Heal Your Brain & Gut with Jill

Absolutely gorgeous day enjoying 2 of my most favorite things, fall and horseback riding. The fall foliage is absolutely breathtaking and I had the chance to view it on a trail for 2 hours on horseback. There is nothing like nature and fresh air. I went to horse camp when I was 14 and I just loved it. Sometimes one of the best ways to bring joy into our lives is by thinking back to the joys of our younger years and bringing them back into our lives. What are some of your favorite things you haven’t done in years but would love to do again?

Growing up—even into my young adulthood, I was known as the bagel girl! Bagels, noodles, anything “carby” was my love, but these processed carbs didn’t love me. It pushed my body into a world of pre-diabetes, fatigue, moodiness, and inflammation. Eliminating processed carbs from my meals, transformed my health. Processed carbs means white flour, white sugar, white pasta, and couscous for examples. It doesn’t mean to eliminate all carbohydrates from your diet. The goal is finding the right carbs for YOUR individual body. The same food you eat may affect your blood sugar response differently compared to your friend. Here is one of my favorite pasta alternatives that is nutrient dense and really leaves me satisfied. Hearts of palm pasta! Add organic non GMO tofu or tempeh for some extra protein. If you prefer animal protein, add some chicken( preferably organic pasture raised if possible). Check out the recipe below.

Hearts of Palm Pasta
✨Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Avocado oil
✨1 package (12oz) hearts of palm pasta
✨1 zucchini
✨leafy greens (kale, spinach, Swiss chard)
✨unsweetened tomato sauce (organic preferable)
✨ 1oz sheep cheese or grass-fed Parmesan cheese
(optional)
✨fresh ground pepper

Instructions
1. Lightly sauté zucchini and leafy greens to your liking in out of your choice
2. Add hearts of palm pasta and sauté for five minutes
3. Add tomato sauce and cook for another 3-5 minutes
4. Add an ounce of sheep feta cheese or grass-fed Parmesan cheese
5. Top with fresh ground pepper

Have you tried hearts of palm pasta? What is your favorite way to eat hearts of palm?

Thank you voters for voting me onto the A-List for “Best Holistic Wellness Provider.” Thank you to the Jewish Link for offering a platform to local businesses in the NJ, NY and CT areas. I have so much gratitude!

Just a little reminder 😊💕

Easy 10-Faux Rice Recipe (Cauliflower free) ⏰👇

✨ This low carb, customizable side dish supports blood sugar regulation and goes well with any protein! Feel free to mix it up: swap out the mushrooms, add herbs or more veggies of your choice, change up the spices.

A great option if you aren’t a fan of cauliflower rice!

Ingredients:

* 1 Box of Riced Hearts of Palm (or cut up Hearts of Palm Pasta into small pieces with kitchen shears/scissors)

* 1/2 Medium Onion, Diced

* 10 Sliced Mushrooms of your choice (or more because you will probably eat some while cooking!)

* 2 Tbsp Avocado Oil

* Sea salt

* Pepper

Instructions:

1️⃣ Rinse riced hearts of palm well using a strainer until water runs clear

2️⃣ Put avocado oil in a pan on medium heat

3️⃣ Sauté sliced onion and mushrooms in the pan until caramelized

4️⃣ Add rinsed riced hearts of palm and continue to sauté for another 5 min

6️⃣ Season to taste with sea salt and pepper

Enjoy!

💬 Comment below whether or not you have tried Hearts of Palm pasta.

The Shabbat before Shavuot 2024, my husband relayed a story to me that was shared with him at synogogue. One of our friends expressed that he was traveling out of town and saw a woman with a shopping cart with a copy of my first book, Heal your Soul, Heal your Gut. He approached the woman and shared that he knew me. She expressed how much my book had helped her in her life and it really touched me. This story sparked something within me that had been growing silently overtime, dribbling the idea of writing a second book back into my consciousness. Writing my first book was therapeutic, but also metaphorically akin to having a baby. It is quite the journey of elation, to nausea, to coasting along comfortably until you can’t wait to “give birth”. Writing my book was truly a labor of love, but I always said it would all be worth it if I was able to help even one person. Well, Hashem set the scene for this story to be relayed to me at the right time, so there I was, 2 days before Shavuot, on a new journey with a new purpose writing the first page of my second book..

So much has happened in my life since my first book, and so much new science has exploded onto the world’s stage. While so much has changed, there is one thing that has not and will never change, our beloved Torah. Like my first book, I will continue to infuse spirituality and Hashem’s Torah into Heal your Soul, Heal your Brain, giving this book a neshama (soul), not just mere statistics and scientific discoveries. As always, all the healthy food in the world will never heal us unless we feed our primary foods: relationships, physical activity, stress management, creativity, social life, home environment, sleep, managing our toxic load, educational opportunities, how we find meaning in life and more. However underlying all our efforts is our unbreakable connection with our Creator assuring us that we are never alone on our ever changing health journeys.

