Avivah Werner

Category: nutrition

  • Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

    I feel pretty strongly about the importance of high quality food as it affects our health in so many ways.  And when I learned that the first episode of Food Revolution, which was shown on Friday night on TV, could be viewed online (search at abc.com if you’re interested), I figured it would be interesting.  Since my ds16 was still awake, he watched it with me.

    The theme of the program is that Jamie Oliver, a British chef, goes to Huntington, WV – the fattest city in the US to bring some change to the school lunch program in a particular district.  Since I have nine children, avoid virtually all processed foods, and believe that we all benefit from cooking from ingredients in their natural state, you’d probably anticipate I would embrace every aspect of this program.

    Here’s the basic rundown of the first part of the program (101) – it opens with him showing his disgust of the food the kids are served and expressing that to the women who work there.  Then it shows a local pastor preaching about the importance of good health expressing support of Jamie in his goals.  Then he meets with an individual family (all obese) – this was the  best part of the program, in my opinion and I’ll write more below.  He then meets with the woman in charge of the school foods, gets an agreement from her for a week’s trial to prepare his healthy food in a local school, and prepares a healthy lunch that is mostly refused by the kids.  A newspaper article in the town appears in which he seems to have made some negative statements about the towns inhabitants (which he claims were taken out of context – knowing that this frequently happens with print media, that’s likely), he then gets all teary-eyed about how hard he’s trying, and then the episode ends.

    I honestly was irritated within a few minutes of the program beginning when I heard how dismissively Jamie was speaking to the women who worked at the lunchroom, preparing the foods for the kids.  He spoke down to them and had an condescending attitude that anyone could pick up on – and then acts like, ‘poor me, these ladies are so mean to me’.  I thought that all the women who worked in the cafeteria were pretty tolerant of him considering how he was speaking to them – I’d have been less pleasant than even the toughest of them was if spoken down to like that, and felt they were unfairly portrayed as defensive and negative.

    I really had to wonder what his goal in dealing with them was – it seems to me he got their backs up against the wall and made them defensive from the get go, which could have easily been avoided. I was wondering if he had the ability to effectively communicate the importance of healthy food, but when he got together with the family and I saw he certainly can be sympathetic and understanding one on one.  It’s a shame he didn’t take time to meet with the women who worked in the cafeteria and educate them from the beginning, treating them with respect and honoring their desire to feed the children they are responsible for good food, would have gone so much further – every one of them seemed willing to try something new and I’m positive if approached differently could have been very helpful allies for him in getting his ‘food revolution’ going.  I kept trying to push the thought out of my mind that it was set up like that purposely to create interest in tv viewers.

    When he got together with the family, he prepared all of their typical food for the week, and put it on the table in front of them at once.  I thought that was a powerful way to bring home to them what kind of garbage they were eating all day, and the mother’s emotional response showed that it hit her viscerally that what she’s feeding her kids is killing them.  Then it showed him speaking to the extremely overweight 12 year old (over 300 lb), who shared about being bullied for being fat, and poignantly got across how hard it is to be a fat kid, and he expressed how he really wanted to be thinner and healthier.  That’s the reality for so many kids in this country.

    Jamie went on to cook them a ‘healthy’ meal from scratch, but I wasn’t extremely impressed with the food, though it was loads better than their typical diet of processed foods.  White pasta with salad and sauce – no protein, no high quality carbohydrate, and to be nitpicky, he sauteed the garlic in olive oil (which isn’t heat stable and shouldn’t be cooked).  Anyway, a family that unhealthy would be better off with his selection of food, but he seemed to be a proponent of low fat/high carb cooking, which I’m not a fan of.

    He then met with Rhonda, the head of the food programs, who was very willing to give him a chance.  Actually, everyone there seemed willing to give him the chance to see what he could do.  He was told (reasonably, I thought) that his food had to conform to the government regulations.  He made some delicious looking chicken drumsticks and brown rice (never would I have thought it a good idea to start offering brown rice as the first new option for kids who are used to processed garbage 🙄 – he could have made oven roasted potatoes or something more familiar), and seemed to conveniently ignore that he needed 2 starches for his meal to fit into the mandated structure.  Okay, I think the rule about two starches is unhealthy and idiotic, but he agreed to work within the rules that everyone else had to follow so why was he bowing out of his side of the bargain in the very first meal? Again, I was left wondering how much about this was for tv – it would have been pretty easy to have prepared healthy versions of familiar foods (eg – whole wheat pizza, homemade chicken nuggets made from real chicken meat without all the preservatives) and to have eased the kids into healthier foods.

    I was surprised that the kids were offered a choice between his healthy meal and the typical school pizza.  The vast majority of kids will stick with the familiar and anyone who knows kids could have predicted the outcome – that most kids chose the unhealthy foods.  My kids all enjoy healthy foods but if I gave choices of: a) fresh raw whole milk or b) pink strawberry pasteurized/homogenized milk; a) whole wheat sourdough bread or b) Pillsbury cinnamon rolls; a) a fresh apple or b) canned fruit in syrup – how would they ever have a chance to develop healthy tastebuds?  I’m confident that all kids can learn to enjoy healthy foods, but the choices offered have to be between two healthy food choices or no choices at all.

    There were some other ways he interacted with people of the town that I thought weren’t appropriate and he didn’t express himself authentically, which affected how he was viewed by those who could or should have been his allies.  It’s hard for me to overlook his personal behavior – to me, character is very important, and having a worthy goal doesn’t make bad behavior okay.

    Setting aside my negative feelings about some aspects of his personal interactions, generally the show is positive:  it showed the kind of garbage kids are being fed by well-intended people, food that meets government guidelines.  It shows how much food is wasted every day in schools.  And I think that it indirectly showed that people are serving this kind of food because they simply don’t know it’s bad for them.  I thought it was telling and sad that the six year olds asked to identify fresh vegetables couldn’t accurately label them – my three year old could easily identify any of what was shown.  Clearly the issue isn’t just what kids are being fed at school, but what they’re eating at home as well – it’s all the same kind of processed foods.

