Avivah Werner

Category: Healthy Living

  • Putting in a bathtub – DIY

    Last winter, my husband wistfully commented a number of times as to how much he wished we had a bathtub; we have four bathrooms but every single one has a shower.

    My husband asked someone who does renovations what would be involved in putting in a bathtub. I didn’t think there was room for a bathtub, and would have assumed even if there was room it would be a huge amount of work and expense, but after this conversation, my husband assured me it was doable.

    We could move the sink to a different wall, and then the bathtub would be placed on the wall where the sink and shower had been.

    The space was a little small but there are bathtubs sized for approximately that space.

    When I was buying tiles for the new kitchen backsplash in the spring, I found one with the right measurements and bought it as a surprise for my husband.

    While he was pleasantly surprised, a bathtub does not a bath make.

    The bathtub sat, and sat and sat.

    Months went by, and finally my husband decided to call someone to put it in for us. That person did the plumbing, but said he didn’t have time to do the tiling. The tub was usable, but it was so visually unattractive.

    You can see on the left where the shower was, and on the right where the sink was.

    The new bathtub installed; shower was on the left, the sink was on the right.

    My husband said he would do the tiling but wasn’t sure where to begin. In addition, he works full-time so he really didn’t have much extra time for a project like this.

    We had an added challenge. The current tiling was put in when the house was built, about 14 years ago. So obviously that’s not in stock anymore.

    The floor is a beige with a brown undertone; the tiles are patterned white and silver with a gray undertone. While it looks good together, do you know how difficult it is to find tiles that match both the existing walls and the floors? Not possible at all.

    My husband said we should tile the tub surround plain white. I balked and said we absolutely were not going to do a renovation that looked low grade and dumpy. My suggestion was to retile the entire bathroom and tub surround.

    My husband was understandingly quite unenthused about a project of that scope.

    The solution that met both of our needs was inspired by a different project that is still in progress: the retiling of the laundry room and children’s bathroom. Their bathroom has the same tiles as our bathroom, and though many had been removed by then and were broken in the process, some were still on the wall.

    My husband watched some videos to learn how to remove them from the wall in their entirety. Then he removed the tiles, until he had enough for our new bathtub surround.

    There was a good bit of other unseen work that needed to be done before he could begin setting the tiles, but finally there was visible progress being made. (Below, laying out the frst row of tiles.)

    (Below, the final results.)

    We’re both very pleased with how it turned out. He did a great job.

    There are a couple more details before we wrap up this project. One is the attach faucets on the wall where the sink was.

    The other is to replace the tile on the wall that has two holes drilled into it from when the sink was attached.

    But the biggest part of the project is finished; the other items can be taken care of relatively quickly.

    ————-

    While this project dragged out longer than my husband would have liked, he’s very, very happy to have a bathtub!

    The last couple of winters, he’s felt rundown and constantly under the weather. He kept wondering what he could do to boost his immune system, since he eats well, thinks positively, and exercises regularly.

    Voila! This winter has been dramatically better than the last two for him. He hasn’t had any cold symptoms nor the constant feeling of being under the weather. He attributes the dramatic improvement to his nightly bath, which is warming and invigorating.

    Avivah

  • Deep contentment

    Our dog was resting in the kitchen while I was washing dishes, when ds8 came over to play with her.

    Ds8, putting it mildly, has a lot of energy and while the dog often enjoys it, she sometimes is in the mood for a mellower kind of interaction. In this moment, she scooched close to me to get away from him, without me realizing she had moved so close.

    When I took a small step backwards, I felt something soft, and lurched to the side to avoid stepping on her. I lost my balance and fell backwards; my head hit the wall. I crashed into the stacked baskets of produce, and as they collapsed, all the potatoes, onions and squash fell on top of me.

    It might have been comical if someone had been watching. It didn’t feel funny at all, though. My family members wondered if the dog barks since they never heard her, but when I fell, she was so alarmed she set to barking furiously for over five minutes.

    I got up, all in one piece, though sore and bruised. I am so grateful to be a physically and emotionally resilient person.

    I made an appointment with the osteopath, who ended up having a cancellation just two days later so I didn’t have to wait long for an appointment.

    I used to go to the osteopath once a month, to deal with the pain I had in my hip/knee/foot areas. When I switched to a carnivore diet a couple of years ago, the pain vanished.

    Even though in the last year I haven’t been strict carnivore, being heavily meat based has been enough that I rarely have pain. When I do eat something that causes inflammation and start to feel twinges of discomfort, I know what caused it and what I need to do to feel better.

    I’ve taken a couple of kids in the last year for appointments, but haven’t needed any treatment for myself for two years since I’ve been feeling so good.

    I thought I was mostly recovered from the fall, but he’s excellent and right away could tell which parts of my body were affected without me telling him. He can feel which muscles are tighter and what part of the body is hurting. He also picks up other things, like how things are working in different internal organs.

    When he finished, I thanked him, and he told me, “Avivah, you’re a strong woman (he tells me this every time), and you have a heart filled with happiness.”

    I laughed and asked, “Is that also the kind of thing you pick up on?”

    “Yes, it is; I see that you are happy with your life.”

    It’s true, and it’s interesting he picked up on it since there’s nothing I said that would have led to that conclusion. I don’t walk around bubbling over with laughter or smiling all the time, and sometimes I complain and focus on the negative or annoying.

    But overall I have a deep feeling of contentment with my life.

    I love my life filled with simple pleasures.

    I love the slower pace and beautiful views where I live.

    I enjoy seeing the green weeds springing up all over.

    I love the sun on my face. Have you ever thought how lucky we are to have the sensation of its warmth on your face? I think about that often. For an entire year after my face was badly burned in 2014, I wasn’t allowed to have any sun on my face. Sunlight is an incredible gift.

    I enjoy planting things and watching them grow.

    I enjoy seeing the dog play and jump.

    I enjoy watching the chickens peck in my yard.

    I appreciate being able to eat food that feels good in my body and makes my body feel good.

    I love my daily morning walk with my husband, rain or shine.

    I love being the mother of so many amazing human beings, and grandmother to so many more. This is deep, deep joy.

    I really like being me. As I am, right now, continually in process as a human on this planet.

    There are things in the world that can be anxiety provoking or frightening when we focus our attention on them. But it’s a beautiful world we live in, and the more we stop to notice all the small things that are going well, the better life feels.

