchig pudding, so can you back up these claims? Or are you fact-intolerant? - Daas yochid dairy expert

So what kind of processing, engineering, and hormones go into this new milk that makes it more agreeable for my stomach?

Thank you for your email Daasy, can we call you Daasy? We’ve got studies on studies on studies that have proven that A1 free milk may be easier on the system than milk that has it. Here’s some light reading for you. agreeablemilk.com

- Shloimy “sipping suspiciously” Blum.

Hi Shloimy, great question. To answer in order, the same as any milk, zero, and none. See the beauty of A1 free milk is that it’s literally just regular milk. The only difference is that it comes from cows that naturally don’t produce the A1 protein that causes discomfort. In fact, this is the true natural milk, A1 (which we're free of) is a mutation. You can stop sipping and start chugging!

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Torah Wellspring: Spiritual Health By Rabbi Ezra Friedman

And You Should Rejoice in Your Chag ı

How to be happy on Succos and all year round

Succos is the Yom Tov of simchah, as it is commonly referred to as zeman simchaseinu. It’s the time when all of Klal Yisrael rejoices. As a matter fact, it’s the only Yom Tov during which we’re explicitly instructed to rejoice: “Vesamachta bechagecha … vehayisa ach sameiach, And you should rejoice in your festival … and you will be only happy” (Devarim 16:14–15).

What simchah is inherent in Succos? And how can we access that happiness? If Hashem instructs us to be joyous, there must be something in the essence of this Yom Tov that gives us the opportunity to tap into it. What is it? Our chachamim offer various connections between Succos and simchah. Let’s delve into one of them.

Every human being is created with a natural need to feel secure. We crave authentication of our safety, wanting to know that everything will be okay, and assurances that nothing will move out of order. We want to know what will happen in the future, and how it will happen. In the same vein, we loathe when things don’t pan out the way we predicted. Our mind is often very busy analyzing how 30 Wellspring | October 2019

things played out in the past, as part of our effort to predict what will happen in the future. And all of this just relates to our need to feel safe.

What does our house symbolize? It’s the paragon of security, the place where we feel “at home.”

In extreme cases, when an individual urgently needs to feel safe because he feels so insecure, he will become so preoccupied with these calculations that his mind will be totally taken out of the present. His brain is simply so busy calming him, working out what happened in an effort to figure out what will be, that his mind has no space to process and experience the now. The human need for safety is so profound that even our subconscious has a “blueprint” of how things work. When events don’t go according to this plan, we get disturbed. This troubled feeling is actually a strong sense of insecurity. After all, if things shift out of place, we feel like the rug has been pulled from beneath our feet. This explains why, after an individual hears that someone passed away whom he had met just a few hours earlier, for example, his immediate reaction will be, “What do you mean he died? I just saw him!”

No matter how many assets, how much security, and what level of comfort we have in this world, we’re not secure in reality.

From a logical perspective, that’s obviously not a reason for the person’s death to be delayed. The shock and surprise we experience is an expression of our subconscious. Something shifted out of the norm, and I have a hard time digesting it because it awakens feelings of insecurity in me. It makes me feel unsafe. This is also why — among other reasons — we’re so much more shaken when a young person passes away than when someone passes away at an advanced age. These are extreme examples using unfortunate situations, lo aleinu, but we experience similar emotions on a smaller scale whenever anything unpredictable — even a happy surprise — plays out in our life. Because the feeling of insecurity frightens us so greatly, we may not even realize how much we do solely for the purpose of attaining the opposite: a feeling of security. In extreme cases, when the fear is profound, the pursuit of security can even lead to obsessive measures, possibly resulting in OCD. But even individuals who have a moderate need to feel safe invest a large part of their daily schedule in this cause. How often do we overwork ourselves? Is our drive to have more money than we require a direct result of this need? Is our desire to be accepted by others emanating from this need? How many things do we do simply because we don’t want to feel unsafe?

While all these endeavors may temporarily pacify our desire for security, which is a natural human need, we may still feel that we’re not totally calm. This is only true until a Yid is zocheh to experience the light of emunah shining in his heart. It’s then — when an individual truly internalizes that the Creator of this world fashioned him and lovingly cares for him at every moment of his life — that he merits to fill this need. When a Yid not only knows but actually feels that Hashem “is like a father carrying his child” (Devarim 1:31), he is filled with an unmatched sense of security, no matter the circumstances of his life. This feeling is not dependent on any variable; it’s a complete and full sense of safety that’s firmly embedded in his heart at all times.

Bitachon, this sense of security, is a direct result of emunah. It is a natural outcome of believing that everything that happens in my life is for my good, sent to me by Hashem out of His great love and concern for me. There is no other way to truly attain this sense of security we so deeply crave.

A Yid once asked the Chofetz Chaim, “What could my avodah of bitachon constitute? I have millions in the bank. The homes I own dot numerous cities. My ships are sailing across the oceans. I have lots of employees and friends. According to natural circumstances, I’m financially secure for life. I don’t see how I can become a pauper. How can everything I own

be taken from me?”

Answered the Chofetz Chaim, “How all of this, which gives you such a strong sense of security, could naturally be taken from you in one moment, I can’t answer. But how you could be taken from all of this in one instant I could explain to you.”

No matter how many assets, how much security, and what level of comfort we have in this world, we’re not secure in reality. Nothing is in our hands. The only true security we can attain is through knowing and feeling that the “hands” we’re in are the kind, loving hands of the One Above, Who wants our good. Thus, when a Yid shifts the investment of his efforts from the physical, technical realm to the spiritual, eternal sphere by investing in himself and in his emunah, he’ll start to feel bitachon in Hashem. Not only is the work more clear-cut, but the results are incomparable. It’s then that he actually starts to feel truly secure for the first time in his life.

As the Chazon Ish says, the moment a Yid is zocheh to feel the glow of emunah in his heart, his level of simchah becomes so great that the pleasures of this world pale in comparison. With this clarity, he does the hishtadlus incumbent on him for parnassah, but he has no need to overextend himself to do more. He knows that everything that happens is anyway in Hashem’s control. It’s not his doTishrei 5780 | Wellspring 31

Well Informed

Torah Wellspring: Spiritual Health

There is no greater gift a person can give himself than working on his emunah, which leads to bitachon.

main at all. And, at the same time, this approach generates a true feeling of calm. I realize that Hashem, my loving Father Who wants my good, already knows and will put into action everything that is for my benefit, so I can stop fruitlessly figuring out (and panicking over) all the details of my life.

There is no greater gift a person can give himself than working on his emunah, which leads to bitachon. As the Chovos Halevavos notes, the feeling of bitachon is one of menuchas hanefesh that comes from knowing that we really have Whom to depend on. When a Yid relies on Hashem, he is not only enveloped in a deep sense of inner serenity, knowing that everything he pursued until then (in an effort to feel secure) was in vain, but also Hashem opens a fountain of shefa for this individual. By doing our part in recognizing that we truly can’t rely on anyone or anything but Him, we receive a reward from Hashem: He shows us this reality in our very own lives.

In Yeshayahu, Hashem tells us that “kerovah yeshuasi lavo, my salvation is near” (56:1). Citing these words, the Seforno explains that the salvation is only a moment away. What is this moment on which our salvation depends? It’s the moment that it takes a Yid to realize and conclude: “I acknowledge that everything I’ve done until today to fill my need to feel secure did not really help me. It didn’t give me the comfort and security I truly yearn for. It may have given me a fleeting sense of security, a counterfeit feel-

32 Wellspring | October 2019

ing, but I still wasn’t calm inside. It’s only You, Hashem, Who I can rely on to feel this security I’m pursuing.” That’s the moment when our yeshuah arrives.

The Seforno expounds that when Yosef HaTzaddik was incarcerated, he was in the worst state possible: torn away from his loving father, orphaned from his mother, surrounded by people of a lowly culture who suspected him of the worst — and imprisoned. From this state, his life turned around, literally overnight. In the blink of an eye, he stood before the king, was crowned as viceroy, and was transformed into the hero of Mitzrayim.

When did his salvation happen? It was after he realized that asking a human being to remember him was a futile effort in attaining the yeshuah he was desperate for. When he internalized that Hashem, and only Hashem, could save him from his miserable plight, Hashem brought him the proof. In addition to the sense of comfort it engenders, it is when we have bitachon that Hashem shows us that we truly have Whom to rely on. We see this phenomenon in the passage of “Baruch hagever … Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, and Hashem will be his trust” (Yirmiyahu 17:7). It’s when we trust in Hashem that we literally witness it in reality. Look and You’ll See

The Baal Shem Tov tells us that the en-

tire world is filled with Hashem’s light. So why can’t we see it? We’re not looking, the Baal Shem Tov says. When a Yid chooses to open his eyes and see that Hashem is the One Who’s running his life with a clear plan, Hashem shows him the proof. When a Yid looks, says the Baal Shem Tov, he sees. The Chazon Ish asks how it can be that we could know so much about emunah, even delivering shiurim on the topic, thinking of it all day, and even with all that, when it comes to living with emunah on a practical, everyday level, we suddenly feel at a loss. We may even have anxiety about it. The Chovos Halevavos, among other sefarim, explains, as we’ve delved into in the past, that we have both a head and a heart. While the mind plays an integral role in our avodas Hashem, it’s not only not the main part, but it’s only the beginning. As the passuk tells us, “Ki karov eilecha hadavar meod beficha ubilvavcha la’asoso, Rather, [this] thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so you can fulfill it” (Devarim 30:14). In our mind, we could understand on the deepest of levels that Hashem is the One Who runs this world. But then there’s our heart. In order for us to really feel the simchah and tranquility that bitachon engenders, the concept can’t remain in the mind alone. It can’t be a purely intellectual concept. We must do the work to bring it from the head to the heart, to the extent that we feel Hashem’s Presence in our lives, at least for a few minutes a day.

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Torah Wellspring: Spiritual Health

Otherwise, if it’s only something I know in my mind, it’s not strong enough for me to feel calm. (This concept holds true in many areas of life, in which we find that though our mind understands something we feel or do otherwise in reality. As long as there’s no connection between the heart and mind, we may observe this internal contradiction.)

Since our real avodah is on the feelings, not only on the logical mind, the more we invest on a physical level, the more we start experiencing what we want to feel. When I do something in practice, I move exponentially further than when I spend hours delving into the intellectual concept. In the context of emunah and bitachon, says the Chazon Ish, if you could succeed in putting it into practice just at the moment when you’re feeling the height of your tension, you move miles further in the avodah than you would after hours of poring over the concept rationally. The more we invest in our actual practice (such as trying to trust in Hashem and His goodness when my competition opens up a store across the street from mine), as opposed to investing only in the cerebral perspective, the closer we become to attaining what we’re pursuing. We bring it out of the conceptual realm to reality, which is what ultimately counts.

On Succos, we engage in a physical act that could potentially enable us to attain the “heart” level of emunah: We leave our homes to dwell in the succah. What does our house symbolize? It’s the paragon of security, the place where we feel “at home.” Leaving this place at this one time of the year, we have the opportunity to internalize, “It’s not my home that gives me my security. It’s not my physical possessions that make me feel safe.” Succos is also known as Chag Ha’asuf because it’s at this time of year — harvest season — when farmers and landowners would collect all the crops they had toiled over all year long. It’s precisely during this season, when people would feel most secure in their physical possessions, that Hashem instructed us to leave our homes — in order

to reiterate this message.

Sitting under the stars in a makeshift hut, with the right perspective, gives us the opportunity to internalize that just by being with Hashem and feeling His Presence we experience the ultimate sense of security. This is the profound simchah we could access during zeman simchaseinu. Not only does relying on Hashem provide us with the ultimate feeling of calm, but through this internalization, Hashem actually showers us with our yeshuah.

One reason we’re commanded to live in the succah for seven days is to commemorate the succahs the Yidden lived in when they were wandering in the desert. Let’s understand what that meant for the Yidden back then. For the final six months of their stay in Mitzrayim, following the 10 makkos and the great miracles Hashem performed on their behalf, they were showered with awe and respect by all as the Chosen Nation. Instead of torturing them, Pharaoh and the Mitzrim, the world’s superpower, afforded them great honor, throwing their riches at them. From a technical perspective, the Yidden had everything they needed to feel secure to the greatest degree. It was exactly then that Hashem said to them, “Come, My dear children. Leave it all behind. I’ll take you to the desert and you’ll live in succahs there.”

The Yidden left everything behind because they understood that what appears to be a source of safety is not the real thing, and that only being with Hashem would provide them with true security. They chose to live in succahs in their desire to experience true calm. On this Hashem says, “I remember the kindness you did in your youth. You followed Me in the desert, in an unsown land” (Yirmiyahu 2:2). What were the succahs the Yidden lived in while in the Midbar? According to some commentators in the Gemara, they were actual huts, while according to others the succahs were the Ananaei Hakavod, the Clouds of Glory. Whenever there’s a machlokes in the Gemara, we know that

Rabbi Friedman can be reached at RabbiEFriedman@wellspringmagazine.com. 34 Wellspring | October 2019

both are true, even when they appear contradictory.

How does that play out here? The sefarim tell us that, at first, the Yidden lived in dilapidated huts. They said to Hashem, “We know these are not the mansions we had in Mitzrayim, but we’re choosing to put our bitachon in You, to live in this state just to be close to You. As long as You’re with us, we feel safe.” It was then that Hashem said, “If so, if you’re ready to give up on all the technical trappings of security, I will shine the light of emunah and bitachon upon you,” and the Yidden were miraculously surrounded by the Ananei Hakavod.

On Succos, we commemorate this move in a very tangible way. Citing the verse in Shir Hashirim, “His left hand is under my head and with His right hand He hugs me” (2:6), the Ari HaKadosh notes that the latter part of the verse refers to Succos. When a Yid enters the succah with the intention of strengthening his bitachon — knowing that Hashem, as opposed to his physical assets, is the One Who secures him — he’s zocheh to feel Hashem’s right hand embracing him. He feels the hug from Hashem, like the Yidden experienced when they were surrounded by the Ananei Hakavod, which generates the ultimate feeling of menuchas hanefesh. Like the Yidden in the Midbar, we also leave our cocoon of safety — our home, which symbolizes all our material possessions — in order to live with Hashem, to internalize that it’s only when we feel Him in our life and we rely on Him wholeheartedly that we experience true security. That’s when we feel genuine simchah, as Dovid Hamelech says in Tehillim, “Ki bo yismach libeinu ki b’sheim kadsho batachnu, Our heart is happy when we trust in His holy name” (33:21). That is the essence of zeman simchaseinu. May we be zocheh, this Succos, for Hashem to shine the light of emunah and bitachon — and the menuchas hanefesh and simchah that comes as a result — into our hearts, until we merit to sit in the succah of the livyasan, with the coming of Moshiach, bimheira biyameinu.

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Well Informed

Spiritual Eating By Rabbi Eli Glaser, CNWC, CWMS

Put Down The Fork And Bring The Geulah

A common quip used to describe what we do for some Yamim Tovim is, “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat!”

It does seem like much of our time during the chagim is spent either immersed in tefillah or enjoying a plate of food. All joking aside, it must be that these two acts possess the opportunity to maximize the potential of a Yom Tov. Even though they seem to contrast — prayer being an instance of spiritual reflection, and eating an event of physical indulgence — Chazal explain both as awesome occasions to connect with our Creator. In fact, tefillah and achilah are nothing less than the principal forms of service for every Yid, for every day of the year — not just during the Yamim Tovim. The verse in Yechezkel (41:22) describing the vessels of the Third Beis Hamikdash says, “The Altar 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 angel] said to me: ‘this is the Table that is before Hashem.’”

The Gemara learns a lesson from this verse, which begins with an account of the Mizbeiach and concludes with a reference to a “Table.” This pasuk is the source for a well-known concept in Yiddishkeit — now that we don’t have a Beis Hamikdash, our (dining room and kitchen) tables serve as the replacement for the Mizbeiach. “Rabi Yochanan and Reish Lakish both said: during the period in which the Beis Hamikdash stood, the Altar would atone for a person. But now that it is not standing, a person’s table atones for him” (Menachos 97a).

The Be’er Mayim Chaim, in the beginning of parshas Tzav, explains that prayer and eating are the primary acts of service we do nowadays in place of the avodah that was lost after the destruction of the Batei Hamikdash. Sefer Vayikra outlines in great detail the many korbanos we had the opportunity to offer during those times.

It’s commonly known and relatively easy to understand that prayer today is in place of those services. But how can eating effect the same result? If anything, it seems to be a spiritual stumbling block for so many of us. Propelled by our physical desires, controlled by our appetites for tasty morsels, and yearning for more and more, we can be left feeling chained to our bodies instead of connected to our souls — definitely not spiritually enriched and closer to Hashem. The Maharsha (Succah 45b) explains that by overcoming our ta’avos for more, and literally sacrificing by leaving behind that extra serving which we so much want to consume, we gain control over the guf, thereby elevating our neshamos and achieving 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. Rather, this is a recipe for redemption. The way each of us can help rebuild the Beis Hamikdash and bring Mashiach is to focus on taking responsibility for doing our avodah properly. Perhaps we can do so by putting down the fork.

Rabbi Eli Glaser is the founder and Director of Soveya. He is certified as a Nutrition/Wellness Consultant and Weight Management Specialist, with 25 years of coaching and counseling experience, and is maintaining a 130-pound weight loss for more than 16 years.

Soveya has offices in Lakewood and Brooklyn, and works with clients via phone and Skype around the world. For more information or to make an appointment, contact Soveya at 732-578-8800, info@soveya.com, or www.soveya.com.

36 Wellspring | October 2019

Well Informed

Dental Health By Dr. Jacques Doueck, DDS

THE DIETING DANGER TO YOUR TEETH

Since 1977, we have observed some startling patterns on the effects dieting has on teeth. Today, because we are more health-minded than ever, more people are taking steps to control their weight and keep healthy — measures which could have a devastating impact on their teeth.

FOSOMAX AND TUMS The threat of osteoporosis, weak bones, and calcium deficiency can motivate women to supplement their diets. Although calcium is essential for healthy bones, it’s preferable to choose supplements that are low in sugar, like sugar-free Tums. But even with sugarless tablets, it’s best to brush after chewing them.

THE FREQUENT NIBBLER This is the most common and — from a dental standpoint — most damaging style of dieting that we encounter. In an effort to control their appetite, the frequent nibbler replaces large portions of high-fat foods with many portions of high-carb foods, like small crackers or even fruits throughout the day. Pregnant women who get nauseous when they eat large meals are also forced to eat many small meals. On Weight Watchers, for example, six pieces of Melba toast or Saltines are equivalent to one bread. Many of our patients find it very satisfying to keep a pack of crackers or pretzels or other starchy snack in their pocketbooks, since this allows them to eat the crackers one at a time over a period of several hours. As far as their calorie count, they only had one bread. But as far as their teeth, they have had six separate meals. Each time they have one of these mini meals, new bacteria is converted into tooth-destroying acid and bone-destroying toxins.

COFFEE, TEA, SODA, OR WATER WITH LEMON JUICE Another famous habit, especially for men, is the con38 Wellspring | October 2019

tinuous consumption of coffee or tea with sugar. Realizing that regular soda is loaded with sugar, some of our patients drink diet soda all day! They don’t realize that diet soda is high in tooth-decaying acid. A favorite aid for the serious dieter is hot or cold water with lemon juice. We have seen many patients with severe tooth erosion as a result. These acids are strong enough to melt away the hard enamel covering of your teeth forever. This erosion is not reversible — once you’ve lost the enamel, it’s gone.

THE CANDY MAN AND THE CANDY LADY Every three-year-old that comes to our office will tell you — if you eat too much candy you get cavities. Unfortunately many of our adult patients forget that important rule. Many of our patients will keep a pack or handful in their purse or sports jacket, and suck on them throughout the day. The candy companies are notorious for misleading you — right into a root canal. Many candies are promoted as “low calorie,” even though they are all sugar. It’s only because sugar is relatively low in calories that they can fool you. What about cough drops, even the “medicated” kind, and breath mints? They’re sugar and more sugar.

NOT ONLY GUMMY BEARS STICK TO YOUR TEETH Things that stick to your teeth have more time to do damage. Many health-conscious mothers send their children to school with raisins, dried fruit, or “all natural” fruit leather. These snacks really stick. But you may not realize that starchy foods are also sticky, in a different way. Because they are pasty, foods such as crackers or dry breakfast cereal will stick to the biting surface and between the teeth.

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Dental Health

DIET PLAN IDEAS THAT DENTISTS LIKE • Stop eating by 7 p.m. or as early as possible in the evening. Too many adults spend their entire evening nibbling. • Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, dinner like a pauper.

• Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. In New York City, the tap water is fluoridated. Fluoride is one of the main reasons that so many of the children we see are growing up without any cavities at all. In New Jersey, where we see that most of our patients drink only bottled water, it’s a good idea to supplement your fluoride. Ask your dentist about this.

DIET GUIDELINES TO SAVE YOUR TEETH 1. Control the frequency of snacking. Carbohydrates are okay; it’s the frequency of nibbling that does the damage. If you must nibble, be sure to brush and floss afterwards. 2. Clean your mouth after eating sticky or pasty foods, such as raisins, candies, crackers, pretzels, and dry cereal. 3. Never go to bed without brushing and flossing. The bacteria and the food stuck to your teeth causes much damage. 4. Don’t give your teeth a “sugar bath.” Sucking on hard candies is essentially bathing your teeth in sugar. 5. Sugarless gum really does work to reduce the acidity after a meal. It doesn’t have to be any particular brand, but a gum with xylitol will provide extra cavity-reducing benefits.

Dr. Jacques Doueck has been practicing family dentistry in Brooklyn, New York since 1977, and is a Diplomate of the Academy of Clinical Sleep Disorders Disciplines. He speaks nationally and trains other dentists in oral appliance therapy and state-of-the-art dentistry. Dr. Doueck is a member of the American Dental Association and serves on the District Claims Committee for the state society.

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Well Informed

Research Based Recommendations By Beth Warren, MS, RDN, CDN

||| SECRETS OF A KOSHER DIETITIAN |||

SECRET

#19

To avoid this problem, eat a healthy snack before you leave home, within an hour before your meal.

42 Wellspring | October 2019

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE PEER PRESSURE OF SOCIAL EATING.

enjoy the As difficult as it might seem, it is possible to ber remem you foods the with — traditional meals of Yom Tov on g puttin or ion nutrit good cing sacrifi so fondly — without for mas dilem of set own its nts prese chag Each several pounds. es and stay those of us who are trying to make smart food choic every enjoy to d boun in shape. With the right solutions, we’re part of it. influenced Studies indicate that eating behavior is strongly other with are we when ently differ eat we by social situations; es choic y dietar Our . alone eat we when to ared people, as comp social close our in also tend to be similar to the choices of those around us is circle, since conforming to the actions of those standard human behavior. e influence We know from decades of research that other peopl eat with we If ways. of y variet a in es choic our food intake and to likely are we then nt, amou large a eating is someone who if eat would we model what they eat and consume more than if nt amou larger a eat to we were dining alone. We’re also likely t migh we arly, Simil . alone eating we eat in a group rather than will nt amou small a eating that think we eat less than usual if of these norms create a favorable social impression. Being aware the challenges is a helpful step in being prepared to deal with weight. our on that eating in a social setting would have ’s growing One study on this topic concludes that there rful and powe are eating on evidence that social influences be an may eating of xt conte social the pervasive, and that ce tenan main and nt opme devel the lying under important factor y health the te of obesity. The researchers explain that if we imita we gs, settin these in s eating intentions and behaviors of other . can be motivated to change our diet for the better

To schedule a nutrition appointment with Beth in the Brooklyn, NYC, NJ locations or virtually, or book an appearance, email beth@bethwarrennutrition.com or call 347-292-1725. Most insurances accepted. You can also follow her Instagram for healthy eating motivation and recipes @beth_warren

Here are some ways to shape your eating . behaviors over Yom Tov so that you stay healthy 1. Don’t save calories for later. For many people, overeating at enormous, latenight meals seems to be standard practice on Yom Tov. Some people starve themselves during the day to balance out the large dinner; however, it does work well and is counterintuitive to mindful eating. This actually makes them hungrier and inevitably prone to eating even more than they may have otherwise. To avoid this problem, eat a healthy snack before you leave home, within an hour before your meal. Something as simple as one tablespoon of natural peanut or almond butter with an apple or some celery, a small Israeli salad with two tablespoons of hummus, or any other protein-and-fiber combination can help keep you satisfied.

2. Enjoy a snack an hour before your latenight meal. On Rosh Hashanah, we’re lucky to start the meal with a variety of fruits and vegetables for all the “yehi ratzons,” and this, too, can help prevent overeating. You can do the same at every Yom Tov meal. Fruits and vegetables have a high water and fiber content, allowing us to begin feeling full before we get to the heavier foods later on in the meal. Time is on your side: it takes about 20 minutes for the hormones in your gut, such as CCK (cholecystokinin), to send the message to your brain that you are full. The longer you spend on your fruits and/or vegetables, the fuller you will be at the meal, which will help you combat the urge to dump a huge helping of Mom’s legendary rice pilaf onto your dinner plate.

3. Use the plate model.

Of course, you can’t necessarily have complete control over what is served at dinner, especially if you’re eating at someone else’s house. But you can still use your plate to help maintain portion control and nutritional balance. Imagine it divided into three (uneven) sections. Fill one quarter with protein (a lean protein like chicken or fish, if possible, rather than fatty brisket), one quarter with wholegrain starch (which includes potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, corn, and peas), and the remaining half with non-starchy vegetables. Start by eating the vegetables, then the protein, and finally the starch. The more time you take to chew, put down your fork, take a sip of water, or converse with relatives at the meal, the more you will feel full and the less you will eat.

4. Remember that there is more to come.

Luckily, there are many meals over Yom Tov. You don’t have to eat everything on the table just to feel like you are taking part in the festivities of the chag. Making choices is not restrictive — it is mindful. You’ll end up enjoying your food a lot more if you if you have in mind the other meals you know are going come.

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 43

Well Informed

Updates in the News By Esther Retek

GENERAL NEWS

TOO GOOD IS NO GOOD

44 Wellspring | October 2019

Excessive sleep is also not recommended Do you find yourself wishing for a full week of sleep these days? Amid the hustle and the bustle of the season, we may be getting much less sleep than we essentially need in order to function properly. But while we may be harboring dreams of going under the covers for one week straight, recent research indicates that this is not the perfect solution either. Interestingly, excessive sleep could harm you just as much as a lack of sleep can, the recently published research in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology reveals. The study, which was conducted with nearly half a million subjects by the University of Boulder shows that skimping on sleep-- or getting too much of it-- can increase the risk of heart attack, even when the individual is leading an otherwise heart-healthy lifestyle. “This provides some of the strongest proof yet that sleep duration is a key factor when it comes to heart health, and this holds true for everyone,” says Celine Vetter, senior author of the study.

For the study, Vetter and co-authors analyzed the genetic information, self-reported sleep habits, and medical records of 461,000 participants age 40 to 69 who had never had a heart attack, and then followed them for seven years. The results showed that compared to those who slept 6 to 9 hours per night, those who slept fewer than six hours were 20 percent more likely to have a heart attack during the study period. Those who slept more than nine hours were 34 percent more likely. While sleeping too little is a known heart attack risk factor, it’s the hazard of sleeping too much that this study highlights. Hit your pillow for 6-9 hours every night to stay safe tonight and every day.

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GENERAL NEWS

WANT TO HEAR MY GOALS?

46 Wellspring | October 2019

This method helps us attain the objectives we set for ourselves After a month of committing to new goals, we look forward to a successful year in implementing and attaining them. Researchers now offer a powerful tool to attain these aspirations: share your objective with the right person. Recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, a new study indicates that people showed greater goal commitment and performance when they shared their goal with someone they believed had a higher status than themselves.

was a higher-status, more respectable person than themselves. For the other group of participants, the same lab assistant dressed in casual clothing and introduced himself as a student at a local community college who was working part-time in the business school. In this case, the students rated the assistant as lower in status than themselves.

“Contrary to what you may have heard, in most cases you get more benefit from sharing your goal than if you don’t—as long as you share it with someone whose opinion you value,” says Howard Klein, the lead author of the study. Interestingly, it didn’t help people at all to tell their goals to someone they thought had lower status or to keep the objective to themselves.

Results showed that participants who shared their goal with the higher-status assistant reported and in fact were more committed to achieving the goal they set for themselves than the other group. Those who shared their goal with the lower-status assistant performed no better than when they didn’t share their goal at all. “If you don’t care about the opinion of the person you’re sharing your goal with, it doesn’t affect your desire to persist—which is really what goal commitment is all about,” notes Klein.

In some cases, the lab assistant was dressed in a suit and introduced himself as a doctoral-level student in the business school who was an expert in today’s study topic. That was someone who the undergraduate students agreed

The logic is quite simple. People are more motivated when they share a goal with someone they respect because they now care how that higher-status person will evaluate them. They don’t want them to think less of them because they didn’t attain their goal. So if you want to be dedicated and unwilling to give up on your goal, keep this in mind. Now whom will you choose as your higher-status goal cheerleader?

In the study, 171 undergraduate students were seated at computers and told they had to move a slider on the screen to the number 50 as many times as possible within the allotted time. After counting how many times they successfully did this, they had to do it again, but this time they were told to set and write down a goal. The experiment then informed participants that a lab assistant would come around and check on their goals. The same person checked on all the participants’ goals— but there were different versions of the assistant for two different groups.

The same results appeared in a similar study, examining college students over the course of an entire semester. The students set challenging goals at the beginning and shared them. As in the other study, those who shared their goal with a person they cared about, persisted and were more likely to achieve their target grade than those who told lower-status people.

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BETTER LATER THAN NEVER

SENIOR NEWS

Rev It Up At Every Age A prominent component of aging successfully is staying on the go. But while the responsibilities of the younger set of the population (think chasing after toddlers) often necessitate physical activity, the elderly are more at risk of leading a sedentary lifestyle. Does that mean that if they’ve already hit old age, their chance for obtaining the benefits of exercise is over? Interestingly, research now shows that even seniors who never exercised regularly can benefit from a workout program. Published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology, this new study found that even senior men in their 70’s and 80’s who never followed an exercise regimen were able to build muscle mass. Looking at muscle biopsies from seniors who were exercising for the first time and from those exercising from a young age, The University of Birmingham team found that the groups were equally able to build muscles during current exercise, despite one group being more fit from a young age.