    My ds thought that Jamie had a dynamic and engaging personality, which is true.  All in all this was an entertaining and enjoyable program, and I think that Jamie Oliver has a true passion to help improve the kind of food people are eating.  Taking on this project – to transform the food lunches in the school system in Huntington, WV – is a great goal and has a lot of positive ramifications.   I hope he’s successful; any step in the direction of improving the food that people are eating is a good step!

    Avivah

  • My conclusions about liver and toxins

    Last week I mentioned that I purchased over 20 lb of beef liver with the intent of including it as a regular part of our diets, and why.  Because the liver is the organ that processes the toxins of the body, for a long time I avoided it since I don’t have any option of getting organic or grass-fed beef liver and I didn’t want to ingest any additional toxins. I kept reading about all the nutrients liver was rich in, and it was a little frustrating trying to weigh the options: was it better to eat liver as a high nutrient food even though there would be toxins along with it, or don’t have any of the nutritional benefits but avoid the toxins?

    The nutritional challenge that I often encounter is that what I see recommended tend to be ideals, and not helpful when the options aren’t fitting into those ideals.  For example, the ideal dairy is raw milk (which can also be fermented into kefir/yogurt or made into cheese) from grass fed cows (and that’s without touching on the A1/A2 cow issue).  But what if you can only get raw milk from grain-fed cows, or organic pasteurized milk – then what’s better?  What if you have a limited budget and/or the options for ideal foods aren’t accessible for you?  Questions like this are hard to determine since there’s not a lot of information out there on these in between kind of questions, but these are the kind of discussions that I think are would be so helpful to have, so that people can make educated choices about what is the best choice in a non-ideal situation.

    I’ve contacted the company where I get kosher grass-fed beef from (Golden West Glatt), and they don’t sell liver.  I let them know that as a customer I would be very interested in seeing that become an item that is offered, and added that I’m sure there are others that share my interest.  Then I contacted the only other company in the US (that I’m aware of) that sells kosher grass-fed meat (Kol Foods), and they told me they only have chicken liver (frozen).  I specifically wanted beef liver because of its nutritional composition, and I also specifically wanted fresh liver, not frozen liver.

    Then I spoke to two local butchers.  One just began offering grass-fed beef from a local farmer, but said he can’t get the livers from him.  The other told me that: a) if I wanted organic liver, I could buy it for about $7 lb and I would have to buy a forequarter.  I asked how  much that was, and he said, “A lot!”  I reminded him that I wanted 20 lb and asked how much more a forequarter would be, and he said, “A lot!”  I think he told me the amount in pounds – perhaps 80??  It wasn’t feasible for me financially or practically so it didn’t stick in my mind.   Though he usually sells only frozen liver, he told me he buys it fresh and freezes it immediately, so he could call me as soon as his order came in and I’d be able to have it fresh.   This was the option I finally settled on.

    Here are a couple of important facts about liver for the kosher consumer: 1) since it’s an organ meat that is filled with blood, and the laws of kosher eating forbid eating even a drop of blood, it has to be prepared in a special way called kashering.  There are a few steps involved in that, and even when preparing it in the proper way, you can’t cook it in the same pots or pans that you usually use (because the blood that cooks out will make your kosher dishes and pots non-kosher).  2) If you buy raw liver that has been frozen, it can’t be reheated after kashering.  (This same restriction applies to fresh liver that isn’t kashered within three days from the time the animal has been killed – so you have to be ready and able to kasher all that you buy promptly if you want to eat it in heated dishes.)  That means you can’t cook with it.  Practically I was thinking of sauteing liver with onions, combining  (roasted and ground) liver with ground beef dishes, etc, but none of those are options if you buy frozen liver.  Most people (even some rabbis) aren’t aware of this since few people kasher their own liver any more and it’s a question that rarely comes up.  The only way I can think of eating liver without reheating it is as chopped liver.  That’s okay for once a week, but I wanted to include it more regularly than that.

    I got 20 lb, thinking that once I had to prepare the liver, I might as well do it in a large amount.  What a mistake.  I am so not doing that again.  The economies of scale that I usually assume will be present didn’t apply in this case.  We bought a small $20 charcoal grill to use expressly to kasher liver (since you can’t use a pan that you use for anything else, and if you use the oven you have to kasher it after use – I wanted to keep it as simple as possible).  After rinsing the livers in fresh water, we laid the slices over the hot coals and waited for it to roast.  This took a long, long time.  It took three hours the first night, and then about another 8 hours the next day to finish all twenty pounds of liver – I had to have someone outside watching the grill all day until it was finished.  But at least it was all done within the 72 hour limit and all of it is kosher for Pesach. 🙂

    Afterward my husband spoke to a friend of his who kashers his own liver, and he said they get it sliced 1/2 inch thick.  The liver I bought was cut it in 1″ slices, which I figured was fine since that’s how the butcher cuts it for all of the liver he sells.  The thickness seems to have been a big part of why it took such an extremely long time.  For now I’m glad I have enough liver prepared that I won’t have to think about doing this again for a little while, but it’s good to know how to be more efficient.

    However, I know there’s got to be a better way.  I just can’t imagine that generations of women were doing this.  I can’t conceive of it having been a popular traditional Jewish food if it took this much time.  There’s got to be a way to roast it over hot flames that will be fast, instead of slowly roasting over hot charcoal.  Then again, past generations probably had more patience for things that took a long time than I do.  🙂

    Back to the question of the toxins – I didn’t come across enough information that I can point to data to back up my decision.  Maybe my conclusion is wrong, and it’s possible I’ll shift back to my previous position of staying away from it at some point in the future.  I did read that even if the cow was grain-fed, the nutrient value was still very high.  What are some of the nutrients in liver?  It’s high in B vitamins, high in folate, zinc, and iron (in a well-absorbed form).  Every single one of these are important for emotional balance and to counter stress and depression (both epidemic in our modern day society).  It’s a great energy booster, too!