    Avivah

  • Are the new US dietary guidelines a cause for celebration?

    There’s been a lot of exultation being expressed about the changes to the US dietary pyramid recommendations, and my initial response on viewing it was to be pleasantly surprised.

    I know that RFK eats a diet very similar to mine (close to carnivore) and he’s very knowledgeable about real nutrition, but I couldn’t imagine how any meaningful changes would be supported.

    When I saw the new food pyramid picture, I thought it was too good to be true. After all, a lot of money would be lost by major food producers if these guidelines were followed. Not only that, the masses of people with improving health would create a huge financial loss to the pharmaceutical industry. Tremendous earnings are involved in the food pyramid and the stakes are very high – for the individual’s health, and for the revenue potential of the biggest companies in the US.

    There are a lot of lobbyists battling to keep the status quo, and I presume that every single bit of change on this pyramid was fought for. I give a lot of credit to those who pushed for the changes.

    Here are the specific guidelines of the new pyramid, ten pages in all. It’s worth reading because you’ll understand the most important detail is one you might think insignificant.

    First, the good news and improvements are immediately visible. Look at all that beautiful whole food! Look at meat, chicken and cheese being the foundation of a good diet! All high fat, high nutrient density foods, long been demonized and now being highlighted as ideal.

    Look how carefully the lower carb vegetables make up the higher amount of the diet, with low carb berries and avocados close to the foundation; sugary fruits like bananas and grapes are listed higher up, being they should be eaten more moderately.

    All this is amazing. So much of what they wrote in the guidelines is really good. Not perfect, but very good.

    Healthy fats are part of the healthy foundation. Let’s look at the literature to see what they’re calling healthy fats. I was happy to see the following, making for a long overdue official policy change in the attitude towards saturated fats.

    “Incorporate healthy fats: Healthy fats are plentiful in many whole
    foods, such as meats, poultry, eggs, omega-3–rich seafood, nuts, seeds, full-fat dairy, olives, and avocados.”

    “When cooking with or adding fats to meals, prioritize oils with essential fatty acids, such as olive oil. Other options can include butter or beef tallow.”

    What??? Butter and beef tallow? Long claimed to be heart clogging, now being listed as fats to prioritize? I thought for a moment that angels were singing.

    And then I came to the next line, and this is the nail in the coffin for this food pyramid:

    “In general, saturated fat consumption should not exceed 10% of total daily calories. Significantly limiting highly processed foods will help meet this goal. More high-quality research is needed to determine which types of dietary fats best support long-term health.“

    Let’s ignore that mealy mouthed, wishy washy final statement. There have been tons of studies done and we know what dietary fats support long term health: saturated fats. This statement was clearly included to appease someone.

    Let’s look at the other two sentences before that. Do you think that fast food is high in saturated fat? Do you think that highly processed foods are high in saturated fats?

    Not if they’re prepared with seed oils they aren’t.

    All a processed food producer of a high saturated fat product needs to change to be within guidelines is to shift from palm oil to canola. Then their labels can claim they meet the health guidelines, making them appear to be a healthy option.

    If limiting processed foods isn’t going to keep your saturated fat intake down to 10%, what will you have to limit?

    You will have to cut down your intake on the exact foods that are listed as foundational: meat, chicken, eggs, butter, tallow! So logistically speaking, these are the foods that will have to be minimized to fit the guidelines of the recommended diet.

    The protein guidelines have been increased, which is great. What can be served that will meat the increased protein guidelines, and stay within the 10% saturated fat cap?

    Plant proteins.

    You don’t see plant proteins pictured in the new pyramid, but they are mentioned in the document and it’s the details that matter, not the hyped up picture.

    What fats will they use, if they can’t use saturated fats without going over the guidelines?

    Seed oils.

    You may say, who cares about the details? These are great changes! No one reads the specifics of the guidelines; people will look at the picture and will be encouraged to eat more of those high nutrient dense foods.

    For the individuals who do that, it’s a huge gain for them.

    HOWEVER. All food served through federal food programs will need to align with the guidelines. How many people does that affect? All school meals (60% of school children get school lunches), elderly food programs (1-2 million people), food programs for the poor, military, and prison meals (2 million adults) need to comply with the guidelines. All food in hospitals and nursing homes will have to comply with these guidelines. That’s a huge percentage of the US population that is affected by these guidelines.

    You see, the food that is government funded to many millions of Americans isn’t going to change much at all. I’m guessing the biggest change to the government approved menus, will be Pop Tarts being replaced by the Impossible Burger. I am really skeptical that will produce notable gains in health.

    Presumably nutritionists and doctors will be trained using these guidelines, and again, they’ll be promoting nutritional information that is very limited and won’t result in good health.

    (I found an article detailing the issues with this pyramid by Nina Teicholz, author of The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet. It’s definitely worth a read, since she was on the inside trying to pass meaningful changes that would benefit the health of the US citizens.)

    Now you understand how these guidelines could pass. It’s not going to make nearly as many changes to the health or pockets as it would appear at first glance.

    ——————-

    For me, it doesn’t make a difference one way or another what the guidelines are. I’ve done my own research over many years about nutrition and other aspects of health. I’ll continue to do those things, whether they are recommended or not.

    Every one of you has the ability to take responsibility for your own health. It’s literally in your hands, the hand that puts food in your mouth.

    Don’t abdicate that responsibility to anyone else.

    Don’t be distracted by politicians or grandstanding.

    Keep your focus on your own choice, and keep taking the next step in the direction you want to go.

    Avivah

  • I found a solution! Replacing plastic containers and parchment paper

    Thank you to everyone who took time out to contact me privately to let me know the site wasn’t working. As one of you commented, it looked like my site was burned out, just like me. 🙂 Since I’ve been so busy, it took time until I could devote the necessary attention to remedying the issue, but I’m I’m grateful that all of the necessary technical updates have been made and it’s up and running again after a week and a half out of action.

    ——————

    I’ve been working on replacing plastics for weeks now, and I’m glad to be able to share with you what’s been working for me. I’ve gotten rid of everything related to food or drinks that has plastic in it, other than the lunch boxes for the kids and occasional sandwich bags.

    Most of the changes I made felt easy, but there were two items that were the most daunting to me because I used them so much and replacing them seemed impossible – plastic containers and parchment paper.