“Our study clearly shows that even if you haven’t been a regular exerciser throughout your life, you can still derive benefits from exercise whenever you start,” says lead researcher Leigh Breen. That’s not to say that the young ones should stop exercising. “Obviously, a long-term commitment to good health and exercise is the best approach to achieve whole-body health, but even starting later on in life will help delay age-related frailty and muscle weakness,” Breen adds. Exercise that targets the muscles are known to be the most important workouts for seniors. As people age, muscle mass decreases. Between the third and eighth decades of life, we lose up to 15% of our

48 Wellspring | October 2019

lean muscle mass, which contributes to a lower metabolic rate. Maintaining muscle strength also helps burn calories to maintain a healthy weight, strengthens bones, and restores balance. Additionally, muscle building can help reduce symptoms of some common problems we encounter as we age including arthritis, diabetes, obesity, and back pain. How much exercise do seniors need to stay healthy and fit?

The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association recommends the following: Aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, dancing, biking, swimming etc.): Moderate-intensity activity, when you feel warm and slightly out of breath, for a minimum of 30 minutes five days each week or vigorous-intensity activity, when you feel out of breath and sweaty, for a minimum of 20 minutes three days each week.

Resistance exercise (weight lifting): Older adults will benefit from performing activities that maintain or increase muscular strength and endurance for a minimum of two days each week. It is recommended that eight to ten exercises be performed on two or more nonconsecutive days per week using major muscle groups. Flexibility exercise: To maintain the flexibility necessary for regular activity, older adults should perform activities that maintain or increase flexibility at least two days each week for at least ten minutes a day. Balance exercise: To reduce risk of injury from falls, older adults with substantial risk of falls should frequently perform exercises that maintain or improve balance.

Well Informed

Figures By Malka Sharman

FAT FIGURES Recommended daily fat consumption (in a 2,000-calorie diet):

Recommended daily saturated fat consumption:

Recommended daily trans-fat consumption:

Less than

of total calories from fat, which is about

Less than

20-35% 7% 1% 44-77 8 2 7ounces grams of fat

grams of fat in

slices of garlic bread

To get the right amount of unsaturated fat, eat of cooked fish weekly

1 ounce of mayonnaise contains

2 ounces of sunflower seeds contain

1 ounce of mayonnaise-based salad dressing contains

grams of fat

1 ounce of olive or canola oil contains

grams of fat

1 bowl of French onion soup contains

20-25 fries contain

Â˝ ounce of butter contains

One fried egg contains

grams of fat

grams of fat 50 Wellspring | October 2019

16 12

28 14

65% of dark chocolate is fat

62% of eggs is fat

80% 90% of coconut oil is fat

77% of avocadoes is fat

Sources: (National Institute of Health, AAFA, AAAAI)

of chia seeds is fat

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 51

Well Informed

Health Ed By Laura Shammah, MS, RDN

Not All Fats Are Created Equal Everything you need to know about this notorious food group For decades, fat was considered the monster of all food groups. It was believed that a healthy diet mandated complete restriction of fat, since losing weight was associated with minimizing fat. Over the last few years, however, the trend has been changing. With research increasingly showing that not all fats are equal, many people are gaining a clearer understanding of the purpose of fat in our bodies, and consequently learning to distinguish between the good and bad types of fat. Take this quiz to test your knowledge of the possibly most misunderstood food group.

Which one of these fats is considered a good, healthy fat? A. Saturated fat B. Trans-fat

C. Unsaturated fat D. Low fat

Answer: C. Here’s a quick summary of the three basic types of fats:

Unsaturated fat, choice C, is the healthiest type of fat. Unsaturated fat is usually a liquid at room temperature and is found in many wholesome foods (see sidebar). Eating unsaturated fat in place of refined grains and sugar can improve blood cholesterol profiles and lower the risk of heart disease. Even more so, it is essential to include a special kind of unsaturated fat, namely omega-3 fatty acids, in our diets. There are many good sources of omega-3, such as fish, flaxseeds, and walnuts. Keep in mind that omega-3s received from a marine source, such as fish, have more powerful health benefits than those from a plant source. Nevertheless, any source is a good choice. Overall, unsaturated fat is considered a healthy fat.

Saturated fat is less healthy since it raises the cholesterol in the blood and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association. Saturated fat comes from animal sources and is solid at room temperature. Although it’s not the healthiest type in the bunch, we can’t completely eliminate them from our diets because certain foods that are rich in unsaturated fats also contain a little bit of saturated fats. The best strategy is to limit these foods. Foods that contain saturated fat include butter, cheese, and red meat. Trans-fat (specifically from chemically-processed oils) is especially bad for your health. Eating even just a small amount of trans-fat on a regular basis raises the risk of heart disease, so it’s best to avoid this fat altogether. Many food manufacturers are already removing trans-fat from their products and replacing them with healthy fats. Take the time to scan nutrition facts labels to make sure that the food is free of trans-fat.

52 Wellspring | October 2019

Eat These “Good” Fats Here’s a concise list of some basic foods that are a good source for unsaturated, healthy fat.

Fish Naturally fatty fish like salmon, trout, sardines, and tuna are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. These fats help keep your heart healthy and may also help keep your brain sharp, especially as you get older. Avocado There are so many ways to eat this delicious food and to enjoy the healthy fat it provides. Tasty avocado is good for your heart and may help with osteoarthritis symptoms. An extra benefit is that when you eat avocado with other foods, it helps your body absorb their nutrients. Half a medium avocado is one serving.

Which of these foods contains trans-fat? A. Baked Goods B. Margarine C. Fried fast foods

Seeds Sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds contain some good fats that can lower cholesterol. Nuts From hazelnuts to pecans, all nuts in their natural state are good for you. Walnuts, especially, deliver heart-healthy fats thanks to its high content of omega-3. But it’s important to remember that all nuts are high in calories. Don’t just add them to your diet; think about using them to replace empty calories, and enjoy snacking on them as an excellent substitute for junk food. Olive Oil Whether you use it to cook or to season food, olive oil is a great source of

healthy fat.

Eggs Eggs are a great source of inexpensive fat. A large hard-boiled egg has 5.3 grams of fat, most from healthy fats. Some eggs are also enriched with extra omega-3s. Ground Flaxseed Flaxseed is another food that makes an excellent source of healthy fat. As part of a healthy diet, good fats can help make your skin look great. Plus, they add fiber and can help ease inflammation. Sprinkle a teaspoon of flaxseed on your salad, cereal, or drinks.

D. All of the above Answer: D. Most cake, pies, cookies, and even crackers may list zero grams of trans-fat on the label, but there’s a catch. Manufacturers may list zero grams if the trans-fat content is less than half a gram. Those small amounts, though, add up when you eat multiple servings of these goods. If you add frosting, you’re in for a whopping dose. An average serving contains two grams of trans-fat, plus the same amount of sugar as a small slice of cake. Most margarine manufacturers have removed trans-fat from their ingredients, but it’s still wise to double check. The few that still contain trans-fat have levels as high as three grams per serving.

Trans-fat usually lurks in your favorite fried foods, especially the ones sold at fast food stores, and can easily add up to an awful amount of unhealthy fat. Doughnuts are another deep fried food that offers almost no nutrition and usually contains trans-fat. Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 53

Well Informed

Health Ed

True or False: Low-fat diets don’t work for everyone. Answer: True.

Low-fat diets are actually not recommended for most people. Dozens of studies have found that lowfat diets are no better for their health than moderate-fat diets, and for many people they may even be worse since the body requires this food group for optimal functioning.

For a lot of people, low-fat diets are not satisfying. If they’re hungry soon after finishing a meal, they’ll seek more low-fat fixes for their hunger. This vicious cycle leads to weight gain and, in turn, the conditions associated with excess weight. A better diet to control your fat would definitely be the Mediterranean diet.

Mediterranean Diet The diet that promotes consumption of healthy fats The Mediterranean diet is based on the eating habits of those living near the Mediterranean Sea. It specifically focuses on eating foods that are as natural as possible, and places a strong emphasis on limiting unhealthy fats and red meat.

The Mediterranean diet is rich in healthy fats and plant proteins, and, in previous studies, maintaining this diet has been linked to a wide range of health benefits, including a reduced risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Research also discovered benefits such as weight loss, reducing blood pressure levels, and healthy aging. Therefore, many have attempted to mimic the diet. In general, there isn’t a set Mediterranean diet plan. Here are some points that summarize the diet: • Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables in their natural states.

• Eat complex carbohydrates such as potatoes and legumes. • Eat plenty of unsaturated fats such as fish and olive oil. • Eat red meat only rarely.

• Eat poultry, eggs, cheese, and yogurt in moderation.

• Avoid sugary beverages, processed meat, refined oils, and other highly processed foods. • Consider water to be the go-to beverage.

• Drink moderate amounts of red wine daily (optional).

Being physically active and enjoying meals with family are also important aspects of the Mediterranean diet, according to the Mayo Clinic.

54 Wellspring | October 2019

True or False: Fat-free foods are always healthy. Answer: False.

In their natural state, some foods contain little or no fat — for example, most fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Of course, these are healthy choices. But processed foods touted as “low-fat” or “fat-free” are often high in salt, sugar, or starch, to make up for the flavor and texture that gets lost when food manufacturers slash fat. So they are not necessarily healthy choices. A common example is low-fat and non-fat salad dressings, which are nearly always higher in sugar and salt.

Myth: Eating fat makes you fat.

Truth: It’s a common myth that eating specifically high-fat foods makes you fat, and it does seem quite logical. However, the truth is that eating or drinking more calories than you need from any source, whether it’s fats, carbohydrates, or proteins, can lead to weight gain. To prove the point, in America, for example, the percentage of calories from fat present in food products has gone down the last few years, but obesity rates are actually still soaring high.

Myth: Fat can be converted into muscle.

Truth: Your body can’t turn fat into muscle, nor the reverse. The reason? Fat and muscle are two different types of tissue and one cannot be directly converted into the other. To lose body fat, you have to burn calories. Thus, working out your muscles, contrary to popular belief, will not directly result in fat loss.

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Health Ed

Fat Facts Fat helps control metabolism and regulate immune function. It plays various other roles in the body, including insulating the body and maintaining body temperature, protecting the organs, acting as an energy reserve, and helping the body absorb certain vitamins. Remember, though, it’s always smart to watch how much fat — even good fat — you consume. Have in mind that generally, fats that come from plants are healthier than those from animal products.

Change Your Habits Here are some ideas you can implement to limit unhealthy fats and exchange them for a healthier version: • When cooking, use olive and avocado oils since they have the highest content of unsaturated fat.

• When baking, you can replace the butter or margarine in many baked goods with oils from plants. Just reduce the amount by oil by 25 percent, because butter and margarine usually contain water. • It’s always smarter to drizzle salads with healthy oils instead of mayo-based dressings. • Use peanut butter or refrigerated extra-virgin olive oil as a spread instead of cream cheese or butter. • Use low-fat plain yogurt in recipes instead of cream cheese or sour cream.

• Use full-fat cheese in small amounts. Low-fat cheeses are not really much lower in saturated fat than their full-fat counterparts — and they are often higher in sodium. Instead, use a small amount of full-fat, full-flavored cheese in a dish.

• Don’t strip chicken. Chicken skin has a bad rap for being high in fat, but most of the fat in chicken skin is healthy, unsaturated fat — and cooking with skin keeps the chicken flavorful and moist, so you don’t need to add as much salt or use a breaded coating.

Trans-fat History

When trans-fat foods were considered healthy Trans-fat can be categorized into two categories:

Naturally formed trans-fat: This type is produced in the gut of some grazing animals, so some quantities of trans-fat can be found in meat, milk, and milk products.

Trans–fat formed during food processing: Artificial trans-fat, the worst fat, is created when hydrogen is added to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. Food manufacturers use this oil, known as PHO (partially hydrogenated oils), to improve shelf life, texture, and flavor. According to the FDA, PHOs are the main source of transfat in the Unites States.

Interestingly, since 1902 when PHOs were discovered, people believed that eating shortening or margarine made from PHOs was preferable to saturated fat. It wasn’t until the 1980s that researchers started uncovering the health hazards that result from using this fat. In 2015, the FDA determined that PHOs are no longer “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) in human food and took steps to restrict its use. By June of 2018, companies had to remove PHOs from most of their food products. The FDA is still working on different restrictions to limit the use of trans-fat, in hope that by doing so they will reduce and prevent cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

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. 56 Wellspring | October 2019

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Well Informed

Dedicated to Health By Esther Retek

10 Questions for: Rabbi Simcha Scholar, CEO of Chai Lifeline

Chai Lifeline in a nutshell: Founded in 1987, Chai Lifeline is the leading Jewish international children’s health support network, providing social, emotional, and financial assistance to children with life-threatening or lifelong illnesses and their families. Chai Lifeline offers more than 24 free year-round programs and services, including professional case management; counseling; meal delivery to hospitals and homes; transportation to medical appointments; the summer experience of a lifetime for those with chronic illnesses at Camp Simcha Special; Project Chai crisis intervention and trauma bereavement workshops for families, schools, and communities; insurance advocacy; family retreats and respite; and i-Shine after-school national programs for children living with illness or who’ve experienced loss.

What motivated you to launch one of the Jewish world’s largest organizations? My drive and passion to start the organization did not result from any personal experiences, baruch Hashem. I was a rabbi in a Brooklyn shul for many years and a rebbi in several high schools. In my mind, my career path was in the direction of chinuch and education. I had no vision of launching an organization of this caliber. But one of the most awe-inspiring things in Yiddishkeit is that we take our signals from HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and we allow Him to guide us on the path He chooses for us. Since I was interacting with the community, I realized there was a tremendous need to bring illness out of the closet. With so much publicity from organizations and with an unfortunate amount of ill patients these days, it’s hard for people to understand how illness was perceived 32 years ago. People kept illnesses hidden; it was al-

58 Wellspring | October 2019

most embarrassing for a family to have a sick family member. Bikur Cholim was around back then, and they were truly helping people in the hospital, but the impetus to initiate Chai Lifeline was coming from a completely different angle. My idea was that children and families suffering from illness, bearing enormous responsibilities and struggling to carry on with daily life, must not be isolated from the community. These families need to hear that they’re a part of society despite the illness they were dealing with. We had a mission, which we baruch Hashem accomplished, and that is to supplant the image that the world had of sick, compromised children and to help these children integrate into society. This is the goal of Chai Lifeline: to enable a sick child and their family to feel normal despite their abnormal conditions.

We also work on sensitizing people to medical situations and to elicit compassion from the community toward pediatric illnesses. We do so through very direct marketing, through running a first class operation, and through creating the professional team we have. The initial impact Chai Lifeline has made is undeniably evident all around us. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to compare the perspectives people have now 2019, to those in 1987. Our community is forthcoming and accepting of such situations and even more so, families are empowered to deal with their challenges and to withstand them. Another side motivation was that we saw chesed as a vehicle to unify Klal Yisrael. Chai Lifeline helps all types of Yidden, not a specific sect or community. We brought a certain sense of achdus amid Klal Yisrael.

I gradually left my other jobs. After working with numerous cases, we slowly developed a comprehensive program to better enable patients and their families to handle the devastation an illness wreaks and to guide them through their difficult journey. Almost immediately, we saw the need to expand our repertoire way beyond cancer, and before we knew it, Chai Lifeline emerged. From the initial few children we helped, it evolved into an organization that currently helps more than 5,800 families all over the world. Chai Lifeline became the number one organization to turn to for non-medical help in a medical crisis. It also became the first place Klal Yisrael turns to when they need support and guidance when facing a tragedy.

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 59

Well Informed

Dedicated to Health

As founder of Chai Lifeline, what does your daily schedule look like? There’s no such thing as a schedule when you run such an empire. There’s no day and no night. I try to get a couple of hours to sleep somewhere in the middle. At this point, my position in the organization is to deal with any larger issues that come up, facilitate between the different departments and branches, and constantly deal with calls and requests. Baruch Hashem, I have an incredible team that took over many of the responsibilities that I’d previously carried myself.

3 4

In which aspect is Chai Lifeline unique? Each patient and each family is viewed as, and therefore treated as, a yachid. We strive to give individual attention to each case, and not merely “open another file.” When a family is struck with a medical challenge, they need compassion for their specific and distinctive circumstances, and that is the manner in which we seek to help them.

What is the greatest challenge in running Chai Lifeline? As with most organizations, the greatest challenge is having the resources to help those who turn to us. Mathematically, our needs unfortunately grow between 11 to 13 percent each year. That’s an enormous amount, and it seems to be an insurmountable challenge to reach numbers we need to keep going. In order to keep up with that pace and maintain the quality of our services, we need to come up with the funds for an overwhelming budget — and that is by far the greatest struggle.

Aside from our financial burden, there’s another interesting challenge, and that is to keep our staff fresh and energetic. The people in our organization are dealing with painful situations on a daily basis. They confront sickness, crisis, death, and we need to do everything to keep these people emotionally healthy, invigorated, and willing to carry on with their work. It’s a challenge. I always say, “Once you squeeze the orange too much, there’s nothing left.”

60 Wellspring | October 2019

Can you share a story that highlights the work Chai Lifeline does? One story comes to mind immediately. It’s of a young boy who was very sick in the hospital when his mother gave birth to a baby boy. This young child wanted nothing more than to be at the bris of his new brother. Since the boy was in the intensive care unit, hovering between life and death, having him discharged was out of the question. They could come up with nothing to placate the boy, and that’s where Chai Lifeline stepped in. With our well-established relations to many important hospital figures, we obtained special permission from the hospital board to have the bris in the young patient’s room in the ICU, with a mohel who drove in from Lakewood. (If we could not have worked out express permission from the hospital, we would not have done this.) Simply put, we brought the malach Refael to the boy. This highlights the individual care that Chai Lifeline give to each of its patients, the professionalism employed when dealing with hospitals, and the passionate desire we have to help each yachid.

What do you wish people would know about Chai Lifeline? We recently had a meeting with our case managers (those who deal with families directly), and a big discussion ensued over patients that Chai Lifeline cannot serve. There are families that seek our help with matters that we don’t have experience with, and we sadly cannot give them the proper assistance, like they would receive from a more suitable organization. These families, though, out of desperation and confusion, might persistently request help and keep pushing the Chai Lifeline to get involved. When I hear of these situations, my heart breaks for the people involved, but we can’t deal with everyone. In order for us to deal with any situation professionally and expertly we must narrow down the acceptance — which is not at all narrow. We simply don’t have the capacity or expertise to be able to help everyone. A common example of such a dilemma is with making decisions about Camp Simcha. Those who go to Camp HASC can’t go to Camp Simcha. The two don’t work together. And there will be a sick child with other disabilities who will unfortunately fall somewhere in the middle, and I agree that it’s very problematic. But in order us to help hundreds of other Yidden we must be clear with whom we deal with.

Well Informed

Dedicated to Health

What is one unusual request you received from a patient? Chai Lifeline receives many interesting requests from patients and their families such as meeting celebrities or singers, and we don’t bother documenting them since they come up so often. At this point, very few requests are considered to be unusual. However, the young man who wanted a sefer Torah probably wins the reward. We had a young man who didn’t get too many more days to live, and one of the volunteers called me that he requested a sefer Torah. So how does Chai Lifeline fulfill this young man’s wish? We weren’t going to buy it, but we can’t turn down a request. At that time, my father’s shul was being liquidated, and one night, they asked me to come down to claim some of my father’s personal possession. As I was conversing with some people there, I asked them where the sifrei Torah were transferred to. They explained that over the years all but three sifrei Torah had been sold, in order to raise money for the shul. They then continued sharing that one of the three was going to a shul in Monsey, the other one to a shul in a Far Rockaway, and one is still available. I grabbed the opportunity, and got the sefer Torah for the young man. We actually had a beautiful hachnassas sefer Torah — in Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital. Hashem had guided us through such an unbelievable act of Divine Providence to enable us to help a patient.

What is the best part of your work? The toughest? The best part of my work is seeing the tremendous impact Chai Lifeline has on so many people. When people tell us how they wouldn’t manage without the organization, how we saved their lives, or how they felt so much calmer once we stepped in, we feel compelled to do even more.

The toughest part of our work is undoubtedly dealing with so many tzaros, to hear on a daily basis the tragedies that Klal Yisrael is experiencing, and to watch Yidden go through so many hardships. The needs are so overwhelming, unfortunately.

62 Wellspring | October 2019

How do you manage the stress that comes along with your position?

I have the privilege of being very close to Rav Dovid Feinstein shlita. He’s like a father to me and guides me with everything. I have another few close relationships to gedolim which help me and give me chizuk to move on. It goes without saying that such an organization cannot be run without a committed spouse and family. I am very grateful to my rebbetzin and family for being so encouraging and for giving me the constant strength to keep going. It’s a lot of sacrifice on their part, but I can sincerely attest that we wouldn’t have been here without them.

Running an organization of this caliber certainly gives you a glimpse of yad Hashem up close. Tell us an incident where you saw incredible Hashgachah. I tend to travel a lot, and wherever I land, I meet people who were affected by our organization. Several weeks ago, we had a local event and a young man came over to me, introduced himself as a former patient, and excitedly told me that he’s engaged. I can tell you that ten years ago he was grappling with a life-threatening illness and you needed a wild imagination to say that he would be a chassan one day. I would have never recognized him had he not introduced himself. That he’s engaged and looking forward to build a family is nothing short of a miracle. The biggest acts of Hashgachah I see daily show me that there’s truly one Rofei cholim. No doctor can be totally accurate when it comes to dealing with Am Yisrael. When a healthy, successful man comes over to me and says, “Rabbi Scholar, I was in Camp Simcha 20 years ago,” it warms my heart.

A comment from a woman who was a patient years ago, to “look at my baby,” is enough to inspire me in my avodas Hashem. I have been sandek at brissim where doctors didn’t give this father a chance to ever have children. I have been mesader kiddushin at weddings of people who were told they won’t live to their bar mitzvah. I was present at a siyum haShas of a child who I’d met in Camp Simcha Special — he was blind from a genetic disease. Such stories, which I experience frequently baruch Hashem, give me the koach to continue with this sacred work.

Well Informed

Dedicated to Health

Bike4Chai This past August, nearly 600 cyclists rode 180 miles across 3 states in support of children living with illness. This was the tenth annual Bike4Chai, a cycling event that helps fundraise money for Chai Lifeline.

The event usually begins with a short speech given by a former patient who shares his personal journey through illness and speaks to the riders about the impact Chai Lifeline had on him.

The ride commences early morning, and riders journey along a clearly-marked scenic route through the picturesque hills of New Jersey and the Poconos Mountains. Fully-stocked rest stops — complete with food, supplies, and entertainment — provide riders with opportunities to

Project Chai For nearly two decades, Project Chai, the crisis, trauma, and bereavement department of Chai Lifeline, has been at the forefront of providing mental health support to Jewish communities across the globe following all kinds of tragedies — from sudden deaths, suicides, and substance abuse, to natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

The program utilizes a model that stresses the proactive training of paraprofessionals with strong ties to the communities they serve. Volunteers are pre-screened and undergo rigorous training by leading experts, enabling them to effectively respond to all sorts of situations with cultural sensitivity and respect. On the communal level, Project Chai offers presentations, lectures, and educational resources to support community leaders, rabbis, educators and parents.

In the past year, Project Chai has led more than 1,300 crisis interventions in schools, synagogues, camps, and Jewish communities across the globe. In addition to their daily work with individuals and families, Project Chai teams were also among the first responders following national tragedies, such as the Poway and Pittsburgh synagogue shootings and the recent drowning tragedy in Norfolk, Virginia

refresh and recharge along the way. SAG, mechanical, and medical support are available throughout the ride. At night, riders rest and enjoy some Chai Lifeline specialties, and they resume their trip the following day. “Every Bike4Chai rider feels the importance of their contribution to fighting the hardships of childhood illness and bringing joy to these kids,” says Yaakov Forchheimer, a cyclist from Lakewood, NJ. “The camaraderie between the riders is tremendous.”

“These cyclists are an inspiration to all of us,” said Rabbi Simcha Scholar, CEO of Chai Lifeline. “With every mile they ride and every dollar they raise, they show our children and families that they care and that they are not alone in their battle against pediatric illness.”

Camp Simcha/ Special Established in 1987, Camp Simcha opened its doors to children battling pediatric cancer, offering critically ill children a unique, medically-supervised summer camp experience which had previously been denied to them at conventional summer camps. By 1991, enrollment at Camp Simcha had reached peak levels, and Chai Lifeline, Camp Simcha’s parent organization, purchased official campgrounds in Glen Spey, New York, to expand its offerings and accommodate more children.

More than three decades later, Camp Simcha has continued to welcome children with cancer and other malignant blood disorders, offering a one-to-one counselor/camper ratio, along with treatments on-site, including chemotherapy overseen by physicians from major New York City hospitals. Doctors and nurses, physical, occupational, and respiratory therapists, psychologists, social workers, paramedics, pharmacists, and an ambulance, all remain on campus for the duration of the summer, while an air Medevac is on constant standby. Committed to the notion of disability inclusion, Camp Simcha expanded its reach to include children with genetic diseases, amputations, physical disabilities, or other debilitating, chronic disorders at its sister camp, Camp Simcha Special, in 2001. Each summer, nearly 500 children from across the world enjoy an unparalleled twoweek overnight camp experience on the 125-acre campus in New York’s scenic Catskills Mountains. Days and nights are filled with innovative and exciting activities tailored to the campers’ individual needs, along with arts and crafts, sports, swimming and boating, special events, singing, and dancing — all of which encourage friendship, independence and self-growth.

A special thanks to the Chai Lifeline staff members who contributed information to this article. 64 Wellspring | October 2019

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Well Informed

Wealth of Health By Sarah Weinberger

Enc^ore

Conference

Miriam Goldberger with:

POSITION: Nutrition consultant at 5 Meals

SERVICE: Daily delivery of gourmet healthy meals

LOCATION: New York

SINCE: 2016 Leading a healthy lifestyle is so important, but it can often be challenging. One of the greatest impediments to remaining committed to healthy eating is meal preparation, which involves planning, shopping, and spending time in the kitchen. Enter 5 Meals, a kosher-certified company (under Tartikov and OU) that delivers daily gourmet meals in accordance to research-based nutritional guidelines. In this encore Conference, Miriam Goldberger, the nutrition consultant at 5 Meals, explores what the business has to offer to the individual who wants balanced, delicious meals delivered fresh to their door. She also discusses the company’s developments since they were last featured in this space (Issue 36). One exciting advancement is the addition of a detox program, in accordance to the principles of naturopath Christian Limoges.

66 Wellspring | October 2019

WHAT

SERVICE DOES 5 MEALS OFFER?

The fast-paced world in which we live can make it very challenging to lead a healthy lifestyle. Having healthy foods on hand is essential to healthy eating, but that involves planning and preparation. When that doesn’t happen, we tend to opt for junk food, which doesn’t require much preparation and is easily accessible. This is where 5 Meals comes into the picture.

5 Meals takes care of all your nutritional needs and spares you hours of work, enabling you to maintain a healthy lifestyle without any added stress. Our team prepares delicious, wholesome meals in our world-class kitchens, packages them in an easily-accessible manner, and delivers them straight to your door. Our weight-loss program is based on the principles of the Zone diet.

WHAT

ARE THE MAIN PRINCIPLES OF THE ZONE DIET?

WHAT

MAKES THE DETOX PROGRAM UNIQUE?

The fast-paced world in which we live can make it very challenging to lead a healthy The diet’s main feature is portion control: eating three portion-controlled meals with two snacks in between, totaling between 1300– 1600 calories per day. Every meal at 5 Meals has the same proportions: one-third protein, two-thirds carbs, and a dash of fat. Our detox program is based on the principles of naturopath Christian Limoges.

This menu follows Limoges’ guidelines. He says, “By eating a diet that consists of 80 percent raw foods and only 20 percent cooked foods, you

feel energized and regain your vitality and health.” Those who follow his diet see instant improvement in their digestive system, feel much lighter all day, and are full of energy. He recommends drinking about 32 ounces of yellow fruit smoothies, which he considers the most colon-cleansing, from the time one wakes up until noon.

According to Limoges, lunch and dinner should consist of a large salad containing around seven different raw vegetables, including sprouts, and 20 percent of the salad should be a cooked protein.

WHAT

ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON RECENTLY?

In addition to our new menu plans, we now offer the option of customizing the program according to the individual client’s needs. For example, if a client is diabetic, or a woman is nursing or pregnant, we’re happy to work around their specific needs and preferences to ensure that they get meals that are tailored to their unique circumstances.

WHEN

RECEIVE?

A CLIENT ORDERS A PACKAGE, WHAT CAN SHE EXPECT TO

5 Meals delivers healthy, dietetic meals to the individual’s front door every day between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Our clients find an insulated lunch bag, kept cold with ice packs, carefully packed with all the food they will need for the

day. Our bags are designed for easy, safe transport, which works great for those who want to take them to work, or bring them along while traveling — practically anywhere they might get hungry. We do our best to make healthy eating as easy as possible.

The meals are professionally packaged, labeled, and sealed. We also include a menu sheet so that the client can have a detailed description of what their meals consist of.

HOW

DO YOUR DELIVERIES WORK?

As a client, you get personalized delivery benefits: Our driver follows individual requests, such as dropping off packages at a side or back door, or any other requests the customer might have.

We do our deliveries overnight and guarantee delivery before 6 a.m. There’s something special about waking up to find a full day’s worth of fresh, healthy, and wholesome meals. We cover all popular tristate areas, and we keep adding locations by demand. We also offer the option of delivery to other places via UPS.

HOW

DOES THE 5 MEALS FOOD PROVIDE WHAT THE BODY NEEDS?

When it comes to health, there are many variables to take into consideration, in addition to portion control. Our nutritional team does that research on behalf of our clients, tailoring Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 67

Well Informed

Wealth of Health

the meals to the body’s needs. For example, we keep fruit as a separate part of the meal, since research has shown that digestion works best when fruits are consumed this way. We also always pair protein with vegetables. The daily package also includes two snacks, one sweet and one savory, so the client can enjoy the satisfaction of both flavors.

PLEASE

SHARE SOME FEEDBACK YOU’VE RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMERS.

We recently received a beautiful message from a very grateful customer, which highlights our mission. He wrote about how stressed his family had been several days prior, trying to settle down in their new home. Thanks to 5 Meals, they were nourished and well-fed throughout the transition period. We also receive constant responses from busy mothers, thanking us for helping them through the day. One customer wrote, “I have never felt so good in my entire life!” Ultimately, that is our goal at 5 Meals: to provide our clients with delicious, wholesome food, ridding them of the stress of having to prepare meals themselves.

HOW

DOES THE 5 MEALS PROGRAM DIFFER FROM ANY OTHER DIET PROGRAM THAT PROVIDES FOOD?

HOW

DO YOU ENSURE THAT YOUR CLIENTS DON’T BECOME BORED OF THE FOOD THEY RECEIVE?

5 Meals was initiated with the intention of eliminating low-fat, low-calorie types of foods. For most people, low-fat, low-calorie “diet” foods don’t work. The body needs wholesome, nutritious, real food. This is what we provide: vitamin-rich vegetables, healthy fats, nourishing fruits — foods that provide the body with the most benefits possible.