Is a mildly ketogenic diet right for you ⁉️

Mildly ketogenic diets are used to prevent Alzheimer’s disease because the brains of people with 1-2 copies of the ApoE4 gene (a risk factor for Alzheimer’s) have a decreased ability to use glucose for energy.

❌ That means that, if they try to fuel their brains with glucose (carbohydrates), their brain may not have enough energy to function, negatively impacting memory recall, executive functioning, data processing, and more.

✨ Opting to follow a mildly ketogenic diet, allows the brain to use ketones as its energy source, which are the compounds created hen we break down our own stored body fat for energy. This then enables the brain to function better!

In fact, many physicians refer to Alzheimer’s disease as “Type 3 Diabetes” due to high blood sugar being one of he most significant risk factors.

✨ Stabilizing blood sugar and lowering fasting insulin is one of the best things a person can do to prevent or reverse Alzheimer’s disease, and a mildly ketogenic diet can help with that.

When practiced correctly, a mildly ketogenic diet can:

🧠 Improve memory recall

🧠 Decrease brain fog

🧠 Increase energy

🧠 Support stable blood sugar and insulin sensitivity

🧠 Decrease inflammation

🧠 Promote cellular autophagy and beta amyloid clearance (the plaque that builds up in the brain and leads to Alzheimer’s)

Your New Go-To Salad Recipe 🥗👇

This salad is so filling and filled with nutrient dense goodness

✨ Detox support from the kale and microgreens

✨ Lots of antioxidants from the gorgeously colored beets

✨ Anti-inflammatory, health fats in the olive oil and avocado

✨ Brain-boosting minerals (like magnesium) with the pumpkin seeds

Ingredients:

2 cups Organic Kale, Washed and Chopped

2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1-2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Pinch of Sea Salt

1/2 Large Beet, Diced

1/2 Avocado

Handful of Microgreens

1 Tbsp Pumpkin Seeds

Instructions:

1️⃣ Massage kale with olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt for about 1 minute

2️⃣ Add beets and avocado (plus any other veggies you like)

3️⃣ Top with microgreens and pumpkin seeds

4️⃣ Add a protein of your choice for a complete, balanced meal

✨ Customize this salad by adding other veggies (i.e. cucumbers, radishes, peppers, hearts of palm, tomatoes. etc.) or changing up the seeds (i.e. h**p, sunflower, etc.). Experiment and change it up so you don’t get bored!

⚠️ Note: This salad is keto so if you don’t follow a ketogenic approach, lower the fat content to an appropriate level for you.

💬 Let me know, are you a salad person?

Excited to share my non-dairy cheese cake! If you have ever heard me give a webinar or worked with me as your health coach…there is a good chance you have heard that I am a cheesecake lover 🍰. This non-dairy cheese cake became a great option for me since real cheesecake doesn’t always agree with me. That’s what makes this cake a great option for the upcoming Jewish holiday of Shavuot if dairy is not for you. It’s super simple (1 bowl and 6 ingredients) and so yummy that you will forget that you are not eating dairy cheese cake. It’s especially good when coupled with a good cup of coffee. ☕️😊

✨Ingredients✨
16 ounces non-dairy plain cream cheese ( I use kite-hill)
1/2-2/3 cup of coconut sugar (that’s what makes the cake color a bit darker)
1-2 teaspoons vanilla
2 Tablespoons tapioca starch
1/4 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (I use Malk)
Graham Cracker or any crunchy cookie ( I crushed up Gluten-Free Simple Mill’s chocolate brownie Sweet Thins)

✨Instructions✨
1️⃣Crush up cookies and put on the bottom of a round pie dish and leave to the side.
2️⃣Mix all ingredients together
3️⃣Pour into pie dish
4️⃣Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 min
5️⃣Chill in fridge for 4-5 hours.
6️⃣Optional - add a dollop of coconut whipped cream. (So Delicious coconut whipped cream)

What are your favorite desserts for Shavuot? Share away!

Should you be consuming or avoiding dairy? You may be surprised! In light of the upcoming Jewish Holiday of Shavuot that traditionally has dairy, here is some info. (For those of you who are non-dairy, dairy-free cheese cake recipe coming this week!)

❌ Dairy has been heavily demonized, labelled as inflammatory and the source of many health problems, but the reality is that dairy is actually ✨ very nutrient dense ✨ and has a place in your diet (if you aren’t allergic).

What’s important when it comes to dairy is to try to purchase the highest quality that is accessible to you.

Some ✨ things to look for ✨ to access the quality of dairy:

🥛 Comes from 100% grass-fed cows or goats and sheep, which are always grass fed.

🥛 A2 dairy - which refers to dairy that only have A2 casein protein which is often easier to digest and some studies suggest that it is less inflammatory. This type of milk comes from goats, sheep, and certain cow breeds, and it is often labelled.