    I wanted to include more nutrient dense foods and liver seemed to be a good choice, and there weren’t a lot of other foods that we could eat or weren’t already eating.  Cod liver oil isn’t certified kosher, we already eat drink raw milk (as well as kefir, cheese), fermented vegetables, limit grains and prepare grains, beans and seeds in a way that  reduces the phytic acid content, we try to eat natural chicken and grass-fed beef as much as our budget allows (not exclusively), we have lots of bone broths – and though I don’t see non-organic liver as ideal, I want to benefit from all of those nutrients it has and hope that I’m making a choice that will be beneficial to our health.

    I wish I came across studies that directly addressed the question about if there’s a benefit to eating liver if it comes from industrially raised animals.   My non-scientific reasoning was that it’s been eaten for a long time as a valuable food, and all of those people haven’t been eating and benefiting from it only in pre-industrialized societies from pastured animals.  I’ve pondered a lot about if it’s beneficial to eat animal protein from industrially raised animals or be vegetarian, and believe that you’re nutritionally better off with CAFO meat or eggs than without animal products in your diet at all.  Kosher meat, even when produced industrially, is still qualitatively better than non-kosher meat in the same class (because of the kosher laws that disallow diseased animals to be used, animals that would pass goverment inspection).  Hence my decision that including kosher non-organic liver would still be of benefit.

    This isn’t something I’m committed to no matter what, so if any of you have come across information assessing the benefits or lack thereof from liver from non-organically fed animals, please don’t hesitate to share it!  Also, if you’re ever kashered your own liver and can share your tips about how to do it more efficiently, I’m all ears!

    Edited to add – thanks to Cara who linked to the following article, I was delighted to read: “One of the roles of the liver is to neutralize toxins (such as drugs, chemical agents and poisons); but the liver does not store toxins (emphasis mine). Poisonous compounds that the body cannot neutralize and eliminate are likely to lodge in the fatty tissues and the nervous system. The liver is not a storage organ for toxins but it is a storage organ for many important nutrients (vitamins A, D, E, K, B12 and folic acid, and minerals such as copper and iron). These nutrients provide the body with some of the tools it needs to get rid of toxins.”  So now I can enjoy liver without any hesitations!

    Avivah

  • Oh, no, the mumps is coming! Puhleeze.

    Today I received the following email from my synagogue regarding what is being portrayed by the city health department as a public health warning.  You can see the response I sent to the synagogue at the end as well as additional comments.

    “We want to share some important information with you regarding a continuing mumps outbreak in this part of the country.

    The situation has involved over 1200 people, primarily members of the Hasidic community in New York and New Jersey.  While this health alert targets the Hasidic community, we are aware that the Yeshiva community has been affected as well.

    There have been no outbreaks in the Hasidic community in Baltimore City .  However, with Passover fast approaching and with it the opportunity for extensive social interaction with people from the affected areas of New York and New Jersey , the Health Department aims to make the community aware of the issue and to encourage everyone, especially children, to be sure they are fully immunized against mumps. This is achieved by receiving 2 doses of MMR vaccine, at least 4 weeks apart.  Typically, one dose is given at 12 months and the second at 4-6 years, prior to school entry.  However, the doses can be administered at a later age.  The other way to be protected, of course, is to have had the disease, as confirmed by a physician.

    We are asking your assistance in communicating this information in an appropriate manner to your family and friends.  You can cite the facts that are presented in the attached document. The Health Department has already sent out information to the pediatricians and federally qualified health centers in the area.

    Please keep in mind that this is a time-sensitive issue.  Passover is coming; the first night is March 29.  With families joining together for the holiday, that will create optimum opportunity for mingling and infection.

    The vaccination requires 10-14 days to produce protection.  So it is imperative that you make your family and friends aware of this so they can ensure their protection in time for the holiday.”

    Things like this disturb me because they are: 1) based on inaccurate information; 2) creating fear and hysteria; 3) don’t have any helpful information to balance the message being sent.  Here’s the message I sent in response:

    “I’m disappointed to receive a message like this from the shul.  Those who are familiar with the mumps outbreak know that in fact the majority of those who contracted it were fully vaccinated on schedule, and therefore the recommendation to take care of vaccinations is unhelpful. I realize the purpose of this message was to be helpful but I’ve watched a lot of hysteria in the frum community online build for at least a couple of months now based on inaccurate information like this.  People are frantic since their vaccinated children are getting mumps and the only information they have is that the vaccination should have prevented it.

    Mumps is a minor and unpleasant childhood illness that is easily dealt with with mega doses of vitamin C in the event that someone does contract it; let’s not get people worked up about something like this, particularly at a time of year when so many people are already stressed out and won’t have the time to get accurate information. “

    I realize whoever sent it out was basically cutting and pasting the information from the city health department,  seeing it as a service to the community.  I don’t see this as a negative reflection of the synagogue employee or volunteer who sent this, clearly trying to be helpful.  But I do see statements like these: “With families joining together for the holiday, that will create optimum opportunity for mingling and infection” as inspiring fear.

    I also think that since young children are the least affected by mumps, the suggestion to be sure that especially children get the vaccination makes no sense.  It’s not the kids who have to worry about long term side affects; it’s post adolescent boys and men (I’ll put this concern into perspective below).

    I was on a discussion board a couple of months ago when a woman shared that her daughter overseas had a roommate who contracted the mumps.  I couldn’t believe the extremely  emotionalized and dramatic reaction of the mother – threatening to sue the school (as if the school has the power to keep germs from circulating in the air :roll:) since they must have allowed a student who wasn’t fully vaccinated in, saying that those who don’t vaccinate are responsible for spreading disease, and on and on and on.