    I regularly used plastic containers for food storage in the refrigerator. While I never heated anything in them (I don’t have a microwave and never have other than for a very short time 26 years ago),I often didn’t wait for cooked foods to cool down before putting them away and heat leads to leaching of toxins. Additionally, ingredients like lemon juice, vinegar, and tomato sauce will cause the microplastics to leach out. So basically any food I stored was being contaminated with microplastics.

    (Edited to add – even if something is dry and cool, microplastics are released, so for that reason I’m replacing everything that I can.)

    As far as the parchment/baking paper, any paper good that repels water is coated with microplastics; that’s what keeps the water from soaking in. For years I’ve lined my baked dishes with parchment paper before covering them with aluminum foil, thinking I was protecting my food from toxins. I did protect the food from aluminum leaching in, but I didn’t know that I was showering my foods with microplastics.

    I found one solution that replaces both the plastic storage containers and parchment paper.

    Stainless steel pans with lids.

    So simple, and so genius. I don’t know I haven’t seen these offered as a solution, because they work so well.

    Caterers and hotel dining rooms around the world use these pans; there are six different sizes and each size has three different depths possible.

    I already had some of these pans, inherited years ago from the caterer my husband worked for, sans lids. The size I have is a 9 x 13 pan, referred to in catering terms as 1/2. (In Hebrew these are called a ‘gastronome’ in the singular, or ‘gastronomim’ in the plural.)

    It took me time until I got around to ordering lids for the pans I had since I was waiting to see if I wanted to order other sizes along with them. Before making that order, I bought a few trial pans locally (at Max Stock and Zol Stock – they had different sizes available) as well as a couple from Amazon. I used them for a few weeks to see what sizes were most useful for me, and then bought more of those sizes.

    The pans I bought included two pans that were like large loaf pans (1/3); this holds the same quantity as the shallow 1/2 pans but is half the width so it’s more compact for storage. I ordered four more, for a total of six, after finding it a very useful size for us.

    I also bought a couple of smaller loaf pans (1/4), two deep square pans (1/6), and then small (1/9) pans in two depths. All of those are shown in the picture below (this used to be my drawer for plastic containers); the 1/2 pans and lids are stored where I keep baking pans.

    We love using these!

    Instead of covering food with aluminum foil and parchment paper, I just pop the lid on. They stack beautifully and are space efficient. They can go directly from the oven to the fridge, and the fridge to the oven or hotplate when food needs to be reheated. No need to transfer food from the baking dish to the storage container. That saves time and cuts down on dishes needing to be washed.

    Below are smaller sizes with leftovers in them.

    When it’s time to wash them, they wash much more easily than the plastic containers that are grease magnets. And they look so nice! My teen boys and husband have all commented about liking the feel of them – solid and real.

    The one mistake I made was to buy pans of the same size from different stores. The sizes are supposedly universal, and while they stack inside of one another, the pans from Zol Stock have lids that are slightly different from the same size pans from Max Stock, and don’t fit one another. If you decide to replace your plastics with these pans, I’d strongly recommend you buy all of the pans in a given size from one place to avoid this issue.

    The smallest size from Max Stock has a sharp edge on the underside of the pans, and when I bought the more shallow pans in this same size from Zol Stock, I checked the bottom lip of the pan to be sure they wouldn’t have that problem.

    The other thing to be aware of is that while the pans nest inside of one another, the lids don’t. Pans can stack on top of one another, but the inner part of the lid is rounded, so they aren’t space efficient. It’s not a game changer, just something to be aware of.

    I labelled all of my plastic containers so I would know at a glance in the fridge what I have, and I do the same for these pans. I keep a roll of masking tape and a Sharpie marker in a drawer in the kitchen so it’s always on hand for use.

    If you’re thinking buying these pans is expensive, you can save by keeping your eyes open in thrift shops. Second hand stores can be a great place to find kitchen ware, often it’s older and much better made. You never know what you’ll find at thrift stores.

    After buying my stock of pans, I found four stainless steel pans with lids at a second hand shop and was amazed and delighted to find them! I paid seven shekels for each set. It made me think there must have been items like this around previously but I hadn’t been looking for them so didn’t see them.

    Two of the lids are completely flat, which I prefer. These pans are heavier duty than the other pans and lids that I’ve bought, which I also appreciate. However, they aren’t the standard catering sizes, and the pans don’t nest inside of one another so they aren’t space efficient when not in use.

    As when I replaced my non-stick skillet with a stainless steel frying pan, there’s a cost to making this switch. However, once you buy them, you aren’t going to need to replace them again and again, making it a one time expense. And you don’t have to buy them all at once – I didn’t.

    Questions about these pans that I haven’t addressed? Do you want me to share about other changes I’ve made away from plastic in the kitchen? Let me know!

    Avivah

  • Worst cookware in your kitchen and what to use instead

    A couple of years ago I began using disposable dishes during the holidays when I’m hosting large numbers of people. This past Pesach, one daughter commented on how convenient it must be for me, and asked me if I would like to use them all year round to lighten my work load.

    No, not at all.

    Why not? Because I don’t want to ingest toxins that I can easily avoid just by eating on regular dishes. Not to mention the ecological impact.

    I thought I was doing pretty well on avoiding toxins in my food, by staying away from disposables and processed foods, and instead making homemade foods from whole ingredients.

    Then I learned about microplastics. When I began to understand how ubiquitous they are, as well as how deeply contaminated our environment is by them, I was initially discouraged. It’s everywhere: in our water, air, soil, foods – what change could I make that would make a difference?

    Microplastics contain chemicals known as PFAS, called the forever chemicals because they hardly degrade in the environment or body. Teflon is one type of chemical in this group; though it’s been phased out due to the known health concerns, other chemicals with similar concerns have replaced them.

    PFAS have been used in products for eighty years, and seventy years ago the first reports appeared in the scientific literature of their negative effects. Unfortunately, it’s taken until very recent years that they are becoming more widely recognized as the danger they are. As with tobacco and DDT, the dangers were known to those profiting from their sales, but they continued to be sold for many years before consumers were warned to take steps to protect themselves.

    So if you’re reassuring yourself that all of these plastics must be fine because everyone is using them, and they wouldn’t be on our shelves if there was any risk, think again.