We work with a weekly rotating menu, which repeats every few weeks. This ensures that the client doesn’t get bored of the meals. While the basic menu, which offers a lot of variety, was set up by our culinary and nutrition team, we’re always on the lookout for more ideas to include. We constantly work on improvising and introducing new items. We spend hours researching to bring our customers healthy and unique products. Some of our specialties include zucchini “zoodles” with almond-butter sauce, turkey lettuce boats, and black-bean salad. You can be sure you’ll find these foods to be not only appealing but also delicious.

WHAT

ARE THE MOST POPULAR REQUESTS YOU RECEIVE FROM CLIENTS?

WHAT

ARE SOME CUSTOMERS’ CONCERNS REGARDING SIGNING UP FOR THE PROGRAM?

Our acai bowls are super popular. Customers tell us that they have tried many others, and have even made their own, but they prefer ours. This refreshing snack is rich in antioxidants and provides a high boost of energy — just what people need to function optimally through the day.

Clients often express a fear of being too hungry on the program. That doesn’t happen. All of our clients can attest that our foods are not just healthy, but very filling, too. We make sure to include the right amounts from each food group, so the body gets the perfect nourishment. The 5 Meals team can be contacted through Wellspring.

68 Wellspring | October 2019

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Living Well

In Good Shape By Syma Kranz, PFC

A FIRMER TRUNK A strong, stable core helps you perform compound strength-training exercises with better form and a lower risk of energy depletion. When you have strong and stable core muscles, you naturally have better posture. It will also help you generate speed and power when you do activities such as jumping, running, or sprinting. Core stability is the ability to hold your trunk stable. Since a strong, stable core is the key to optimal form, if your core muscles lack stability, your posture won’t be right when you do exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and push-ups. The muscles that contribute most to core stability include the transversus abdominis (the deepest abdominal muscle), rectus abdominis, internal obliques, external obliques, multifidus, longissimus thoracis, erector spinae muscles, diaphragm, and pelvic floor muscles. Ideally, all of these muscles should be strong and work together to stabilize your core.

70 Wellspring | October 2019

Three Types of Core Stabilization Exercises

There are three different approaches to working the core stabilizing muscles. Most people just work on one — static stability — by doing exercises such as planks. However, you’ll get more benefits if you put all three of these core stabilization training approaches into your core routine. Note that it’s a misconception that abdominal crunches are safe and effective for strengthening the core stabilizers. For one, they don’t activate the deeper core muscles as much as planks do (as explained below). Additionally, spinal flexion places stress on the lumbar discs in your lower back, and that’s why people with lower back pain should limit crunches or not do them at all. If you do abdominal crunches, don’t make them your only abdominal and core exercise. Focus more on planks and their variations. Here’s an analysis of each of the core stabilization exercises.

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Static Core Stabilization Exercises Static stabilization is the most common way people train their core muscles. These movements are exercises in which you hold your core stable as you try to resist gravity. A classic example is a basic front plank. When you do a basic plank, your elbows and toes are on the mat and you hold this position isometrically with your ab and glute muscles tight. Side planks are another static stabilization movement, in which you hold a posture against gravity without moving your arms and legs. Both of these exercises are a good starting point for anyone who wants to develop greater core stability.

Dynamic Core Stabilization Exercises

Once you can easily hold a basic plank for at least 30 seconds, it’s time to work on dynamic stabilization. Dynamic stabilization is the ability to hold your trunk stable when you lift or move your arms or move your legs. These exercises are especially important for strengthening your deep core muscles, the ones that stabilize your spine. In fact, dynamic lumbar stabilization exercises are even more effective than lumbar strengthening exercises for improving functionality in people with lower back pain. One of the simplest ways to introduce dynamic stabilization movements into your routine is to do shoulder-touch planks. To do this exercise, get into a basic front plank position. Hold a plank using good form for five seconds or so to warm up. Now, lift one elbow off the ground and touch the opposite shoulder. Repeat with the other arm and alternate back and forth. This variation introduces a slight rotational component into the planks that force your core muscles to adapt to the rotation. Don’t forget to keep good form and breathe naturally. Your hips should move as little as possible during the exercise. The other type of exercise that involves dynamic stabilization is rollouts. You can do a classic abdominal rollout using an abdominal wheel or you can do exercises with your hands resting on a Swiss ball. The unstable surface of the ball will force your keep core muscles to work harder to stabilize your spine and keep it neutral.

Integrated Core Stabilization Movements Integrated stabilization takes dynamic stabilization one step further by introducing movements that teach the core muscles to stay tight and stable during more complex movements — since in real life, we twist, turn, and bend in a variety of directions. Integrated stabilization exercises are advanced movements that train the core to keep the spine neutral when you’re moving around in a variety of planes of motion. You can add integrated stabilization work into your routine by doing a one-arm chest press using a dumbbell. Be sure to do it on both sides. To force your deep stabilizers to work even harder, do the onearm chest press exercise with your head, neck, and shoulders resting on a Swiss ball. Focusing on one side at a time is the best way to target the deep stabilizers. Through incorporating all three core stabilization movements into your fitness routine, you build a stronger, more stable trunk that gives you better posture, a firmer middle, and an all-around great feeling.

Syma Kranz, PFC, is a certified aerobics, Pilates, and Barre instructor, as well as the fitness director at Fusion Fitness in Lakewood, New Jersey. What started out as a small exercise class in her home catapulted into a popular gym that prides itself with tzanua, professional instructors and an appropriate atmosphere with lyric-free music and proper attire. Syma specializes in training women to integrate fitness into their busy lives, paying special attention to proper form and alignment and specializing in core and pelvic floor strengthening. Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 71

Living Well

Ask the Nutritionist By Shani Taub, CDC

Toeing the Line

Eating Healthy Under My Mother-in-Law’s Watchful Eye

Question: While I am looking forward to spending a beautiful Yom Tov with my in-laws, I find it especially challenging to maintain my eating habits when I’m there. My mother-in-law is not particularly fond of keeping to healthy eating habits, and always tells us to eat well, enjoy the food, and to ignore health fads. The food she prepares is certainly delicious, but it also certainly doesn’t work for a health-conscious lifestyle. She serves lots of kugels and pies, almost no vegetables, and her meats are coated in sugary sauces and processed ingredients. How can I enjoy the Yom Tov there, keep up with my healthy habits, and not step on my mother-in-law’s toes?

Shani’s response: Every time I receive a question along these lines, I am surprised that there still are some people who haven’t caught up with the health trend. It seems that these days, everyone’s more aware, so when I see a question like yours, I’m intrigued. I understand your predicament and I give you credit for wanting to do what’s right on all ends. Although your question might require a more personalized response, since it will vary based on the relationship you have with your mother-in-law, I will try to provide some general tips and ideas to help a wide range of people. Feel free to tailor the ideas according to your circumstances. Many people confuse the idea of spending time with family to mean eating with family. The time has come to change that perspective. “Family time” does not have to equate “eating time.” There are many more ways your mother-in-law can appreciate her guests and enjoy some nachas, other than from you eating her food. A desire to serve lavishly and to provide so much

72 Wellspring | October 2019

often stems from the desire to spend time with you and make you comfortable. But you can change that. If you seek to spend quality time with her more often (not just when you help with the serving at meals) your mother-in-law may very possibly disregard (dare I say, even be impressed) with your healthy habits. By showing her that you’re interested in spending time with her, in being in her company as opposed to only enjoying her foods, this may very well happen. A lot of how your Yom Tov goes over depends on how you view yourself. In other words, if you feel deprived by being on a healthy diet, this attitude will come through, and as a result, your family may try to convince you to stop. If, however, you view your healthy lifestyle as a gift, and you feel good about it, your family will pick up on your positive vibes and go along with it. If your mother-in-law is the one to bring up the subject, though, you may want to have a frank conversation with her. Tell her that you appreciate her concern for you and ask her which part of your lifestyle doesn’t sit well with her. Often, simple communication

does the trick. You may find that she has misconceptions about the way you eat, such as that you’re starving yourself in order to look a certain way. By ensuring her that you’re giving your body what it needs, she may let go of her fixation with your lifestyle. Another simple yet excellent idea I often share with my clients is that they can offer to help out with making some dishes. Offer to bring a salad, fresh fruit platter, or some meats. That will put you in a better position because you can prepare some of the healthy dishes you enjoy. If you feel you need to, you could bring along something small, like nuts, so you can fill up on natural proteins. This will help you avoid going

Shani’s Yom Tov Tips: Don’t go hungry During the Yom Tov days, many of us are apt to go hungry either before or between the meals. I always recommend eating before we get hungry. When we wait to eat only after being hungry for a while, we tend to eat way more than we actually need. Try to avoid these long breaks. Large lunch, small dinner On typical Yom Tov days, when the “dinner” meal starts way past regular dinner time, it’s always better to keep the later meal smaller. Enjoy a lavish daytime meal, and keep the night meal small. Jewish cake If you read this subtitle and thought of challah, then yes, you’re right. I refer to challah as Jewish cake so that my clients are more vigilant with the amount they eat. For individuals who have a hard time with portion control, I don’t recommend eating challah

hungry, which is never a good idea. I do tell my clients, though, to try to be as nonchalant as possible when they bring their dishes, obviously not making a fuss as to why they brought them. In general, it’s good to keep a low-profile regarding your health habits. Not everyone has to know what you are up to these days, and what you do or don’t eat. The quieter you are about it, the less bothered others will be by it. If bringing dishes is not an option, avoid the foods that provide the least health benefits, and opt for the foods that offer some health value. Lots of luck, and I wish you a healthy, beautiful Yom Tov that will allow for strengthened relationships and deeper bonds.

at all. You’re best off with whole grain matzah. But if that’s not an option, I would encourage you to measure one ounce of challah (before Yom Tov) and stick to that. Preparation is key An important tool for everything in life, and especially when it comes to eating, is advance preparation. Whether you’re going out for a meal, packing up for a Chol Hamoed trip, or leaving the house for a long time, make sure to prepare yourself properly. Take along enough food and water, and have something ready for when you come home so that you don’t find yourself binging at the end of the day. Dessert is not that good Although that last course might look very tempting, most people don’t feel too good after eating that extra piece of cake or ice cream. If having a small portion of dessert is important to you, remember to stick to the amount you originally planned, and keep in mind that the aftereffects of a binge simply don’t pay off.

Please send your questions to the nutritionist to info@wellspringmagazine.com. Shani Taub, CDC, has been practicing as a certified nutritionist in Lakewood for almost a decade, meeting with clients in person and on the phone. She also owns the highly popular Shani Taub food line, which carries healthy, approved, pre-measured foods and delicacies sold at supermarkets and restaurants. Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 73

RIVKA M.

Living Well

Health Profile By Rachel Esses

Age: 33

Gender: Female

Weight: 178 pounds

Marital Status: Married

Location: Queens

Height: 5'3”

Occupation: Interior Designer

Favorite health food: Lettuce (I know it sounds strange!) That may be a unique one — but it’s a great one, too. The high water content in lettuce makes it a refreshing choice. It also has potassium, calcium, and vitamin C. Another benefit is that it’s a good food to “crunch” on for when we want to munch on something. Favorite junk food: I like to eat healthy. I would say I eat too many fruits throughout the day, especially sugary ones. It’s awesome to eat fruit, but as you say, too much of it isn’t good. Although the sugar in fruits is natural, it still is sugar and needs to be consumed in moderation. This is especially true for those fruits that have a higher sugar content, such as watermelon, pineapple, and mango. The average amount of that a person should be eating per day is two fruits. Favorite exercise: I don’t exercise. While exercise on its own, without maintaining a healthy diet, offers minimal weight loss results, combining it with a balanced diet is a crucial step in leading a healthy lifestyle. I recommend starting with something that’s simple for you, even brisk walking a few times a week, and that will start building up your stamina and resistance. Favorite nutritious dish: A lettuce-based Caesar salad with a slice of salmon. My biggest meal on a usual day: Lunch. I usually go around to my clients’ homes in the morning and I set an hour’s break in between to have lunch. I find that if I don’t eat a good full meal, I don’t have the energy to continue the rest of my day. People do have a hard time eating lunch, since most are at work and don’t think about food as much. Especially since you’re on the run between seeing clients, it would theoretically be more likely that you wouldn’t accommodate this important meal. Kudos to you! My weight loss saga: I love food. Overall, I eat pretty healthy but when I eat, it’s in big quantities. I love food too! But I learned to eat everything in moderation. I portion out all of my foods according to my weight, height, etc. Eating healthy is amazing, but measuring out the amounts you’re actually supposed to be eating will help with healthy weight loss. Greatest weight loss challenge: I end up eating a little too much junk, and hardly eating dinner. Everyone has a guilty pleasure. Yours seems to be chocolate and that is okay. I don’t suggest eating junk throughout the day. Rather, eat more healthily throughout the day and save your portion-controlled chocolate cookie or brownie for the nighttime. Chances are, by the time it comes to having it later in the day, your craving may go away. How I would treat myself if I get there: Vacation to Italy with my husband. That sounds beautiful. Go for it! In Favor of Fruits Since fruits offer nutrients that are essential to our health, individuals who consume them as part of their daily diet lower their risks of various chronic diseases. The majority of fruits are naturally low in sodium, calories, and fat, and are cholesterol-free. They also have dietary fiber, which helps reduce blood cholesterol levels and lower heart disease risks. Many are also rich in potassium which helps with lowering blood pressure. Enjoying them in moderation is one smart, delicious way to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Some of the many healthy fruits are:  Grapefruit: Good source of vitamins and minerals, aids in weight loss, and reduces insulin resistance.  Blueberry: High in fiber, antioxidants, manganese, vitamin C and vitamin K.  Apple: High in fiber, vitamin C, and potassium. Apples promote heart health and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer.  Pomegranate: Contains powerful plant compounds and is a good anti-inflammatory. Make sure to limit pomegranate to half a cup, since it is high in sugar.  Mango: High in sugar but an excellent source of vitamin C.

74 Wellspring | October 2019

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76 Wellspring | October 2019

Combating the

word

Can natural healing and prevention help with cancer? With cancer ever on the rise, are we powerless to stop it? Rather than stand by and suffer, we can take concrete steps to prevent and even cure this dreaded disease.

By Miriam Koenig

Living Well

Feature

I often wonder about the recent rampant explosion of cancer cases. It hasn’t always been this way, people claim with an exasperated sigh. The C word used to be a rare and frightening monster the entire community whispered about, horrified at the thought of its tentacles ever gripping even a distant acquaintance. More commonly, it was kept strictly under wraps; people were terrified of the very word itself. The current astounding statistical reality is that one out of two people will be diagnosed with some sort of cancer over the course of their lifetime, according to Cancer Research UK. Although awareness and community support has come a long way in demystifying this previously taboo illness, unfortunate credit must also be given to the sheer number of individuals afflicted today, Rachmana litzlan. And that leaves me wondering: How can that be?

Why has cancer become so rampant and so prevalent in the last century that it has been deemed an epidemic? Previously, outbreaks of such proportions were either contagious or originated from a common (un)hygienic element or environmental source. From the Black Death pandemic of the Middle Ages to the polio epidemic of the 1950s, infectious viral and bacterial diseases are easily explained by science. Indeed, the widespread use of artificial immunity, (i.e., vaccination) has made diseases like tuberculosis and malaria almost unheard of in the Western world. Cancer is not contagious. It is a natural blunder in the body’s magnificently tuned synchrony, a malfunction of the tiniest of reproductive activity in a single microscopic cell, one that can have vast and tragic consequences. The common Jewish perspective on it is that so long as we are meant to struggle in this world, no amount of immunization and antibiotics will ward off the curse of disease. Instead of today’s deaths being a direct result of infection, they’re disproportionately related to cancer. While we Yidden have the privilege and comfort of knowing that this is part of Hashem’s plan, we also know that He op-

78 Wellspring | October 2019

erates through teva, nature. How can this be explained from a scientific perspective? The simplest answer is popular longevity. The average lifespan in pre-Columbian America was 25–30 years, as calculated in Michael R. Haines and Richard H. Steckel’s A Population History of North America, whereas today the average life expectancy for citizens of many European countries is over 80. More time alive is the easiest way to justify more tumors, since every year brings with it that much more possibility for things to go wrong. The National Cancer Institute states that there are far more cancer diagnoses in people over 60 than the rest of the population, and many people seem to be satisfied with this explanation. It is only natural that an engine as highly complex and delicate as the human body should go awry occasionally — and longer lives means more chances for such mishaps to spell havoc. While the explanation rings true, it’s somewhat hollow. Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in the United States for children past infancy, according to the National Cancer Institute. Far too many cancer diagnoses are made among young and vibrant people, whose bodies “shouldn’t” be messing up one fine morning. Is there really nothing aside from life expectancy on which to blame the exploding cancer rate? Although many in the medical community accept that explanation (and add a warning that smoking causes cancer), a growing circle of holistic practitioners and caregivers, as well as patients and survivors claim there is a much more basic and obvious reason. What changed is not merely how long we live, but rather how we live.

What Changed? Chris Wark, a 40-year-old American who naturally cured his own stage 3 colon cancer, has since been sharing his method with the world through a program he markets. Here’s how he explains what changed: “Cancer rates exploded when the human race went from working from dusk to dawn, eating whatever nature’s bounty provided, doing lots of natural exercise, and consuming no artificial substances whatsoever, to the way our lives have looked ever since the industrial revolution. We now live with synthetic light, highly processed and toxic materials we consume as food, sitting most hours of the day, and being exposed to artificial substances wherever we turn,” he explains, as quoted in his “Square One Program” crash-course lecture series. Many naturalists prove the point by highlighting the drastically lower levels of cancer in parts of Asia, much of which isn’t as industrialized as the West. Japan, China, India, and other parts of of Southeast Asia boast populations whose lifestyles aren’t so different from those of our ancestors hundreds of years ago. The same goes for sections of South America. The cancer rates in those locales are far lower than those in Western nations, as noted by the American Institute of Cancer Research. Today, the average American’s diet consists of what only royalty could access in bygone days. Our food supply is virtually unlimited, available around the clock and at a few moments’ notice, and packed with all sorts of unhealthy, unnatural, chemically engineered taste-improving elements. Indeed, it was the nobles who were overweight and unhealthy through the years. Today it’s us. Cancer has been around for thousands of years, and there are mummies with traces of it to prove its existence unequivocally. Holistic healers use this powerful time-lifestyle formula not only to explain — and possibly help prevent — the rise in cancer diagnoses, but also as a natural treatment for cancer that’s already present. The body can, and does, naturally heal cancer when properly fortified.

What Is Cancer? To understand this revolutionary claim and method, it is necessary to get a basic idea of how cancer develops. Cancer is a natural and almost inevitable part of our lives; most of us will have some cancerous cells in our bodies at some point. Cancer occurs during cell reproduction. A healthy cell whose lifespan is nearing its end will reproduce its DNA and die a natural death. Mutated cells, however, become flawed at some point in their reproduction. Ideally, they should repair themselves or die an early death. And, in most cases, the immune system will detect such a problematic cell and prevent it from harming the body or spreading its DNA further. But when mutated cells start multiplying unnaturally and uncontrollably, cancer occurs. If the cancer spreads far enough that a millimeter-sized tumor — the smallest possible size that can be detected — has developed, it implies there is already a buildup of around a million mutated cells that have been multiplying far too quickly. The immune system has not been able to detect or defeat the mutations, which occurs when the system is overloaded, suppressed, or both. Once cancer has grown or spread, it can be fatally destructive. Holistic healing places confidence in the body’s ability to destroy that which it has itself created, and works to empower the immune system to naturally eliminate the cancer. Often employed only as a complementary program alongside conventional treatment, natural healing asks what was missing that caused the body to initially fail in its fight against those first few mutated cells. Then the practitioner works to fortify and strengthen the body with what it needs to retroactively attack the cancer. For many people, cancer sounds too medical to be linked to anything natural or dietary. But hardcore

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 79

Living Well

Feature

Why has cancer become so rampant and so prevalent in the last century that it has been deemed an epidemic? research, as recorded by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, shows that 70%–95% of cancers are created by diet, lifestyle, or environmental factors. Cancer develops in a body where it can produce, spread, and thrive, and natural healing aims to make the body inhospitable to this disease. Simple Science Says A circumstance in which cancer that started developing is suddenly, inexplicably beaten by the immune system is scientifically termed spontaneous remission. Naturalists, however, claim that there’s nothing “inexplicable” about it; they posit that the right nutritional fortification can strengthen the body’s defenses enough that the body itself works to kill and eliminate even sizable tumors. Reducing the body’s toxic load such as by decreasing consumption of unhealthy food, pesticide exposure, and stress, and dramatically increasing the intake of powerful antioxidants gives the immune system the kind of shock it needs to get back into high gear and attack the cancer. Of course, there are cases in which cancer has grown and spread far too much for the body’s own defense system, and a natural approach must be used only with extreme caution and strict medical guidance — and/or in conjunction with a more conventional treatment protocol. Nature’s Guidebook Diet changes play a big role in fighting cancer. The best anticancer foods are fruits and vegetables. Meat, dairy, white flour, sugar, and oil, meanwhile, are considered toxic for cancer patients and are highly discouraged by anyone who believes that cancer is preventable and even curable with the right lifestyle changes. Turmeric, ginger, green cruciferous vegetables, onions, and garlic are among the proven anticancer, immune-boosting foods, according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman (see sidebar). One survivor who underwent chemotherapy and radiation shared that in her weakened state of immunity, she caught a cold at one point at the height of her treatment. “I started putting fresh ginger into tea and the cold disappeared.” In addition to diet changes, detoxifying might include switching to natural detergents, soaps, and cleaning agents. Chris Wark, mentioned above, encourages people to install a top-of-the-line water filter and increase the body’s natural production of melatonin, a hormone that the U.S. National Library of Medicine says 80 Wellspring | October 2019

inhibits cancer growth, when a person gets enough sleep during naturally dark nighttime hours. Going organic is also a popular course of action. Genetically modified foods are destroying the powerful healing benefits present in naturally grown foods, Chris Wark says. According to a study published in Mutation Research (2019), exposure to the herbicide glyphosate, a chemical often used in conventional agriculture, has been proven to double farmers’ risk of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer originating in the white blood cells. In regions where produce is mostly naturally grown, such as in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia, there are overall lower rates of cancer — although there are many variables that could contribute to this outcome, including levels of physical activity and environmental conditions. Personal Voices Esther, my mother’s first cousin, is old enough to be my mother’s grandmother. She is a beloved figure in the family and an endearing health nut. Esther has long preached about the benefits of fermented food, even before it became trendy. She regards white flour and sugar as poisonous. When Esther was in her eighties, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and put on a holistic program by her family. I expressed my curiosity to her daughter, who she lives with, surprised that they weren’t going to follow the doctors’ recommended protocol. “Weren’t you afraid to disregard doctor’s orders and go without conventional treatment?” “My mother wasn’t young,” she answered. “Chemo would have reduced her to the sick woman the doctors claimed she already was. I wanted to try this before I committed to an aggressive treatment. She is, baruch Hashem, looking, feeling, and functioning beautifully. The cancer hasn’t spread and the quality of life certainly makes it worth it.” Although the tumor remains there, the cancer isn’t spreading, baruch Hashem. My uncle, a maggid shiur for young teenage boys, often speaks about a certain talmid of his, whose admirable self-control was so unusual as to evoke curiosity. This boy of only fifteen, healthy and well to the best of everyone’s knowledge, never let a morsel of cake or candy pass his lips. He eventually shared with my uncle the reason for his extraordinary conviction. His grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and given only

10 days to live. The family was thrown into instant and chaotic turmoil, as only such a shocking and terrifying diagnosis of a beloved mother and grandmother can do, lo aleinu. Instead of starting on what would probably be a pointless and unnecessarily painful course of chemo or radiation, which was surprisingly recommended by her medical team, despite the bad prognosis, one of the family members took matters into her own hands and started the patient on an immediate natural healing program. This, among other things, included extreme diet changes and body detoxification. At the time the boy repeated the story, his grandmother was as healthy and vibrant a year after her horrifying diagnosis as she’d ever been. The boy claimed he needed to be blind, deaf, and dumb to miss the message, and he started avoiding destructive foods — about which he had learned hands-on. I reached out to the family to find out more about the methods they used and to get the inside scoop on their astounding story.

Malka, the youngest daughter and her mother’s official caretaker, says the diagnosis was a horrific blow to the family. The holistic plan of action they embarked on was as immediate as it was intense — and effective far beyond the family’s most optimistic hopes, baruch Hashem. Malka has encyclopedic knowledge on the topic and served as a passionate voice for the cause.

“Early on in our journey, one chiropractor told me something incredibly eye-opening and empowering. He said, ‘One can only be at one place at one time — either looking for health or looking for disease.’ Conventional treatment is looking for sickness; anyone who has interacted with a cancer patient immediately post-treatment knows this to be true. We were going to do everything to bring my mother back to a perfect state of health.” The Strain of Stress

Most of us are familiar with the incredible chessed of our body’s amazing “natural” mechanism of reaction to danger. This is the fight-or-flight response, which immediately produces adrenaline and cortisol — hormones that can lend a person superhuman strength to fight or flee. What many people don’t know, however, is that everyday stresses and anxieties can trigger an identical high-alert response, producing the same hormones and internal reaction.

When necessary, this fight-or-flight response is lifesaving and empowering; when it isn’t, it weakens the body’s overall function. Stress hormones deliver messages for the body to convert stored glycogen into glucose that can be used as energy. Non-vital organs take a temporary break to allow the body to focus its energy stores on survival. The result is a constantly suppressed immune system. In addition to the damage that stress wreaks on immunity, heightened insulin, as a result of stress, spells obesity, the second leading cause for cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not to mention a slew of other health-related issues. Chronic stress can lead to insomnia, which further increases stress hormone production. Natural treatment of cancer aims to minimize the stress load on

cancer patients. It is vital that a patient not feel lost, threatened, vulnerable, or overpowered by their diagnosis. “Trusting yourself is so important,” says Malka. “The immune system is managed by the nervous system, and confidence in what you’re doing gives the body strength to do it well.” Gitty Rosenfeld is a young woman in remission from stage 2 cancer. “I believe resting — both sleeping and relaxing — played a tremendous role in my recovery,” she says. “The physical, emotional, and chemical functions of our body need to synchronize perfectly to enable maximum impact.” The warmth and strength a support network provides also contribute to lowering a patient’s stress rate. A study published in Cancer (2017) revealed a strong correlation between social isolation and poor cancer outcomes. Women with breast cancer who felt socially isolated had a 64% higher death rate than those who had a strong social support system — very sad, but not surprising considering the essential nature of community support to our emotional stability. With Complements Many patients employ natural healing modalities alongside conventional treatments. Chemo knocks out the immune system and causes side effects that can often leave the patient feeling far worse than the cancer itself. Strengthening the immune system and building up the body while giving the tumor the toughest medical treatment is often the preferred way for many patients, who want to take the safest route and comply with their medical practitioners’ recommendations. Gitty, mentioned above, was one such patient. “I’d come home from radiation treatment to a prepared juice of greens. There is no question that I did much better than the patients I knew who went for ice cream after treatment; radiation is poisonous, and the juices did wonders to clear my body of toxins. I drank aloe vera, juiced pomegranates, and ate turmeric at the recommendation of survivors. The doctors were shocked at how well I was doing and how minimal my side effects were,” she shares. In His Hands “There are no gimmicks when it comes to life,” says Malka. “We really know nothing. Trusting that He Who created the cancer can and will destroy it if He so wills it is the most empowering tool you can give yourself on this journey.” A cancer diagnosis is terrifying and devastating. With so much information out there, often much of it contradictory and confusing, survivors claim that letting go and truly trusting in Hashem is the most empowering thing to do. Gitty says she spent her car rides to and from treatments saying Nishmas. “It was clear to me that this was so much bigger than me, so far beyond the reach of the doctors and specialists. Believing in a bigger plan is the most effective coping mechanism I can advise.” May all cholei Yisrael experience complete and immediate healing. Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 81

Living Well

Feature

Q&A With

Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman is a New Jersey-based family physician who has made it his life's mission to promote nutritional healing and a nutrition-focused lifestyle. He popularized ideas like nutrient density, the nutrient equation, and his well-known, self-coined term, nutritarian. Of the 12 books he has authored on the topics of nutrition and health, six have been ranked as New York Times best sellers. Dr. Fuhrman serves as the director of research for the Nutritional Research Foundation and is a nationally acclaimed expert on using nutrition to prevent and reverse an array of diseases. How did you first get involved in natural healing as prevention and treatment for disease? When I was in my teens, my father grew overweight and sickly, and he turned to nutritional education and lifestyle changes to reverse his health. With the many books on health and nutrition around the house, I became knowledgeable about the topic and discovered I had an intense passion for the power of nutrition. My father had a chain of shoe stores in the New York area that I should have superseded management of, but my passion wasn’t there. I actually went to medical school with the express intent of specializing in nutrition and eating habits, and I’ve been spending the last 40 years of my life actively spreading the message that eating well means living well.

derstand what foods our bodies were designed to run on. Most prescription medications are carcinogenic and toxic, and diseases eventually born of them are further treated with more drugs. From my perspective, people underestimate the power of nutrition.

Eat to Live is probably the most popular book associated with your name. What is the book’s message? When you eat foods that don’t have proper nutrients, your body builds up toxins that make you feel weak, achy, tired, and drive you to crave more toxic calories. It was the first book that explained why people don’t lose weight on conventional diets. Low-nutrient food intake turns humans into calorie-consuming monsters. This generation is obsessed with food.

It is incredibly rewarding to watch people turn their lives around. The patients I’ve worked with have lowered their blood pressure, lost lots of toxic body fat, and rid themselves of asthma, psoriasis, and a host of other autoimmune diseases. And they have cured their cancer.

The method outlined is expressed as the nutrient equation: health equals nutrients divided by calories. The higher your nutrient value per caloric unit, the stronger and more able your body is. Conversely, consuming low-nutrient foods with a high calorie count is detrimental to human health and necessarily shortens life expectancy.

Can you define the term nutritarian?

A whopping percentage of the population in Western nations is overweight, and there is no such thing as an overweight but healthy person. Excess fat is pro-inflammatory and may cause cancer. The government’s rather tremendous calculation of overweight Americans is actually moderate, since they have moved the mark of overweight from 23 to 25 on the BMI chart.