    When other posters jumped on board to agree with her and blame all those horrible and selfish natural- granola- crunchy-negligent parents who don’t care about anyone and leave a trail of disease and suffering in their wake, I felt it relevant to share just one tiny little detail that was leaving the medical establishment in Israel (where this happened) scratching its head – most of those who got the mumps were fully vaccinated (as I mentioned in my note to the synagogue).  An investigation was launched there to figure out what happened – since clearly the issue was  the lack of effectiveness of the vaccine.

    Does anyone else wonder why a critical point like this is conveniently being omitted?  Maybe because noting it would create a conflict between what you’re being told to do and what will actually be of benefit.  There’s nothing being suggested to protect oneself from the mumps except vaccination – and what can they tell you to do when you’ve already followed their suggestions and it hasn’t helped?!

    Fear of the unknown is hard to deal with and it’s understandable that people overreact when faced with something they hardly know anything about.  Here’s a little bit of information to dispel the fear.  The mumps for many generations was a common childhood illness – uncomfortable but rarely dangerous.  Lifetime immunity was a nice side benefit for those who had the mumps.  Some of you might be as old as me, lol, and remember when chickenpox was considered in this way.

    Is someone reading and thinking, “doesn’t she know about the sterility issue? You can’t take a chance with that, can you?” Isn’t it a wonder that humankind has somehow perpetuated itself despite the majority of males for hundreds of years having the mumps?  Hmm.

    The reality is that only about two percent of males who get mumps after puberty have testicular swelling.  Of that very small percentage of post adolescent boys,  98% have swelling on only one side.  Now, of that very, very small percentage that have swelling of both testicles, the huge majority recover and have no issues affecting sterility. So you don’t have to be a professor of mathematics to realize that statistically this is unlikely to be a problem.

    And you already know I’m of the belief that building up a strong immune system is your best defense for any kind of sickness (along with lots of vitamin C and rest).  I wrote about guidelines for taking vitamin C here.  A positive outlook can do wonders, too!  I won’t be worrying about this one tiny bit, and I hope none of you will, either!

    Avivah

  • Eating beef liver to improve bone structure

    I do a lot of reading about nutrition. A lot.  I find it fascinating to continually discover the unbelievable complexity of our bodies, and a core value in how well your body functions depends on the quality of your nutrition.  It’s simply mind-boggling, and I keep learning more and more that leaves me almost shocked at how critical good nutrition is to so many aspects of development.  And I’m a person who has already known for years that nutrition is really important!  (Sometimes I sit my older kids down and have them read some of what I read; other times I explain to them the science behind what I’m learning about – which leaves them wishing I knew more about nutrition when they were little so they could have all of the benefits!)

    I have so many things I want to share with you here, but I often don’t because I don’t want to be seen as an expert who can answer detailed and specific questions – I can’t, and I don’t want to!  Despite reading many, many details in numerous books and articles, I’m not a person who enjoys writing about them; I prefer to share what I’m doing in response to what I learn.

    I’ve been noticing that despite all of the good things we eat and the traditional ways that I prepare our foods (for about four years now), my ds2 and ds4 (almost) both have a couple of teeth that are a little close together, which I’m concerned may become crowded as they get older. It’s a little frustrating to me that it’s so darn hard in this day and age to help our kids reach their genetic potential, that we have to work so hard and so consciously to help our children develop in the way that generations pretty much naturally developed for centuries (specifically in this case I’m referring to the wide mouth palates of the past vs the narrow palates of the present).  But fortunately bone is elastic to a degree, particularly in very young children and good nutrition can actually help improve existing bone structure.  Though this is gets harder to do the older a child is, until the permanent teeth erupt there’s still a likelihood that it can be improved, and I’m hopeful that ramping up their nutrition can still benefit their jaw structure at this time.  Spending a bit more on high quality foods now could be a pretty big savings in orthodontia down the road!

    I’ve repeatedly seen cod liver oil recommended as being valuable in contributing to good health (including tooth strength and jaw development), in part because it’s high in vitamins A and D, but I’ve been unable to find a single company in the world that sells kosher certified cod liver oil, so I needed to find another option.  Though I learned about the importance of cod liver oil at least two or three years ago, I’ve thought that it was enough to basically eat decent quality foods mostly prepared properly, and since I couldn’t find a source of cod liver oil I could use, I wasn’t concerned.  But now I believe that living in the toxic world we live in, we have so many strikes against us that it really takes more than ‘basically’ or ‘mostly’ to counter that.  When I once again came back to think about this issue in the last couple of months, I finally determined that we needed to add something more nutrient dense to our diets, and that beef liver is the best option for us, in terms of providing us with some similar benefits as cod liver oil (as well as benefits of its own).

    Beef liver is high in iron and vitamin A (not so much D), lots of B vitamins (including the important B12), as well as Omega 3 fatty acids (most of us are deficient in Omega 3s and consume too many Omega 6s – the ration should be 1:1).  I like how Amanda says that eating liver is pretty close to taking a multi-purpose vitamin!   As such, it has many different benefits for people of all ages (I’m trying to convince a friend suffering extreme nausea during pregnancy – in her third trimester now! – with a history of severe postnatal depression to eat some liver to help address some underlying deficiencies, but she said it would make her too nauseous to eat it).

    It’s taken a few weeks to actually be able to get the liver, but we finally have it!  Last night we prepared liver for the first time.  For my kosher readers, some of you are probably already wondering about this since you know it isn’t so simple!  I’ll prepare a more detailed post about the concerns for kosher consumers in the next week or so, and how to properly prepare it (including an important fact that most people are unaware of).

    All of my kids but one liked it, but I told her she would only need to eat a small amount, and I’ll probably mix it into different foods, like with ground meat – so that was fine with her.  I’m planning to regularly include it in our meals, which is why I bought over 20 lb yesterday (as you know by now, I don’t know how to buy small quantities! :lol:).  We’ll see how long it lasts!

    (This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.)