    Chemicals are not required to be fully tested for safety before being released on the market. The chemical bonds of PFAS are extremely resistant to degradation, even with high temperatures, and are resistant to oil and water. This is why they are widely used in food packaging like microwave popcorn bags, pizza boxes, and fast food containers. (PFAS are also in anything that has a stain repellent, like for carpets and upholstery, cleaning products, personal care products, and clothing – but let’s just stick to food sources right now.)

    The worst offenders are anything with a nonstick coating. That includes: pots, pans, rice cookers, air fryers (and air fryer liners), and even parchment paper. That last one really disturbed me, since I thought I was doing a healthy thing by lining my pans with parchment paper before covering them with aluminum foil.

    Much of the health effects are still unknown, but what we know they are linked to is damning: infertility, developmental delays in children, accelerated puberty, behavioral changes, increased risk of some cancers (prostate, kidney, testicular), interference with the immune systems ability to fight infection, disruption of the endocrine system, and intestinal inflammation. Remember, this is only what we are so far being told.

    The problem with PFAS in cookware are they are fat soluble compounds and the leaching of chemicals into your food increases with heat, oil, contact time, salt and acidic compounds (like tomato sauce).

    One scratch on a nonstick pan can release 9100 plastic particles into your food. A cracked coating releases 2.3 million microplastic and nano plastics (ie particles of pfas) into your food. These are tiny, microscopic pieces of plastic that are very toxic and bio-accumulative.

    I’m going to share different things that I’m doing to minimize our use of plastics and PFAS in upcoming posts. The first and most important step is to get rid of non-stick cookware.

    These mostly haven’t had a presence in my home for many years, but I bought a nonstick skillet a year or two ago to replace a stainless steel one that was treifed up (made nonkosher). I knew it wasn’t Teflon so I hoped that the upgraded coating would be a healthier option. When the coating got scratched, I threw it away and bought another one. Then that got scratched so I threw it away. I thought I was being appropriately careful.

    After that I committed to not buying anything else until I could find a stainless steel skillet. It was only because I couldn’t find one in the stores I was shopping in that I bought the non-stick skillet to begin with.

    After several months, I ordered one online. But while I was waiting for my skillet to arrive, I found one in a Soltam branch in Tiberias . The price is much more than a nonstick skillet but it’s a good quality pan, it’s a one time expense, and for me it’s worth the added expense to have non-toxic cookware.

    Here’s a suggestion to prevent food from sticking to the bottom.

    The key is to heat the pan before adding oil or food. You can check if it’s hot enough by dropping a tiny bit of water into the pan. When the pan is ready, the droplets will bounce. If you then add whatever you want to cook, it won’t stick. The prep takes a little longer but since the food doesn’t stick to the pan, it saves the time afterward on soaking and scrubbing whatever got stuck to the pan.

    Another option to stainless steel is cast iron or pure ceramic cookware- not ceramic coated. I don’t recall ever seen either of these options locally, but they are both good healthwise.

    I’d love to hear if you have any tips to share! What cookware do you use? Have you found ways to keep your food from sticking?

    Avivah

  • Citrus compote and homemade general cleaners

    I realized I need to share about this before citrus season passes!

    I got two boxes of beautiful clementines, and wanted to find a way to preserve their citrusy deliciousness for a different season.

    My past experience with canning clementines was terrible; they were delicious when I put them in the jars but bitter and lacking in flavor when I took them out to eat them. That was in 2021 and you can see it scarred me enough that I didn’t try to can any citrus in the ensuing years. 🙂

    This time I made a delicious citrus compote with pink grapefruit, clementines, pomegranate seeds and a tiny bit of star anise. So, so good.

    I cut off all the pith (the white stuff left on the fruit after you peel it) and the membranes of the grapefruits, since that’s what gives the bitter flavor. We had some of it fresh and it didn’t need any sweetener, but I added some honey for the jars that I canned.

    Sectioning all of that citrus fruit was a lot of work, particularly since the grapefruits were small. But the taste was fabulous!

    (You can see the citrus compote in the jars in the background below.)

    Then I canned clementine sections using honey and water as the syrup to can them with. Those also turned out nicely. In the winter I like to have homemade applesauce and peach/apricot compote for Shabbos dessert from the fall and summer seasons, and I’ll save the citrus compote for the summer when citrus is no longer in season. It makes it more special to enjoy it when it’s not in season.

    After I finished, I was left with a huge amount of clementine peels. (I had to take my boys to an appointment in the middle of working on this. I was very embarrassed that a friend we haven’t seen for twenty years unexpectedly come to visit when I was out and walked into the kitchen to see the island covered with jars, fruits and peels.) While my goats would have gladly eaten the peels, I wanted to use them to make a big batch of general purpose cleaner.

    Okay, get ready for a very complicated and time consuming project.

    All Purpose Citrus Cleaner

    You can use peels from any citrus fruit – lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, oranges. They all have a chemical in their peels called d-limonene that is a natural compound that removes oil and dirt from surfaces.

    Put the peels in a container. Cover with vinegar so that the peels are completely submerged; you don’t want to have peels sticking out because they’ll get moldy. Close/cover the container and let sit from two weeks to two months. (It can sit longer if you don’t get around to dealing with it.) Strain. Put the peels in your compost pile (or if you’re me, everything goes to the chickens) and pour the strained vinegar into a spray bottle and add an equal amount of water.

    You can use this to clean most areas – bathrooms, windows, sinks, stoves and ovens. It’s strong and effective, but doesn’t have any chemical smell or danger to your skin or lungs. (You can also use this citrus vinegar for salad dressings. I know, it’s kind of a funny thought to be able to ingest your household cleaner.)

    I made a very large recipe, using all of my peels along with two – 4 liter jugs of vinegar, purchased at the bulk store for 8.50 each. When mixed with water it will result in sixteen liters of cleaner for under twenty shekels, and that will be enough to last me a very long time.

    Avivah

  • What I feed my family these days – carnivore/zero carb/low carb

    >>After your last post I have so many questions.
    1. How do you feed your little ones? Are they also on a zero carb diet? I have little ones who won’t touch eggs, so I’m trying to figure out if I can easily make a zero carb diet work for our whole family, particularly breakfast meals.2. Isn’t it more expensive to eat a zero carb diet, particularly with eating kosher meats?3. What would I give the kids for snacks while traveling? <<

    My family is meat heavy, but some have no carbs, some minimal carbs and some moderate carbs.