The basic meaning is “rich in nutrients,” particularly those found in plant foods, as those develop and empower the immune system. Micronutrient-rich foods naturally suppress cravings, so ideal body weight becomes the natural by-product of practicing a nutritarian diet. Powerful anti-cancer, immune-boosting foods include the G-BOMBS: greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries, and seeds. Teaching others about the benefits and details of proper nutrition empowers people to take control of their health. Food is so powerful; we have so much scientific evidence to help us un-

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Does your treatment plan employ any therapies or detoxifying programs aside from diet changes? The nutritarian diet takes center stage, but we start the carefully discriminatory selection process already in the soil the food is

grown in. At our retreat in San Diego, we create the best soil combination for the most nutrient-rich, naturally healthy produce. Regenerative muscular massage, a type of treatment we offer, is often necessary to release an individual’s tense muscles and allow the nutrients to seep in. A trained massage therapist first palpates and identifies the areas that have increased muscle hardness, contraction and sometimes tenderness, and then compresses and releases every centimeter of that muscle over and over from origin to insertion to flush out lactic acid and enable improved blood flow to the contracted tissues and nerves. It is not rubbing or massage, as that can irritate injured tissue but instead, just pressing straight down to flatten and release the muscle to stimulate blood, oxygen, and nutrient flow. As the tissues soften, patients often experience pain relief. The scans—body composition analysis, which includes body fat percent, body fat weight, lean body mass and visceral fat, as well as traditional blood tests and measurements— clearly indicate the nutrient levels dropping, which tells us that the micronutrients have started diffusing into the muscles and affecting more cells.

To what extent do you believe the body can retroactively build up the immune system to fight a disease? You don’t need to take my word for it; the results speak for themselves. I’ve been treating “incurable” diseases for decades with incredible results. We had a patient on the waiting list for a kidney transplant who recovered completely through employing a nutritarian diet. He is healthy and well, with perfectly functioning kidneys. We treated a man with prostate cancer who, through our intense program and training designed to maintain the nutritarian lifestyle long-term, is cured. I believe it’s barbaric that nutrition is not the immediate, first line of therapy in all treatment plans.

As an MD, would you ever recommend diet changes in place of conventional treatment? It depends on the type of cancer. Conventional treatment varies in effectiveness according to the type and stage of cancer, but nutrient therapy is in all cases more effective and definitely essential. If not employed exclusively, it should certainly be used as complementary treatment. If the cells are growing rapidly, conventional treatment can be more effective, killing up to 999/1,000 cancerous cells. But, even then, the few remaining cells keep multiplying and eventually cause a recurrence, and the second time around, the cells are much

tougher and more resistant to chemotherapy. These were, after all, the resilient cells that had survived the first round. Nutrition enables the body to fight every last cancerous cell. This past month, I worked with a man whose doctor had told him he needed immediate surgery. He visited our retreat, dropped 30 pounds, and is cancer-free.

With cancer so rampant and with nutrition so effective, why is this message so rarely heard? Food is addictive. Many people would rather die than change their eating habits, because they are afraid all pleasure will be sucked out of their lives as soon as they let fats and sweets go. So they stuff themselves with toxic calories and then end up overweight and on carcinogenic drugs. It’s like getting breathing meds when your lungs are blackened and inflamed, but not stopping to smoke. What they don’t know is that you can enjoy eating healthily if you do it right; you will stop craving low-nutrient, high-calorie food after a while on a nutritarian diet.

The doctors themselves are just as overweight and confused; it’s a case of the blind leading the blind. There is a complex and nuanced history explaining how the medical community has come to completely ignore the vitality of nutrition and focus on treating symptoms, but the reality today is that the doctors aren’t educated in this and, frankly, the money isn’t there.

We do have a growing awareness in this area of health. I’m one of the founders of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. The idea of nutrition preventing and curing disease is spreading and gaining popularity. Still, it isn’t the interest of mainstream doctors at this point. It’s absolutely tragic. Shouldn’t every cancer patient be told of this option? Shouldn’t every autoimmune-diseased person know what caused his illness?

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Treating the Disease Five Standard Cancer Treatments The standardized program for cancer treatment as recommended by an oncologist and modified for each patient is referred to as conventional treatment. Treatment plans are personalized and adapted based on the cancer type, location, stage, and the individual’s age, gender, and medical profile. Surgery: Surgically removing the cancer, often with some surrounding healthy tissue, works best for solid tumors contained in one area. Sometimes the surgeon will just debulk, or partially remove, the tumor, in a case where it is near a sensitive or vital organ. Debulking can help other treatments be more effective. Recovery after surgery can be painful and slow, and carries the risk of infection. Cryosurgery, laser, and hypothermia are modern therapies classified as surgery that are not actually invasive. They utilize various elements, temperature extremes, and light beams to remove most or all cancerous cells of a specific type of cancer. Chemotherapy: Chemo refers to using orally administered or injected drugs to kill cancer, often cells that remain after surgery or radiation, or cancer that has returned or spread. Chemotherapy is used on many types of cancers and is designed to target fast-growing cells in the body. For this reason, other rapidly growing cells in the body, such as those that line the mouth and intestines and those that cause the hair to grow, are often affected, causing such infamous side effects as hair loss, nausea, and mouth sores. Fatigue is the most common and intense side effect of chemo. Radiation: Radiotherapy kills cancer cells or slows their progress by damaging their DNA, hopefully to the point where they stop multiplying or die. Radiation beams can be supplied externally, through a noisy machine that sends radiation into the body from many directions to a localized spot; or internally. This can include a solid source of radiation placed on or near the tumor, or a liquid source of radiation taken orally or injected, which circulates in the body and seeks out cancerous cells. Radiotherapy is most often combined with other treatments, such as before or after surgery. It takes a while to take

effect, and cancerous cells will keep dying long after radiotherapy is complete. In most cases, even where the radiation is localized, radiotherapy will usually affect surrounding healthy cells and cause a variety of side effects based on the site of the cancer. Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy aims to fortify the immune system to naturally fight the cancer. Some immunotherapy drugs help mark the cancerous cells so that they can no longer avoid the immune system’s detection, and while not yet as common as chemo, surgery, or radiation, many versions have been discovered and tested in recent years. Immunotherapy may be administered orally, topically, through intravenous or intravesical (i.e., through the bladder) application. The breakthrough of immunotherapy is that since it is the body’s own mechanism that targets and kills the cancer, other cells are minimally affected. Potential side effects include pain, swelling, soreness, itchiness, flu-like symptoms such as weakness, nausea, fatigue, headache, or high or low blood pressure, and sinus congestion, heart palpitations, and weight gain. Fatal allergic reactions are also possible but rare. Targeted therapy: Fairly recently approved and thus new on the cancer-treatment scene, targeted therapy uses drugs to target and interfere with the genetic mutations in the cells that cause the abnormal growth. Changes in the genetics of cells are what cause unusual protein production and the consequent reproduction abnormalities; targeted therapy will interfere with those new messages, obstruct the cell’s ability to process the changes, or kill cancer cells. The drugs used in targeted therapy, or precision medicine, as it is often called, are designed specifically with the cancer cells in mind, so a cancer patient would need to test their cells and ascertain if there is a drug available that can target their particular cell mutations. Side effects include liver problems, rashes, hair depigmentation, high blood pressure, and problems with blood clotting and wound healing.

This article is intended for informational purposes only. Please consult with your medical practitioner before embarking on any health-related program.

84 Wellspring | October 2019

i f h s e r o m ess f i l t e l Sure it’s gefilte fish, but you probably aren’t buying it for the potato starch and onions. That’s why we pack each Ungar’s loaf with more fresh, responsibly-sourced whitefish and pike, and fewer fillers - no substitutes, powders or artificial flavors, ever.

Living Well

At the Dietitian By Tamar Feldman, RDN, CDE

Estrogen Dominance

How Lifestyle Impacts Women’s Health

If you’re struggling with infertility, PMS, mood swings, and/or weight gain, you may be dealing with a hormone imbalance. Having too much estrogen — known as estrogen dominance — is linked not just to these frustrating and uncomfortable symptoms, but also to a higher risk of developing female cancers. Estrogen can wreak havoc on the body if it’s not properly balanced with other reproductive hormones, such as progesterone. Chani had a classic case of estrogen dominance. While she ostensibly came to see me for weight loss, she eventually confided in me her concerns about her PMS, irritability, high-stress lifestyle, and fertility difficulties. When questioned, she related that she had a family history of breast cancer, and was quite concerned about learning how to reduce her own risk. I also suspected that she had a sub-clinical thyroid imbalance due to an estrogen dominant state, as evidenced by her slower than typical pace of weight loss.

86 Wellspring | October 2019

When Estrogen Becomes a Problem The hormone estrogen is naturally produced in the adrenal glands and stored fat tissue, as well as in the ovaries. Estrogen is necessary for many important functions such as childbearing, keeping cholesterol in check, and protecting bone health. However, when estrogen levels get out of balance with other hormones, it can lead to a number of issues.

Symptoms of Estrogen Dominance • Weight gain, mainly in hips, waist, and thighs

• Menstrual problems such as light or heavy bleeding • PMS

• Uterine fibroids • Fatigue

• Depression or anxiety Estrogen is metabolized by the liver through three different pathways. Depending on the pathway, estrogen will be converted into either good or bad metabolites. With some pathways, the body produces good estrogen metabolites, which support positive moods and reproductive health. However, when the body converts too much of the hormone using the other pathways, the individual experiences estrogen-dominant symptoms such as irritability and PMS. This will also cause problems such as thyroid dysfunction, a higher risk of development of female cancers, and infertility.

Thyroid Dysfunction Excess estrogen raises levels of thyroid binding globulin (TBG), the protein that allows thyroid hormones to travel through the bloodstream. When thyroid hormones are attached to TBG, they remain inactive, so the thyroid hormones canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be stored in tissues or converted to their active form in order to fuel the body and its metabolic processes. This is why so many of my clients with estrogen-dominant symptoms seem to have normal thyroid hormone levels in the blood, but demonstrate all the signs of thyroid deficiency at the cellular level.

Hormonal Cancers By far, the biggest risk associated with estrogen dominance are hormone-dependent cancers, including breast, uterine, and ovarian cancers. Hormonal cancers are associated with stored fat, which produces the most potent form of estrogen, estradiol. This type of harmful estrogen is more difficult for the body to detoxify, leading to more circulating estrogen and â&#x20AC;&#x153;badâ&#x20AC;? estrogen metabolites. For this reason, overweight and obese women have a higher risk of developing breast cancer.

Infertility Estrogen dominance can cause infertility by causing irregular cycles, as well as by decreasing levels of progesterone, which is the hormone that allows a pregnancy to continue.

When I broached the subject of estrogen dominance to Chani, she expressed that she felt I was right on target based on all of her symptoms. After she did her own research, she mentioned to me that she had required supplemental progesterone in the beginning of a few of her prior pregnancies, and believed it was due to her estrogen dominance. She also agreed that her thyroid was likely not functioning at ideal capacity, based on her long-term difficulty losing weight despite her hard work and efforts. Chani and I decided to tackle this issue headon in order to speed up her weight loss, reduce her risk of cancer, and improve her future chances of conceiving easily.

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 87

Living Well

At the Dietitian

Common causes of estrogen dominance By far, one of the biggest sources of excess estrogen is our modern diet. Commercially-raised animals are injected with growth hormones to make them grow bigger and faster or increase milk production. These hormones make their way into our food, where they can disrupt our own natural hormone balance. Pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides found on conventional produce are known endocrine disruptors that interfere with our natural hormone activity and metabolism. While they may only exist in small quantities on individual fruits and vegetables, the cumulative effect quickly adds up and hasn’t been studied enough to determine what the longterm effects might be.

Excess body fat (especially stored in the hips, waist, and thighs) is one of the leading causes of estrogen dominance. Not only does fat tissue absorb and store estrogen circulating in your bloodstream, it also synthesizes estrogen from the other hormones. Having high levels of estrogen cues the body to make more fat cells, which then produce even more estrogen, creating a vicious cycle.

Synthetic hormonal medications contain estrogen without the necessary progesterone to maintain proper hormone balance, and can cause estrogen-dominant symptoms as well.

Strategies to heal estrogen dominance: • Avoid dairy products and meats from cows that were injected with growth hormones. • Opt for organic produce whenever possible to avoid pesticides and fertilizers. If buying all organic produce isn’t feasible, be sure to check out the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list for the worst offenders. • Filter Your Water. Due to pollution and runoff, hormonedisruptors are rampant in our water supply.

• Use Non-Toxic Body Products. Switch out chemicalladen personal care products for safer versions that are free of synthetic compounds. • Lose weight. Decreasing body fat will automatically decrease the amount of estrogen produced by those fat cells.

• Ditch the Plastic. Plastics contain xenoestrogens, artificial compounds that can mimic the effects of estrogen in the body. Replace all your plastic storage containers and water bottles with glass or stainless steel.

• Relieve Your Stress. Take measures to relieve your stress,

such as yoga or meditation. Make sure you’re getting adequate sleep at night to let your body detox excess estrogens via the proper liver pathways. • Eat plenty of estrogen-lowering foods, including:  Cruciferous vegetables  Mushrooms  Red grapes  Seeds

 Whole grains  Green tea

 Pomegranates

• Supplement. Take Calcium-D-Glucarate, which binds estrogen that would otherwise be recycled and reabsorbed by your body and flushes it out of your system. In addition, N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC), Milk Thistle, and AlphaLipoic acid all support your liver since they work to safely detoxify and clear the estrogens.

Chani was intent on attacking her estrogen dominance head-on, and religiously followed all of the recommendations above. At the four-month mark, she noticed that her PMS had improved and her pace of weight loss had increased. Six months later, she notified me of her new pregnancy, which happened much faster than in the past. She was greatly appreciative of her new awareness of the topic of estrogen dominance, particularly for its implications in reducing her risk of breast cancer, as well as for its impact on improving her thyroid, fertility, and overall quality of life.

Tamar Feldman, RDN, CDE is a highly acclaimed and experienced registered dietitian/nutritionist and certified diabetes educator. She maintains a busy nutrition practice with offices in Lakewood and Edison, and via phone/skype to numerous international clients, specializing in balanced and sustainable weight loss and nutrition therapy for autoimmune and gastrointestinal issues. She can be reached at 732-364-0064 or through her website: www.thegutdietitian.com. Follow her @gutdietitian. Write to Tamar at tamar@thegutdietitian.com to join her whatsapp group for weekly gut health lectures.

88 Wellspring | October 2019

Living Well

Health Personality By Shiffy Friedman

Cup of Tea With:

Dr. Eli Halpert

Don’t Suffer in “Vein” Throughout life, every human body experiences its share of wear and tear. Especially for women in or past their childbearing years, the development of varicose veins is certainly a common challenge that progresses over time. Although varicose veins and other vascular issues are overwhelmingly common, all too often they go untreated. “Many people are not aware that nowadays, all it takes is a minimally invasive treatment for them to improve their quality of life,” says Dr. Eli Halpert, a vascular physician and a frum father, who runs a New-York based vascular and interventional radiology practice.

Dr. Halpert’s choice in the professional arena has its roots in a personal passion. “My focus on venous disease developed as my family grew. I am privileged to be part of a frum community with women having multiple pregnancies, my wife among them. This gave me some insight into the physical demand of the daily routine on the working or stay-at-home mom,” he says of his decision to enter this particular niche of medicine. “While some women start noticing their veins bulging during pregnancy, after birth they may not be as cosmetically displeasing. Compression stockings are recommended and can

90 Wellspring | October 2019

OCCUPATION: Vascular physician

SINCE: 2006

LOCATIONS: Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx

PASSION: Helping people have a better quality of life with just one safe, easy, minimally invasive treatment.

WISHES PEOPLE WOULD KNOW THAT: If you’re noticing symptoms in your legs, realize that even if you’re suffering from vein issues for a long time, there are likely steps you can take to improve the situation and reduce your pain.

Living Well

Health Personality

help prevent worsening disease progression as a first line of treatment. Indeed, they may alleviate some pain and discomfort, but with each successive pregnancy, the symptoms worsen exponentially and that’s where I can make a difference.”

As he explains further, Dr. Halpert entered the field of vascular and interventional radiology for several reasons. “In addition to personally witnessing the manifestation of venous disease, from a frum perspective, it’s very advantageous in that it allows for multiple avenues of growth in the field without interfering overwhelmingly with my family-oriented lifestyle.” In an area of medicine with advanced surgical techniques and out-patient procedures, Dr. Halpert is able to make a profound difference in the lives of his patients without compromising significantly on the quality of his own. “I originally started out with general surgery, but I soon realized that such a lifestyle would not be in sync with my family values,” he says. Once Dr. Halpert decided on a niche in the medical field that suited his lifestyle preferences and provided him with the personal satisfaction he sought, this ambitious practitioner took to it with a passion. As a vascular physician, he left no stone unturned to explore treatment options that would leave his patients feeling better and more mobile in a most minimally invasive fashion. “Until 15 to 20 years ago,” says Dr. Halpert, “varicose veins were treated in a way that was not only highly invasive, but often carried more risks than benefits. Surgical intervention for varicose veins involved stripping veins completely, which carried a greater risk for infection and too often left cosmetically displeasing surgical scars. And so, because people were hesitant to undergo the available treatment, they’d walk around with the pain and discomfort, along with the worsening cosmetic appearance, indefinitely. ”

Today, however, says Dr. Halpert, the reality is very different. “I haven’t done a vein stripping in 12 to 13 years. These days, the technology is highly advanced. I utilize an ultrasound device to locate the target veins and in 5 to 10 minute sessions that involve no cutting at all, I treat the affected area.” There are other issues with which women can be helped nowadays in a minimally invasive fashion. Dr. Halpert elaborates, “As interventional radiologists (IR), we have the tools to treat some of the most common chronic problems women deal with daily. One 92 Wellspring | October 2019

such disease process is uterine fibroids. The number one reason for hysterectomies in the United States today are fibroids, and we can perform a minimally invasive treatment known as UFE (uterine fibroid embolization), which blocks off the arteries that feed the fibroid. The incredible way that UFE works is that instead of cutting out the tumor, we suppress its ability to grow. We cut off the water flowing into the roots of the plant, so to speak, and when we plug it up to stop the blood flow, we effectively stop the fibroid’s growth. Once the fibroid growth does not receive its source of nourishment, like a plant without water, it shrivels up and dies.” Perhaps Dr. Halpert’s greatest lesson in the field is coming to the realization that despite the resources available for people, especially women, to help themselves, too many are still not aware of what’s out there.

“What I’ve realized over the years,” he confides, “is that women put up with a lot of unpleasant circumstances that they don’t need to put up with. They think that a lot of what they’re experiencing is normal. My wife, for example, thought that after four hours of standing on her feet at work, it’s normal for her feet to swell. A nurse practitioner I was training in a different capacity told me that after hearing one of my talks, she realized for the first time that it wasn’t okay not to be able to stand on her feet and wash her dishes on Motzaei Shabbos. I ended up treating her veins, and now she is pain free.”

“People think it’s normal that their legs are more swollen in the evening than in the morning. But that’s a sign that something is going on with their veins. I tell them this so they understand why it’s so important to put on compression socks first thing in the morning, before the legs have a chance to swell.”

While Dr. Halpert does perform the treatment to heal varicose veins, which essentially are veins that have become enlarged, he emphasizes that his work is not only about the treatment. “It’s also about the education so that people can take better care of themselves. If you understand why something is bothering you, you’ll understand what to do to make it better. If you understand that having swollen legs is an indication of veins that need to be treated, you’ll wear compression stockings right at the beginning of pregnancy, not when your legs are already swollen, even if the stockings feel tight and uncomfortable. Wearing compression socks is the first line of treatment and prevention, from the

moment a woman knows that she’s pregnant because pregnancy will put stress on her legs. Even if a few months after giving birth they won’t be as swollen anymore, the veins are still there, under the skin, and as she ages, those veins that were stretched out will distend. Once the veins are already bulging, the damage was already done.

“When women come to me with vascular issues in their legs, I ask them, ‘Do you ever notice that when you put on slippers, your skin is bulging between the straps?’ It’s particularly noticeable in high-heeled shoes. Many women think it’s because their legs are heavy, but that is not always the case. Very often, all of this can be easily avoided by wearing compression socks.”

What are the signs women should look out for in regards to varicose veins? “Heaviness in the legs toward the end of the day,” says Dr. Halpert. “Bulging veins, especially those that get worse with the menstrual cycle. All of these are things to look out for to get assessed, certainly if you’ve had a bout of cellulitis or if you have a history of blood clots, chas veshalom. There are many different options for non-surgical interventions.” While varicose veins affect individuals across the population, they’re especially prevalent amongst women with multiple pregnancies. “The more frequently you blow up a balloon,” Dr. Halpert explains, “the more stretched out it becomes. And so, the incidence of varicose veins, certainly increases with each pregnancy. Another factor is lifestyle, such as in the case of a woman who has to stand for long hours on her feet. Of course, a lot of it boils down to genetics. If varicose veins runs in your family, I would especially advise wearing compression socks when applying stress to your legs, like exercising or prolonged standing. I’d also advise keeping the weight off in an effort to help prevent the development of the disease.”

While varicose veins are also a cosmetic issue, they are first and foremost a health risk in leading to venous insufficiency, which is why Dr. Halpert is so passionate about educating the public about the importance of its treatment. “Venous insufficiency, a condition that occurs when the venous walls and/or valves in the legs veins are not working effectively, is a big focus across the country. It could happen at any point in life, to men and to women, and it makes it difficult for the blood to return to the heart from the legs. If it’s not treated, it could lead to cellulitis and ulcers, chas

v’shalom.”

The international classification system for venous insufficiency is known as CEAP (clinical-etiological-anatomical-pathophysiological). “The most important part of the classification is the clinical part, the visual exam. Just looking at someone’s legs is often enough to determine the level of their venous insufficiency. The scoring system runs from C0 to C6, with 0 being no problems and 6 being someone who has already developed an ulcer in her leg.

“In the best-case scenario, varicose veins is just a cosmetic concern. In C1, for example, we see tiny little spider veins. In C2, we start seeing bulging varicose veins that should be evaluated. In C3, they’re already very swollen, which is what we call edema of the legs. C4 already leads to changes in the skin because of the compromised vascular system. It’s like a sponge that wasn’t rinsed well. Because you’re not cleaning out the dirty water stuck in the sponge, the sponge can’t clean the dishes. If the muscles are filled up with old blood, lacking necessary oxygen, you may get cramps, like a stitch in the chest or belly. Chronic skin changes are not necessarily a sign of infection, but they are an indication of insufficient nutritional support that is necessary to keep the skin alive. C5 is an ulcer that has healed and C6 is an active ulcer.

“While the disease does not progress from 0 to 6 overnight, it can noticeably worsen over months to years. Prevention is key. The little changes can really impact our quality of life a few years down the line.

“Treatments for veins in the legs are so easy, safe, and relatively quick,” Dr. Halpert reiterates, “that it’s almost ridiculous to have surgical intervention or to see it as too hard to get it done. Women who have issues when they’re pregnant will have issues as they age. It’s critical for them to recognize it so they don’t get worse. Keep in mind that just because you’ve been dealing with it for years and you were able get along with your routine doesn’t mean the issue is not there and that it can’t get better. Know that you could have better quality of life and it may only be one safe, easy treatment away.” Dr. Eli Halpert can be contacted via Wellspring.

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 93

Special Theme Section

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Cover Feature

Clay Hands Potter in the

of the

On the fragility of life

With careful, deliberate motions, he deftly maneuvers the clay with his fingers, sculpting it this way and that, until a masterpiece emerges. Like stone in the hands of the mason, like a tapestry in the hand of the embroiderer â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so are we in the hands of Hashem. How fragile life is, and thus, what a gift.

In this special theme section, Wellspring presents six fascinating personal essays that highlight the blessing that is our health.

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96 Wellspring | October 2019

As Long As the Heart Beats Rabbi Leib Kelemenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Newborn Son Clung to Life by an Almost Invisible Thread of Hope Written by Miriam Koenig

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Let’s take a look at Landau’s Quality Standards.

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My story begins with my wait outside the surgical theater of a Jerusalem hospital. My wife Chana had just undergone an emergency cesarean section, and as she was being readied for the recovery room, I watched as they washed up my newborn baby boy and then wheeled him down the hall to Chana’s room. Toward late afternoon, I left for home to tend to the various responsibilities awaiting me after the birth. When I returned the next morning I found Chana standing up and gently rocking the baby, claiming she was doing fine and that the scar had healed. With both the doctor’s and my urging, we got her to return to bed, but over the course of the next couple of days, the scene repeated itself too many times. Chana was up and cheerfully strolling the hospital corridors, and the horrified doctors declared that they could take no responsibility. They discharged Chana and our newborn baby within two days. The night before the bris we sat around enjoying our new baby. “You know,” Chana suddenly said, “I’m afraid the baby is not well. I don’t think we should do the bris milah tomorrow.” In addition to being an incredibly intuitive mother, Chana has background in first aid, so I took this very seriously. But although Chana claimed the baby was nursing well, his muscle tone was great, the pulse was terrific, and eye dilation was good, she still said, “I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel that something is wrong.” Perplexed, I reach out to my brother-in-law, a famous cardiologist in the US whom my wife trusts completely. I filled him in on the situation, responding in the negative to each of his concerns. “I believe the baby is okay,” he said. “But you can’t go ahead with the bris if the mother is not on board. My friend is the head of cardiology at Shaare Tzedek hospital and he is an impressive enough doctor. I believe Chana will let you go ahead with the bris once he declares the baby healthy.” After some urging on my part, we were soon on our way to the hospital. Persuading the secretary at the cardiology unit to page the doctor was no simple feat, but at the mention of my brother-in-law’s name he came running out in his white lab coat. An expert diagnostician,

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it took him no longer than three seconds of visual assessment to order an echocardiogram.

In no time at all, the room was flooded with a crowd of cardiologists. We, the parents, could not get in. For a full 45 minutes, we waited outside, until the doctors finally filed out and the single remaining chief echo-cardiographer invited us in. “Mr. Kelemen,” he said, once he closed the door and rolled his chair over to us. “Your baby should be dead. He has dozens of holes in his heart and a blocked aorta, and the only reason he’s alive is that by mercy of some fluke, the ductus arteriosus did not seal off with the baby’s first breath. It might close off at any given minute though, and the breath circulation will be no more.”

We were quickly filled in on the grim details. The baby needed emergency surgery, but since so few of these babies survive, there was no surgeon in Israel who would undertake the procedure. There were three doctors in US who could do the surgery, we were told, the best of them in Los Angeles, but since the baby would need to be immediately put into a special immobile incubator, flying him out of the country seemed out of the question. “Can we get a mobile version somehow? Does it exist in another country?” I asked.

“It won’t help. These incubators are oxygen-sensitive and cannot be put in the high air density environment of the plane unless it’s sealed. If it’s sealed, though, you’d need to attach an oxygen tank for transportation, and FAA regulations do not allow oxygen tanks on board planes.” The medical team whisked my baby out and inserted dozens of tubes through his head. I watched them put him into the incubator and close it off until barely a shadow of a baby was visible.

At this point, I was advised to call Rabbi Firer, the renowned medical askan from Bnei Brak who, as soon as he heard the diagnosis, rattled off the relevant challenges and complications, as well as a possible plan of action. “There’s a mobile incubator in France,” he said. “The oxygen tank still poses a legal problem, but let me see what I can do.”

In order to be released from the hospital, we would need to find a surgeon to fly with us and a Boeing 747 with the entire back row empty to accommodate all our paraphernalia. An emergency phone call to my travel agent, a rather costly negotiation with El Al, and a sleepless few hours later, I got a call from the head of 98 Wellspring | October 2019

the Ministry of the Interior. She had somehow gotten wind of our situation and called to tell me to be at her office at 7:30 a.m. the next morning to issue a passport for the baby. She was leaving for Tel Aviv at 8:30 a.m.; it was a close shot.

It was almost 8:00 and we’d already filled out most forms when we realized the birth certificate was still in the baby’s file at Shaare Tzedek. The woman expressed no sympathy and reiterated that she was leaving at 8:30 promptly, so we ran downstairs, jumped into a taxi, and zoomed off to the hospital. That morning, a team of doctors from abroad were visiting the hospital, and the pediatric ICU had been closed off. Desperate, I began banging on the doors, crying for the doctors to care enough to help me, and davening under my breath. An old Yerushalmi cleaning woman approached the crying man at the door of the ICU, got the load of my frustration, and took matters into her own hands. Through blurred eyes, I watched her run to the information desk, gesture wildly, and run back a few minutes later with that blessed paper in hand.

We made it back to the Ministry of Interior office as the head of the department was leaving. The clock read 8:28, and our pleas convinced her to give us the relevant forms. Our next stop was the American Embassy to get the passport issued.

The Arab at the desk was courteous and efficient — so efficient that when we realized we had no picture and no way of getting one, he consulted the regulations and refused to issue the passport. I might not have learned very much in school, but a particular social studies class from fourth grade had stayed with me. I remembered a law I found peculiar: that an American citizen who’s abroad can demand to have the American consulate general come to him if he so requests. I planted myself at the desk and demanded that the consulate general be called.

He walked in fifteen minutes later, approached me, and apologetically repeated the laws that would keep us from getting the passport and flying our baby to life-saving surgery. It was like trying to reason with an ice cube; he was not listening. But finally, he found me some legal loophole — one that would mark our oneweek-old baby a visiting American diplomat — and we finally got the necessary documents. My Shacharis that morning was the most unusual one I had ever davened. Never had I felt such total helplessness, at such a complete loss. I begged Hashem to let my son live.

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Every raw ingredient is rigorously tested to meet specifications.

The hospital took care of approving our oxygen tank with the FAA. Rabbi Firer and a team of his devoted student volunteers, all of them highly trained and each more knowledgeable about the equipment than the surgeon himself, arrived to transfer the baby into the new incubator and whisked us off to the airport using a specialized ambulance. As we were zooming down the highway, the bewildered surgeon asked the chassidishe crew how much they get paid for a run like this. I’ll never forget his reply. “Money?” said the driver with a big smile. “We do this for fun!” The hospital requested that the mother be the one flying with the baby, so my wife followed the baby across the world to New York, where more of Rabbi Firer’s men were waiting to expertly execute a plane transfer and allow the entourage further on to LA, where they were taken straight from the airport to UCLA. The first surgery done, I flew out to be there as they repaired my son’s tiny heart. It was a few weeks later when the surgeon told me, “Mr. Kelemen, the hospital is a place for sick people, and your baby is perfectly healthy. You can go home.”

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The discharge papers included a 30-page list of every BandAid and needle we had used, and the total bill amounted to $749,000. I was shown to the financial aid department with no plan and a bitter smile at the situation. That smile quickly became a genuine one. Just ninety days earlier, the state of California happened to have passed a law to encourage people to come their hospitals for experimental surgeries. In what was believed to be an impossible set of criteria to meet, the law stated that if a Californian state citizen who belonged to a minority group flew in from out of the state for a surgery of this nature, the state will cover the expenses. Our baby was the first person to qualify under this law. Five months later our son was taken to his bris. Every doctor from the cardiology unit in Shaare Tzedek was there. One was sporting a newly-covered head, another had started saying Bircas Hamazon in the aftermath of our miracle. And I knew, then, as I know now, that in every challenge and moment of desperation, I was never alone. Even when I felt abandoned, I really wasn’t. Hashem was just as present, interfering in my life just as dramatically, and I just didn’t know. This piece is based on a recording of the story from Rabbi Leib Kelemen.

