Episode 16: Health from a Slightly Different Angle | With Esther Amir, practitioner of the Rambam method and Chinese medicine

00:00 Speaker 1 What is alternative medicine? Why do we need it? What can each of us do to improve our health? And what do Chinese treatments have to do with facial skin? Welcome to a conversation with Esther Amir, a practitioner of Chinese medicine and the Rambam’s approach to health. How can we turn our lives into lives of shlichus, full of meaning? I’m Chani Moskowitz, born in Kharkiv, Ukraine. On this podcast, we’ll meet women whose shlichus takes different forms, and through their stories, help each of us discover and refine our own shlichus in the world. Because living the life we were created for is as good as it gets. Shlichus as a way of life. Let’s begin. Welcome, dear Esther Amir. I’ll just hand you the microphone and... how does the saying go? “Open your mouth, and your words will shine.”

00:58 Speaker 2 Amen. It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Esther Amir. I’m twenty-four, the mother of two sweet children, boruch Hashem, and I practice Chinese medicine, the Rambam’s approach to health, and iridology. This amazing field includes acupuncture, medicinal herbs, holistic nutrition according to the Rambam and Chinese dietary principles, cosmetic acupuncture, diagnosis through the iris, and many other things.

01:28 Speaker 1 How are you twenty-four and already doing all of that? We have to explain that first.

01:34 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Okay, so as a teenager, I was introduced to this profession. I watched my father treating people, and I decided that I wanted to find out what this amazing medicine was about and go study it.

01:47 Speaker 1 At what age?

01:48 Speaker 2 At eighteen.

01:50 Speaker 1 Wow. So you were actually still in twelfth grade.

01:52 Speaker 2 Yes, exactly. I started it—

01:53 Speaker 1 At the same time.

01:54 Speaker 2 Right at the same time.

01:55 Speaker 1 So you did your matriculation exams on the side. “I’m already studying Chinese medicine, and I’m also taking my math exams.”

02:01 Speaker 2 The truth is, anyone who knows me and might hear this knows that I really tried to give it my all. I believe one hundred percent that whatever we do in life, we should give it everything we’ve got. I gave those studies my all too, until I finished my matriculation exams and could focus entirely on this path.

02:20 Speaker 1 Wow.

02:21 Speaker 2 Yes.

02:21 Speaker 1 So explain for a moment: why do people come to you? If I have some kind of problem, how do I decide whether to come to you or perhaps check myself into Kaplan Hospital?

02:32 Speaker 2 Okay, that’s a good question. In principle, when someone comes to me, they’re choosing to help the body heal itself. That’s really the difference. You can treat a symptom, you can treat pain, but you can also treat the root of the problem and help the body heal itself. How do we know what the root of the problem is? We examine the iris. We can see where it all starts, where it all comes from, what’s causing the problems and the pain, and from there move forward with a treatment strategy that’s right and precise.

03:05 Speaker 1 Say my stomach hurts, and it’s becoming an ongoing problem—not just a mild stomach upset. I come to you, and you can see the cause of my stomach pain in my iris?

03:16 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Everything appears in the iris like on a screen. It shows what’s happening in the body, what happened in the past, what we’re doing now, what we’re eating—

03:24 Speaker 1 What happened in the past?

03:25 Speaker 2 Yes, absolutely.

03:26 Speaker 1 Say I once had, I don’t know, an inflammation—

03:29 Speaker 2 An illness, its beginnings. Absolutely. You can see it. You can see if it’s dormant, and you can see if it’s becoming active now and that’s the cause. You can see everything.

03:36 Speaker 1 Wow, that’s amazing.

03:37 Speaker 2 Yes.

03:38 Speaker 1 The studies must be fascinating.

03:40 Speaker 2 Very. It’s a whole world.

03:42 Speaker 1 Wow. And what kinds of problems—you obviously treat a great many different kinds—but what—

03:48 Speaker 2 Boruch Hashem.

03:49 Speaker 1 Yes, but what’s common? What do people usually come to you for? An ordinary woman, a mother of a few little children—what does she come in for?

03:56 Speaker 2 Okay, yes, boruch Hashem, there’s a wide range of treatments and problems. Let me think about what we see repeatedly.

04:07 Speaker 1 I mean, people probably don’t come in with Bell’s palsy, for example.

04:10 Speaker 2 Right. It also depends on how common each condition is in the population. Mainly, fatigue. I’ve noticed that women often come to me simply exhausted. They collapse into bed, slump onto the couch, and they want to be able to function. What bothers them is that they want to—we all want to function and be at our best, everywhere and in everything. And boruch Hashem, there’s work, there are children, and there’s the home. Women often feel tired, and it stops them from doing a lot of things. That’s something I encounter a lot.

04:43 Speaker 1 That’s very interesting, because I think many women are tired and would never think to seek treatment for it. They sort of accept it and get used to it.

04:53 Speaker 2 Right.

04:53 Speaker 1 Even though it’s sad.

04:54 Speaker 2 It’s sad because it’s possible to live differently. You can choose to change what’s going on. You can live a completely different lifestyle, one that’s healthier and better suited to you.

05:06 Speaker 1 So there can be other things that don’t really feel like an immediate problem. You know, when someone has a toothache, they have to go to the dentist.

05:14 Speaker 2 Right.

05:15 Speaker 1 But with things like fatigue and migraines, sometimes people really do get used to them and just live without much quality of life. So deciding, “That’s it, I’m going to get treatment,” can actually be a difficult decision.

05:30 Speaker 2 Absolutely. It’s choosing to go through a process. It’s recognizing that what’s happened until now has happened, and now we’re making a different choice and going through something entirely different. We change our lifestyle, change our diet, change the way we look at everything that happens in our lives.