    I’ll preface with my perspective on eating. I don’t try to make carnivore foods that imitate high carb treat foods; I don’t experience any benefit in that for me. I’m changing my thinking about eating just as much as I’m changing the food I eat, and part of that shift is to see food as tasty fuel rather than entertainment or something to fill a space inside.

    I eat like a queen but it’s simple and filling. Likely it will seem boring to read about; can it really be that simple? Yes, it really can. I’ve gotten clear on what I like and what feels good, and I stick with that.

    I eat mostly ground meat, usually as hamburgers or meatballs, and hot out of the pan I top them with ground raw beef tallow. The heat of the meat partially melts it and it’s so delicious and incredibly filling. I usually eat a half kilo for a meal and eat twice a day. To keep costs down, I fill in with chicken wings and eggs but if cost were no issue I’d only have meat. My dairy intake is low. Occasionally I’ll have some cheese but I get a twinge in my hip a day or two later when I do. I sometimes have sour cream with sunnyside up eggs cooked in butter. That’s about it.

    My husband started eating like this a couple of months after me, so it’s been 9.5 months. (He ate strictly zero carb for two and a half years several years ago.) He eats almost the same as me, except he prefers roast beef to ground meat and has more eggs than I do. Twice a week we prepare two or three roasts, slice it all up once it’s cooked and he heats up the amount he wants to eat at a meal. He used to have butter but after going zero carb realized it was the cause of breathing difficulties at night (who would have thought?!?). He made ghee (clarified butter) but that still wasn’t ideal for him so now he doesn’t have any dairy at all and he no longer uses an inhaler.

    My fifteen year old son asked if he could join us in eating this way; I don’t remember exactly when he began but I think it’s been about three months. My only hesitation was cost – I’d love to have everyone in the family eat this way but I can’t yet stretch my budget that far. His daily breakfast is eight eggs in butter, an individual container of sour cream and now that they’re in season, an avocado. He prefers sour cream with 27% fat content, but since the 15% sour cream is much less expensive, he eats that as well. He usually has chicken wings, ground meat or roast later in the day. His comprehension of gemara and thinking skills have become notably sharper and his 30 year old chavrusa has commented on the change.

    My twelve year old has been eating like this for 4.5 months. Earlier on I made more involved foods to pack for his lunch box like cold cut wraps and chicken bread, and every day tried to make different dishes. Like me, he’s settled into what he likes and it’s pretty similar from day to day: chicken wings, meatballs and hardboiled eggs. Very occasionally I send tuna or egg salad, cottage cheese and sour cream. We’ve seen some significant health improvements for him, he’s calmer and it’s easier for him to transition from one activity to another, and his teachers have commented about how fast he learns things now. His adherence has been good though he does sometimes eat higher carb foods out of the house, and sometimes has fruit at home.

    He and my husband prepare a carnivore platter to take to shul on Shabbos mornings so he has something to eat instead of everything else served, which is almost exclusively white flour and sugar. This is some combination of hot dogs, cold cuts, meatballs, steak bites and devilled eggs (people around them have wanted to eat from their platter because it’s so appealing!). It’s very impressive how he sticks with this when surrounded by everyone else eating the standard kiddush fare.

    Now for the three younger kids, they love, love, love meat and chicken. I send them standard lunch box fare – a sandwich or two, a fruit, a vegetable, sometimes a hardboiled egg or cheese. Before they leave in the morning all four of them have either chicken wings or hardboiled eggs, sometimes meatballs. For months I’ve started the day by cooking a pot of hardboiled eggs while cooking the meat or chicken main for ds12’s lunch box. When they saw there chicken wings that didn’t go into his lunch, they would ask to have them and it’s turned into a regular preferred breakfast for them.

    On Shabbos mornings they have cottage cheese and sour cream with chopped fruit mixed in.

    The three boys get school lunches that include a protein, starch, cooked vegetable – ds12 and ds8 bring them home and eat when they arrive. Ds12 just eats the protein. Ds7 gets lunch at school but dd7 doesn’t and as soon as she walks in the door, informs me she’s hungry and asks to make herself meatballs. Today I said I’d make her eggs instead, and she specified she wants meat eggs, not cooked in butter, so I cooked two eggs in tallow and crumbled in a meatball and she was happy.

    The younger three have fruit as a snack, and dinner is usually low carb. It’s an ongoing challenge for me to make a meal that adapts well for ds12, and lately I’ve been making low carb meals that all of the kids eat.

    Here’s our dinners from the last week- I make large quantities and the children eat as much as they want.

    • Sunday – tuna toasties (tuna, homemade mayo, diced pickles, mixed and then grilled on bread – no bread for ds12, just the tuna salad)
    • Monday – ground beef with sauteed cabbage
    • Tuesday – chicken giblets, sprouted lentil stir fry (carrots, onion, fennel, zucchini) – ds12 didn’t have the stir fry
    • Wednesday – thick chicken egg drop soup
    • Thursday – egg pizzas (large omelets with tomato sauce and olives on top)
    • Sunday – ground beef moussaka

    For those who include dairy and/or don’t eat kosher, there are many more combinations possible.

    As far as cost, some people would eat less expensive or more expensive hechsherim than we do and that would affect the price. Many people have said they don’t spend more eating carnivore than they did previously, since they no longer have to buy all the other items. I’m a very frugal shopper and I’m spending more on groceries than I did in the past.

    When eating meat, there’s a satiety factor that can is significant and surprising. There’s much less need or desire for other foods, and as a result, the kids stay full longer and request fewer snacks after a zero carb meal. Interestingly, I’ve noticed that if I add a vegetable to my meals, then I feel more hungry and eat more meat with my vegetables than I would have if I only had the meat alone. It’s counterintuitive but that’s my experience, and it seems similar to what I see with the kids.

    It’s been interesting for me to see their taste buds shift, particularly since when the twins came to us a year and a half ago, they were used to cookies for breakfast and jello snacks after school. I think part of their eating preferences is due to seeing two parents and two older brothers eating like this, so they have a very positive association with it and want to eat what we eat.

    If you don’t serve eggs, you have dairy, fish, meat and chicken left. I’ve let go of serving stereotypical ‘breakfast’ food – what makes hamburger okay for dinner but unappetizing for breakfast?