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100 Wellspring | October 2019

The Fourth H What My Brain Tumor Taught Me By Rivka M. Conway

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Headache. Heartbreak. Hospital. dartmedia.us

These three words summed up my life for almost seven years from when I was diagnosed in 2011. But then, there was a fourth:

Hope. Just a few short years ago, I was one of the crowd, young and carefree, perfectly healthy. Then I had an innocuous headache, which turned out to be a symptom of a brain tumor. And before I knew it, I was undergoing complex head scans, then brain surgery and subsequent radiotherapy, followed by chemotherapy. It was an arduous time in my life. As a single girl, I watched my friends move on in life, getting married and building families of their own. And all this time, I didn’t know what the morrow would bring, didn’t know if I could dream of having a family. I knew I needed to keep my mind off the heaviness of it all, needed to hang on tight to the fourth H. And so, I got busy with my writing. I wove pieces of poetry that portrayed the pain of it all, the hope I was clinging to. And, in celebration of my birthday, I launched a daily kindness campaign, which I called To Kindle a Kindness. “Have you ever noticed how good you feel after doing something kind and positive for others? This project is the perfect

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prescription for mental health!” I wrote to my friends. “So blow away those cobwebs; keep the blues at bay. Fight depression the ‘kindle a kindness’ way!”

Working on this project helped keep my mind off the chemo, which was already on to its fifth cycle. When I discovered that this dose would take place before Pesach, which meant I’d be chemotherapy-free right through Yom Tov, I saw it as my own Pesach miracle. Although I experienced my fair share of miracles, it was not smooth sailing by any means. After a bout of seizures, I was put through brain scans again. I remember sitting and waiting for the results. It was 10:30 in the evening when a ward doctor came over and asked if there were any relatives with me. My parents were not with me at the time, so the doctor asked that my father come in. In due time, I learned that they had seen another brain tumor mass on the brain. Shocked once again beyond measure, I slowly digested the news, silently questioning, “Why is Hashem doing this to me?”

In the end, it turned out that there was no second tumor in my. brain. A subsequent scan by my neurologist, a senior physician, confirmed this relieving news. In the midst of the hardship that was cancer, I got my injections of Hashem’s love, reminders that He’s at my side always, even when it didn’t appear that way to my human eyes. Every round of chemotherapy meant going through another torture session, another bout of side effects. From the low of crying upon taking each pill to the high of hearing that the chemo is 102 Wellspring | October 2019

working, life was certainly one dizzying merry-go-round. Finally, finally, it was decreed that my turn on this ride was over.

And now, when I sit here reflecting with wiser eyes than before, I realize what a gift every aspect of life — even something as ominous as cancer — is. How many times do we daven mechanically, without much thought, mindlessly thanking Hashem for the gift that is health and even life itself ? When a person’s life is on the line, prayer takes on a whole new meaning. When illness strikes, we feel vulnerable, swept adrift by the turbulent waves. Because I was blessed to have the storm subside, I have the opportunity to look back with an enriched perspective. The operation to remove my tumor left me with a numb leg and poor vision. Only now do I see what a gift it is to simply walk without feeling numb. Did I ever stop to appreciate that before? Why do we only appreciate what we have lost when it has been taken away?

Because I realized how healing it was for me to stay positive, I decided to count my miracles even in the bleakest of times. When we’re looking out for miracles, we simply feel so loved, so taken care of. One of the miracles I appreciated was that after being warned by the doctors of the various side effects of chemotherapy, including nausea, I was grateful that they did not actually occur after one of the rounds. I was able to go about my day while on chemotherapy pills, not feeling too bad. The pills made me feel slightly nauseous but they were bearable when counteracted by an anti-nausea tablet. Chemo pills rendered the tumor in my brain

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A screening confirms that the vitamins are evenly distributed.

dormant without causing too much damage to the rest of my body. I saw that as an open neis. How did I cope with the uncertainty that the fragility of life brought me? Intellectually, I knew there isn’t a test from Hashem that I can’t overcome, but how did this translate into action?

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I constantly remind myself that Hashem is the true Source of healing. He is the Rofei kol bassar, Healer of all flesh, as we say in asher yatzar. Doctors are only the messengers; Hashem can bring the salvation at any time, any place, and through any means. Prayer is the Jewish people’s battle cry and strength in all situations. Our response is to cry out and proclaim Shema Yisrael. I remember lying on the examination table for my very first scan, petrified, frantically praying, not knowing what to expect, crying out ‘Shema Yisrael’ — Al-mighty hear my cry, only You can help me. Every time I took my medication, I’d remind myself of Who can truly help me, by a short tefillah: “Sheyehei eisek zeh li l’refuah ki Rofei chinam atah, May it be Your will that this activity bring healing to me, for You are the free Healer.” The human body is an amazing miracle made by the one and only Designer Above. While some only appreciate this once they’ve had a health-related issue and are in need of healing or salvation, we can come to this realization even in a state of health. Focusing on the fragility of life may frighten us, but it leads us to appreciate the gift that is health.

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Living Well

Appreciating What Was Almost Lost

104 Wellspring | October 2019

Each Photo on My Bulletin Board Conveys a Story of Gratitude And Hope By Leah Krausz, executive director at Vaad Refuah

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Often, when life is at its most fragile, it is also at its most beautiful. As human beings, we constantly witness our own vulnerability. Some of us, though, experience it minute by minute. I wish there was no need for Vaad Refuah, a medical advocacy agency for patients and their families, but as long as there is, my position as executive director allows me a close-up glimpse of this reality.

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I often look at the walls that bear testimony to the vulnerability of life: not the hospitals walls, but my office walls, decorated with five bulletin boards adorned with cards, letters, and photos. Each of these keepsakes proclaims the value of life — something people often become truly aware of only after they have almost lost it. On the board to the right of my desk hangs the quintessential “milestone” photo: of parents escorting their child to the chuppah. It’s a photo that reflects the hope, prayer, trepidation, and excitement of the moment. But there’s another, subtler layer to the picture that not every observer is privy to — a layer of treasured life. I received this snapshot as an expression of gratitude from the parents, for helping them in their dire situation just a few months earlier. The father was hospitalized for a serious illness, and the medical team had put him on a respirator. The doctors were contemplating doing a tracheostomy, which would involve complicated procedures and certainly impede his recovery. The family was distressed because they intuitively felt that this intervention would not aid the patient’s recovery. The medical staff, however, remained steadfast with their decision, and they wouldn’t hear of removing the patient from the respirator . At that point, the family reached out to us. We recommended getting an opinion from a highly qualified doctor and we

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Practical Tips for Guarding Our Precious Life Fragility of life doesn’t just refer to dire medical conditions with very real mortality rates. It also applies on a very practical, physical level. Our health is delicate. It only takes a few infectious bacteria to wreak havoc in our bodies. Indeed, one of the goals of the Vaad is to educate and inform our community of the perils that can be found in hospitals. Our team constantly seeks to educate people about how to navigate the hospital protocols, the medical staff, and patient rights. On this end, in order to train patients and their families in the hospitals. we’ve compiled a guide of clear, simple tips that will ensure the shortest and most pleasant (as possible) hospital stay. We encourage patients and their visitors to take the training we provide and to read our pamphlets to avoid mistakes others have made.

Ignorance comes with a price: consequences we don’t want to pay. Infections, bedsores, and medication mix-ups are only some of the dangers that can lead to serious repercussions. Taking steps to prevent infection is especially important. Hospitals are repositories for harmful germs. According to the CDC, 1 in 25 hospitalized individuals develop healthcare-associated infections, of which 1 in 9 leads to death. That’s more than twice the number of people who die in car accidents every year! All you need is a box of Clorox wipes to constantly wipe down and disinfect every surface of the room. You may also respectfully ask medical staff to change their gloves and wash their hands once more. Another important factor that can cause havoc is medication mixups, and as unprofessional as it sounds, these things actually happen quite frequently. A recent Johns Hopkins study claims more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000. When tests, medication, or treatments are being administered, don’t hesitate to confirm that it was intended for this particular patient. Never be afraid of asking questions or making inquiries.

I also frequently meet well-meaning patients or family members who unknowingly neglect some basic health and safety precautions. One of the safety measures doctors sometimes advise prior to surgery is having the patient shower with Hibiclens and apply Bactroban in the nostrils to ward off infection. Both products are easily accessible, simple to use, and inexpensive to purchase, but when I ask patients if they used them, many reply that they didn’t bother with these precautions. It’s sad to observe how many people are unaware of the importance of these practices. There is much to learn even outside the hospital walls. The Vaad members teach and arrange classes to educate the community on how to properly perform CPR. We teach it in schools and yeshivos, and we also educate small groups of men or women who want to learn it. We also compiled a comprehensive first aid curriculum, called the Save-ALife program, through which we teach basic medical topics in schools and yeshivos.

Last summer, just few days after attending the course, one of the participants had a chance to save a family member by performing CPR. She was so learned and confident in the procedure that she was able to remain calm throughout the incident. Meanwhile, the people around her were in such a state of panic that they forgot Hatzolah’s phone number. Since she had remained composed, she was able to provide the number even as she was doing CPR. 106 Wellspring | October 2019

arranged a consultation with him. Not only did the second doctor agree that the patient did not require a tracheostomy, but he felt that the patient no longer required intubation at all. The patient was duly taken off the ventilator, and a short while later, he completely recovered, baruch Hashem. Such a story comes as to no surprise to anyone deeply involved in the medical world. Time and again, we see the stark contrast that exists between our Torah values and those of the secular world. As observant Jews, we value every moment of life and take every possible step to enhance its quality. Unfortunately, an opposing attitude can occasionally infiltrate our thinking; when a situation seems so discouraging and bleak, we can forget how much value there is just in being alive.

I also often perceive a real appreciation for life when dealing with elderly patients. I recall the remarkable story of the oldest patient we ever worked with. In retrospect, I realize that more than we helped her, she and her caregivers taught us about the sheer value of a Yid’s every moment of existence, especially as one merits to reach advanced ages We were introduced to this woman when she was 110 years old. This woman’s granddaughter visited her elderly grandmother in her nursing home, where she discovered that her grandmother was being terribly neglected by the staff, as often happens in such facilities. Patients must wait to be turned in bed, to be changed, or taken to the washroom. As the family recalls it, this was the beginning of their experience with the medical establishment, which seemed to have unanimously decided that, by virtue of their age, the elderly inherently deserve life less.

Seeing her grandmother’s unbearable conditions, the granddaughter courageously decided that her bubby would come to live with her family, and that she would ensure every possible chance of life, health, and happiness for her. She cared for her like only a blood relative could, and did everything to give her another day of life. This extraordinary granddaughter contacted us several times when her grandmother was hospitalized, and we connected her with doctors who we knew did not subscribe to the

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creed of “the older you get, the less care you deserve.”

Throughout the grandmother’s hospital stays, medical personnel constantly questioned why we were investing so much in her, treating the situation — and everyone involved in it — with scorn. At one point, when she was put on a respirator, the bubby overheard a nurse say that she would never come off it. Despite her withering body and waning strength, this woman took matters into her own hands, and, at the age of 111, she extubated herself ! We had the opportunity to assist this woman for three years (she passed away two months shy of her 114th birthday) and to learn what it means to cherish every moment of life. Each year, we celebrated her birthday with sensation and pomp, looked forward to the next year’s. Interestingly, the message our Torah conveys regarding valuing every moment of life emerged even stronger in her case. As she was aging, this woman began observing Torah more seriously. At the age of 110, she committed to keeping many mitzvos that she previously hadn’t, including covering her hair. She utilized every year that was granted to her for growth and deeper spiritual commitment. This marks our doctrine: Because life is priceless, we will do everything in our hands to enhance every individual’s quality of living.

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Another picture gracing my wall catches my attention. This one is of a beautiful, healthy-looking toddler. Here, too, the photo tells a story that serves as a constant reminder for me of the gift that is our health. The child in the photo was born prematurely—weighing in at 1.3 pounds, with almost no chance of survival — according to the doctors’ prognoses. Attached to a plethora of life-supporting equipment, the tiny new bundle wasn’t given much hope. The parents, who remained strong throughout the ordeal, contacted us to help them navigate the complicated medical world they suddenly found themselves plunged into. It was only one year later that I received a lovely gratitude letter from the parents, accompanied by a photo of a healthy, charming little boy.

As I examine the pictures and letters on my wall, I marvel at the power of even a two-dimensional photo to evoke the spirit and significance of life. When we’re blessed to understand its deeper meaning, we take every possible measure to protect it, and to cherish every moment of the life we are granted.

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Living Well

For Every Breath I Thank You

108 Wellspring | October 2019

Until He Breathed His Last, My Husband Didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Take a Single Breath for Granted By Jennifer Esther Kotler (formerly Melzer)

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My teenaged daughter forgot her new rubber bracelet at home on the first day of school. When I was cleaning up the bathroom that morning, I found it. I noticed the word “Hashem” on it, so I quickly grabbed it out of the bathroom. I saw the first half of the bracelet was printed with, “Thank You Hashem” and the other side said, “for every breath.” To be honest, I didn’t expect her silly, rubber, tie-dyed bracelet to be stamped with a quote that would blow my mind, but it did. As I held the cheap bracelet in my hand, I sunk into a chair and contemplated the gravity of this statement. It brought me back to a time when each breath was counted, analyzed, and celebrated.

“Mrs. Melzer, do you want to take Larry home so he can enjoy Shabbos with your girls? Are all the kids a hundred percent healthy? Will you be preparing all the meals yourself in a completely sterile environment? Because if he gets sick, he won’t make it, since he has no immune system. It’s up to you, but we think he should go home because you need to make the most of his good days.” I had to make life and death decisions for someone else, sometimes in a matter of minutes, and bear the consequences of these decisions.

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I was once the wife of a blood cancer patient. Life was unpredictable at best, terrifyingly overwhelming at worst. I would wake up and be crippled in fear for those few snooze button minutes, not knowing what harrowing events the day would bring. Will I see my children? Will we be released until the next round of chemotherapy? Can we call off the search for a bone marrow donor until after Pesach? My life was all about living on the edge, but not falling from it. Half believing the doctors’ dire predictions based on their experience and statistics, I knew that as Jews, we are believers in Hashem and not in science.

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Every person’s life is hanging by a thread. Sometimes, we get a glimpse of how thin and flimsy that thread is. I remember thinking: When had life become so complicated? Wasn’t it only a few months ago that our biggest argument was over where we would spend our summer vacation — at the beach or exploring up north?

they could resent not getting old; if someone’s old, they expect to get sick. How one views their life as a sick or healthy person, and how they live that life, is the biggest testament to what they’ve accomplished in their life.

My husband, the runner, the baseball player, the man who would cook and help with the kids, was living on a machine that breathed for him. He had been intubated so that his body, specifically his lungs, could heal itself. “Can’t live without functioning lungs, you know that breathing thing is pretty vital for life, heh heh heh.”

I’ve had the rare merit to have been witness to another person’s tikkun hamiddos. I got scared there wasn’t anything left to do, and I was right to be nervous. It’s possible to use this precious gift called life and do the most that Hashem wanted you to, with the potential he gave you, with the gifts of your body and soul. If you love Hashem more than yourself, then you know your time on this world is precious, and you won’t waste it on anything.

In the spacious yet minimalist office of a Tel Aviv professor, I learned how precious each breath is. “See this x-ray on my computer? Look at the lungs; they look like that cheese with the holes in it.”

As the esteemed professor babbled in broken English about losing patients every year to “stupid winter viruses,” I felt knives cutting up my insides, while attempting to maintain the appearance of composure and trying to keep it together. Then I looked again, and saw this prestigious professor, with his colorful, tootrendy plastic glasses and his contrasting white hair and it hit me. He is merely a sock puppet, just like those I remember from preschool. We had no idea what tomorrow would bring. Only Hashem, the Rofeh cholim, is the real Boss. Who are we to even believe in anyone else? So, I didn’t, and I fought to come up with creative solutions to make sure my husband has a miraculous recovery. I enlarged a picture of him with the girls so the hospital personnel would know there’s a real person inside that body, he’s not just a mound of flesh they must watch on the monitor outside his room. With his last breath, my husband told the nurse who came in to check his vitals that his mother-in-law was uncomfortably hot and to turn the air conditioning to the coldest setting even though he was freezing himself. He used his last breath to show compassion and honor for someone else. This taught me what true vatranus was. This was the ultimate mussar class.

When I was in my twenties, young and brazen, I asked my Rabbi, “Why is youth wasted on the young and healthy?” And he answered, “So that we can show Hashem what we accomplished in ruchniyus as young people when we’re old and sick.” The nisayon of sickness is supposed to come when you are old. However, sometimes old and sick don’t go together. If someone is just sick, 110 Wellspring | October 2019

It doesn’t matter how accomplished you are, if you won the muffin recipe contest, if you lost all your baby weight, or if your kids married into yichus. I learned that what matters most is if you did the best you could with the time you had, and what you did when you had the choices to come closer to Hashem.

My late husband and I wrote a blog during his illness. I will include this as part of a book I am writing called The Colors are Brighter on a Cloudy Day. This entry gives a glimpse into how a person in a precarious situation makes the most out of the gift of life. Post 186, Chanukah day 3 update (Sunday, December 13, 2009 11:05:50 GMT+0200 [IST]) Rafael Eliezer came back to the hospital today to have a spinal tap. It’s like an epidural, and those who’ve had kids know those are nerve-wracking. The neurologist was pleasantly surprised with how well he took it. Those of you who know him know that he’s not a fan of medical procedures. They removed some liquid from his spine and gave him a dose of chemotherapy.

He’s holding his own, saying he wants to take all the treatments like a good soldier. A taste of home was all he needed to motivate him. Just as he had this procedure done, his sister and wife started saying their morning blessings. Rafael Eliezer was convinced this is why he was able to be so relaxed. The nurse told us afterwards that he invited her for Shabbos. So typical! His fighting spirit is stronger than ever, he wants to put his mind over his body and get better. He has a very nice attending male physician with whom he had an interesting conversation today. Rafael Eliezer said, “Doctor, don’t you sometimes feel so powerless knowing you are limited with what you can do?” The doctor was a bit perplexed, and Rafael Eliezer elaborated

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saying, “ You must feel limited knowing that Hashem is in charge and you can only do your best to heal, but that G-d is the Ultimate Healer”.

The doctor smiled reluctantly in agreement and Rafael Eliezer asked him if he could give him a kiss! The doctor was slightly hesitant. With his wife standing by in astonishment, Rafael Eliezer put one arm around his beloved doctor and pecked his cheek. The doctor was clearly touched and so was everyone else, by this raw human reaction of a patient’s gratitude to his doctor. Basically, anyone wearing white is Rafael Eliezer’s new best friend!

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As Rafael Eliezer’s wife was getting ready to leave, she asked him if he had a fever, noticing his face was shiny and he looked sweaty; but upon further investigation, noticed his face was dry. He was just... shining. She shed a few tears upon seeing him nearly restored to his previous self. But this self is a more pruned human being, a person who knows he has a new lease on life, a second chance to live life the way he was meant to, using all his capacities to the fullest potential. Without anger, jealousy, greed, but with patience, emunah (faith) and bitachon (trust) that whatever was meant to be will be. His face is glowing, what more can we say. Like the Chanukah candles, he is a remembrance of the miracles possible during the auspicious time of Chanukah. His face is like a constant reminder that we must be grateful to Hashem for giving us the gift of life. Reading the news becomes unimportant when you know you can’t do anything to influence the outcome. So, you can stop reading it. Keeping up with the latest styles seems to be a lost cause since it changes too quickly, so you can just wear the stuff in the closet that you like the most and fits the best. When your life is precious to you, you prioritize based on how each action affects your avodas Hashem. You live each day like it’s the biggest gift — because it is.

Postscript: This story continues with how I coped during my time being widowed. Eventually, with chasdei Shamayim, I remarried, and together with my husband Tzvi, have been blessed to grow our family with the addition of three more children, a boy and two girls. With a heart full of gratitude for all the good that Hashem has done for us, we are opening the doors of our own Israeli nonprofit organization to benefit Anglo widows, called Ohr Chadash, as a manifestation of our desire to be a support to young widows and orphans going through a similar ordeal. May we be zocheh to fulfill v’samachta bechagecha and merit to greet Mashiach very soon! The writer can be contacted via Wellspring.

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Living Well

112 Wellspring | October 2019

Get to Know Your Body Why Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Passionate about Coaching People to Reverse Their Disease By Rabbi Joshua Weinstock, EMT Health Coach & Founder of HPA, Herbal Power Alternative, natural treatment for burns and wounds

In September of 2013, concerned about my health, I went to see a general practitioner. I walked out of his office with an array of prescriptions and a list of frightening diagnoses. I was proclaimed to have borderline hypertension and at risk of many other diseases. My father had succumbed to complications of diabetes at the age of 54. He’d religiously followed medical advice, which had actually exacerbated the disease: snack often, inject more insulin when you feel weak or lightheaded. And I wanted to live — not only to survive, but really live. I said, “Not me. I’m not living chained to medications and to fear.” Thankfully, I had enough knowledge to know that there are alternative ways to achieve optimal functioning. Today, I am a health coach, who, for the past few years, has been guiding people toward leading healthier lives. While the keys to health and life are in the hands of Hashem, I’ve witnessed and confirmed that once an individual understands how his body actually works, he could take active steps to change his lifestyle, and it’s likely that he’d even be able to reverse diseases like diabetes completely. Though I’m not a doctor, I work closely with doctors to monitor the patient’s blood work, and I never advise anyone to play around with their medications. I work to educate, to let people know that there’s a way back. I encourage my clients to keep going to their regular medical practitioner and to follow what he tells them — but if they’re following the plan we set up, the doctor will eventually lower their medication because the blood work will certainly change. I am dismayed time and again by how widespread preventable diseases like diabetes and hypertension are in our community. In my extensive daily work in wound treatment, I witness how pervasive diabetes-related wounds are. These wounds are

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essentially impossible to heal unless care is taken to deal with the core reason as to why they’re showing up. Insulin resistance, obesity, and type 2 diabetes — which are all rampant in the frum community — are all related. Diabetes has so many ramifications, like kidney disease, leg ulcers, or even blindness. All too often, I’m appalled at the leg ulcers and diabetic wounds people suffer from. These frightening wounds can develop even when the patient is being compliant with the standard protocol: taking their medications, eating their snacks three times a day, and drinking a cup of grape juice in case of low sugar levels. A widespread lack of knowledge of the importance of exercise and a limited understanding of how the body functions only helps to exacerbate how prevalent these common diseases are, since the people are not addressing the problems at their core. Solving an obesity issue by losing weight through means that are damaging to the body is not the answer. Popping pills for every issue that comes up may also entangle the body in a mess. Medications may help control diabetes, but even then, the issues will keep snowballing. Each side effect then requires another pill of its own.

A diabetic recently told me, “My sugar levels are very controlled. My hemoglobin is perfect.” And in the same conversation, he told me that he started on a second medication, in addition to his medication for diabetes. What was happening in his body was that while the glucose was being pushed out of the bloodstream by the first medication, it was entering the wrong parts of his body, which led to his dependence on another pill. The best way of dealing with these conditions is to simply address the problems at their roots. What I find disturbing when conversing with individuals who are struggling with such diseas114 Wellspring | October 2019

es is how a simple lack of clarity may be preventing them from taking steps to reverse their situations. Often (but admitted not always), when illness like diabetes strikes, it’s the body’s way of sending us a message: please take care of me. If we just give the body what it needs, what it was designed for, we have the ability to live the life we really want to live. Many times, when I sit down for the first time with an individual who wants to help himself, I start with the basic anatomy of the human body. Too many people don’t know what the function of the kidney or liver is. And if they do not understand, they will not make the connection between what they’re consuming, what they’re not consuming, and how it affects the entire operation going on inside of them. Food is the fuel the body was designed to run on. If I put apple juice into the engine of a car that was designed to run on gasoline or diesel, things will break. I could go to a top mechanic, change this part or that one, but my car won’t be riding smoothly any time soon. As long as the cause, the underlying reason as to why this is happening, is not explored, I could be pouring the wrong stuff into my body and it just won’t function. Through my work as a health coach, I get to be amazed at our ability to “repent.” While it’s unfortunately possible that intervention may come too late, often, if an individual is committed to making a change, the body can still repair itself. The body is actually quite forgiving; it regenerates every day. One of my clients was suffering from vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels. Conventional medicine doesn’t have a solution, except steroids and immune suppressors. When this

individual realized why this was happening — that when the body is in disarray, it starts attacking itself, he understood that if he would start cleansing his body, getting rid of the junk and filling up on the right stuff, everything would change. And it did.

When Will This End? A healthy lifestyle is unquestionably good for us, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t challenging to maintain it from the get-go. In the beginning, it’s certainly tough. If we view it as a lifestyle, we end up seeing success; if we view it as a diet, waiting for it to finish, success becomes further from our reach. I recently worked with someone who had been overweight for 40 years. Ten days into the plan, he called me and said, “I’m feeling better, and I’m sleeping better, but I want to see results on the scale.” If someone has been messing with his body for 40 years, he shouldn’t expect it to just “snap out of it” in 10 days. The body has mechanisms through which it slowly, slowly repairs itself.

From when I started leading a healthy lifestyle, I’ve seen how the small changes impact me so deeply. Even a half hour of walking on a daily basis will have positive effects on the body, since serotonin levels will increase and elimination improves. The idea is to see it as a lifestyle. If I look at it as a temporary diet, if I’m feeling deprived, if I feel I must say no to every temptation, then this way of life becomes difficult to maintain.

Today, that list of medications the doctor had given me at the start of my journey is stowed away in a safe closet. I want to be able to show it to my grandchildren, to impress upon them the responsibility we have toward the body Hashem gifted us with. When we listen to the signals Hashem sends us, we are able to guard the gift He’s granted us and do our hishtadlus in maintaining it. Please consult with your healthcare provider before embarking on any food program, exercise regimen, or undertaking a lifestyle change.

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Living Well

116 Wellspring | October 2019

Yosefâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Legacy is Still Alive My Sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Name Was Yosef Chai By Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi

Fourteen years ago, I became one of “those mothers,” the mothers for whom you can’t find the right words of comfort, the mothers who only get to see their precious child in their dreams. Fourteen years ago, our thirteen-month-old son Yosef Chai passed away, and life has never been the same since. Yosef Chai was a beautiful little boy. Born with a heart condition, he had a heart attack at the age of seven months, after which the doctors said that he would never regain consciousness. But he did. You see, our precious little baby personified his name. He was alive, alive, alive. And all he wanted was lehosif, to add more and more life. He didn’t only live, but he lived with such vigor and joy for life. From my dear Yosef Chai, I learned what it means to live. I learned what it means to hold on to every moment, to cherish every interaction. For the thirteen months of his life, the only source of nourishment he had was through nursing. He never tasted a morsel of food except for Ima’s milk. How his eyes glowed when it was time to be fed. Despite his compromised health, he loved any connection and bonding, and we made sure to provide him with plenty. A week before Yosef Chai was niftar, when his body was turning more blue by the day, I was supposed to take him for a diagnostic procedure. The day before, however, the specialist informed me that the probability was high that the baby might not survive it. Now my husband and I were stuck. Our dear Yosef Chai couldn’t carry on living without the procedure, but he probably wouldn’t survive it either. There was no

way out of this predicament! And so, we decided to push off the appointment by a few weeks. I said to my husband, “Are we really going to take our son to the hospital where he is probably going to die on the operating table? No way! If I can have one more day or one more month with him, I choose a month!” In the one week that we had left, we got to enjoy every moment with our precious baby. I got to hold him, cuddle with him, nurse him, and, of course, pray for him. I knew more intensely than ever that this baby Hashem was still allowing me to enjoy was a total gift. On the tombstone of this little baby, for whom we did so much, are just a few words: Yosef Chai ben Yemima, who was purified by suffering. There was no doubt that Yosef Chai suffered, but there was also no doubt that he lived an exalted life. Despite his youth, we saw in the glimmer in his eye that he knew what it means that every breath, every moment, is a gift. And that is what has kept us going since the day that he breathed his last. So yes, fourteen years ago, we lost our precious Yosef Chai, but deep inside our hearts we feel that he is still alive. We carry his legacy with pride.

Living Well

Midlife Matters By Miriam Liebermann, MSW, and Fryde Rekant, RN, BSN

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Maintaining Optimal Health During Our Transitional Years In June 2019, Wellspring ran an article exploring fear of change, “Why Can’t Everything Just Stay the Same?” eloquently written by Shiffy Friedman. As the article discussed, transitions can be exciting and stimulating; they can also be frightening and overwhelming.

We have been invited to join the Wellpring team to address the needs of a particular segment of our population who are truly in a transitional state. Middle-aged adults, particularly women (including ourselves), have devoted years and years to raising their families and then one day wake up and find that their children are actually growing up and leaving home to build their own lives. But, wait, there’s more.

We may not fully recognize our own selves in the mirror anymore. And our physical wellbeing may occasionally cause concern, too. It’s at this stage that self-care becomes imperative. We may be dealing with older parents, older single children, changing work roles, retirement, too much time on our hands, too little time on our hands, and numerous other scenarios and challenges. Each of the parts we need to play is demanding in its own way. At this stage, our needs are numerous, encompassing many realms including the emotional, spiritual, social, and physical. Each of us has a different mission to complete. And our Director Above knows exactly what we need in order for 118 Wellspring | October 2019

us to keep growing spiritually. But, of course, we need to do our hishtadlus to make sure that we’re doing our part to stay healthy while we work toward our mission.

While this column will primarily be focusing on physical concerns, we will occasionally address other aspects as well. We hope to cover relevant issues, raising consciousness so that we can tend to our health mindfully. We would love for you to share your concerns with us. We hope to explore them in these pages. Let’s empower one another as we gracefully — and so gratefully — segue into Act III of our lives. May we all be blessed with only happy changes and good health.

HEALTHY TO THE BONE

We all hope to stride into this new stage of life erect and strong, which naturally leads us to our first discussion: Have you had a bone-density test yet? (See sidebar for details on that.) Once we reach menopause, by the age of 50 on average, we must be particularly vigilant about bone health. Our bones increase in density throughout our childhood and teen years, and beyond. We reach our peak density by the age of 30. If we built strong bones throughout those earlier years, we have a better chance of keeping those bones healthy as we age. However, our bones are alive and changing throughout our lives, and thankfully, there is still much we can do to strengthen them, even as we age.

