Share a Delicious Evening with Me!

B'SD

13 Av, 5775

I enjoyed a remarkable experience last night. I met and interacted with Victoria Barayev, a macrobiotic chef. Victoria taught the basics of macrobiotic cooking to a crowd of interested Israelis. She is visiting Israel and based in the USA.

I was struck by the fact that she spoke to us as intelligent people, not as ignoramuses in need of an education. Instructors who do that quickly lose my attention span.

A skeptic of macrobiotic "dining," I had long believed it to be a system of food and pleasure deprivation. But my mind has opened to other possibilities after meeting people healed by, or experiencing vastly improved health due to, macrobiotic diets. I sought out information about the healing properties and flavors of macrobiotic guidelines. That led to learning of US-based Victoria and her guest appearance in Israel last night.

I enjoyed a thoroughly delicious meal that I helped to prepare under Victoria's guidance. I'd be happy to serve it to anyone! 

I'm favorably impressed with the nutritional richness of the fresh and cooked food that we enjoyed:

Mung Bean Basil Soup

Quinoa/Buckwheat Salad with Cilantro Pesto

and Tempeh Croutons

Chickpea-Hiziki Omelet

Cashew Cream Cheese

No-Cook Peach-Chia Pudding Pie

I enjoyed seconds of each item, so I could savor the flavors and remember them for my solo preparation efforts.

You can visit
Victoria's website 
at http://www.victoriabarayev.com/

One of the lessons that caught my attention last night was the fact that macrobiotic dining includes Principal foods necessary for optimal health, Complementary foods that add pleasure to the dining experience, and Special foods for occasional treats - not regular ingestion. It's as normal as life should be: No excess, simple goodness. No deprivation involved.

Here are candid photos of Victoria and the diners, some of whom met for the first time.

By the way, I have a motive for macrobiotic dining. Stay tuned to my healing story.  My friends and I are praying for an imminent miracle.





Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your plate with health-promoting pleasure.

Have US Patients and Medical Professionals Asked the Wrong Financial Questions?

B'SD

13 Av, 5775

As if headlines weren't scary enough, yesterday's edition of MedPage Today looked at a serious issue:

When it comes to health care spending, "We must face the fact that we largely have been asking the wrong questions for many years," says Stuart Guterman.





Wedges shmedges. You need help to lower your medical bills now. Ask your medical team and pharmacist for solutions. They tend to exist (too far and too few, sad to say) or to be possible, but only for people who seek them out.

Need more cost-cutting information?

Look for relief in the Global Resources section of the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your question sheets with necessary answers.

Celebrate 10 Years of LIFE with Me!

B'SD

12 Av, 5775

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of my life-saving emergency brain surgery! 

Celebrate the recovery of my vision and health with a print or digital copy of a doctor-recommended book that describes how YOU can cope with YOUR medical challenges. 

Find out how to calm down even when your life is on the line.

Learn what to do about rude medical professionals, in-laws and outlaws.

Compare your hospital packing list with empowering, safe suggestions.

Check out the Global Resources section of the book that informs you of worldwide organizations willing to pay for part or all of your specific medical needs. All you have to do is to ask!

Learn how to laugh again, despite the heartache and fear.

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your life with life-saving options.

How Do YOU Want to Spend Eternity?

B'SD

6 Av, 5775

I'm busy finessing the start of new employment, my social life and my thoughts about a very sad day on the calendar, Tisha B'Av, aka the 9th of Av, which begins in a few days.

Headlines are enough to give any sensible person nightmares. And summertime heat seems to provoke more bickering than usual about that. 

So, rather than share medical news or other thoughts, I want to share two thought-provoking and calming posters I've found online:

Spirituality is about becoming a more refined,

better person than you were before;

A person who helps to build the world,

not destroy it.

Please let me know what you think of the ideas above in the comments section below.





Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your life with meaning. As the book advises, the alternative to coping is worse.

A Healing Life Story in Brief

B'SD

5 Av, 5775

The Jewish month of Av is full of somber thoughts and images. Personal reflections are an integral part of the pre-Rosh Hashana season.

I just joined a health-oriented listserv, and compacted my health plus healing story into a few paragraphs. The timing was conducive to some introspection.

If you're new to this blog, or familiar with it, here are some  of the main points I shared in the above-referenced message:

My story in brief:  ... In February 2005 I awoke completely blind, and very physically weak. 

To make a long story short, I underwent life-saving emergency brain surgery in August 2005. Surgeons removed a benign brain tumor called a Petroclival Tentorial Meningioma. It had crushed my optic nerves and badly damaged other nerves.

Western medical experts doubted that I would survive the ordeal let alone ever see again. I consulted with expert naturopaths. Under their guidance I became an organic vegetarian in 2006, and beat big odds. I am a rarity in the medical world, having recovered my vision - which keeps improving - after that specific diagnosis and setback. I am also physically active.

