Feeding Body and Soul with an Excellent Book (nope, not mine)!

B'SD

8 Tevet, 5775

I'm still laughing at my error at dating yesterday's blogpost. 10 Tevet is a fast day and it must have been at the back of my mind as I wrote about overeating.

This week I'll be sharing body-building information about food, and how it heals us. Read my review of a new book, below. I highly recommend each and every page!

(Caveat: You may not reprint this review without my express permission and payment for my work)

The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel with their Mystical and Medicinal Properties

By Chana Bracha Siegelbaum

Menorah Books

True to the comment at the bottom of the book’s cover, The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel with their Mystical and Medicinal Properties is a presentation with “Torah Teachings and Depth.”

Author Rabanit Chana Bracha Siegelbaum is the revered teacher and director of B’erot Bat Ayin, Israel’s multi-dimensional school for women. Lessons there surpass the rote learning of contemporary seminaries. Hands-on experience and focused knowledge of Jewish topics with an appreciation for their metaphysical ramifications, rather than mere memorization, is standard fare in B’erot Bat Ayin. The Seven Fruits book exemplifies that approach: It is rich with multi-dimensional Torah-true lessons about the seven foods native to the Holy Land. The education extends from Chumash (the Five Books of Moses), Midrash and Talmud to contemporary science. Exciting artwork, photographs, and original recipes augment every chapter, leaving a lovely taste of Torah life on body and soul.

Chapters begin with colorful paintings depicting the fruit being studied. Commentary follows the cited Torah sources of that food item, such as this line in the Grapes chapter: They shall sit, every man under his vine and under his fig tree: and none shall make them afraid (Micah 4:4). Commentaries about the grape are followed by a list of the food’s spiritual attributes (Tiferet harmony/beauty), corresponding character trait (the ability to synthesize and integrate), holiday (e.g., Purim’s wine feast) and other items of related interest.

Relevant Perek Shira lessons regarding the species under discussion are then cited, followed by at-a-glance charts holding facts about the nutritional and healing properties of that food.

The author then presents upbeat medical, historical, spiritual and symbolic traditions associated with the species being addressed. The Pomegranate chapter is typical of those delights in this book. Focusing on folklore and practical matters regarding the hundreds of seeds in each ripened pomegranate,  Siegelbaum cites the differences between the good deeds of the righteous – pure – and those of the wicked – self-interest. It is complemented by a captivating moral lesson that focuses on the redemptive qualities of even half-hearted efforts.

A Taste of Kabbala is next in the presentation format. A riveting method for protecting oneself from illness appears in the Dates chapter. Citing HaShem’s promise that all of Am Yisrael will become and remain healthy once we learn to get along with each other forever, it is a thought-provoking moral lesson.

Recipes are next. Each chapter features simply prepared mixtures of foods packed with physical and metaphysical nourishment.

The author augments the recipes with halachic insights into appropriate blessings and even suggests appealing table presentations.

Fanciful monologues by the species under study e.g., Grandpa Grain, Madam Pearl, Mrs. Gefen, follow the recipes. The author explains that an archetype of each species addresses the reader in every chapter “… based on my creative understanding of each of the sefirot as they are embodied by the various species. I sat under each of the trees respectively, when writing these archetypes, to gain inspiration.”

Citations for Siegelbaum’s many footnotes appear last in each chapter, affording readers the opportunity to educate themselves more by studying those fonts of information.

The Conclusion to The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel with their Mystical and Medicinal Properties is profound. The author explains that “The Holy land is specifically praised for the seven holy fruits due to their spiritual genetics that inherently connect them to the Land of Israel… these seven species have the special ability to arouse the children of Israel’s inherent connection with their Holy Land…. Every time we recite the threefold after-blessing, we… rectify the sin of the spies who… were not grateful to HaShem for the gift…”

After you’ve read Siegelbaum’s Fruity People and Vegetative Donkeys in the Appendix you’ll better understand the devastation that Adam brought onto humanity by changing its diet and spiritual potential. The overall effect of having read the entire book is powerful and likely to provoke changes in how you think and behave, beginning with your food.

This 440-page hardcover is rich, educational and readily understandable, a marvelous presentation with an astonishing amount of information. The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel with their Mystical and Medicinal Properties by Chana Bracha Siegelbaum and Menorah Books belongs in every home and educational institution.

