Tag: Misconception

What is kosher food?

Kosher foods are those that are allowed according to Levitical law (Leviticus 11) and prepared according to kashrut. Not only are certain foods prohibited, but how those foods are prepared either makes them kosher or not. Chinese food, Mexican food, or “good old all-American home-style family southern” food can all be prepared as kosher. Although the specific details of kashrut are extensive, the laws all originate from a few straightforward guidlines.

In restaurants, deli establishments, and grocery stores we often stumble across the “kosher” section right next to international foods. There is a significant misconception, though, about what is and is not kosher? What is kosher food? Is it merely Jewish food, another international cuisine, or is there more to it? Simply put, kosher food is food allowed by Levitical law and prepared in accordance with Jewish religious tradition.

“Kashrut” is the group of laws dealing with Jewish food law, what foods are acceptable and how they must be prepared to be considered “kosher,” fit, proper, or correct. The term kosher means that something is being used in accordance with proper Jewish culture and tradition. There is actually no such thing as “kosher style” cooking or food. It is not a book of recipes passed down from Jewish grandmothers to their daughters and granddaughters. Kosher foods are those that are in agreement with Biblical, Levitical law and Jewish traditional preparation.

Although the blessing of food is part of Jewish tradition, the rabbi does not “bless food” to make it kosher, nor does the family make it kosher when blessing it prior to consumption. If food is advertised as kosher in restaurants or grocery stores, the probability is high that it is not. What this usually means is that it is traditional Jewish food, but not necessarily prepared according to “Kashrut.” There is no such thing as kosher-style food. Any food can be kosher if it is prepared in accordance with Jewish ritual or law and it is an acceptable item for Jewish consumption.

Some believe that Judaic food laws found in the Old Testament, the Jewish Septuagint, exist for health purposes, and there are some truth to this. Many of these food laws do parallel what modern food science and medicine have discovered to be healthful. Improperly cooked pork, for instance, can contain the trichinosis parasite that if ingested by humans can be fatal. Animals that eat plants and chew their cud, like cattle, are acceptable

Battling an Eating Disorder: When Bulimia Becomes a True American Idol Sized Problem

In a People Magazine article, American Idol contestant, Katherine McPhee disclosed that she has secretly suffered from bulimia for the past five years. It was her success in television’s American Idol competition that inspired her to come forward and get help to recover from her life-threatening eating disorder. Katherine, a vocalist who at her worst point was self-inducing vomiting up to seven times a day, claimed that she realized her bulimic behaviors were “equivalent to taking a sledgehammer to her throat” and brought herself to treatment.

Glamorizing Eating Disorder Illnesses? Or Becoming an Invaluable Role Model?

Some may think when celebrities like Katherine come forward with such problems it only “glamorizes” the illness and encourages dysfunction in impressionable young people. In reality, some impressionable youngsters may respond by engaging in self-destructive experimentation, but for the most part, the responses of people like Katherine McPhee provide invaluable role modeling for fans.

Though statistics show that 1 percent of young females in this country suffer with bulimia, the numbers most likely do not reflect the enormity of the problem, as bulimia is among the most frequently missed diagnoses, and only a minority of people with eating disorders, especially with bulimia nervosa, are treated in mental healthcare. A problem cannot be solved until it is defined. In coming forward as she has, McPhee has displayed the courage and intention to achieve her dreams, to become proactive in making her life as healthy, gratified and fulfilled as it can be. Despite the widely held misconception that “once eating disordered, always eating disordered,” eating disorders are fully curable in 80 percent of cases where recognized early and treated effectively. In her forthright and courageous stand, this American Idol contestant has become a true American idol.

Uncovering the Secrets of Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa: The Most Lethal Mental Health Disorders

The most lethal of all the metal health disorders, bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa are extremely hard to recognize. Highly secretive diseases, they rarely show up in doctors’ offices during physical or functional assessments; even laboratory tests do not show evidence of eating disorders until they are in their most advanced stages. By their nature counterintuitive, eating disorders typically give victims a pseudo-sense of power and control, creating the illusion of feeling and becoming “better than ever.” In actual fact, certain stages of recovery feel more precarious and painful than does the disease itself. Making matters even more confusing, many of the symptoms of these lethal disorders lay somewhere along the continuum of normal human behaviors. Who doesn’t overeat, under-eat or engage in emotional or social eating at times?

Eating disorders, which essentially represent an abuse of food in an effort to resolve emotional problems, transcend a dysfunctional relationship with food to represent the tip of a physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and social iceberg, with early signs of clinical eating disorders typically evident in diverse life spheres.

8 signs that parents and families may see at home, around the dinner table, in the family bathroom, or the child’s bedroom:

• Erratic eating, eating too much or too little, too frequently or too seldom.

• Dieting and other restrictive eating behaviors (in some instances vegetarianism or skipping meals) that can result in extreme hunger and gorging, irregular menstrual periods.
• Fear of putting on weight, with an all-encompassing preoccupation with food and eating that can account for as much as 80 percent of an individual’s thoughts
• Hiding food, and feeling shame and guilt after eating it. The refusal to eat in the company of others.
• Depressive moods
• Various forms of purging, including self-induced vomiting, excessive exercising, laxative, diuretic, or Ipecac abuse
• Disappearances into the bathroom during or following meals
• Impulsive, immoderate and out of control behaviors beyond the realm of eating, that might include shop lifting, promiscuity, cutting, engaging in chaotic relationships, abuse of substances such as drugs, alcohol, nicotine, diet pills, etc.

There is nothing passive about eating disorders. Always on the move, they are either getting better or you can be certain they are getting worse. Eating disorder recovery can be a long-term process, requiring input from a diverse team of professionals including physicians, psychotherapists, family therapists, nutritionists, psycho pharmacologists and school counselors. The course of recovery will be as variable, must be as comprehensive, and in many ways will feel as convoluted as the course of disease, typically combining outpatient and inpatient treatment milieus and diverse treatment modes. Victims of eating disorders, as young as age 5 or as old as 60, male or female, individuals alone or living within the context of a supportive or not so supportive family system need help to recognize, accept and conquer these diseases…to become capable of reclaiming their lives, proactively, with steadfast commitment… to fight the good fight for life and life quality.