A former supervisor of medical coding who wrote feature stories about medical experts and their innovations plus other medically-related topics, and someone quite familiar with teaching calming techniques (I eventually earned counseling skills certification), I used a knowledge base about healing and centering unknown to average laymen. I remained composed despite horrific fears, physical pain and unknowns (most of the time, anyway. I definitely advocate the need to cry so that a person can go forward despite emotional turmoil).

I wrote a book about how to cope with medical challenges. Published in 2009, updated in 2011, it received cover praises from medical and mental health professionals http://booklocker.com/books/3067.html. People around the world LUV the motivational and healing information in the book plus the Global Resources section that clues you in to worldwide organizations willing to pay some or all of your specific medical bills.

Organic foods and a natural lifestyle restored my vision plus my physical strength (I had needed to learn how to speak again, how to walk, how to use my hands and arms, etc). 

However, I still see double and have difficulty getting my eyes to move together. My eyes move at different speeds, as do the eyelids. One of those lids had been paralyzed. Craniosacral treatment ended the problem, restored symmetry to my face and ended post-surgical pain that could have been life-long.

The prescription for my glasses has dropped 18 times since going organic vegetarian in 2006. Ridding my body of toxins allowed damaged nerves and muscles to heal. My sight improves daily, and my health - according to medical experts - rivals that of women half my age, thank GOD.

In February 2015 I became vegan. That has provoked a most unexpected development: More and very rapid recovery of my sight. I'm at the threshold of ending double vision due to damaged optical nerves plus not needing glasses anymore. I'd like for that to happen with my 10th anniversary of a life-saving event. It would be a miracle. I believe that I can coax that miracle along with a macrobiotic diet.

I've spoken all over Israel, in the USA, on TV, radio and online media about my unusual recovery and coping mechanisms. I remain available for motivational speaking engagements as I maintain my content provider business (I edit other people's writings and prepare speeches, brochure, website, plus journalistic content for various clients).

​I look forward to interacting with the rest of you either online or in person.

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your sense of priorities with good sense and productive action.

You are Your Doctor's Life Lesson

B'SD

28 Tamuz, 5775

One of the lessons in EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge is that YOU are your own best medical advocate. 

Each of us understands our bodies and health symptoms with the accuracy of personal experience. Another word for personal experience is data, factual information that can - and in your case SHOULD - be used for reference and analysis.

You, your loved ones and friends, can dramatically influence your health care. Speak up, defend your choices with factual information, and with focused behavior. 

Work with medical professionals who respect the facts in your physical and/or emotional life, and respect you.

This TEDTalk demonstrates the wisdom of Owning Your Own Data.

Here's what it all comes down to: You are Your Doctor's Life Lesson. The life is yours. Teach your medical team about the realities in your life from temperatures shifts to food, weather, environmental and drug sensitivities. Your hunch, your insight about it all, is based on experience that can help all of you.

Ready to develop your skills for defending your specific heath interests and needs? Read

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

Show your doctors your data.

 







Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your medical life with self respect.

Putting Breast Mammography into Perspective

B'SD

21 Tamuz, 5775

I tend to prepare a blogpost when the content might prove valuable to my readers. Sometimes this blog goes silent, and it is not updated for a while. I prefer not to chatter nonsense nor to repeat myself, let alone to annoy you.

Today's message comes from my heart, on many levels.

This exchange took place at one of my 2 facebook pages, and was initiated by a reader of the EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge book:

Miriam Goodman

4 hrs ·

Yocheved Golani something you have been saying for some time...

Mammograms Don't Lead To Fewer Deaths, Suggests A New Study

(Updates with comment from study author Charles Harding throughout story.) By Reuters Staff (Reuters Health) - Breast cancer screenings may not lead to fewer...

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

Like   Comment   Share

• 

  Yocheved Golani True. I'd written a related article about that for United with Israel a few years ago, It's now offline. The end of the article gave information for correcting the situation. Joseph Joel Sherman can you resurrect the article?

  Like · Reply · 4 hrs · Edited
• 

  Yocheved Golani Miriam I used to have a running joke on my other facebook page about how many times the http://www.booklocker.com/books/3067.htmlbook or my published articles scooped the media. But so many scoops became a sad reminder of how poorly the public is served by mainstream media. I stopped joking about a far from amusing situation.
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a...

  BOOKLOCKER.COM

  Like · Reply · Remove Preview · 2 hrs · Edited
• 

  Yocheved Golani As for anyone reading this thread and interested in benefiting from a careful fact-checker familiar with messy medical issues: I can pronounce lots of BIG expensive words fully aware of what they mean. I am an excellent writer seeking employment. PM me for details and be sure to visithttp://www.linkedin.com/in/yochevedgolaniink
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Yocheved Golani | LinkedIn

  View Yocheved Golani's (Israel) professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the world's largest business...

  IL.LINKEDIN.COM

  Like · Reply · Remove Preview · 3 hrs · Edited

I'd appreciate your feedback on the above.

Re-read every word above in case you missed some subtleties.




Need ideas to help you to think creatively and productively about a medical situation? Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your life with verified information, not suppositions.