Getting plenty of calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium in our diets is a good place to start. (Almond milk contains double the amount of calcium as cow’s milk.) Estrogen, which we used to have aplenty, was instrumental in helping our bones absorb the calcium and magnesium. But as our estrogen supply dwindles during menopause, we must ingest even more calcium and magnesium to maintain optimal bone health.

Vitamin D and magnesium enable our bodies to process calcium most effectively. Women should ideally consume 800–1000 milligrams of vitamin D, 600–800 milligrams of magnesium, and 1200 milligrams of calcium every day. Weight-bearing exercises, such as walking, aerobics, resistance training, and weight lifting, place pressure on our bones, encouraging new tissue to grow, ultimately strengthening our bone structure. Magnesium can be found in pumpkin seeds, nuts, avocados, spinach, nori, spinach, sprouts, and dark chocolate (yay!). Vitamin D can be found in herring, sardines, salmon, canned tuna, egg yolks, mushrooms, and specific fortified

products, such as milk and orange juice, and can easily be consumed as a supplement.

Calcium is found in tofu, milk, sesame seeds, chia seeds, oranges, cheese, beans, kale, bok choy, and oatmeal. Yogurt is especially recommended, as it is not only rich in calcium but also contains probiotics, which are cultures that support gut and immune health, and are essential for the proper functioning of our digestive system.

If we have not been sufficiently vigilant over the years, we may find ourselves suffering from osteoporosis or the precursor to that, osteopenia, as bones become more porous and less dense, and increasingly vulnerable to fractures. However, it is never too late to counteract our negligence and do our utmost to overcome the normal wear and tear our bodies have been subjected to throughout many years of active living. What a miracle it is —and what a blessing — that, for the most part, our bodies, with all their intricate systems, basically operate well for many decades. The thought of it fills us with such gratitude to Hashem. Osteoporosis can also be hereditary; there is a genetic component that must be factored in. A bone scan, necessary to determine the severity of the osteopenia/ostosporosis, is usually performed by the age of 55. If osteoporosis is present, a doctor may prescribe medication to prevent further bone loss, such as Fosamax, Actonal, or Boniva, to name a few.

According to Bracha Schoenblum, DPT, a physical therapist in Woodmere, NY, muscle-strengthening and weight-bearing exercises can be very effective in building up lost bone and maintaining healthy bone. “Wolff ’s law states, ‘Bones in a healthy person adapt to the load under which [they are] placed.’ A qualified physical therapist can provide an individualized plan, indicating which exercises would be particularly beneficial for your condition,” Dr. Schoenblum says.

Correct posture and proper breathing are important as well. The spine needs to be in the correct position to keep us as pain-free as possible. Good posture can prevent the pain associated with spinal stenosis and other such ailments. Strengthening our legs, hips, and core, as well as stretching exercises, will enable us to be active for many more years and maintain spinal health. Physical therapists are especially trained in this area and can be helpful in prescribing a daily exercise regimen. Pilates and yoga can also assist with posture and breathing. If we want our bones to serve as the strong structures that hold us together, then we must do our utmost to be proactive. Take care!

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 119

Living Well

Midlife Matters

What You Should Know Bone-density scans, explained

A bone-density scan is a low-radiation x-ray (involving less radiation than a chest x-ray) that determines how many grams of calcium and other bone material are packed into a section of bone. The segments examined are generally the spine, hip, and possibly the forearm. The higher the mineral content, the stronger the bone.

Bone-density tests are generally done to identify decreases in density before a break occurs, so one can take preventive measures; to confirm a diagnosis of osteoporosis; or to monitor osteoporosis treatment. These noninvasive, pain-free tests are usually performed in a doctor’s office. No preparation is needed before the test, but one should stop taking calcium supplements 24 hours prior to the scan. Who should be scanned:

 Women 65 years or older  Men 70 years or older

 Anyone who has broken a bone after 50

 Women of menopausal age with risk factors*

 Men aged 50–69 with risk factors* *Risk factors include hormonal changes, chemotherapy, radiation, history of bone breaks, poor nutrition, and/or having a parent who suffered from osteoporosis at a young age. A recent study of 5,000 women has shown that if an initial bone-density test had favorable results, then another scan need not be done until at least 5 years have elapsed, and an individual can wait as many as 15 years after the initial test to retest. There are two scoring tools used to read a bone scan: the T-score and Z-score. The T-score is the density compared to the normal expectation for a young adult of your gender, with 1 and above being normal, 1 to -2.5 representing osteopenia (a precursor to osteoporosis), and -2.5 and below representing a probable diagnosis of osteoporosis. The Z-score is the number of standard deviations above or below normal according to expectations for your age, gender, weight, or ethnicity. If the score is much higher or lower, that could indicate the presence of a disease other than osteoporosis.

Miriam Liebermann is the editor of The Best Is Yet to Be and To Fill the Sky With Stars (Menucha Press), anthologies for women in the transitional years. Together with Dr. Neal Goldberg, she authored, Saying Goodbye (Targum Publishing). Miriam recently joined Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz and Sara Brejt in creating JWOW! Jewish Women of Wisdom, tending to the needs of women in their midlife years. Fryde Rekant was a stay-at-home mom for 25 years, raising a sizable family, bli ayin hara. Fryde returned to school relatively late in life, and became an RN, starting out as an OB RN, transitioning to home care, and for the last four years, working in hospice home care.

120 Wellspring | October 2019

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Living Well

Memos from a Kinesiologist By Miriam Schweid

When the Fear Is Worse Than the Pain Helping children cope with anxiety and panic in a hospital setting

ne sunny day in June found me hurrying through the visitors’ admissions process at NYU Hospital. Upstairs, my sister anxiously awaited my arrival. Her 2-year-old son had been brought to the hospital by Hatzolah due to labored breathing. Initial testing indicated that he had RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), a common respiratory virus with cold-like symptoms. Now, 24 hours later, the child was showing no signs of improvement and had developed various additional symptoms. The medical staff wanted to do additional testing, including a spinal tap and X-rays, and my sister wanted me to be there with them.

When I entered my nephew’s room, I found him lying listlessly in his stroller. My sister was trying to feed him while distracting him with a musical toy. While he didn’t have fever and seemed to be breathing comfortably, he was not himself. The child, who is otherwise rather rambunctious and usually has a mischievous glimmer in his eye, did not even turn his head when I walked in. I pulled up a chair beside my sister and asked her to give me a rundown of what had transpired over the last day. She described her visit to the pediatrician the previous afternoon. Although things were hectic at home, she was concerned about her son and did not delay voicing her worries to the doctor, who advised her to use a nebulizer for her son and to give him Tylenol.

Apparently sensing her anxiety, the doctor suggested that if my sister saw no improvement within three to four hours, she should take

her child to the emergency room. Following the doctor’s advice, she immediately administered the nebulizer. When her son continued breathing noisily, she called Hatzolah in a state of panic. Now, 24 hours later, the child was begging to go home. He appeared afraid of the hospital environment and refused to eat or drink. He was not wetting his diaper at all and could not fall asleep. The hospital, though, refused to discharge him.

In my desire to ameliorate the situation, I approached my nephew, and in my most encouraging tone, I offered him his favorite snack and toy. Looking at me with tear-filled eyes, he said, “Please take me home.” Nothing else, it appeared, would do the trick for him. A minute later, a nurse entered the room with the intent of inserting a catheter and an IV for fluids. My sister looked at me pleadingly. Could I do something to help her poor son?

I respectfully explained to the nurse that I was trained in alternative medicine and asked if she would allow me to try a different approach to calm the child. She looked at me curiously and thankfully gave me the go ahead. I started by massaging an essential oil blend, meant to calm and relax him, on the toddler’s shoulders. Then I sprayed the room and his blanket with lavender oil, after which I massaged his wrist with a Bach remedy known as Rescue Remedy. During the process, the boy dozed off peacefully. I sent my sister out of the room to get herself something to eat and make some phone calls.

To continue the process, I combined homeopathic remedies like pulsatilla and aconite, which are useful in calming children in distress, as well as Bach remedies that are known to help a person de-stress following traumatic incidents. I then put together another blend of essential oils to massage his chest to treat the RSV. In his sleep, my nephew reached for his bottle, which he hadn’t done all afternoon. When his nurse came by for an update, we discussed how children react to being admitted to a hospital. She acknowledged that most are frightened, confused, and weepy. Of course, hospital protocol must be followed, so if a child refuses to drink, he must be hydrated intravenously. The nurse was glad to see the child drinking and said that she’d be back in a short while. My sister returned to the room and I showed her how to use the homeopathic remedies and perform the massage. I also suggested that she use some to calm herself so she could cope better.

By the time I got home from the hospital, my sister reported that there was no longer a need for the catheter, baruch Hashem. A short while later, the child was discharged.

The foreign hospital environment is traumatic for most children and their parents. Care must be taken that trauma and confusion do not cause additional symptoms, which may unnecessarily extend the hospital stay. While landing in the hospital due to winter ailments is a worst-case scenario, stocking up on essential oils and remedies before the winter sets in is always a good idea.

Miriam Schweid is a Brooklyn-based kinesiologist. She can be reached through Wellspring. 122 Wellspring | October 2019

Living Well

Home Lab By Miriam Schweid

DIY

recipes for natural living

All-Natural Succah Decoration and Fragrance

In honor of Succos, we present you with a doit-yourself project that doesn’t exactly target a particular health issue, but is a fun project that harnesses the fragrance of natural herbs to enhance your simchas Yom Tov. Beautify your succah with this attractive garland of besamim (cloves) and hadassim (myrtle leaves), ushering their pleasant natural scents into your cozy abode. This is easy enough for young children to do with adult guidance. 3 bottles of cloves 3 strands fresh myrtle colorful beads, fruit beads, and assorted crystals embroidery needle strong fishing thread or any other sewing thread Soak the cloves in water overnight in a disposable container. If you’re tight in time, soak in boiling water for 2 hours. The softer the cloves, the easier they are to work with. Thread a needle with a 36-inch double strand of thread and knot the other end. Pierce the center of the clove and push to the end to meet the knot. A basic pattern is 12 cloves, 2 myrtle leaves, 2 beads, 2 myrtle leaves, 12 cloves, and so on, but feel free to create your own design. Storage: Shorter strands are easier to store as they tangle less. Store in a ziplock bag to preserve your decoration for many years of fragrant succahs.

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 123

REA L FRUIT

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NOW AVAILABLE IN THE NOSH AISLE

Expan Sectioded n! Heart to Heart My motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sulking pains me Happily in the Middle Zahava Listâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s final entry

Climbing to the top

4 women set a goal for themselves Will this formula for success help them achieve it?

Mrs. Shaindy Kleinman: Know that Hashem has faith in you

Wellbeing

Feature

Climbing to the top The power of self-encouragement A wellbeing experiment compiled by shiffy friedman

At the beginning of the brand new year, goal setting is a strong theme. Whether we want to lose those last 10 pounds, invest more in our shalom bayis, or focus on becoming a better parent, committing to practical changes is a crucial component in making our dream happen. Undertaking the commitment, though, is only one ingredient in the recipe for attaining the positive results we seek. Another vital aspect, in addition to tefillah, is self-encouragement. It’s our ability to give ourselves positive feedback along the way that will determine not only our persistence throughout the journey, but also our eventual success. In this Wellbeing experiment, four women set out on a journey toward a better life. In addition to undertaking a practical commitment, each woman also committed to giving herself selfencouragement along the way. Here’s what happened during the first two weeks of their endeavor.

Wellbeing

Feature

selfencouragement What does

look like?

Before starting this experiment, all four women became familiar with the concept of self-encouragement through working with me on various emotional issues in their lives. Here’s the basic gist of what they understood, based on the conversations we had during our sessions: To lead our best life, our focus must be on becoming a self-generating person. While feedback from others is vital — and it makes a profound difference to us — we, first and foremost, must be our own rock of support. We have be our own source of encouragement. The more we are able to give ourselves what we need, to be that one person in our life who is there for us as our cheerleader, who appreciates the beautiful being that we are, the chelek Eloka mima’al, the better we feel about ourselves, and the more encouraged we are to keep growing and making strides in all areas of life. True self-encouragement, as opposed to

128 Wellspring | October 2019

just talking the talk, happens when we start to appreciate the good being that we are. This often necessitates taking an honest look at ourselves and asking, “How do I really feel about myself?” And then we need to pay attention to the answer. If we want to start appreciating who we are, we must first face the emotions that impede our positive feelings about ourselves. We must go to the place inside of us that says, “Nah, you’ll never make it,” or, “You? What makes you think you’ll stick to this goal?” By opening up these places within, acknowledging that this is how we feel, and letting ourselves feel those uncomfortable and unpleasant feelings — as opposed to turning a blind eye to them — we are then able to deeply and truly connect to ourselves. Looking deeply into that inner mirror, past the ugly, discouraging muck that muddles our reflection, we can finally see the unique, special person beneath it.

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Wellbeing

Feature

Who I Am Rochel, 28 Boro Park, Brooklyn Mother of 3 Language arts teacher

What I Understand If I have a clear food plan and it includes enough food to keep me full and nourish my body, I can see that the other foods I want to eat are not related to satisfying physical hunger. This is especially true for things that aren’t good for me, which I often desire, like chocolate and ice cream. I understand that every time I “crave” any of these desserts, it’s essentially because I’m feeling something that I don’t want to feel, and I’m turning to food to distract myself from it. Sugar-laden treats taste good and feel good — in the moment. They’re sort of like a kosher “drug.” But, in reality, they’re not good for me. In addition to contributing to my problem of being slightly overweight, they leave me feeling sluggish, guilty, and lightheaded. I also loathe that my life revolves around food.

How I Want to Change I want to stop stuffing myself with food as opposed to addressing what’s really going on beneath the surface. As a human being, I have a complex inner emotional world that is not addressed or appeased by chocolate. I want to give my inner self what it really needs so that food does not continue being my go-to.

What I’m Taking Upon Myself First, I will get a very clear food plan from a nutritionist or dietitian that allows for variety, includes all food groups, and will give my body the nourishment it needs. I’m excited to “eat clean,” but I know that it won’t be long before the junk foods start calling my name. Every time I want to eat something that is not on my nutritional plan, I want to take a moment to notice what’s going 130 Wellspring | October 2019

freed from the freezer on inside of me. What am I looking to numb by having this piece of cake or chocolate? I hope this will help me realize that by not having this food, I am not only not depriving myself, but I’m essentially giving myself a gift of both better physical and emotional health.

My Goal in a Nutshell I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I hope to get the side benefit of weight loss!

My Self-Encouragement Mantras You are giving yourself the greatest gift. Every time you choose not to eat something that isn’t good for you, you’re taking care of the body Hashem put in your care so you can guard it and serve Him through it. By facing what you feel as opposed to numbing your emotion, you’re freeing yourself from baggage that weighs you down. Good for you!

How My Experiment Went Day 1 was very exciting, of course. I woke up feeling invigorated, eager to eat the right foods, stick to the plan, and finally release myself from the “clutches” of my pantry and freezer. I stuck to the plan for the entire day. When I sat down to eat my lunch of tuna, salad, and whole-wheat bread, I heard that inner voice saying, “Keep cool, Rochel. It’s the first day. It won’t be long before you blow it. Your diets never lasted more than a week or so.” Armed with my determination to choose the high road of self-encouragement, I repeated my mantra to myself. Although it was only Day 1, I patted myself on the back for

every little good choice that I made. I saw it as a victory every single time I chose to give my body what it needed and said no to foods that weren’t good for me. By Day 5, the challenges started coming on full-force. I obviously wasn’t seeing any substantial weight loss or feeling it in the way my clothes fit, and I had a lavish vort that evening. The Viennese buffet couldn’t have been more tempting. I knew that I had just finished a good, nourishing dinner, and I really did not want to mess up. I sat down near my sister-in-law, who is not only good company, but is also a very positive person. I knew I needed it then, when I wasn’t feeling very good about myself and the way I looked. That was a great choice, one that I gave myself positive reinforcement for. Every time I told myself, “You can always start again tomorrow,” I repeated my mantras to myself. When I got home, I was in awe of myself. In the past, I would have returned home feeling stuffed and nauseous, but this time I gave myself full credit for choosing otherwise. By the time I neared the end of my two-week experiment, I noticed how my commitment was starting to waver. I was still holding on, but on Day 13, I had a weak moment. The kids’ school bus arrived later than usual, and they came upstairs cranky and tired. Supper wasn’t ready yet, and I was as frazzled as they come. Before I knew it, I was reaching for the chocolate-chip cookies I had prepared for the kids. I ate one and berated myself for it. Then I pulled back. And I praised myself for that. Instead of telling myself, “You already had one, you’ll start again tomorrow,” I said, “Wow! You had one, but you were able to stop yourself. You recognized that this cookie won’t help you with how you’re feeling. It won’t give you what you really need.” I walked away from the plate and went to sit on the couch for a few minutes. “Hashem,” I said, “help me stay in control. Help me make the choices that are good for me. Help me understand what I’m feeling so I can be a calm mother and make choices that leave me feeling good and happy.”

My Results What a wonderful two weeks these have been! I feel so energized — physically, for sure. Emotionally, it’s a journey.

It’s not always pleasant to come to terms with how I feel. When I stepped on the scale after one week, I saw that I had lost 5 pounds. After Week 2, I was down a total of 7.

My Ups After making a good choice, I usually felt elated. Interestingly, when I started eating the cookies and then stopped, I felt even better than when I steered completely clear of foods that weren’t on my plan. Starting and then stopping was a first for me. I believe it was only possible because instead of berating myself for “killing it,” I encouraged myself to do the right thing.

My Downs Those few minutes until I came through with my choices were arduous. I felt myself being torn between “Who cares? Tomorrow’s another day. You never last too long with your goals anyway,” and “I can do this. I’m a serious person and if I make a commitment, I will carry through on it.”

I also had moments where I didn’t feel this high after making a good choice, like there was still this place in me that wanted the treat. While this was painful, I just kept asking myself, “Do I need this or do I want this? If I’m using this cookie/cake to escape a feeling, I will only feel worse afterward. Because I want to be more present, more in touch with myself, I will make the right choice.”

Letting myself feel what arose in me instead of stuffing myself with food wasn’t fun either. At times when I would normally reach for the ice cream tub, I instead felt very, very empty or sad. While I know that facing these emotions is good for me, it’s not easy — certainly not at the beginning. But I look forward to continuing this work!

My Dose of Inspiration I recently heard a lecture in which the speaker discussed this challenge. She remarked that using food to quiet the voice that’s screaming inside of us for help is like spraying oil to extinguish a fire. Our intention is to calm the storm, but the opposite happens. When we eat foods that aren’t good for us, or consume them in excess, we’re only exacerbating how we feel, plus adding on all the guilt that comes along with it. Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 131

Wellbeing

Feature

Who I Am Sarah Leah, 32 Jackson, New Jersey Mother of 5 Occupational therapist

What I Understand I have a strong temper and everyone around me, especially my kids, suffers as a result. While I don’t always lash out with my voice, I’m often tense, edgy, and just unpleasant to be around. As much as it’s become a part of me, this middah irks me. And every time I explode, I eat myself up for it afterward. I realize that while I use anger as a means to appear strong, it is essentially a true point of weakness. Expressing anger in an unhealthy way is the ultimate sign of losing control. It’s like I’m trying to grasp onto this imaginary steering wheel of control, but instead my reaction conveys how feeble I truly feel. What I’ve also recently realized is that this has been my way of dealing with a lot of pent-up resentment. Because I don’t give myself the permission to release what I’m feeling inside, I end up channeling my upset toward those who are most dear to me. The more I release in a healthy way, the calmer I could become.

How I Want to Change It I would love to learn how to release pent-up emotions in a healthy, constructive way. In addition to doing so on a daily basis, I would like to give myself encouragement for every chunk of time, even short bouts, during which I remain calm and loving when I’m with the kids.

What I’m Taking Upon Myself I will set an alarm that will ring every half-hour when I’m with the kids. If I did not express anger during the half-hour that passed, I will make sure to give myself the positive feedback I deserve. I will also designate 10 minutes every evening 132 Wellspring | October 2019

steam roller to release difficult feelings I’m carrying around. According to the guidance of my coach, I will have imaginary conversations with people toward whom I’ve been harboring resentment, including my parents. The more I hold onto these grudges, the less I’m able to feel at peace.

My Goal in a Nutshell To be a calmer wife and mother; to enjoy my life without all this tension.

My Self-Encouragement Mantras By giving yourself space to express your resentment in a healthy way, you’re allowing yourself to be a calmer wife, mother, and person. Controlling your anger is the ultimate form of strength. Losing your temper is weakness. Which one will you choose? Kol hakavod that you did not express anger for an entire 30 minutes. With every moment of work, you’re turning your home into a calmer place. Every second counts. Give yourself the credit you deserve.

How My Experiment Went It’s hard to imagine what two weeks of solid commitment, lots of prayer, and hard work can do. Our home is a different place. Although I did notice the changes in myself, and I feel proud of them, I would never have believed that my children would pick up on it this fast — but they did, baruch Hashem, which only encourages me to keep doing this. One way I saw this was that they were so much calmer. In a way, it was easier to stick to the commitment during the first few days. Every new undertaking is fun and exciting.

When my preschool-aged son kept coming out of bed on the first evening, I continued encouraging myself to speak to him in a soft tone and to take him back to his room gently. I noticed that every time he came out again, I felt weak. When I responded tenderly to him, I felt strong.

plosion. One of my sisters was supposed to come to me for Shabbos and she canceled at the last minute, after I had already prepared for her and her family. The feeling of being out of control was intense, and the way I’ve learned to deal with it was to let off steam.

On the morning of Day 3, the kids were taking their time getting ready for school and I started tensing up, anxious that they would miss their carpool. When I came into my second-grader’s room to find her still in pajamas after I’d told her to get dressed countless times, I started hissing at her. But all it took was a moment’s reminder to realize that it doesn’t have to stay this way; we could all still have a calm morning if I changed gears then and there. I did, and it was the best feeling in the world. Before I chose my words to my daughter, I made sure to speak to myself. This self-talk really kept me going throughout.

I screamed at everyone in my radius, shooting commands this way and that. I bit my nails until I had no nails left. When it was all over, and I sat down by the Shabbos licht, my anger toward myself knew no bounds. I felt horrible. Here I was, trying my best to be in control, and I totally ruined it in one hour.

My Ups My young daughter and I were in the supermarket the other day when her best friend came into the store with her mother. The mother invited my daughter to go play at their house for the afternoon, an offer my daughter usually does not refuse. This time, however, she turned to me and said, “I’d rather stay home with you. At home I could relax and play games with you. I like being home.” My heart swelled at those words. The feeling of knowing that my home is a calm place is indescribably delicious.

My Downs On Friday of the second week, I had a full-blown ex-

It was then that my mantras were most important — but also the hardest to believe. I simply turned to Hashem and begged Him for His help in believing them, in believing that there really was hope for me, that I really could be the calm person I want to be. The Shabbos seudah that night, with just my family and no guests, ended up being very special. It was then that I learned the power of second chances. I also realized just how much my own self-criticism fuels my fire of anger. The more forgiving I am of myself, the more I let myself feel hurt or pain or whatever arises for me, such as when my sister canceled, the calmer I am able to be.

My Dose of Inspiration Rav Avigdor Miller, zt”l, was once asked how one could break the habit of losing their temper. He answered that as soon as we feel anger bubbling up inside of us, we should excuse ourselves and go to a quiet place. There, we can talk to ourselves and say, “Cool it! Cool it! No matter what, cool it!” This is where we gain our greatest strength. Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 133

Wellbeing

Feature

Who I Am Hindy, 36 Brooklyn, New York Mother of 6 Proprietor of an online business

What I Understand The dynamics in my marriage are not okay. I’m aware that I have a strong personality, but that is not an excuse for me to be the controlling force in my relationship with my husband, especially since he’s rather timid. It’s hard to know which came first, the chicken or the egg, but I keep noticing that because I’m the one who makes decisions in the house, he gets frustrated and ends up going along with what I say, which I despise. I would love for him to have a stronger voice, to be more of a backbone for me. I see that while I do keep saying things and giving “commands” that make it seem like I feel comfortable with my place in the relationship, in truth I would much rather feel like I’m being taken care of as the “wife.” I also understand that the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing is because I’m terrified of giving up control. To me, being a follower, as opposed to a leader, is something I associate with being weak and powerless. But I do understand that in marriage, that’s not the case. When a wife treats her husband with respect, and she knows what her role is as his helpmate, she gets to feel cherished and loved, which is what I want more than anything.

How I Want to Change It I would like to relinquish control starting with little things, even something minor like not giving my husband a constant commentary while he’s driving me somewhere (slower, faster, a right here, a left there) or telling him when to say a dvar Torah at the Shabbos table. I believe that by wanting to give my husband the place as king in the home and becoming more aware of how frequently I make comments and gestures, I can start changing 134 Wellspring | October 2019

king in the home the dynamics of our marriage, which will certainly also have an impact on my husband and the rest of our family.

What I’m Taking Upon Myself Every morning, I will remind myself of my goal: to make my husband the king in the home. In order to make the commitment more doable and practical, the bite-sized goal I’m taking upon myself is that five times every day, I will think before I say something to him and ask myself if it’s necessary for me to say it or how I can say it in a way that conveys respect as opposed to control. Of course, I will keep encouraging myself throughout the day, reminding myself that what I’m doing is what I really want, even if it doesn’t feel that way in the moment.

My Goal in a Nutshell To take my place as wife in my marriage, to give my husband the respect he deserves.

My Self-Encouragement Mantras By giving Chaim the respect he deserves, you are fulfilling your role as his ezer kenegdo. When he feels respected in the home, he is able to take on his role, as well. By doing so, you are not only being kind to him, but also to yourself. You’re giving yourself what you really need, what you’ve been created to need in marriage. You’re also giving the children the gift of growing up in a healthy home, where roles are defined and there’s no tug-ofwar for power.

Every time you let go, you are victorious. Good for you!

How My Experiment Went Wow! I did a lot of sweating in the past two weeks. I never even realized what a control freak I am — but hey, that’s not very encouraging. As part of my goal, I had to keep reminding myself that I’ve behaved this way because I was afraid to feel powerless, not because I’m a mean, horrible wife. I found that coming into this work with this perspective made all the difference. On the first day of this project, my husband was away for the day on business, so there wasn’t much interaction between us. In the past, a day like this could go by without me calling him much — maybe once or twice throughout the day. This time, I thought, “Would Chaim appreciate hearing from me?” I thought he would, especially if I wasn’t calling to tell him what to do. So I called. I must say that making the call required vulnerability. I was afraid that he wouldn’t express excitement, and that I would feel like a fool — which I realized was really a fear of feeling alone, like he doesn’t really need me. In the end, his reaction was nice. He was obviously shocked when he asked me why I was calling and I said, “Just to hear how you’re doing. I’m thinking of you,” which is certainly not something he’s used to. When Chaim was around on the other days, my project was certainly harder. There was the day when two kids missed the school bus and I waited for him to come pick them up and drive them to school because my car was at the mechanic. Oh my! I was biting my lips, anxious for them to leave already, but he only showed up 20 minutes after he said he’d be home. The frightening thing was that when he called to tell me that he was outside, I sensed that he was already gearing up for my critical reaction. That really shook me to the core — noticing that I’m this boogie monster of a wife. Every time I realized that what I was about to say was not okay, I stopped the running commentary of self-criticism in my head. In-

stead, I went back to my self-encouragement mantra, giving myself the dose of chizuk I needed to keep going.

My Results Because my goal isn’t very tangible, neither are my results. I can’t quantify something so profound and valuable like a marriage, but I certainly did realize what these two weeks of work have done for me and my family. By the time the second week came to a close, I realized how much more peaceful our home had become. Primarily, I’m sensing that my husband feels more comfortable in my presence. I’m happy to be transforming into a queen, a woman my husband wants to spend time with, whom he doesn’t see as a threat. This knowledge means the world to me. And I love the feeling that comes along with it — of feeling cherished and appreciated.

My Ups On Day 13, my husband actually asked me for the first time in a long, long while if I had time to meet him for lunch. Although I wasn’t able to make it, the offer itself felt so, so good to me.

My Downs Keeping it all in wasn’t enough to make me feel happy. If I wasn’t ready afterward to let myself feel powerless, if I fought the feeling, I felt really not good. I found it crucial both to not comment on every little thing my husband did or didn’t do, but also to realize that what came up for me afterward needed its space, too.

My Dose of Inspiration One thought that kept me going was that when I make my husband the king in the home, I don’t become his servant. I become the queen. It’s something that I noticed even in just these two weeks. Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 135

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Feature

Who I Am Racheli, 40 Yerushalayim, Eretz Yisrael Mother of 9 Stay-at-home mom

What I Understand Ever since I’ve had any kind of self-awareness, I’ve realized that I have a hard time being punctual. I remember huffing and puffing into my high-school classroom, often praying for a miracle all the way to school, hoping that the teacher would show up late. The issue became especially prominent once I had a family of my own. From getting the kids out on time in the morning to showing up at appointments when I need to, I have many opportunities every day to practice being punctual, most of which I’ve failed until today. Although I only recently realized this, to me, being punctual brings up a feeling of being wimpy, like I’m this goodygoody who follows the rules. When I come fashionably late, on the other hand, although I berate myself for not making it on time, I also have this feeling deep, deep inside that I’m independent and superior.

How I Want to Change It I want to be punctual, period. I realize that beneath all the excuses of having a big family with lots of responsibilities, my feelings are what’s getting in the way of me being the punctual person I would like to be.

What I’m Taking Upon Myself For starters, I want to get out of bed the first time my alarm rings. Pressing snooze is just another way of giving in to that rebellious streak that says, “Come on, so what will happen if you lounge in bed for another five minutes?” In general, I want to be punctual to all of my obligations, such as heading out to drop off or pick up my children from 136 Wellspring | October 2019

clockwise school and showing up to appointments five minutes early. Although I have many opportunities to practice this commitment, one way of making it more doable is starting with taking the kids to school. I’m committing to leaving the house at 8:15 every morning so everyone can be where they have to be at the right time.

My Goal in a Nutshell To become a punctual person.

My Self-Encouragement Mantras Wow! You got out of bed at the alarm’s first ring. That’s huge for you. Although it was hard for you to leave the house on time, you did it. Cheers! Being punctual now has an effect on the rest of your day. The more committed you are to time, the more committed you become to all of your obligations. You can do this!