    Avivah

  • Traditional food preparations for Passover

    >>I’ve been starting to plan meals for Passover, in the hopes that better planning will mean we eat more than matzah spread with whatever.   I was wondering if you could post a bit of about creative passover meal ideas.  And also I was wondering what you know of sprouting, lacto-fermenting, etc during Passover.  What can be sprouted that isn’t kitniyos?  All I can think of is sunflower seeds, and perhaps quinoa could be sprouted.  We like fermented green beans best (dilly beans), but that is kitniyos.  I’m not sure what other options there would be, that we would like.  Can a person make kefir, or kombucha, or… for Passover?  Do you worry about soaking grains when you are eating matzah?  You can’t exactly soak matzah, right?
    And also, I’ve been wondering, when you soak nuts and grains, if you don’t have a dehydrator, how do you get them back to normal?  Particularly, if you soak grains, can they be ground for flour in that state? <<

    I haven’t yet planned my Passover menu (I’ll do it on Thursday next week, after I see what I get for a very good price that I want to integrate into my planning), and I don’t know if it will be very creative!  But I’ll be sure to post about it once I have it basically worked out.

    I don’t think there’s much you can sprout for Passover, since it’s generally beans, seeds, and grains that are sprouted, and we don’t eat any of those!  I suppose you can try to sprout quinoa, but I’ll just do an overnight soak with an acidic medium in a warm location.  Nuts can be soaked and dehydrated, but I’m not planning to bother with that for the week of Passover- I generally use my dehdrator for that; the times I tried to use my oven to dry nuts that had been soaked and grains that had been sprouted, it didn’t turn out well at all!  (My oven doesn’t go low enough and the result was slightly scorched.)  (In answer to your last question, grains that are sprouted are ground after being dried if you want to use them for flour.)

    Lacto fermented vegetables are a cinch for Passover – just shred the vegetables (I make up combinations all the time – try napa or cabbage with onion, garlic, carrots and some curry powder – this is an easy one that always turns out well), add some sea salt and water, and let them sit on your counter until they’re ready.  (The salt I use throughout the year for table use is Real Salt, which is certified kosher for Passover – this would be a very good addition to fermented vegetables.)  The hardest part is that some vegetables like cabbage will take more time than a week to be ready to eat!  You can minimize the time needed to ferment cabbage by chopping it very finely. But most vegetables can be ready within 2 – 3 days.  Most hard and crunchy vegetables can be effectively fermented – have fun experimenting!

    Last year I asked about using the kefir grains and was told that I shouldn’t use them on Pesach (Passover).  Realize that in virtually every situation that I’ve asked a question like this, the rabbi I approached had to rely on my detailed description to make his decision, since these kind of questions aren’t common.  So it’s possible that it being an unknown food was a contributing factor to the decision and it was cautionary rather than kefir grains being problematic in and of themselves.  I don’t know and it doesn’t matter to me – I was told not to use it for this one week a year so I don’t.  I don’t find it hard to enjoy raw milk without culturing it for a week, so not having kefir is no hardship for me!

    If you do want cultured dairy, you can easily make yogurt by buying a kosher for Passover plain whole milk yogurt starter, then following the instructions I gave here.  I usually use a dehydrator but explained in the post that I just linked to how to use a cooler as the insulating box, with a heating pad/hot water bottle on top – since I don’t have a Passover dehydrator, that’s what I would do.

    I don’t use kombucha, so I can’t share any tips with that – I tried to make it about three years ago and I think I killed my scoby.  😆 Maybe it wasn’t dead but it was so unappetizing looking that I threw it away.

    Because of the high phytic acid content, I’ll be minimizing the use of matza, but matza meal can be soaked overnight in an acidic medium if you use it for cakes, muffins, or pancakes. You can use shredded coconut and nut flours in place of flours for baked goods – I have a number of recipes in my ‘recipe’ category that will be appropriate for Passover use, even if I didn’t label them as such.

    Tonight I’ll be preparing beef liver for the first time (will share more about that another time), and bought a new grill to kasher it on so whatever we prepare will be able to be used for Passover.  That will be a nice traditional addition to our Pesach menu, I hope!

    Someone once commented that her Jewish mother-in-law gave her a Jewish cookbook and the entire book was filled with healthy recipes that work well for a gluten-free diet.  I was wondering what in the world she could be talking about, and realized that she must have been given an older cookbook with Passover recipes!  Once you get past the modern day food imitations that supermarkets are filled with that are marketed especially for this time of year, you realize that this really is an easy time of year to eat well, easier than during the rest of the year when grains and beans may be a staple of your diet.

    Stick with traditional fats- extra virgin olive oil, rendered chicken fat (shmaltz), butter, and extra virgin coconut oil.  Then add lots of fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish, meat and chicken, along with quinoa, potatoes, and sweet potatoes for the starch, some nuts, coconut, and dried fruits for dessert – there’s hardly anything to miss eating.  And all of it is healthy, simple, and delicious!

    Avivah

  • Alternatives to toothpaste

    Several weeks ago I wrote about the problems with toothpaste, and now I’ll share with you some options to toothpaste. What you eat and what you brush your teeth with are critical to your dental health, since teeth are mineralized through absorption of saliva.  That means that changing the quality of your diet will change the quality of your saliva (among other things), and if your teeth are properly cleaned (ie no glycerin coating from commercial toothpaste), they will be able to absorb minerals from your saliva.

    There are lots of good options to toothpaste, most of which are very affordable.  I’ll start with some of what I’ve used:

    Toothsoap – this is what I started using four years ago.  It’s a natural soap with added flavors, shredded and comes in a jar.  It was convenient since each child could use one shred, so I didn’t have to be concerned about all of them dipping their toothbrushes in.  It was effective, but very, very expensive.  So much so that I couldn’t justify the price, which is why I went on to look for other frugal choices.

    Coconut oil – coconut oil is a primary ingredient in tooth soap, so it made sense to me that it could be used on its own.  However, since it solidifies at temperatures below 72 degrees, in the winter it’s not a great choice for us.  Plus, I couldn’t find a good way to dispense it for multiple children.  But dh and I use it in the summer.