The bottom of the book’s cover indicates that The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel with their Mystical and Medicinal Properties is part of “The Wholesome Spirited Cookbook Nutrition and Health Series with Torah Teachings and Depth.”  Siegelbaum indicates that the next book in the series “… has Torah teachings about eating. It includes information about the quality of ingredients, and my challah recipes with Torah teachings about the mitzvah of baking challah.”

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 body and soul with good nutrition.

Lowering Lymphedema's Ill Effects

B'SD


28 Menachem Av 5769


My Self-Help Coaching efforts with people facing medical challenges led me to a woman with Lymphedema. Desperate for relief from the pain and swelling in her leg, she asked me for some time-honored treatments simple to use and to prepare.

Here's what I suggested.

• STOP eating all dairy (cheese, etc.)
  
• NO bread (of any kind) - you can buy sprout bread at health food shops instead


• NO animal products (eggs, fish, chicken, etc.)


• Drink a lot of lemon, water and cayenne mixed together


• GO for a series of colonics


• DRINK green smoothies (ask your local nutritionist how to prepare them)


• EAT MANY salads and fruit, including watermelon and grapes.


• BE in the sunshine and go to sleep by 10. Lack of sleep stresses the body.


• Soak a 100% cotton flannel cloth with organic Castor Oil and place it on your inner thigh while resting. The oil can promote circulation. The cottony cloth holds it in place without causing chemical reactions.

Tell your medical professionals what you're doing so they can monitor progress and prevent new problems. Some techniques might work better than others for you. Some might not be advisable.



Be sure to see this interactive online resource:

Ask Questions About Cancer, Lymphedema and Exercise

Here's to YOUR ever-improving coping efforts with a medical challenge,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life

Want to Stop Kicking the Other Person in Bed? Want to Lose that Leg Pain?

B'SD

27 Mar-Cheshvan 5769

Restless Leg Syndrome is the expensive name for that problem you might have with kicking the other person in your bed or simply kicking off the covers when you don't even realize what's happening.

The good news is that RLS is NOT a reason for a divorce. It's a treatable problem. But if you take allergy medications, your spouse might wonder WHAT is going on in your head! Allergy meds might make you kick more often and harder as you sleep!

Doctors at Johns Hopkins University say that the connection between allergy medications and RLS "is that histamine receptors -­ proteins found on the surface of some cells that are triggered by histamine ­ in the brain - work to modulate nerve responses. When activated, histamine receptors stimulate alertness or wakefulness."

So far, the solution is to minimize the allergens around you. Get rid of what causes your allergic symptoms. Then you can reduce your medication.

Guess what those JHU docs figured out about reducing arthritis pain?

GRAPE POWDER ALLEVIATES JOINT INFLAMMATION

The simple explanation: grapes have something that causes "antihyperalgesic effects... [in] joint inflammation." It's called flavonoids. They seem to have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Yep, simple grape powder or grapes alone seem to be better at reducing pain than the nonsteroidal drug Meloxicam.

A combination of grape powder and painkiller meloxicam seems to lower pain even more and to reduce the knee swelling associated with inflammation.

"I think there are two important messages here," says Jasenka Borzan, Ph.D., a research associate in anesthesiology at Hopkins. "That consuming flavonoids through natural products like grapes can be beneficial to health in general and also specifically for reducing inflammatory pain; and that consuming natural products like grapes may also be beneficial in reducing the amount of medication necessary to reduce inflammation."

CURRY SPICE AND PARKINSON'S DISEASE?

Once again, those western-medicine oriented JHU professionals learned that another natural solution to a human problem exists in the kitchen cupboard: Curcumin, also called the curry spice turmeric, has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. That prevents oxidative damage ­ damage caused by oxygen ­ and inflammation implicated in the nerve cell death associated with Parkinson's disease. JHU researchers have shown in a laboratory model of Parkinson's disease that curcumin protects cells from dying.

"These results suggest that curcumin is a potential candidate for inhibiting the oxidative damage that leads to Parkinson's disease," says Wanli Smith, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Hopkins. "This common curry spice could be a weapon to protect the brain."

OK, readers, my insistence on the healing and protective effects of an organic foods diet is being validated by medical professionals.

Read my book. Learn how I adjusted my cake and candy-craving, burger wolfing appetite and greatly improved my health when you BUY YOUR COPY of It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry if I Need To today!

It sure is A Life Book that Helps You to Dry Your Tears and to Cope with a Medical Challenge.

To your good health,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life