    Sometimes I want to make more variety for them and look up all kinds of ideas, but our children so strongly prefer plain meat and chicken that the response to my efforts hasn’t been very gratifying. They’re happier with a chicken wing than with all the different muffins and quiches and pancakes, so I stay with what they like.

    When we travel, we make the same kind of things we have at home – meatballs and hardboiled eggs are easy. We took a bunch of these when we travelled for my son’s wedding in Jerusalem. There are foods you can easily purchase like cheese sticks, meat sticks, hot dogs and cold cuts (they have some sweetener added so not ideal but still a better option than other things). I’ve also made muffins that are a combination of eggs and ground beef and other ideas, but keeping it simple really is working best for us.

    Avivah

  • A hike and aging in reverse

    Today I went on a lovely and very rigorous hike.

    I haven’t gone hiking for ages. I used to join a group of women regularly for hikes when living in Beit Shemesh but it’s been five years since I’ve had that opportunity.

    As much as I enjoyed hiking, as time has gone on my desire to participate has gone down quite a bit. Until a year ago, I was experiencing pain in my right hip, left knee and plantar fasciitis on the sole of my left foot that was getting worse as time went on. I didn’t know what made it hurt but I knew that walking any distance made the pain more likely and staying off my feet kept it at bay. So I managed my pain by avoiding triggers.

    Additionally, sometimes without any warning my right leg would go out from under me. It’s as if it didn’t catch when I would stand up or take a step. Just for a moment, not enough to cause me to fall, but enough to cause discomfort. It was very unnerving.

    In January last year I began eating a zero carb/carnivore diet, and these pains completely disappeared. The hip pain has sometimes briefly returned when I don’t adhere to zero carb guidelines, and a couple of times in the last year my leg hasn’t ‘caught’. I’ve never had the knee pain or plantar fasciitis return even a smidge.

    When I heard about the trip, I didn’t think about not going because pain isn’t part of my considerations any more. Until I was on the middle of the hike I didn’t think of how I used to feel not so long ago.

    The hike was surprisingly rigorous, with a lot of steep and narrow paths. In one place we needed to use hands and feet to climb up, going almost on all fours with hardly room to place a foot. And at the end was a very steep extended section of a mountain that we climbed.

    I did it all easily, staying at the front of the group the entire time, and not feeling any need to pause or rest at any point. It wasn’t until someone mentioned her walking stick helps her compensate for her knee pain that I was reminded that this is a hike I wouldn’t have been able to participate in.

    After the first serious ascent, I looked down the way we had come and reflected that I never would have made it this far if I hadn’t changed my diet. If I had joined the hike, I would have gotten stuck at the ascension point and had to return on my own without completing the hike. I don’t think I physically could have ascended the paths that I did today, even if I was willing to suffer a lot of pain. I could just picture my dread seeing the climb ahead of and realizing that I wouldn’t be able to do it. (I took my dog with me, and even he had a hard time with the ascent.)

    Today I was climbing without strain, without pain and with agility; there was no point I felt even a twinge of discomfort. I didn’t even feel sore or strained from the exertion afterward.

    I feel very grateful to be enjoying a level of health and wellness that I thought was behind me, and to have turned back the hands of time. It feels like aging in reverse.

    Avivah

  • My thoughts on cancer screening

    I’ve had kids home the last couple of weeks almost every day for one reason or another so it’s taken me time to get this post out to you.

    Before I get into the topic, since it’s the first day of Chanuka and every year people ask me for my recipe for doughnuts, I’m linking it here for you so you don’t need to search. It’s heartwarming to know that some of you have been making this recipe since I first posted my recipe here thirteen years ago!

    ****************

    I’m going to continue to respond to questions asked about doing screenings for cancer. I’d like to start by addressing an underlying attitude towards screenings that you may not have considered.

    The thought behind the need to do screenings, is that there are all of these scary things that can happen to us, to any of us, any time, randomly, and we need to take every precaution to catch them before they bring us down. Inherently, that leads you to think of yourself as a potential problem waiting to happen.

    For me, thinking in this way would lead me to living in a perpetual state of low grade anxiety and fear, worrying that something could be wrong with me and running to get tested to reassure myself that I’m okay. Instead, I choose the baseline position that I’m a healthy person. This is not from a place of denial, but I actively choose to view myself as strong, healthy and capable; it’s empowering and psychologically healthy .

    >> sometimes it is important to do preventive testing. My 40-year-old sister-in-law decided to go for a mammogram only because her close friend was diagnosed with breast cancer and it scared her. My SIL had no symptoms whatsoever and was healthy and energetic. Sadly, she was also diagnosed with breast cancer. Boruch Hashem after chemo and double mastectomy and oophorectomy, she is in remission, but had she not done that mammogram, things could have been very different. <<

    I am so glad to hear that your sister-in-law is doing well, and I’m not questioning in any way if this was the right decision for her to make.

    I’m going to share some thoughts for you to consider – I’m asking you to not reflexively respond but to let the points sit with you for a moment.

    I’ll begin with briefly referencing a summary by the American Cancer Society of concerns with the effectiveness and accuracy of mammograms that include false negatives, false positives, overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

    You can read the link, but I’ll sum it up more briefly here: One in eight breast cancers aren’t picked up by the mammogram, leading to a false negative. That means there are women who have done the testing who think they’re fine who actually have cancer.

    Over a ten year period, half of women having mammograms will get a false positive – they will be told they have abnormal results when they don’t have any cancer whatsoever. That leads to further testing and treatment, as well as stress and anxiety.

    Finding a cancer that wouldn’t cause problems is referred to as ‘overdiagnosis’. There are cancers that wouldn’t be found and wouldn’t grow or spread if there hadn’t been a screening for them; they will not become life-threatening. It is possible to be completely unaware of the presence of the cancer, and live a long and healthy life, untreated.

    Treating cancers that wouldn’t cause any problems is called ‘overtreatment’. When a cancer is found, a doctor can’t know which will cause problems and which won’t, so he will advise treatment for all of them. That means that a lot of women will unnecessarily undergo cancer treatment.

    And finally, just because they find a cancer when it’s small doesn’t mean it can be treated successfully.

    Mammograms also expose women to radiation. While the phrasing that is consistently used for all sorts of medical procedure is ‘the benefits far outweigh any risks’, there are a number of reasons for a woman may question if this is a screening that is actually to her benefit to participate in.