How My Experiment Went For years, I’ve been telling myself that I’m just not “one of those people” who show up where they need to when they need to. In order to appease my inner critic, I would tell myself that being fashionably late was actually a good thing. But all it took was one or two days of, yes, being temimusdik, of, yes, following the rules, like we learned at school some 30 years ago, to realize that, hey, I actually like the feeling of doing what’s right. At the same time that my rebellious streak was having a party when I arrived 30 minutes late to a doctor’s appointment, it didn’t really feel good to me. By getting out of bed

bright and early, my entire day just went differently. I love being on a solid routine, on a schedule that is consistent and predictable. I found that the self-encouragement piece was a wonderful experiment in and of itself for me. When I was first introduced to the concept, I mentally scoffed at it. Seriously? How will my own words have an impact on me? This, too, I soon realized emanates from this place in me that sees following directions and sticking to a commitment as wimpy. But the truth is that once I resolved to follow through on it, I was pleasantly surprised by how powerful this tool is. It really works! When our inner commentary is positive, we just keep moving forward. Self-encouragement, I noticed, is a great key to making progress in every area in life.

My Ups I’m used to calling my parents, who live in the States, when I’m already exhausted, after a long day, because throughout

the day I was so busy catching my own tail, always 10 minutes behind schedule. By the time the second week came around, I found that because I was being punctual with my commitments, things just flowed more smoothly, and I actually had the time to call my parents earlier in the day. It’s such a pleasure to speak to them when I still know what day of the week it is!

My Downs This one’s a no-brainer. I snoozed my alarm clock on Day 5.

My Dose of Inspiration Shemiras hazeman is a big concept in sifrei mussar. When we keep to a seder zeman, it reflects on how seriously we take ourselves. I once heard that when Moshe warned Pharaoh about the makkos, he gave an exact schedule of when each would arrive, because punctuality is one of Hashem’s Divine attributes, which we are obligated to emulate. Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 137

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Feature

your own best motivator: no one could do what you can by mrs. shaindy kleinman

Imagine if you would wake up one morning and realize that there are absolutely no people to be found. You head out to the street, the stores, the shuls, the schools, and there isn’t a human being in sight. Panic-stricken, you soon conclude that you are the only individual on Planet Earth. You take a cup of water to revive yourself and hear a heavenly voice reverberating, “You’re the only one alive, so make that brachah an extraordinary one.” Can you imagine the quality of that brachah, made with proper intent and concentration? After all, you’re the only one who can say it. So you woke up this morning, baruch Hashem, and you’re not alone, but living along with approximately seven billion others. To Hashem, however, it’s as if you are the only person in the universe, because only you can fulfill your specific mission in this world, and the world has waited all these centuries and millenniums for you to carry through that particular purpose. The Baal Shem Tov teaches that every physical property contains nitzotzos, holy sparks. Each of us has our own custom-made sparks, reserved specifically for each person to capture. No one can redeem your sparks, and you can’t elevate anyone else’s. When you understand your true value, identifying as a beloved, only child of Hashem, and you appreciate your inherent self-worth as a cheilek Elokah mima’al, you won’t ever be dependent on external boosts to feel encouraged. What really matters fundamentally is fulfilling Hashem’s will. No wealth, popularity, or test score can affect that intrinsic truth. When you recognize your true worth, you can focus — not on what you need, but what you are needed for. For an assignment on this topic, one of my twelfth grade students wrote, “A Yid should never feel depressed or unloved by Hashem because Hashem [re]creates the world ev138 Wellspring | October 2019

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What is that position? To know that you are rich. A rich man and a poor man both have good days and bad ones. On a good day, the rich man executes a million-dollar deal. On a bad day, he loses millions. But even on an unprofitable day during a losing streak, he nevertheless considers himself rich. Being rich is his identity. Conversely, the poor man might serendipitously earn $100 on a good day, but his identity is that of a pauper. You need to know you are rich, merely by virtue of being a piece of G-dliness, and if you internalize this eternal truth, you don’t measure your identity by what

Good Bye Hair Loss

As a lifeguard and water safety instructor for 30 years, I’ve taught many people between the ages of 5 and 75 how to swim, and I observed an interesting phenomenon. When swimming, if your head is too deep in the water, it creates friction as you move forward. Additionally, if you keep your head too high, your position is too vertical to make good progress. But, if your head is in the right place — with your hairline parallel to the surface of the water — everything falls into place. The same is true in life. If your head is in the proper position, with thought processes that are optimistic, positive and Torahdig, you can make good progress forward.

L’zeicher nishmas my father-in-law, Reb Yosef Aaron ben Reb Yitzchok Eizik z”l, who was niftar on Rosh Chodesh Elul.

For M

The following story demonstrates the intrinsic value of every Yid, and, by virtue, the infinite worth of every single day that we have in this world. In the 1500s, when czars reigned supreme, an indigent Yid was imprisoned for life in a dark dungeon. One day, the wicked czar had a change of heart and offered the inmate one day of freedom. The Yid wrote a letter to Reb Dovid ben Reb Shlomo ibn Zimra, a renowned scholar, requesting guidance as to which day to choose. Reb Shlomo advised, “The very next day!” When I pose this question to my students, their answers are invariably choices like Yom Kippur, Shabbos, Purim, Pesach, or another special day. These are prudent choices, but the very first opportunity to serve Hashem properly is the day to choose. Every single moment in our lives is ripe with potential. How valuable each of us Yidden is.

Instead, choose to believe in the G-dliness Hashem invested in you, and every morning, when you wake up, think, “If my faith in Hashem doesn’t get me out of bed, how about Hashem’s faith in me?” The only genuine solution-oriented self-encouragement that has eternal value is the recognition that you have a unique mission in this world, and that everything that happens to you is because it is necessary for your purpose here. With this perspective, you generate much siyata d’Shmaya and create a kiddush Hashem in your home, your school, your community, and your world.

Reb Chaim Shulem Deutsch shlita, a renowned mashpia in Yerushalayim, posits, “It’s normal to wake up feeling sad or depressed [this was also the position of Harav Shlomo Wolbe, ztz”l], but if immediately upon awakening you think, ‘I was created only to serve my Master,’ and you realize that you’re here for Hashem, and you live only for Him, you can adjust your sluggish sentiments.”

people around you say and do, but by Hashem’s barometer. The Rebbe of Lubavitch, ztz”l, famously advised, “Don’t think what other people are thinking or saying about you.” Doing that just pulls you down and creates needless anxiety.

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ery second, and if you were superfluous, He wouldn’t create you again and again. If He’s keeping you here every moment, how you’re are doing and what you’re doing is certainly relevant to Him.” Another student wrote, “Proof that Hashem loves you is that every detail of your life makes a difference to Him.”

and Wo m

Wellbeing

Child Development By Friedy Singer & Roizy Guttman, OTR/L

The Secret Sensory Challenges of

Reading and

Writing

Friedy Singer and Roizy Guttmann are neurodevelopmental therapists and the directors of Hands on OT Rehab Services, Hands on Approaches, and the H.O.P.E. (Hands on Parent Empowerment) Foundation. They are focused on educating and empowering the community to help children with anxiety, processing and learning issues. They can be reached at info@handsonapproaches.com

s the People of the Book, we Yidden have always placed a tremendous emphasis on learning how to read and write. Throughout centuries in which the majority of the world’s population was illiterate, Yidden were disproportionately literate. Reading and writing was not a luxury of the elite and powerful, but a right and necessity for even the most common people. When our children experience challenges learning to read and write, it hits a nerve.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the critical skills needed for reading and writing, and trace them to their roots in our sensory systems. While the visual system is the most obvious sense involved in reading, it’s not the only one. The auditory and vestibular systems also play significant roles, and each sensory system needs to communicate and integrate with the other systems to enable your child to succeed at reading and writing.

The Visual System For the many children who have difficulties reading and writing, checking the visual system is the most intuitive first step. In addition to nearsightedness or farsightedness, there can be other visual issues, which a visit to the eye doctor won’t necessarily register.

Visual Hypersensitivity When a visually hypersensitive child looks at the average page in a book, he doesn’t see a simple page with words. He sees a page full of words. He sees a page crowded with words. Overwhelm sets in. To put yourself in this child’s place, imagine being asked to read from a page of text with no margins, no spaces between paragraphs, and every other word was a different neon color. The visual (and mental) overload you would face in such a situation is what your visually hypersensitive child faces every time he is asked to read a “regular” page.

Compensations Use a cutout to isolate a smaller area of text. Restricting the amount of visible text will cut down the visual “noise” and enable the child to react — and read — calmly and with focus.

Figure-Ground Issues Some children have a hard time picking out objects from a background. They may read well from standard black text on white paper, but when publishers try to add some “life” to a book with splotches of background color or sweet little images, these children may start to fumble over their reading.

Compensations Minimize the amount of words and/or enlarge the text on worksheets. Create more contrast by using different color highlighters to separate paragraphs.

The visual system is actually one of the last sensory systems to fully develop. For the first two months of a baby’s life, this system develops at a slower rate than other systems, waiting for critical feedback provided by other, more developed systems (like the vestibular system).

The Vestibular System The vestibular system helps the body orient itself in relation to gravity. It directly influences our sense of movement and directionality. This system matures thanks to the experiences our body has and the feedback we get from our interaction with the environment.

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Wellbeing

Child Development

A newborn infant first gains awareness of the vertical plane, becoming familiar with the concepts of up and down. He can look up to see a face above him; he can throw his arms up, or put them down by his sides. Once he has experiences in the vertical plane, he physically engages within that plane. During tummy time, he raises his head, then brings it back down. At a much later stage, he will drop objects from his crib or high chair for the pure delight of watching them fall down (and then watching you pick them up).

As your baby grows, his awareness of space expands to the horizontal plane: left and right. He lies on his stomach, grabbing toys from his left side and pulling them to him, grabbing toys from his right side and dragging them to the middle. As he crawls, he moves his head from side to side to observe his surroundings. Eventually, vertical and horizontal combine to form a new understanding: diagonal.

As the vestibular system matures, it effectively becomes a personal, internal GPS system. Your child now has a sense of the world around him, of where he is in that world, and of how to appreciate and relate to other objects that occupy that world.

If the vestibular system isn’t functioning properly, it is as disorienting as trying to use Waze when the GPS function of a device isn’t working. It’s hard to know where you are, what you’re looking at, and from what angle you’re seeing it. It’s more conducive to getting lost than it is to finding your way.

Horizontal Sometimes the vestibular system’s appreciation of the horizontal plane is weak. If left and right and side-to-side aren’t clear internal concepts, many letters will be easy to confuse. The lowercase letters “b” and “d” are practically the same — except one has the line on the left side, and one has the line on the right side. P and lowercase “q” are also horizontal mirror images of each other. If a child doesn’t have a strong spatial sense of left and right, these letters will be very easy to confuse. It’s not that a child doesn’t remember the difference; it’s that he doesn’t see the difference. In fact, he doesn’t feel there is any difference. Additionally, this child may end up skipping words when he reads. There’s an issue with how the vestibular system tells his eyes to move horizontally, so his eyes don’t smoothly track across the page.

Compensations Give your child more experience in the horizontal plane,

142 Wellspring | October 2019

encouraging his body to calibrate his internal GPS:

• Crawl across the floor, looking from side to side. • Sit on a scooter-board and move left and right.

• Play clapping games that involve your child moving his right hand over the midline of his body to clap your right hand, and then moving his left hand to clap your left.

Vertical Sometimes the vestibular system’s appreciation of the vertical plane is underdeveloped, without clear concepts of up and down, top and bottom.

Different letters become easy to confuse. The lowercase “p” and the lowercase “b” are effectively the same letter, except one has a line going down, and one has a line going up. The same goes for the lowercase letters “u” and “n.” Just flip them top-to-bottom, and it’s exactly the same. If up and down aren’t clearly perceived in the brain, these letters become indistinguishable. Instead of skipping words, you’re going to skip entire lines. Your eyes may move smoothly across the page — but not up and down. Instead of moving down one line, you may move down two. Or when writing, you may lack a clear perception of where the line is, so your letters float above it or move diagonally across the page.

Compensations • Give your child more experience in the vertical plane:

• Jump on trampolines or on the floor. Bounce on exercise balls.

• Lie on your stomach (and afterward on your back) on a scooter-board and wheel yourself across the floor.

• At a local park, climb up the ladder and then slide down the pole. • Create vertical art. Paint on an easel. Tape paper to a wall and color on it — the higher the better. Use glass markers to decorate the windows, or write on a whiteboard. Play many games of Connect Four, which brings together working knowledge about all three line types: vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. When you teach letters to a child who is having a hard time, actively build the letters in 3D, involving all physical planes. Use Lego, or Wiki sticks, or raw spaghetti and marshmallows. Get your child’s whole body and spatial sense involved.

We’ve observed that many of our clients with dyslexia also have balance and coordination issues — and they are integrally connected. When the body is missing the ability to correctly interpret information about objects in space, it will experience physical misinterpretations (lack of coordination) and visual misinterpretations (dyslexia).

The Auditory System Our sense of hearing is also a significant contributor to reading success. When we learn to read and spell, we don’t just memorize that a D and an O and a G make the word we know as “dog.” We associate each letter with the sound it makes and put the sounds together, which is why most children read “with their lips” (i.e., move their lips while reading) before becoming skilled enough to read just “with their eyes” (i.e., motionless and silent).

If you associate a letter with the wrong sound, you’re setting yourself up for confusion down the line. This is the challenge of children with weak auditory systems. All letters have a certain frequency. Letters that are on the same or similar frequencies, especially if they’re close in decibel level (like B and D, for example), can sound similar and be hard to distinguish for someone who has a weak auditory system. Because the child can’t hear the difference between B and D, when he sees a written B, he won’t be sure whether it’s a B or D sound. The result is that he will mix them up when reading or writing.

Compensations Read aloud to your child. Make sure to enunciate, emphasizing the sounds of letters with which your child struggles. Be clear about punctuation, enabling your child to grasp and appreciate sentence and paragraph structure.

Getting on the Same Page Learning to read is a team effort. There’s the external team — you, your child’s teacher or rebbe, and other family members. Then there’s the internal team — your child’s visual system, vestibular system, and the auditory system.

While reading and writing delays can be frustrating or concerning, once you get all members of the teams working together, closed doors can suddenly open, and the joy of reading will finally become available to your child.

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Wellbeing

Emotional Eating By Shira Savit

NEW COLUMN!

It’s Not

Good or Bad

Why You Should “Test” Foods on Your Own Body Many of us have preconceived notions towards food. We think that if we eat “good foods,” we’ll be healthy and lose weight, and if we eat “bad foods,” there will be unpleasant results. Different foods certainly influence our health in different ways, but when we label food as good or bad, we are doing ourselves a disservice. Food in its essence is not good or bad; it is neutral. Who the eater is, the amount of food she eats, and her relationship with food are several factors that will determine the food’s impact on the eater’s wellbeing.

During one of my intake sessions, I asked the client to describe her daily diet and she mentioned that she avoided eating carbohydrates. She gave me a list of at least 10 different reasons why she considered them “bad,” including that they 144 Wellspring | October 2019

cause her to gain weight, develop acne, and suffer fatigue and constipation. After some time into the session, she confided that she played the game I refer to as “Hide and Go Eat.” At night, when nobody is around, she secretly binges on any carbohydrate she can find in her pantry. In our work together, I had her come up with a list of every single carbohydrate in the world that she thinks is “bad.” I instructed her to choose one food from her list every week, give herself permission to eat it, and then to journal about the experience. Interestingly enough, as she worked on letting go of her judgments, her stress around food diminished substantially. She was delighted to see that incorporating carbs in her daily meals did not only lead to weight loss, but her acne actually disappeared.

She gave me a list of at least 10 different reasons why she considered carbohydrates “bad.” swimming an activity that you want to increase or eliminate from your life?

Similarly, you can ask how you really feel about this food. Does it energize or deplete you? Does it give you a headache? Do you feel bloated, gassy, or constipated? Perhaps a smaller amount works for you but not larger quantities. Maybe you respond better when you eat it at a certain time of day. Once you begin to think along these lines, you come to trust yourself rather than external labels. (Of course, however, if someone has a particular medical issue, they should adhere to proper medical advice and not experiment with any foods they’re told to avoid.) When making your choices, you can question yourself: Am I responding to a self- or society-imposed “good food/bad food” label? Have I really considered how my body responds to this particular food? There’s a caveat, thought. You still have to keep basic nutritional guidelines in mind. For example, if I like the way I feel after eating jelly beans, that doesn’t mean I should have candy every day or in excessive amounts.

“Hide and Go Eat” was no longer the name of her game.

If an individual resolves in her mind that broccoli is “good” or white sugar is “bad,” she may not have allowed herself to experience the effects of the food on her body. She can be compared to someone standing at the ledge of a pool, deciding that it’s too cold to enter without having tested the water. Instead of allowing your assumptions to determine your actions, you can decide to actually touch the water and determine its effect on how you feel. Is the water bitingly cold or is it refreshingly cool? After the swim, how do you feel? Is

While there are a multitude of nutritional recommendations out there, I teach my clients to focus on three fundamental principles: balance, variety, and moderation. We aim to strike a balance between eating for pleasure and eating for nutritional health (balance), choosing an assortment of foods that provide various nutrients (variety), and having neither excess nor overly restrictive quantities (moderation). By listening to your body’s feedback, you’re allowing yourself to discover important information about what works for you; and through utilizing that information and following these guidelines, you can come to develop a healthy and satisfying diet.

Go ahead and test the water so you make the decisions that fit your individual needs. Once you notice which foods give you both nourishment and enjoyment (or the opposite), you can make selections that work for you. When you keep this in mind, the tranquility you deserve in your relationship with food is within reach.

Shira Savit, MA, CHC, MHC is a mental health counselor with multiple certifications in nutrition and health. She specializes in helping her clients with weight loss, emotional eating, and binge eating. Her unique approach incorporates both nutritional and emotional factors to help her clients reach their goals. Shira has a private practice in Yerushalayim and also works with women in any location via phone or Skype. She can be reached at 516-978-7800 or Shirasavit@gmail.com.

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Wellbeing

In Session with Shiffy Friedman, LMSW

Heart to Heart

My Mother’s Sulking Pains Me

The summarized interactions in this column are either based on reader-submitted questions or are a portrayal of several sessions that helped guide the individual toward the first step of his or her emotional health journey. Since emotional work is always a process, the goal of this column is to provide direction toward the first step, as well as important points of exploration that could b’ezras Hashem lead to the menuchas hanefesh the questioner, and every Yid, seeks. The Editors

I know this sounds terrible, but I dread being in my mother’s company for too long. For the first few hours, things go well, but if there’s anything that upsets her, she goes into a sulking mode that leaves me feeling horrible, and I just don’t want to be in her presence.

When did this last happen?

My mother likes when I come to say “Gut Shabbos” on Fridays. When I missed one Friday, she was sulking for the next few days — even the next Friday when I did show up.

What emotions arise in you when such an incident happens? How do you feel about yourself ?

146 Wellspring | October 2019

I feel that I’m not a good daughter, that I did something wrong.

Do you feel this way even when you know objectively that you didn’t do something wrong?

Yes.

Is this something you feel only when your mother sulks, or do you feel this way when others are upset, as well?

It doesn’t only happen with my mother.

Where else do you see it?

With my husband. Every time he’s not in the best mood, I immediately start blaming myself. I look back to see what I could have done that upset him. I don’t always find a reason to explain it, but I always feel this way. Even when I think people might be upset at me, such as when they don’t greet me the way I would greet them, I start feeling bad about myself.

Is this something that recently developed?

No. Since my youth, I’ve been feeling that when people around me are upset or not as happy as I would like them to be, it’s my fault. I immediately start trying to figure out what I could have done wrong to upset them. What do you notice from all this?

That I’m living with a feeling that I’m not good, that I upset others. As a result, when I’m in the presence of people who are expressing their distress or disappointment, I experience this feeling very strongly, which is unpleasant and painful for me.

When we look more deeply into how we feel in one particular relationship in our lives, we often notice that the same issue that comes up for us with this individual is also present in other relationships. This sheds light on the idea that this might actually be more about me and how I feel about myself than an issue with the other person. Simply noticing this phenomenon gives us the chance to start working on the problem at hand. This is about gaining awareness that it’s not necessarily the other person who’s causing me this pain. Rather, it’s my own feelings that hurt me. Those emotions just tend to crop up more strongly when a particular person conducts herself in a certain way. The next step is to start exploring the roots of the feelings that are evoked. Why do I feel the way I do about myself ? From where do those feelings emanate? When doing this work of going back to the root, we are able to notice that while the feelings are very real to us, they aren’t necessarily the reality. For example, if an individual experienced rejection in her youth, she could feel rejected years later, even if in reality that’s not what actually happened then and that’s certainly not what’s happening right now. Only when we realize that the feeling has to do with me and not with the reality can we start the process of freeing ourselves from it. May we be zocheh to delve into our emotional world without fear. And may all the emotions that arise within us serve as a vehicle toward our healing.

But It Hurts! It often happens that individuals find it hard to take responsibility for their feelings. People are afraid that if they “own their feelings,” they won’t be “allowed” to feel hurt in a certain circumstance anymore, as if pain is something that must be rooted in logic. Only if I have someone to blame for my pain can I let that pain hurt me. They worry, “If it’s my pain, it’s as if I caused it and inflicted it on myself.” However, the truth is otherwise. When a person is in pain, he’s in pain. Giving a place to the pain — accepting that this hurts without starting to figure out why it hurts — is the only way to heal it, as the Gemara tells us that “kibla diyisura shtikasa, the way to accept suffering is through silence” (Berachos 62a). This short passage is a gem. In three words, it tells us the secret to emotional wellness. When you feel pain, stay silent. Silence does not mean keeping your mouth shut while seething inside, pretending it doesn’t hurt, or putting up a show. The silence our Sages refer to goes way deeper than that. It’s a level of serenity in the heart that allows for true acceptance. Not only do we keep silent with our mouth, such as by not answering back, or silent in our actions, such as by not engaging in self-harming behavior in order not to feel the pain, but we also feel silent in our heart, as we surrender to the feeling that arises within us. Just because I realize that the source of my pain is my own feeling — and not the person in my presence — it doesn’t take away my permission to feel it. The less logic I make of it, the more real healing I can access.

Note: The guidance above applies to non-abusive relationships.

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 147

Wellbeing

Serial Diary By Zahava List

Unveiled

Life with mental illness

Happily in the Middle A few months after I launched Chazkeinu, our family relocated to a new city. One of the first questions people would ask me — the newcomer — when they welcomed me to the community or when meeting me for the first time was, “So what do you do?”

This turned out to be a perfect icebreaker. Instead of hiding the mental illness part of me, this was my chance to say, “I’m a wife and mother, and I also work as the director of Chazkeinu,” which invariably segued into a conversation about my life experience.

For me, being able to talk about my condition — instead of shoving it under the rug or pretending it didn’t exist — was a great relief. I recognize that it’s not this way for everyone, and that it should only be done when we feel comfortable with the challenge, but for me it was a coping mechanism of sorts. The more I was able to discuss it with others, the more I felt that it was just another part of me.

At the same time that we decided to move, with the brachah of a Rav and the consent of my doctor, we learned that our family would soon be expanding. While this was a great source of joy for all of us, my past experiences with postpartum psychosis were at the forefront of my mind, 148 Wellspring | October 2019

as well. Although several years had passed since my last relapse, I had no idea what this birth would bring. According to my doctor’s instructions, we took preventative measures once I was in my third trimester. A room in the psychiatric department was prepared for me for right after the birth, and I had ECT treatments scheduled. I came to the birth equipped with my doctor’s personal cell phone number so that we could reach her in case of emergency. And then, finally, our baby was born. The birth involved serious physical complications so severe that my ob-gyn said to me, “After going through a trauma of this caliber, you may be more susceptible to a psychotic relapse.” As a new mother, and one who had just faced severe complications, it was simple to see how things could just unravel in an instant.

But Hashem, our Loving Father, had other plans for me. I was very careful and consistent about taking my medication, and very “religious” about going to sleep early every night. I didn’t nurse my baby so he could be fed through the night, and my mother stocked my freezer so I could focus on what was most important. The community I’d just moved into organized two weeks of meals, as well. All of this helped facilitate a calmer recuperation experience, enabling me to take it as easy as possible.

On the Shabbosim during my pregnancy, I used to read Emunah With Love and Chicken Soup. One of the anecdotes in the book, an incredible biography of Henny Machlis, a”h, the Brooklyn-born girl who became a Jerusalem legend, was particularly moving for me. It was about the time when Henny went to visit a woman who was about to give birth to her fourth child after having had postpartum episodes following her three previous births. Henny said to her, “Don’t worry. Once it’s your fourth time, you’ll be fine.” And that’s what happened. It was so encouraging for me to read this — that there was a chance that I, too, could be a functioning human being after giving birth. Every morning that I woke up feeling like myself was

another miracle. In fact, every moment was a blessing, one that I kept davening and thanking Hashem for: to be like those mommies who just bounce back to themselves after giving birth. What a treat!

I knew if it could happen to me, it would be so encouraging to the many women who knew me, especially now that I was becoming acquainted with more and more women in similar circumstances through Chazkeinu. Baruch Hashem, my prayers were accepted. I did not take for granted fact that I was a present, functioning mother to my children at a time when things could have become so turbulent.

It’s been four years since I had my last manic episode. While I still have my hard days, I am deeply grateful to be where I am today. Sometimes, when I ask on the Chazkeinu line if someone wants to share her story, a woman will say, “I want to, but I’m still in the middle.” In truth, we’re all in the middle. The goal is not “happily ever after,” but happily in the middle.

I TAKE GOOD CARE OF THE VESSEL OF MY SOUL.

In Hindsight

What’s Normal Soy Milk?

Over the course of my healing, and coming to a place of accepting this nisayon, I realized that the point in my life is not for me to be normal. If you take a look at any product in the supermarket aisle, you’ll notice that there’s the “original” flavor and then the others. Just as there’s no normal soy milk, for example, only original soy milk, there’s no normal human being. Our work in this world is to be our best selves, the best selves we are meant to be. May we all merit getting there.

Zahava List is the founder and director of Chazkeinu, a peer-led support organization for Jewish women who struggle with mental illness and their female family members.

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ISSUE 45

OCTOBER ‘19 TISHREI 5780

7 foods to improve your mood At Your Nutritionist’s Table What’s her favorite Succos dish?

Tradition

& Nutrition Enhance your Yom Tov with these mouthwatering dishes that are good for you

Charnie Kohn gets acquainted with her husband’s Moroccan traditions

Index Page

143

Tradition & Nutrition WHOLESOME YOM TOV DISHES

Page

Page 166 155 176

Page

Have it

Homemade

My Table

Boost

SUCCOS FAVORITES

HAPPINESS SHAKE

CASHEW CAESAR DRESSING

THYME FOR DINNER

TASTE + TRAVEL

TIDBITS

CREAMY CHICKEN SALAD

THIS MONTH: MORROCO

Vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;SAMACHTA BECHAGECHA AT YOUR MEAL

P. 157

P. 158

P. 171

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Dear Cooks, Tradition is the very first word that comes to my mind when I think of Yom Tov cooking. All year round, especially because an emphasis on nutrition is a big factor in my cooking, many of the foods I prepare are those my grandmothers have never tasted in their lives. They wouldn’t have a reason to know how to pronounce quinoa or spell cumin, which are staples in my kitchen. Some basics, like chicken soup and cholent, are also part of my repertoire, though, and even more so when it comes to Yom Tov, traditional cooking means so much more to me and my family. That’s why I was so excited to review this issue’s recipes, because we get to be treated to an incredible array of mouthwatering dishes that score points both in tradition and nutrition. What could be better than sitting down to a traditional Succos meal that’s good for you, and pleases your palate as well? And if your freezer is already stocked, these are the recipes you will enjoy all year long. Speaking of tradition, Charnie’s beloved Taste+Travel column gives us a unique glimpse on this theme in this issue. Although Charnie grew up with Hungarian-style foods, marrying into a family of Moroccan descent exposed her to a whole new take on tradition and nutrition. For her in-law’s family, tradition doesn’t translate into her previously familiar slice of cooked salmon with sliced carrots. Their spicy dishes in tomato sauce and other Mediterranean-style foods warm the hearts of those who consider them to be a taste of home. No matter what your family’s tradition is, may you have a wonderful Yom Tov with lots of quality family time, which will leave you with wonderful memories to last through the winter ahead. Make sure to enjoy the fabulous Chocolate-Berry Shake from Boost somewhere along the way. You deserve it! Gut Yom Tov,

Est her

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 157

Tradition

& Nutrition

Yom Tov cooking can feel daunting to even the most competent cook; all the more so because it’s quite a busy season. There are so many meals to prepare for, possibly with lots of guests, not to mention the shopping and the preparation that each dish necessitates. Most families have their favorite triedand-true Yom Tov recipes — it would not be Yom Tov in my family without the dense, rich honey cake we grew up with. But nowadays, when most of us are trying to cut back on the high-sugar, high-fat recipes, we’re not only looking for healthier options, but for also recipes that save time. Our grandmother’s goulash recipe may have been delicious — but it probably takes a long time to prepare and contains many hidden calories. In this feature, we bring you Yom Tov recipes that are a perfect balance between healthy, relatively quick to prepare, and festive. While your guests may be more accustomed to a less wholesome way of cooking, rest assured that there will be no complaints from them — only rave reviews. Happy cooking and gut Yom Tov!

Recipes, styling, and photography by Yossi & Malky Levine

160 Wellspring | October 2019

Meatloaf Muffins How cute are these muffins? This appetizer is a fun take on meatloaf, and the sweet potato “frosting” complements the meat perfectly. Top with some chive “sprinkles” and you’ve got the whole cupcake thing going. Of course, the kids will love this too! 1½ lb ground beef

Sweet Potato Puree

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into large cubes

1 small onion, diced 2–3 cloves garlic, minced 1 egg ½ cup whole wheat breadcrumbs ½ cup tomato paste ¼ cup agave 1 tsp onion powder ½ tsp salt

1 Tbsp olive or coconut oil 1 Tbsp xylitol 1 tsp salt Optional Toppings caramelized onions chopped chives

¼ tsp pepper Preheat oven to 350°F. In a frying pan, heat olive oil; add onion and sauté for 5 minutes until soft. Add garlic and sauté for 2–3 minutes. Place the ground beef in a large bowl and mix in the sautéed onion and garlic. Lightly whisk the egg and add to the mix. Add the breadcrumbs, tomato paste, agave, onion powder, salt, and pepper and mix until everything is thoroughly combined. Press the meat mixture into muffin tins (I used silicone ones and there was no need to grease them) and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then remove them from the muffin tins and place on a serving tray. For the sweet potato puree, place the sweet potato cubes in a medium pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 12 minutes until fork-tender. Drain the water; add oil, xylitol, and salt; and use an immersion blender or potato masher to create a smooth puree. Allow to cool a little before putting mixture into a piping bag. To assemble, pipe rosettes of the sweet potato mixture onto the meat muffins and, if desired, top with some caramelized onions and chopped chives. Note: The meatloaf muffins can be frozen raw in muffin tins so you can prepare them in advance for Yom Tov. I recommend preparing the sweet potato and onions right before serving. Yield: 12 meat muffins

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 161

Refreshing Fruit Salad with Coconut Crunch If you’ve ever been a guest at our meals, you may know this dessert well. It’s an oldie, but what a goodie! After a heavy meal, what could be nicer than a simple fruit dessert? I’ve always considered this recipe to be a healthy dessert since it’s a fruit salad, but as I reviewed the ingredient list, I realized it could use some healthful tweaking. Here, I present you with the revised version. I like to prepare the strawberry sauce and crunch in advance (both freeze beautifully) and cut up the fruits right before serving. Note that this dish can be served as a diced salad or in layered slices.