🥛 Low level of pasteurization and unhomogenized - the less processed it is, the more nutrients (and increased digestibility) it has, and the better it is for your health. Pasteurization ranges from ultra-pasteurized to low-temp pasteurized to raw (least pasteurized). Homogenization changes the natural nature of milk by reducing the fat globules so they are evenly dispersed.

🥛 Organic - what the animals consume is what ends up in the milk so to avoid glyphosate and other pesticides, it is best to source organic dairy.

🥛 No additives like vitamin D - dairy from well raised cows naturally contains vitamin D. Added synthetic vitamins are never as good as vitamins naturally occurring in our food.

⚠️ Note: Some who are dairy intolerant/sensitive can tolerate high quality sources of dairy. Always trust your body and introduce new foods slowly.

My husband Levi is great at finding the best locations for hikes and bike rides. Recently we went up to Nyack, NY along the Hudson River. Aside from that free feeling of riding my bike along the waterfront, I loved that it was also a great location for a beautiful and pleasant walk. Avoid the highways and drive through Piermont,NY into Nyack to see the beautiful Victorian houses, quaint coffee and clothing shops as well. Don’t forget to stop by the farmer’s markets on the way home. Highly recommend it!

Thank you to all who have built and continue to sustain this great country. 🇺🇸

Easy 24-Hour Ferment Homemade Yogurt 🥛🥄👇

Ingredients:

🥛 2 Liters Whole Milk - Grass-fed and A2 is best (Tip: All goat and sheep milk is A2 and Grass-fed)

🥛 6g Yogurt Starter Culture (I use 2 sachets of Yogourmet)

🥛 24-hour yogurt maker - i.e. Luvele, Instant Pot, or Yogourmet (Tip: You can buy a glass container that fits the Yogourmet)

Recipe:

1️⃣ Heat your milk in a pot over medium-high heat until you reach 180°F. Use a thermometer to ensure accuracy (Tip: Most yogurt makers come with a thermometer).

2️⃣ Maintain this temperature for 10 minutes. Be sure to continuously whisk so you don’t scorch or burn the milk.

💡 This temperature is just before simmering, and you will see the milk start to swell and rise. By heating the milk in this fashion, it allows the milk proteins to denature which will ensure a thicker yogurt. If it starts to simmer, just turn your heat down and do your best to maintain the correct temperature.

3️⃣ Remove from heat and allow to cool to 107°F.

💡 You want the cooled range to be between 97°F and 107°F. If it is hotter than this it will kill the bacteria in the starter. You can refrigerate the mixture to speed up cooling, or put pot in an ice bath -- just don’t let it get too cold.

4️⃣ Add in your yogurt starter to ½ cup of the milk. Then add this to the rest of the milk and whisk together.

5️⃣ Pour the milk mixture into your glass yogurt maker or Instant Pot. Then pour water into the base to the specified fill line.

6️⃣ Set the thermometer on the yogurt maker to between 100°F to 110°F, then set the timer for 24 hours. (Tip: With the Yogourmet, you just need to plug it in, temperature sets for you.)

7️⃣ Once finished, remove the glass container with the yogurt in it and place it in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. This will allow it to chill and set properly.

8️⃣ Enjoy!

💬 Comment below: Have you ever made homemade yogurt?

Recipe Credit: SCD Yogurt from Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall

https://breakingtheviciouscycle.info/how-to-make-scd-yogurt

Candles play an important role in Jewish traditions, but did you know the type of candle you use matters?

The type of candles you choose to burn in your home can have a significant effect on your indoor air quality. Most candles on the market are made from paraffin wax and contain synthetic chemicals and even heavy metals. When these are burnt, toxins and carcinogens get released into the air.

And breathing this polluted air can

⚠️ harm to your brain, gut, and immune system

⚠️ irritate your lungs

⚠️ disrupt your hormones

…and so much more.

Our irreplaceable bodies, given to us by G-d to protect our souls, are the greatest gifts and we must take care of them.

✨ Fortunately, there are healthier candles out there that allow us to participate in our customs without endangering our health.

I look for candles made out of 100% beeswax as these have many benefits:

✨ Clean Burning (smokeless)

✨ Natural and Non-toxic (no chemical additives)

✨ Supports Sustainable Beekeeping Practices

✨ Long Lasting Glow

✨ Minimal to No Dripping

✨ Natural Honey Aroma

Some brands I recommend are:

✨ Simcha Candle (100% beeswax) - specifically Jewish candles including tea lights, long Shabbat candles, and 2-day Yartzheit memorial candles

✨ Big Dipper Wax Works - tapers and tea lights

Shabbat Shalom! ✡️

Hope my latest article can help you build some immunity this winter as many of us are dealing with flu, covid, rsv and so much more this winter ! What works best for you to strengthen your immune system?
https://jewishlink.news/monthly-sections/health-link-new/56132-immune-resilience-101?format=amp