    If you’re interested, here’s an article from the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine: Mammography is dangerous and should be abandoned.

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    Let’s say that you do testing that shows you have cancer, and now you have to do something about it. Now what?

    The standard of care is chemotherapy and radiation, and this is what doctors are obligated to recommend. It’s considered malpractice for them not to suggest that.

    Chemotherapy is poison. The goal is for the chemotherapy to be more toxic to the cancer cells than the human receiving it, and kill the cancer cells before it kills the human. That’s how it works. It’s brutal, and the person who is ‘cured’ is one who can survive chemo. One day we’ll look back with horror on this barbaric treatment but currently this is our standard of care.

    Another aspect of standard care is radiation therapy. According to the American Cancer Society, radiation therapy used to treat cancer is linked to the further development of cancer. So it’s a treatment that contributes in the long term to what it’s supposed to be eliminating in the short term.

    Here’s an emotionally charged point to consider: When a person is diagnosed, treated for cancer and then dies, we make the presumption that it’s the cancer that killed them. We don’t question if the treatment contributed to their death, and if they would have lived longer and with less suffering without the chemo and radiation.

    According to the genetic disease model, there’s not much to do in the way of prevention other than screening and preemptively removing body parts. People do what they feel they need to do to save their lives, and if this is the best option presented to them, then of course they’re going to do that.

    Are the only ways to treat cancer with chemotherapy, radiation and the removal of affected body parts? Is there anything more effective and less toxic that can be done? Are there any preventative steps that can be taken?

    Cancer researcher Dr. Thomas Seyfried has written extensively about cancer being a metabolic disease. This is counter to the prevailing view of cancer as a genetic disease. Metabolic therapies that lower blood glucose and elevate ketones will quickly reduce tumor growth, extend lifespan and in some cases cause complete remission.

    Several years ago I was on a group hike with a bunch of women, and got to chatting with someone I hadn’t met before, who mentioned she doesn’t give her children sugar. Naturally, I asked her why. She told me as a lab researcher she’s seen what happens to cancer cells in a petri dish when they are given sugar- the cancer explodes. And she just can’t give that to her children to eat.

    What fuels cancer cells? Glucose and glutamine. That’s sugar. Glucose immediately goes into blood stream and into the tumor cell. A tumor cell is one that has out of control division. The only way to shut down growth of these cells is to get rid of their fuel and transition the body to a fuel that the cancer cells can’t use to grow. Starve the cell and the cancer can’t continue to grow.

    Unfortunately, cancer patients are generally told they can eat anything they want, and cancer wards tend to be filled with sugary foods. It’s interesting to consider the ethics of giving a patient chemo to kill the cancer cells, giving them no dietary guidance to reduce or eliminate sugar, and then following up their treatment with a hospital tray of sugary foods.

    The highest risk factor for cancer are processed carbohydrates in your diet; the constant barrage of these foods is the highest risk factor for all of the most common diseases. Elevated blood sugar leads to systemic inflammation. Yet not only is that the standard diet, the dietary pyramid recommends high carbohydrate consumption as the foundation of a healthy diet.

    ***Edited to add – I am not suggesting that if someone is diagnosed with cancer, all that is necessary to treat it is a dietary approach. Not at all. There are other alternative therapies that I would personally look at in that case. What I am stating is that prevention is better than the cure and it would be wise to take a preventative and preemptive approach to minimize the development of systemic inflammation in our bodies that leads to all kinds of diseases. As such, diet is an important preventative factor to be aware of.***

    Massive amounts of money have been spent on the ‘war on cancer’ but it doesn’t seem to me that it’s doing much good. Cancer rates are steadily rising – right now it’s predicted that one of every two people will develop cancer by the time he is 85. That’s downright scary, and if you believe it’s screening that will save your life, those statistics will probably send you running to do some testing to be assured you’re not one of those two people.

    Though previous generations of my family had a high cancer rate and that would seemingly dictate that genetically I’m at high risk, I take a different approach. We live in a world of toxins and eating well won’t eliminate the poisons in our foods, air, and all the products that are part of our every day lives (for example, microplastics in just about everything). However, if I can change my diet and eliminate the highest risk factor, it makes sense to me to do that.

    I’m not a passive victim waiting for cancer to strike me. There are things I can do to make myself less of a likely target, and I’d rather do them than participate in screenings and the follow-up treatments with all of the risks they entail.

    Avivah



  • More about preventative health screenings

    In this post I’m going to give a broader view of my perspective, my reasoning and thinking behind my decision to decline routine health exams at this stage of my life.

    The first reaction to me choosing not to do routine health screenings may be to think that’s somewhat reckless and irresponsible.

    What I think is irresponsible is handing over your health and the quality of your life to someone else. I want to use resources thoughtfully and judiciously, not just because someone from the doctor’s office calls and tells me because of my age it’s time to do something.

    I’m not giving medical advice to anyone else. I’m certainly not denying the value of accessing those with more experience and knowledge as partners in your health. I advocate and practice a preventative lifestyle in which education and knowledge are central, and don’t believe in being oblivious to or ignoring issues.

    If you have a concern, go get it checked out. Then if a health concern is revealed that you need to address, research and make a decision based on all of that knowledge as to what is best in your situation.

    I can’t stress enough how important it is to take responsibility for your own health. That is part and parcel of my mindset and how I live. I appreciate any and all help from others, but try not to expect others to save me from myself.

    >>As for having health checks such as blood tests, mammogram over age 40, blood pressure and more, unfortunately they are vital and save millions of lives daily. It would have been so easy and ideal if health was all about how we feel, though many illnesses begin silently and erupt suddenly, without the person ever having previous noticeable health issues or discomforts. If those tests are available and don’t provide side effects, we should be grateful for them…<<

    Please don’t think I’m picking on the person whose question I am responding but since people often make statements like this – are you certain that millions of lives are saved daily as a result of these checks? Statistically it’s hard for me to believe that claim is true.

    Here are some questions I would suggest you consider:

    • Is it possible that sometimes these tests are inaccurate or flawed?
    • Is it possible that these tests/or treatments have side effects?
    • Is is possible that the treatment for whatever has been diagnosed may cause a worse outcome than taking a different approach?
    • Do you assume that if the doctors are doing it, it must be right, it must be documentably the best course of action, and it must lead to the best results?