    Baking soda- this has an alkalinizing and odor reducing quality.  I like using plain baking soda, and the only caveat is that you have to use a very tiny amount.  I generally dip the tip of my brush in, and then rinse it slightly with water before brushing.  It’s an abrasive and if you were to use generous amounts on your teeth daily, it could affect your tooth enamel.  I’m used to the flavor and really like the sparkling clean feeling my mouth has after brushing.

    Bar soap – This is a cheap option to toothsoap and works just as well.  Bar soap rinses off with two rinses, unlike the glycerin in commercial toothpastes that takes 27 rinses to come off, and allows the nutrients in your diet to be absorbed by your teeth.  It seemed unsanitary to have all the kids share one bar of soap for their teeth and I considered cutting a bar of soap into chunks so each child could have their own.  But practically speaking I didn’t see how they could each keep track of their chunk.  It’s hard enough for them to keep track of their toothbrushes (younger siblings have a way of walking off with them.:)).

    My most recent experiment for them has been to buy a 2 oz bottle of Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap – it comes in many flavors and isn’t expensive at all (though you do have to place a minimum order – but I got just enough for the minimum order and the half gallon of peppermint soap will provide us with enough refills for toothsoap for many years- and I can use it as a multi purpose cleaner, too).  This has worked really, really well for the kids. They are fine with the flavor (we got peppermint) and it’s easy to dispense.  So far this is by far my favorite option for children.

    Homemade tooth powder – it’s very easy to make your own tooth powder.  Most of the ingredients can be found in your pantry. I made some for dh and I just because I was curious to try it.  Here are the basic categories that your ingredients will fit into:

    Use any food grade clay – I used bentonite clay since that’s what I had in the house, but you can use red, yellow, green, or white clay as well.  Bentonite clay absorbs impurities, which is exactly what your mouth is filled with while brushing.

    Then add an abrasive – you can use baking soda or salt.  If you use a high quality mineral salt like Real Salt, then you’re increasing the nutritional value of your tooth powder.

    For flavoring, there are lots of options.  You can use any essential oils that appeals to you; I chose cinnamon because of the antiseptic properties of cinnamon, but most people would probably prefer peppermint.  As long as you like the flavor, I don’t think it matters that much.  Alternatively or in addition, you can use a powdered herb like cinnamon.

    Nutritional boosters – now you can have some fun with this.  Basically you can throw in any powdered herb or real food that you like.  Spirulina, powdered ginger, powdered cloves – I decided to blend up some orange peels that I dehydrated a while back for the vitamin C content.  You can also leave these out completely.

    Honestly, I don’t think that percentages matter much, because pretty much however you mix up whatever you use, it will be good.  I’ll share what I did, but it was my only version and I pretty much was trying to put in as many ingredients as possible so I didn’t have to choose between them.  😆  I’ll share suggestions to improve it at the end.

    • 4 T. stevia leaves (not processed stevia)
    • 1 T. orange zest
    • 1 T. bentonite clay
    • 1 T. Real Salt
    • 2 T. baking soda
    • a couple of drops of cinnamon oil

    I powdered the stevia leaves and orange zest – be sure to sift them unless you want to end up with my version, which has tiny pieces.  (I could still sift it now, but it’s not a priority.)  Next, mix the powdered and sifted stevia leaves and orange zest together with the other dry ingredients.  Then add just a couple of drops of essential oil – since these are so powerful, you only need a tiny bit.  Mix it up and store it in a covered container in your bathroom.  Dip your moist toothbrush in it when you’re ready to brush your teeth.

    What I’m happy with is the pleasant taste of the stevia and cinnamon oil.  What I would change for the next time is to make a choice – baking soda or salt – not both.  If you take my suggestion and use one or the other, you can double the amount of whichever you use, and totally eliminate the ingredient you don’t use, and the final proportions will stay the same.  Hope that makes sense!

    As I said, this is what I had on hand so this is what I played around with. But I saw so many other possibilities just using the herbs and spices I had right in my kitchen cabinets.

    (This post is part of Real Food Wednesday and Works for Me Wednesdays.)

    Avivah

  • Getting toddler to try new foods

    >> My toddler is adamant about not eating certain things. We’ve dealt with a lot of food sensitivity issues with all 4 children, so it has been commonplace for different people to be eating different things at the same meal over the last few years. Gluten free foods were very expensive so we couldn’t all eat the same things. Different children have avoided different foods along the way. Now the new baby is super corn sensitive (as in I can’t even use sodium ascorbate that is guaranteed corn residue free because, even after I metabolize it and turn it into milk, he reacts to it). Again, I am trying new recipes, introducing new foods, etc. The two older girls are doing fairly well, but do complain a bit. My husband is finally on board with eating everything. The 2 (nearly 3) year old is the biggest holdout. She often refuses to eat anything when there is one thing on her plate she doesn’t like. She has figured out that she can avoid a fight if she is pleasant about refusing to eat at one meal and then eats more than usual at the next meal. I can force her to sit at the table, but I can’t force her to eat, and I’m not sure I should be anyhow. Any ideas? Thanks!<<

    There are plenty of parenting issues that require taking a strong stance, but hunger forces kids to eat so I never saw the point in insisting my kids eat anything.  When I put out food at dinner, I put it our family style and everyone helps themselves to as much as they want.  (The littles are very generous with their helpings,  lol!)  I wrote about dealing with picky eaters here.  As I said there, I figure that if a child is hungry, then he’ll eat.  I’d say that if your daughter is sitting at the table for the meal and is meeting her nutritional needs appropriately, don’t worry about it.

    However, I’m going to suggest that you make one meal that everyone can eat.  I know that can be hard when dealing with multiple allergies/sensitivities since it probably feels like it leaves you with about three foods to choose from! 😆  But you’re only one person with four little kids, and it seems like making multiple foods for each meal is going to become draining pretty quickly.