Salad

Crunch

2 green apples, thinly sliced or diced

¼ cup chopped walnuts

2 red apples, thinly sliced or diced

¼ cup chopped almonds

1 can pineapple slices or tidbits in natural juice

1/3 cup shredded coconut

1 cup pomegranate arils

1 cup whole Rice Krispies

mint leaves, for garnishing (optional)

1/3 cup coconut sugar 4 Tbsp solid coconut oil

Strawberry Sauce 2 cups frozen strawberries, thawed ¼ cup xylitol

Preheat oven to 350°F. To prepare the crunch: Mix all ingredients on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes until oil is melted. Remove from oven, mix well, and bake another 10 minutes. Allow to cool. If not using immediately, transfer to an airtight container and freeze. To prepare the sauce: Place xylitol in the cup of a blender and blend on high speed until it resembles powdered sugar. Add strawberries and pulse until smooth. Taste for sweetness. To assemble: Arrange apple slices, pineapple, and pomegranate in desired glass serving dish. I like to pour in some of the pineapple juice as well. Pour some strawberry sauce and top generously with crunch. If desired, garnish with mint leaves.

162 Wellspring | October 2019

Chicken-Vegetable Soup with Spaghetti Squash Topping This soup is a great way for even non-vegetable lovers to enjoy some nutrients. The chicken bones make for a very tasty broth, lending “body” to the soup. Think of it as a hearty chicken soup with spaghetti squash “lukshen.” 1 large onion, diced 3 medium carrots, chunked 3 celery sticks, sliced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1½ lb chicken bones 12 cups water ½ green pepper 1 Tbsp salt ½ tsp pepper Topping 2 spaghetti squash olive oil, for brushing salt, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a large stockpot, place onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cover with lid and sweat the vegetables over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Place the chicken bones in a net bag and add it to the pot. Add water, green pepper, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 hour. Remove chicken bones and green pepper. Meanwhile, prepare the spaghetti squash topping. Cut the squash in half, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and place flesh-side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes. Use a fork to shred the flesh of the squash to create “spaghetti.” Add spaghetti squash to the soup when serving. Yield: 10 servings

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 165

Slow Cooker Brisket with Vegetables This main dish is so tender that it literally falls apart, and it will definitely please the meat-lovers in your family. With long, slow cooking the brisket takes on a rich, meaty flavor. And because it’s cooked in the slow cooker, it frees up oven time and space! This recipe works well with any fatty roast. 5 lb brisket salt and pepper, for seasoning 5 Tbsp olive oil, divided 1 large onion, sliced 15 mini red potatoes 5 carrots, chunked 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 Tbsp paprika ⅓ cup xylitol 1 Tbsp salt ½ Tbsp pepper water, to cover

Pat meat dry with a paper towel and rub in salt and pepper all over it. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over high heat. Add brisket and sear on all sides. Set slow cooker to high and place 3 Tbsp olive oil and onions into the crock. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. Add the rest of vegetables and spices, and then the meat. Add water to cover to the slow cooker and turn setting to low. Cook for 5–6 hours (or overnight). Yield: 8-10 servings

166 Wellspring | October 2019

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 167

168 Wellspring | October 2019

Balsamic Blueberry Broccoli Salad The name of this colorful salad is quite a mouthful, but it’s a guaranteed winner. With just the right amount of sweetness and a wonderful crunch, this salad is packed with antioxidants. The blueberries in the dressing not only boost its nutritional content but add a great pop of color, too. 1 pkg frozen broccoli florets, thawed 1 small can of mandarin slices, drained 1 cup grapes, halved 1 small red onion, sliced ¼ cup dried cranberries, for topping ¼ cup roasted slivered almonds, for topping Dressing 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) ½ cup olive oil 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar 3 Tbsp maple syrup ½ tsp mustard ½ tsp salt In a large serving bowl, toss broccoli, mandarins, grapes, and onions together. Place dressing ingredients into blender and blend on high speed until smooth. Scrape down the sides if necessary. If desired, you could add some water, ⅛ cup at a time, to loosen the consistency (or use the liquid drained from the mandarins). Dress salad right before serving. Top with dried cranberries and roasted almonds. Yield: 6-8 servings

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 169

By Yossi and Malky Levine

Cashew Caesar Dressing While store-bought dressings make salad prep a cinch, the problem is that they are formulated to sit on the shelf for months at a time, which means that chemicals and additives must be included to keep the dressings emulsified and prevent them from spoiling. Many companies also add plenty of sugar to enhance the flavor and increase the volume — as you’ll notice when you check the ingredient list of that creamy dressing in your fridge. If every single ingredient is not a real whole food, you may want to get rid of it, because we’ve got a better alternative here! This dressing is actually something you can feel good about eating rather than watching carefully how much of it goes into your salad. Cashews are the perfect nut to replace the mayonnaise because it makes the dressing really creamy. Try this dressing once, and there’ll be no going back to store-bought versions again. It’s so good — with zero artificial ingredients. Throw it on fresh salad greens or use it as a dip with raw vegetables. Enjoy! ¾ cup raw cashews

½ tsp salt

2 Tbsp maple syrup

¼ tsp pepper

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 squeeze of mustard (optional)

1 garlic clove

¼ –½ cup water Soak cashews in water for 2 hours or overnight. Alternatively, you can boil them in water for 10 minutes until tender. Drain cashews and place in the cup of a blender. Add rest of the ingredients except water, and blend until smooth and creamy. Add water, starting with a ¼ cup, until you reach desired thickness. Store in a screw-top jar in the fridge until using.

WORLD WINE AWARDS WORLD WINE AWARDS

95 95 POINTS

POINTS

By Yossi and Malky Levine

CREAMY CHICKEN SALAD Everyone needs a go-to chicken salad recipe. This one is a winner. Not only is it simple to prepare, but it’s colorful and healthy. Pair it with the creamy Cashew Caesar Dressing to take it up a notch, both in health and taste. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge and taken in a lunch box the next day — though there rarely are any! It’s actually a good idea to prepare more than you need for one time, so you’ll have some for another delicious meal. 1 lb chicken cutlets 2 Tbsp coconut aminos 2 Tbsp sesame oil 1½ Tbsp honey 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 Tbsp olive oil, for frying

Salad purple endives 1 pkg green cabbage 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks 1 red onion, sliced 2 red peppers, diced ½ cup roasted cashews handful of chopped scallions Cashew Caesar Dressing (See Have it Homemade)

Place cutlets in a deep dish (or ziplock bag) and add coconut aminos, sesame oil, honey, and garlic. Shake to mix and marinate for a couple of hours. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil and brown chicken pieces on both sides until cooked through. Allow to cool before slicing. To assemble, arrange endives, cabbage, red onion, and carrots on a dish. Scatter diced peppers, roasted cashews, and chopped scallions. Place chicken slices over salad and drizzle with dressing before serving.

Yield: 6 servings

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 173

Kohn By Charni e

174 Wellspring | September 2019

Salam from Morocco I recently had the opportunity to visit the beautiful country of Morocco. Because I was previously unfamiliar with the country, I was hesitant about the trip. On the one hand, having married into a family of Moroccan descent, I was excited to visit and explore the heritage of my husband’s family. On the other hand, as a religious Jew traveling in a country populated mostly by Muslims, I was anxious. All that fear, however, dissipated as soon as we landed. We were greeted like royalty; wherever we went, the natives showered us with blessings. “Welcome to Morocco, our dear brothers and sisters,” we heard on more than one occasion.

Jews in Morocco Jews in Morocco generally used to live in Jewish quarters known in Arabic as Mellahs. The Mellahs were surrounded by a large wall segregating the inhabitants from the general population. Rather than viewing this as imprisonment, the Moroccan Jews created beautiful and vibrant communities within the Jewish quarters. My husband’s grandfather, who grew up in the Mellah of Fez, one of the largest cities in Morocco, speaks fondly of his life there. Nowadays, the Moroccan Jewish population is dwindling. In 1948, approximately 265,000 Jews still lived there, while there are only about 2,000 there today. Although Morocco has had its fair share of antiSemitism in its past, it’s interesting to note that Jews were never forced to leave the country. The king who currently rules Morocco is known to be very kind and helpful to the Jews, enjoying an exceptionally cordial relationship with the Jewish community. His respect for Judaism is remarkably strong, to the extent that several years ago, during a drought, he asked the Jewish community to pray for the wellbeing of Morocco. He also invests generously to preserve Jewish heritage, particularly by renovating and protecting the Jewish cemeteries. The king encourages Jews to visit Morocco, stating on multiple occasions that he hopes they will eventually return to his country. While walking through the narrows alleyways of the Mellah of Rabat, I noticed that it is now mostly inhabited by Muslims. The remaining Jews mostly live in big cities such as Marrakesh, Casablanca, and Fez.

176 Wellspring | October 2019

Culture Ninety-three percent of the Moroccan population identifies as Muslim. They’re known to be very tolerant and accepting of other minorities. Moroccan women dress very modestly, with their hair, elbows, and knees covered at all times. The men also dress very conservatively. The main language spoken in Morocco is Arabic. However, due to previous French rule, approximately 63 percent of Moroccan citizens also speak French. The currency used in Morocco is called the dirham. Around 10 US dollars are equivalent to 100dh. But while that amount in America can hardly get you a roll of sushi, 10 dollars in Morocco will feed you for about a day or so. As a whole, Moroccans are spiritual, religious, and giving people. Family plays an incredibly central role in their lives. Meals are always gatherings of family, friends, and lots of good food.

Cuisine Food plays a fundamental role in Moroccan homes. A good housewife is gauged by how many salads she has spread out on her table. Cooks do not shy away from using heavy seasoning. Walking through the Moroccan souk (marketplace) is an aromatic and visual experience. Vendors stand near their tables laden with bags or barrels of tantalizing and colorful spices. A mix of various spices like saffron, cumin, turmeric, and paprika can be smelled even from a distance. Tagine cooking is very popular in Morocco. A tagine is a flat pot fitted with a dome-shaped lid. Food like chicken, lamb, and vegetables are placed in the tagine and cooked low and slow. The steam gets trapped in the dome-shaped lid and the liquid seeps directly back to the pot. This method of cooking requires very minimal amounts of water, which is helpful in Morocco, where the water supply is limited. Tagine is most frequently consumed with bread, which is baked in a communal oven. Homemakers bring their dough to the oven and the baker knows exactly where to place the dough depending on what the homemaker is interested in creating. When thinking about Moroccan cuisine, usually couscous comes to mind. It’s very different than the storebought couscous used in America. Making authentic couscous is a time-consuming process but yields delicious results. For every family simchah, one of the courses my grandmother prepares is couscous topped with prunes. Lamb is considered a delicacy in Moroccan cuisine and is only served on holidays or special occasions. Their lamb has a milder taste than the lamb we are accustomed to. A Moroccan Shabbat meal customarily starts with a vast variety of salads, both hot and cold, cooked and raw. Fish is usually made with lots of spices and chickpeas, and no sugar. It’s always served warm. The soup course generally consists of a vegetable soup of some sort. Chicken, lamb, or beef is typically served next, prepared either tagine-style or roasted. It’s served with vegetables, dates, figs, or prunes. Daffina, made with chickpeas, potatoes, and plenty of meat, is the Moroccan version of cholent. The customary dessert menu consists of dates stuffed with nuts and dried apricots. Tea is served after every meal. This menu sounds like a very balanced meal to me!

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 177

Classic Moroccan Fish The first time I ever tasted Moroccan fish was right after my wedding, when I learned that it’s a weekly staple at my mother-in-law’s house. Growing up with traditional cooked salmon being served every Shabbos, I was hesitant to try it. As soon as I did, though, I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious and tasty Moroccan salmon is! It makes for a perfect variation at one (or more) of your Succos seudos.

5 slices salmon fillet 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1 small tomato, thinly sliced 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced Pre-checked fresh dill Marinade: ½ cup olive oil 3 Tbsp paprika 1 Tbsp salt ½ tsp cumin ¼ tsp pepper ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the marinade ingredients. Add the salmon and marinate for 20 minutes. Place the salmon in an oven-to-table baking dish and pour the marinade over it. Add the chickpeas, tomato, garlic, and dill to the dish. Cover and bake for 35 minutes.

178 Wellspring | October 2019

Chicken Tagine and Cauliflower Couscous You can easily recreate chicken tagine in the comfort of your home--no need to fly to Morocco to bring home the authentic dish. This light, nutritious version of couscous complements the flavorful chicken perfectly. Makes for the ideal light Yom Tov meal when you’ve had enough of the heavy dishes. Your ultimate comfort food is just two hours away! 6 chicken thighs, skin on 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 white onion, sliced into half rings 8 mini peppers (left whole) 2 Tbsp paprika 1 Tbsp salt 1 tsp garlic powder ½ tsp cumin ¼ tsp black pepper pinch red pepper flakes 1 Tbsp lemon juice ¼ cup water 1 14-oz bag frozen riced cauliflower Heat oil in a large, deep frying pan over medium heat and sear the chicken thighs for five minutes on each side. Remove and set aside. In the same pan, sauté onion until golden. Add the chicken thighs and mini peppers to the pan. Combine all the spices and sprinkle over the chicken. Add lemon juice and water and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook covered for 1 hour. Pour the riced cauliflower into the pot and cook covered for an additional 15 minutes.

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:

Succos Favorites Festive meals, where we feast on delectable foods in the company of those who are near and dear to us, are a prominent part of our Yamim Tovim. What is one special food you prepare for yourself (and your family) that is palate-pleasing and appealing, as well as in accordance with your nutritional standards?

Tanya Rosen, Nutritionist One of my favorite dishes that I serve at Yom Tov meals is baked apples. They’re healthy, delicious and best of all, easy to prepare. I love apples because they’re high in fiber so they leave me feeling full, and that fullness is sustained for longer. Ingredients apples (desired amount), peeled and chunked

sweetener, to taste cinnamon, to taste cooking spray

Directions Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix apple chunks in a bowl along with desired amount of sweetener and cinnamon. Coat a baking pan with cooking spray and spread out chunks in the pan. Bake for about 20–30 minutes or until desired softness is achieved.

182 Wellspring | October 2019

Beth Warren, MS, RDN, CDN: I always make sure to have a deliciously appetizing vegetable dish on my menu that feels extra special for Yom Tov, such as Lemony Artichoke from my book, Secrets of a Kosher Girl. Yield: 6 servings 1 serving: 120 calories, 9 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 40 mg sodium, 8 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 2 g protein Ingredients 2 14-oz bags frozen artichoke bottoms, defrosted and quartered ½ cup fresh lemon juice ¼ cup white wine ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp salt Directions Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the artichokes in a 9x13-inch oven-proof baking dish. Combine the lemon juice, white wine, olive oil, salt, and garlic powder, and spread over the artichokes. Bake, covered, for 1½ hours or until very soft; uncover and bake 20 minutes more.

Laura Shammah, MS, RDN:

In addition to the sides of salads and vegetables like cauliflower rice, my family and I like to end off the meal with an Almond Flour Toll House Pie. Almond flour is much higher in fat than the other flours because it’s made from almonds, but it’s healthy fat. It’s very rich in nutrients, super low in carbs, and high in protein — and we love it. Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies or Toll House Pie Ingredients 5½ cups blanched almond flour 1 tsp kosher salt 1 tsp baking soda 4 eggs 2 heaping Tbsp coconut oil, melted ½ cup maple syrup 1 cup chocolate chips 1 tsp vanilla extract Directions Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. Bake for 13–15 minutes. In a pinch, I pour two boxes of Simple Mills chocolate chip cookie mix into a tart pan and underbake it. My family has been liking that better lately.

Shani Taub, CDC: Chicken capons stuffed with sautéed veggies is a favorite in our house. I also prepare lots of grilled vegetables, as well as sautéed cabbage in tomato sauce, which we all enjoy.

Compiled by Shiffy Friedman

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 183

Tamar Feldman, RDN, CDC:

My family and company enjoy this crowd-pleasing and much-improved version of sesame chicken every Yom Tov. The dish still has more calories and is not as nutritious as simple grilled cutlets, but it’s definitely an improvement over the traditional fried version, and is nice as an occasional variation. Ingredients 4 boneless chicken cutlets, cubed into small pieces 1 tsp oil, for sautéing 1–2 tsp sesame seeds, for garnishing Marinade 2 Tbsp soy sauce 1 Tbsp white wine 1 tsp sesame oil 3 Tbsp flour 2 Tbsp cornstarch 3 Tbsp water ¼ tsp baking powder ¼ tsp baking soda

Sauce ½ cup water with onion powder and garlic powder or chicken broth 4 tsp soy sauce 1 tsp sesame oil 2 Tbsp honey 3 tsp cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup cold water 3 Tbsp ketchup

Directions Mix marinade ingredients and marinate cubed chicken for at least 1 hour or overnight. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a large frying pan with cooking spray and heat oil. Sauté chicken pieces for ten minutes on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. In a small pot, mix sauce ingredients and heat until thickened. Pour sauce over chicken pieces and garnish with sesame seeds. Bake for ½ hr.

Miri Krupenia, CNWC:

Rather than making “special foods,” I serve filling, low-calorie options such as zucchini kugel, fruit crisp, and light soups. Ironically, my salads end up being higher in calories (but nutritious) due to the toppings and dressing.

184 Wellspring | October 2019



Miri Krupenia, CNWC: Salad lettuce white mushrooms, sliced alfalfa sprouts red onion dry roasted almonds Dressing 6 Tbsp light mayonnaise 6 Tbsp sugar or sugar substitute ¼ cup oil ¼ cup vinegar 1½ cubes frozen garlic salt 3 Tbsp water Directions Whisk together dressing ingredients. Mix salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with dressing. Lite Cream of Mushroom Soup 1 onion 1 Tbsp oil 16 oz mushrooms, sliced 1 Tbsp flour 3 cups water, divided ½ cup pareve sour cream Directions In a large pot, sauté onion in oil until translucent. Add mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes. Mix flour with ½ cup hot water (until no lumps are left) and add to soup. Add remaining water slowly and mix in. Blend with an immersion blender. Mix in sour cream and cook for another 5 minutes.

Dr. Rachael Schindler:

My kids can’t wait to eat my delicious aromatic Rosh Hashanah chicken every year. We enjoy it during the rest of Yom Tov, too — not only on Rosh Hashanah. It’s full of flavorful spices and fruits. Ingredients 2 lb skinless chicken breast or thighs, cubed 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 5 Tbsp olive oil, divided 1-inch piece of ginger, cut into matchsticks 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes 1 bunch shallots 1½ tsp coriander 1 tsp cumin ½ tsp ground cloves ¾ tsp cinnamon ½ tsp turmeric 1½ cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth 1/3 cup raisins 1/3 cup dates, chopped? 1 red pepper, diced 1 Tbsp honey salt and pepper, to taste Garnish 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 2 scallion stalks (green parts) whole? 1/3 cup pomegranate arils Directions In a large, deep frying pan, brown sweet potatoes and chicken in some of the olive oil on a low flame until golden brown. Transfer to a medium bowl. With the rest of the oil, sauté the white part of scallions, ginger and garlic. Add spices and broth. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in raisins, dates, peppers and coconut. Return chicken and sweet potatoes to the pan and cook until they’re tender. Add more broth if necessary. Garnish with coconut flakes, scallions, and pomegranate arils. Enjoy!

Compiled by Shiffy Friedman

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 185

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Eat Well

Nutrition Tidbits in the News By Malka Sharman

Vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;samachta Bechagecha

At Your Meal 7 Foods to Improve Your Mood With doctors and researchers constantly examining the correlation between our mood and the foods we eat, scientific evidence has emerged to support the fact that dietary changes can have a positive impact on our brain chemistry and metabolism, leading to improvements in our mood.

Although these foods will provide many benefits, remember that an essential energy booster is nutritious food and drink, and that hunger and thirst can really have negative effects on your mood. So make sure to get the proper nutrition you need during this hectic Yom Tov season.

Smart Carbs Although some people feel itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s better to avoid carbs, realize that, among other health benefits, they play an important role in promoting good moods. Carbohydrates raise your levels of serotonin, the brain chemical that improves and stabilizes your mood. However, not all types of carbs are mood-boosters. Sweets tend to cause a rapid spike and then a quick drop in blood sugar, leading to fatigue and a bad mood. Wholegrain carbs such as brown rice and whole-wheat bread are absorbed more slowly into the bloodstream, supporting stable blood sugar levels â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and better moods.

Eat Well

Nutrition Tidbits in the News

Nuts Higher levels of the mineral selenium have been associated with better moods. Nuts, specifically Brazil nuts, are a good dietary source of selenium. Smaller amounts of this mineral are found in meats, whole grains, beans, and dairy.

Lean Meats The amino acid tyrosine increases levels of two hormones responsible for alertness and focus. Lean meats (such as beef, turkey, and skinless chicken) contain tyrosine. These meats also contain vitamin B12, which acts to relieve depression and insomnia.

Salmon Fatty fish, especially salmon, can boost a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mood thanks to their high omega-3 content. The healthy fat present in the fish also decreases the risk of depression. (One reason to hold that sigh as youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re serving the umpteenth portion of fish this season!)

Leafy greens Folate, found in leafy green vegetables, is known to help protect against depression. Other sources of dietary folate include citrus fruits and nuts.

188 Wellspring | October 2019

Water This may sound simple, but even mild dehydration may have negative effects on your mood because it decreases your metabolism. A stable metabolism is the key to stable mood and energy levels. Try to drink water instead of sugary drinks, since sugary drinks provide the body with quick blood sugar level spikes, rather than keeping the level stable.

Tea Having a cup of tea is a known and proven relaxation technique. The beverage generates a calming effect. If you don’t have time for a cup of hot tea, enjoy some iced tea.

In addition to incorporating these foods in your daily diet, there are other healthy habits that may boost your mood. Eating breakfast is an especially important factor in maintaining a stable mood throughout the day. Eating small meals every three to four hours can also help stabilize your mood by providing your body with constant nutrient boosts every few hours, thereby keeping your blood sugar levels steady. And of course, exercising, even for a short time, will lift your mood and give you the energy you need to carry on.

L’Chaim Wine for your health Drinking some wine this Yom Tov might accomplish more for you than just lifting your spirits. A according to a study reported in the journal Gastroenterology, drinking red wine in moderation can increase the diversity of good bacteria in your microbiome, which is a collection of bacteria in the gut that plays an important role in your health. A healthy microbiome is populated by many types of good bacteria and helps digest food and keeps some diseases at bay; while an unhealthy one can lead to weight gain, poor functioning of the immune system, and high cholesterol. The study, which was conducted in Britain, the United States, and the Netherlands, had a total of nearly 3,000 participants. “We have proven that even small amounts, such as one glass of red wine

a week, show benefits,” says study author Caroline Le Roy. What’s the secret component that red wine contains? It’s not the alcohol that has this effect, but rather the polyphenols in the wine. Polyphenols help feed the good bacteria in the microbiome, researchers explain. This antioxidant can also be found in some fruits such as apples (Red Delicious have the most) and strawberries. Green tea also has a high content of polyphenols. While drinking small amounts of red wine has apparent health benefits, there are also unhealthy effects of drinking too much, such as liver disease, pancreatic cancer, and a depressed immune system, so remember to drink it in moderation. Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 189

Eat Well

Nutrition Facts in a Shell By Esther Frenkel

Here’s the place to check out nutrition labels for the nutrient-dense produce that come in their natural peels-- just so you know what wholesome goodness you’re feeding your family and yourself !

THIS MONTH:

PEARS Principle

Nutrition Value

Percentage of RDA

Energy

58 Kcal

Carbohydrates

13.81 g

11%

Protein

0.38 g

<1%

Total Fat

0.12 g

0.5%

Cholesterol

0 mg

Dietary Fiber

3.10 g

Folates

7 µg

Niacin

0.157 mg

Pantothenic Acid

0.048 mg

Pyridoxine

0.028 mg

Riboflavin

0.025 mg

Thiamin

0.012 mg

Vitamin A

23 IU

Vitamin C

4.2 mg

Vitamin E

0.12 mg

Vitamin K

4.5 µg

Sodium

1 mg

Potassium

119 mg

2.5%

Calcium

9 mg

Copper

0.082 mg

Iron

0.17 mg

Magnesium

7 mg

Vitamins

Electrolytes

Minerals

Manganese

Phosphorus

11 mg

Zinc

0.10 mg

190 Wellspring | October 2019

What is it about pears that they just conjure up an image of fall? Interestingly, their peak season is at the tail end of winter, but in the advanced world we live in today, this crisp fruit serves as a welcome addition to many Succos menus.

In the United States alone, there are more than 10 varieties of pears grown throughout the year, include Bartlett (which accounts for about 75 percent of commercial pear production in the US), Bosc, and Anjou. All of them have similar health benefits, including their high fiber content, vitamin C, and antioxidants. You’ll find various phytonutrients and other antioxidants, mostly in the vibrantly-colored skins of pears, why is why it’s a good idea to eat pears unpeeled. What’s there to love about pears? Aside from how filling and refreshing a crisp pear can be, it offers plenty of nutritional benefits. For instance, pears have the ability to fight chronic diseases by supplying high levels of antioxidants. They’re also capable of lowering cholesterol thanks to their high fiber content. Because they’re rich in vitamin C — one fresh, medium-sized pear contains about 12 percent of the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C — pears make the perfect fruit for pre-winter consumption, boosting your immune system ahead of the flu and cold season.

With over five grams of fiber in every medium-sized pear, pears are the ultimate high-fiber food. Eating pears is a great way to make sure you cover your bases of 25 to 30 grams of fiber daily. One of the most researched aspects of pear nutrition is the compound they contain called pectin fiber, a type of special beneficial fiber that’s water-soluble and helps lower cholesterol, and increases digestive health as well. Since pectin is a natural diuretic and has a mild laxative effect, eating whole pears (including the skin), blending them into a smoothie, or drinking pear juice can help regulate bowel movements, prevent water retention, and decrease bloating.

IN THE KITCHEN No-Bake Pear Crisp

This delicious recipe is gluten-free, healthy, and easy to prepare. Enjoy it cold or warm. Either way, you’ll want seconds! 8 pears, peeled and chopped, divided 1 cup raisins, soaked and drained 2 tsp cinnamon, divided ¼ tsp nutmeg

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 cups walnuts (optional in Tishrei) 1 cup Medjool dates ⅛ tsp sea salt

1. In the bowl of a food processor, place 2 pears, raisins, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and nutmeg and process until smooth. 2. Toss remaining chopped pears with lemon juice in a large bowl. Pour pear-raisin puree over pears and mix well.

3. Spoon mixture into a medium-sized baking dish and set aside.

4. Pulse walnuts (if using), dates, remaining cinnamon, and sea salt in a food processor until coarsely ground. Be careful not to overmix. 5. Sprinkle mixture over pears and press down lightly with your hands. 6. Serve immediately or let sit for a few hours for the flavor to marinate.

IN YOUR PLATE Aside from eating fresh, whole pears, incorporate diced fresh pears to your salads and smoothies to give them a special sweet flavor and pack in the nutrition. Ever use applesauce in place of butter, sugar, or extra oil when you bake? You can do the same thing with blended pears.

Want to know if a pear is ripe and ready at your service? Apply gentle pressure to the neck of the pear with your thumb. If it’s firm, it’s ripe.

IN YOUR PLATE Want to get the kids to fill up on this wholesome fruit? Thinly slice firm, under-ripe pears lengthwise and place in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 225°F for about 1½ hours. Flip the slices and continue baking until they’re slightly darkened and their edges have curled, about another 1 to 1½ hours. Transfer to a wire rack and let stand until cool and crisp. Perfect substitute for their sugar-laden snacks! (It stores well in an airtight container for up to one week.) Recently, my friend had us over for the Friday night meal. Since I wasn’t particularly a fan of pears (until I prepared this article!), I almost declined her offer for a poached pear dessert, but decided to be a gracious guest and give it a try. Surprising myself, when I finished my first serving, I requested another! Always on the lookout for healthy recipes, I asked her how she’d prepared this delicious dish. “I simply peeled and simmered the pears in a pot of water until they became tender,” she answered. Add a dash of cinnamon if you go for that combo. That’s it! Definitely worth a try, cooks. While natural pear juice can be a good addition to recipes on occasion, remember that the skin and pulp are where the fiber lays. Try eating those as often as possible.

HAPPINESS SHAKE BY YOSSI & MALKY LEVINE

On Yom Tov, we’re encouraged to actively be happy. This is not always easy, especially if we find the to-do list stressful and overwhelming. But here too, we’ve got you covered. As this issue’s Tidbits column discusses, certain foods are proven to be mood enhancers. This delicious chocolate-berry shake is literally a combination of feelgood ingredients. So think of this recipe not just as a healthy smoothie, but also as nature’s own anti-depressant. 192 Wellspring | October 2019

1 cup water 1 cup pineapple juice 1½ cups pineapple chunks (frozen recommended) 1 cup frozen mixed berries ¼ cup shredded coconut 1½ oz dark chocolate Place all ingredients in the cup of a blender and blend on high speed until smooth. Serve chilled.

Why these foods for happiness?

Pineapples Pineapples are high in serotonin, the chemical in the brain which stimulates our feeling of happiness. They also contain vitamin B6, which boosts the production of the feel-good endorphins, providing the body with a natural high.

Berries Pick a selection of brightly-colored berries to boost your happiness. Blueberries in particular contain cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal gland which helps us combat stress.

Coconut Studies have revealed that even just smelling coconut can lift our mood. It contains triglycerides that can reduce stress and lower anxiety.

Chocolate Chocolate does not often appear in a healthy recipe. However, studies show that consuming small amounts of dark chocolate actually works chemically to improve our mood. Dark chocolate contains the elements that stimulate the same endorphins released after we do exercise or have a good laugh. So no need to feel guilty about the occasional square of dark chocolate. Think of it as a mood boosting pick-me-up!

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*These statements have not been evaluated by the food & drug administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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Farewell

Dictionary

Nutritarian Definition: noun

(coined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman) rich in nutrients, particularly those found in plant foods, which develop and empower the immune system.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Ideal body weight becomes the

â&#x20AC;?

natural by-product of one who practices a nutritarian diet.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman, feature

Tishrei 5780 | Wellspring 195

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