    Perhaps some of your presumptions as to the benefit of widespread allopathic testing and treatment may be flawed.

    The third leading cause of death in the United States is medical error. It is preceded by cancer and heart disease, both strongly impacted by diet. Based on those brief facts, doesn’t it make sense to: 1) invest a lot more time learning about and implementing proper nutrition so you can take a preventative approach and minimize the chances of dying of cancer and heart disease, and 2) stop using the medical system as the first stop for every question or concern so as to minimize the danger of medical error and prescription drug misdiagnosis or contraindication?

    When it comes to routine tests, I want to know what the purpose of the screening is, how it works, what the accuracy rate is, and then consider what steps will be taken if a health condition is uncovered.

    The screenings are generally for signs of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

    Here are more questions: What leads to cancer? What leads to heart disease? What leads to diabetes? None of them suddenly or randomly pop up, even if a sudden diagnosis may lead us to believe that.

    Are any of those things you can control? Are there any things you can change about what you’re doing to lower your likelihood of getting them? What are those changes? Can you proactively make those changes before getting a hard diagnosis?

    There is so, so much that you can do to improve each area of your health. You can participate in testing, or preempt the testing and take proactive actions before there’s a reason for concern, which is what I do.

    I believe you can pay attention to how you feel and you don’t need to rely on someone else to tell you how you’re feeling, any more than a woman in labor needs someone else looking at the monitor to tell her she’s having a contraction.

    >> I am not sure that not going to health care clinic just because we feel good and healthy. I did not know I had high blood pressure until I had to go to doctor. So how safe, by not going, will be?? I prefer to be checked as I’m getting closer to 60’s. <<

    If you feel comfortable doing these screenings, then by all means, do them! Again, I’m not telling anyone not to do something they think is important.

    I’ll address the point about not knowing you had high blood pressure, but first, some things to consider.

    Here are questions I would ask about high blood pressure/hypertension: What causes high blood pressure? What are symptoms of high blood pressure? How can you treat high blood pressure? What happens if you don’t treat high blood pressure?

    I’ll help you out and save you some research time 🙂 -primary hypertension is caused by hyperinsulinemia, the excess of insulin in your blood stream.

    Here’s a link to a typical cardiologist’s recommendations for lifestyle changes if you have high blood pressure. What does it say?

    “Avoid smoking.
    Eat a heart-healthy diet, especially one that is low in salt.
    Exercise under the directions of your doctor.
    If you’re overweight, talk to your doctor about weight loss options.
    Limiting alcohol consumption to 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men.
    Manage stress.”

    These are standard guidelines that are telling you, if you don’t smoke, drink alcohol in larger quantities, if you move your body, manage your stress and eat a nutritious diet (important to note that the diet recommended in the link on that site will not improve high blood pressure so obviously all ‘healthy’ diets aren’t created equal and in my opinion avoiding salt isn’t a good idea), then it’s highly unlikely you’re going to have high blood pressure.

    As someone who follows those healthy lifestyle recommendations, is it irresponsible for me to not regularly get my blood pressure tested? (In case you’re wondering, my blood pressure has always been on the low side of normal.)

    Back to not knowing you had high blood pressure – eventually, a person with high blood pressure will show symptoms. That goes back to my comment in my last post about being in touch with yourself and noticing if something changes in the state of your health.

    Now that you know you have high blood pressure, what are you going to do with that information to empower yourself and become a healthier version of you?

    >>I have the same question. Aren’t there health conditions that are easier to treat if caught early, and that don’t present symptoms at early stages? I’m curious to understand your perspective<<

    Absolutely it’s easier to treat something if you learn about it sooner than rather than when it’s more advanced. I am one hundred percent a proponent of being proactive and not waiting for issues to show up, or treating something when it’s small rather than waiting for it to get bigger.

    The question might better be asked, is screening the only way to be proactive and careful about your health? Is screening really the best way to be careful about your health?

    Let’s think about diabetes (which is reversable), for which we do screening. What are some subtle signs of blood sugar that’s getting too high? Weight gain, moodiness/anxiety, rising blood pressure, cavities/dental infections, frequent infections. There are signs that something isn’t right before you get diabetes. It doesn’t suddenly happen.

    If I stop eating foods that raise blood sugar, is it irresponsible of me to not screen for pre-diabetes? If I rarely get sick, have stable moods, no dental issues or infections of any kind – am I being neglectful not to do this screening? Or am I doing something that others can also be doing to take meaningful preventative action?

    Is there something that concerns you about your health, something that is a low-grade worry but not something serious enough to check out? Pay attention to that. Don’t ignore that inner voice. Ignoring things doesn’t make it go away. What are you worried about?

    You’ve seen me share the kind of questions I ask to get clarity about what steps to take. You can ask yourself those same questions, and then do something proactive to improve your health. I want you to feel empowered to take action to help yourselves, not to put the power onto a health provider or a test and certainly not to pretend everything is fine and ignore symptoms you may be experiencing.

    ————————-

    Now the final question that I listed in the beginning is, what if a health issue is revealed? What will you do?

    Hopefully all your scans and testing will come out just fine. But there’s a possibility that they won’t at some point in your life. Then what?

    Then you’ll really need to take the time to ask some questions and learn, because the traditional allopathic choices will be medication that invariably comes with side effects or a medical procedure that you might want to avoid. These are valid options if you’re comfortable with them, but since my goal is health and wellness and not the management of disease, those aren’t the first line strategies that I would adopt.

    That doesn’t mean declining treatment and wasting away. Fortunately there is always more than one way to treat a health issue, and some will be more effective and less toxic than others.

    However, to be able to say, ‘thank you for the information and I’ve chosen a different way to address my health concern’ isn’t easy to do. Not at all. You’ll really need to be confident in the information and resources you’ve gathered to stand your ground, and at the core, you need to believe in yourself as a competent and capable person. You need to be able to trust yourself as able to make good choices for yourself.

    As you can see, I don’t reflexively say ‘no’ and refuse to participate in standard medical screenings. Seeing myself, rather than my doctor, as responsible for my health puts the onus of responsibility on me. A lot of people feel that that’s too heavy a responsibility for them to take on, but whether you actively accept the responsibility or not, it’s your life and it’s therefore your responsibility.

    Avivah

    PS – I’ll address some other questions asked relating to cancer in my next post.