    And it’s not only a question of your time and energy.  It’s normal and reasonable for kids to pick up an idea that they can have custom made food and turn down what’s served if they don’t like it when there are so many options available to them.  Also, as they see everyone eating the same foods, there’s a kind of nonverbal encouragement at work that helps give over a message that everyone else likes this, so it must be okay!

    We don’t have serious allergies to deal with here, but for health reasons I tend to naturally avoid foods that are the most common allergens (very little gluten, corn, no soy), and I’m pretty comfortable cooking for just about any kind of dietary restrictions.   There are recipe alternatives for just about everything!  For example, coconut milk is a good replacement for dairy, nut flours are good for baking (if you can have nuts – otherwise there are gluten free grains and coconut flour), arrowroot powder or potato starch are good substitutes for corn starch, et.

    Also, the more simply you cook, using just basic ingredients and not fancying them up too much, the easier it is.  For example, some quinoa cooked in a bone broth with some protein on the side along with roasted or sauteed vegetables is a nice dinner that would work for most allergy considerations. Trying to make quinoa flour muffins that appeal to everyone would be more challenging.  I’m not saying not to experiment – I enjoy trying new things myself!  Just don’t tie yourself into knots trying to make happy.

    I’ve just started reading Gut and Psychology Syndrome, by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.  In it, she gives suggestions for encouraging young children to eat new foods.  She basically suggests starting with just one bite of the new food at a meal, and reinforcing that bite with something very positive (stickers, praise, excitement, a treat).  Though this isn’t the approach I would take, I can see how this could work, so I’m sharing it here in case it will be of help.

    Good luck!

    Avivah

  • Taking advantage of vegetable bargains

    I think I’ve hit my personal record for buying a huge amount of food for a tiny amount of money and if you’ve been reading here a while, you know that’s saying something.  I spent $45.63 at one store on Wednesday, which included but wasn’t limited to: 4 cases of tomatoes (28 lb each), 7 cases of yams (40 lb each), 19 heads of celery, 150 lb potatoes, and a case of bananas (40 lb).   To be honest, I did have a store credit of $24 from the two cases of yams I bought last month that spoiled in a very short time, so the total would have been a little more had I not had the credit. But I was quite pleased with it.

    Note: if you buy something and there’s a problem with it, don’t assume it’s your fault.  I knew that something was wrong when the yams went off so fast (I’ve been buying in bulk and storing in bulk for a couple of years now and this was unprecedented in cold weather), but at first I assumed I’d have to swallow the loss – the store I bought the yams last month from was far away from my home, I no longer had the receipt, and I wasn’t able to return until five weeks after the original purchase.  But I’ve learned it doesn’t hurt to ask, and when I called and explained to them the date I bought them, how I stored them, and what happened, they readily agreed to refund the entire price whenever I’d be back in their area, without having to show any proof of purchase.  It took about five minutes to make the call and get the person in charge on the phone; $24 for five minutes ‘work’ is pretty decent, don’t you think?

    Along with my wonderful windfalls came a lot of work!   People often think I’m just lucky that I find so many things so inexpensively, but the truth is that most people walk right past these kind of deals and don’t recognize the opportunity in front of them.  Or even if they realize the price is really low, they don’t know what to do with such huge quantities without it spoiling before they use it.  I never let a concern about quantities stop me from buying (as you see from the fact I bought almost 300 lb of yams :)), I figure somehow I’ll find something to do with it! 😆

    The tomatoes were super cheap because they were very, very ripe.  So I had to process them right away.  That meant that I (along with my kids) spent a solid chunk of time yesterday washing, chopping, cooking, and canning.   Was it worth it?  I think so.  We made 15 quarts of tomato sauce, 12 quarts of salsa, and 5 quarts of tomato juice.  Pretty good, since the ingredients for all of it didn’t cost more than $15!  (My kids wanted to know why I didn’t buy all of the cases available at this price.)  It’s a nice feeling of satisfaction at the end of a day to see the counter filled with beautiful jars of home canned foods.  And I like knowing that my kids are developing an attitude of self sufficiency as well as learning real life skills like preserving foods.

    I was considering canning the celery but to do that I’d have had to pressure can it.  Though if you look at the actual processing time, pressure canning looks faster than water bath canning, it doesn’t take into account the time needed to bring the canner up to pressure, process the food, then wait for the canner to depressurize before moving on to the next batch. That can add up to an hour to each load.  Since I wanted to get about 80+pounds of tomatoes dealt with in one day (saved some to use fresh), I decided to only can what I could water bath and the celery ended up being dehydrated instead.  Dehydrating celery is so easy – just slice it thinly and put it on the trays.  But it’s honestly almost disheartening to watch sixteen heads of celery becoming so compact that they fit into a quart sized jar – and there’s still room left in the jar!

    I’m planning to can a bunch of the yams, since they’re in beautiful condition now but they won’t stay that way forever.  But I won’t get to that until next week, since there’s no rush.  Then I’ll have them in a ready to use form to add to soups, stews, or casseroles.

    The bananas were very ripe (had lots brown flecks on them but weren’t turning black), but my kids attacked them so I doubt there will be enough left by Sunday to even consider turning into fruit leather.  Bananas make great snacks since they’re so filling, especially when spread with lots of peanut butter.

    An additional frugal perk of canning in the winter is that you really appreciate the added warmth from the hours of cooking and steamy smells wafting throughout the house.

    (This post is part of Frugal Fridays.)

    Avivah

  • Another way to soak grains (whey free)

    I’ve mentioned a number of times that I soak most of my grains and flours in order to reduce the phytic acid level.  The reason for that is when the phytic acid is present in a food, it binds with the nutrients and minerals and sucks it out of your body.  Which in turn means that regardless of how healthy you think the ingredients you’re eating are, the actual nutrition your body can use is much less than it technically would seem ‘on paper’.

    I was recently asked once again for alternatives to soaking grains that don’t require whey.  I often use yogurt or kefir, but that doesn’t work for those who prefer not to use dairy.  Raw apple cider vinegar and lemon juice are other options I’ve tried, which work fine but I’ve  been less than thrilled with the taste.  I recently learned about another option from Stephan Guyanet and after trying it out, thought I’d share it here with you. He suggested it specifically for brown rice but I don’t see why it shouldn’t work for any grains and I’ve used it so far for brown rice and barley.

    The basic idea of this soaking method is that you’re ‘growing’ your own acidic medium, and the process reminds me of how you grow your own sourdough starter.   The main difference is you’re soaking whole grains rather than flour, but the process is essentially the same.  Though it sounds kind of tedious it’s really not; it’s just a couple of extra steps in the beginning and then you have your acidic medium to soak your grains in from then on.

    First of all, put the grain you’ll be using in a bowl and fill it with water (ideally unchlorinated – if you don’t have a filter, you can let it sit overnight to let the chlorine evaporate).  Let the soaking grain sit in a warm place for about 24 hours.  In the past I’ve always left it at room temperature, but since in the winter our house is cooler than in warmer seasons (obviously!) and warmth is important when soaking grains , I put it on the lowest temp in my dehydrator for a while and then let it sit overnight in the dehydrator after I turned it off.

    When you pour off the soaking liquid, reserve about a cup of the liquid and put it in a jar in your fridge (this is your ‘starter’).  Now cook your grain in fresh water.

    The next time you’re going to make prepare grains, soak it the same way as before, but this time add the water you reserved.  This liquid has the beginnings of good microorganisms growing, and they will hasten the growth of more microrganisms in this second batch.  These bacteria secrete phytase, which are essential in breaking down phytic acid.  Again, siphon some of this liquid off after the grain has soaked for 24 hours, before draining it and cooking the grain in fresh water.

    Every time you soak your grain, add some of this reserved liquid.  And each time you finish the soaking process, save some liquid for the next time.  Each time you do this process the liquid becomes more potent, and Stephan wrote that after doing this a few times, eventually your homemade acidic medium will break down 96% of the phytic acid in your grain (after 24 hours of soaking).  In case you haven’t read the percentage of phytic acid that is generally left in grains even after soaking (and I’m assuming most people aren’t like me and don’t read those things for fun :)), it’s a surprisingly high amount.  So this soaking process will result in a dramatic increase in nutritive value.

    You can keep this soaking water in your fridge for a long time.  Basically you’ll use it similarly to how you use any other acidic medium, just by adding a small amount to the liquid you use for soaking.  I’ve been cultivating my ‘liquid starter’ for three batches so far, and the grain doesn’t have the sour taste you tend to associate with apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.  I expect that it will get more tart with increased bacterial growth, though, so I’ll have to see if/ how much the flavor changes with time.

    (This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.)

    Avivah

  • Weekly menu plan

    With our record snowfall, I’ve been snowed in for a week now. We were stuck three days after the first snow and then a bunch of neighbors got together to pay for a private snowplow (our city isn’t very good about plowing side streets – my in laws two miles away are in a different county and they had the county plow go down their street four times; in one day; they can’t believe what we have to deal with).   Then there was the next snow and our street was so blocked up, the private plow we tried to hire couldn’t get through!  The city plowed our street on Friday, but it still doesn’t look like I’ll be going anywhere for a couple more days since the new radiator in our van sprung a leak (fortunately it’s under warranty).  Right before the last snow I picked up enough vegetables for two weeks, as I do every two weeks (around $50 for two weeks, so I stayed within the $25 limit I said I was committing to; anything else I need will be coming from whatever is in the pantry or freezer).

    I’d be feeling very, very low on food by now if I had the habit of buying just a little more than I need;  I never expected that it would be so long before I could get out, but it doesn’t really make a difference to me.  Even though it’s been a month since I shopped (except for getting the vegetables a week ago) and out of a couple of staples that I rely heavily on (raw milk and eggs), we’re doing fine.

    Here’s the menu plan for this week:

    Shabbos – dinner – challah, chicken soup, roast chicken and potatoes, carrot raisin tzimmes, beet salad, peanut butter cups; lunch – cholent (beef stew), eggplant dip, kishke (stuffing), traffic light salad, beet salad, ginger tamari corn chips/blue corn chips with dip

    Sunday – breakfast – oranges and pumpkin pie; lunch – homemade eggrolls; dinner- hoppin’ john with gribenes

    Monday – b – coconut rice (will share recipe later this week); l – mushroom barley soup; d – sausage chowder

    Tuesday – b – banana nut muffins; l – mushroom barley soup; d – baked fish, fried okra

    Wednesday – b – quinoa pudding (w/coconut milk); l – cabbage soup; d – Jamaican rice and beans

    Thursday – b – blueberry Dutch puffs; l – CORN (Clean Out Refrigerator Night – well, day in this case :)); d – tacos, guacamole

    Today I’m doing a some advance prep for the meals for this week.  In recent months I’ve been moving away from relying heavily on grains and beans, but am falling back on them more this week to compensate for not being able to go shopping for milk and eggs.

    I’m soaking 4 pounds of black eyed peas for the hoppin’ John and Jamaican rice and beans, 2 pounds of red beans and 2 pounds of chickpeas for the sausage chowder.  All except the black eyed peas I need for tonight’s dinner will be strained in the morning to begin sprouting.  I’m also soaking five cups of rice for breakfast tomorrow as well as a couple of pounds of barley for the soup.  I have a new way of soaking grains to break down the phytic acid that I’m experimenting with and will share that once I see what the results are.

    I have another 16 quart pot of stock on the stove.  It’s crazy how much stock we’re going through – at least three pots this size every week.  As always, stocks are at the foundation of many of my meals; even those that look vegetarian are cooked with a rich stock base to boost the nutrients.

    (This post is part of Menu Plan Monday.)

    Avivah