05:46 Speaker 1 Tell me, when someone comes to you, you suggest a process. There’s your part, and there are the things she needs to do. If you’re the only one treating her, presumably the problem will come back at some point. So how does it work?

06:01 Speaker 2 Okay, so how does it work? When someone comes to me for an iris examination, we look, of course, at the root of the problem and how to help the body heal itself. There are several ways we can prevent that problem, resolve other issues along the way, and maintain good health. Here’s how it works: we have the treatments in the clinic, which are amazing. They include cupping, Chinese acupuncture, and Western needling. Which treatment we use varies from person to person, according to what they need. Then there’s the other, additional part—not just an alternative, but an addition—which is nutrition. That depends on the woman who comes to me and decides to make a change. How will she maintain it at home? How will she keep it up for many years? What boundaries does she decide to set from now on? How seriously does she take it? How much responsibility will she take for it?

07:02 Speaker 1 Does that include supplements, for example? Say you see that someone has an iron deficiency. Does she need to take iron, or does changing her diet alone help?

07:11 Speaker 2 In principle, if her doctor says to take iron, then of course we listen and follow that medical advice. But if a woman comes to me with deficiencies, usually nutrition is the key. If you eat well enough, the nutrients are absorbed. It’s natural food, from nature, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t work. And boruch Hashem, the changes—

07:32 Speaker 1 Speak for themselves.

07:33 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

07:34 Speaker 1 So tell me, is it individualized? Could my friend and I come to you with the same problem, and you’d give us different meal plans?

07:43 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Because often we see other things that are out of balance, other areas where changes are needed, so the plans will differ. Even though it’s the same problem, some things will be different; not everything will be identical. Of course, if certain things help with that particular problem, I’ll recommend the same things. But yes, there will be differences.

08:01 Speaker 1 And presumably there are recommendations that apply to more or less everyone—something everyone should avoid, for example, or something that benefits everyone.

08:10 Speaker 2 Right, there are some dietary rules that apply to everyone. For example, not drinking water during a meal, because it creates a kind of whirlpool in the food and makes digestion and absorption harder, and then you suffer afterward. Another example: people often say, “I eat healthy food, but I won’t exercise.” But the two go hand in hand, and that applies to everyone. Every person needs to exercise and find the kind of exercise that suits them. It could be aerobic exercise or some other kind, but you need to do some form of physical activity in addition to eating well. We have very, very clear rules about that. And of course there are the specific things that suit one person but not another, which we can see by examining the iris.

08:59 Speaker 1 Like what, for example? I’m just curious. Give me an example of something that isn’t good for everyone. A particular food. Surprise us with something. Maybe a vegetable or a fruit.

09:12 Speaker 2 For example, let’s say dairy. Dairy is something that, generally speaking, isn’t healthy for anyone. Dairy contains a lot of things we wouldn’t want to put into our bodies if we knew and understood what was in it. For example, cows are often injected with steroids, antibiotics and hormones to increase milk production. When all that enters the body, it puts a burden on it and causes problems. But some people are particularly sensitive to milk itself, or to the protein or sugar in milk. It varies. For them it can be even more harmful and actually cause illness or pain in different parts of the body. You can see that in the eye—who can have dairy and who can’t. There are also many people who can have dairy, but that doesn’t mean it’s healthy. It means it won’t harm them the way it harms other people, who can really suffer after eating dairy products.

10:23 Speaker 1 So it’s allowed, but not recommended.

10:24 Speaker 2 Yes.

10:25 Speaker 1 Tell me, that’s interesting. You’re making a distinction between people who have an allergy and people—

10:30 Speaker 2 An allergy or a sensitivity.

10:31 Speaker 1 Yes, an allergy or a sensitivity, and people for whom it just isn’t good in general.

10:34 Speaker 2 It isn’t good for them because dairy itself, the milk itself, contains things that aren’t healthy.

10:39 Speaker 1 What are some of the more common effects it can have?

10:44 Speaker 2 The common effects are usually sinusitis, stomachaches and fertility problems.

10:51 Speaker 1 Wow.

10:52 Speaker 2 Yes, it can also cause skin problems, like acne, and many other things.

10:57 Speaker 1 So a lot of people come to you with a problem and have no idea. Then suddenly you spring it on them. You tell them, “Listen, you can’t have dairy.”

11:03 Speaker 2 Right, and that really means changing a lifelong habit.

11:06 Speaker 1 And within dairy—

11:08 Speaker 2 Within dairy—

11:09 Speaker 1 There are differences.

11:09 Speaker 2 There are categories and differences; it varies. Say someone is very, very sensitive to lactose in milk. Harder dairy products, like hard cheeses and yellow cheese, are better for them. That said, you have to watch the cholesterol. Yellow cheese contains a lot of cholesterol, so there are pros and cons. But yes, it varies. The more liquid kind of milk—milk you drink—is the worst in terms of allergies and sensitivities.

11:36 Speaker 1 Liquid milk, as it’s called.

11:37 Speaker 2 Yes.

11:38 Speaker 1 Wow, there are so, so many details. It really is individual.

11:41 Speaker 2 Yes, completely.

11:42 Speaker 1 Wow, that’s fascinating. Tell me, I’m curious: do you follow one hundred percent of what you recommend? I mean, you know it inside out.

11:53 Speaker 2 Right.

11:53 Speaker 1 Every vegetable, every— And the combinations too, right? And the times.

11:58 Speaker 2 There are food combinations too. Right.

12:00 Speaker 1 I mean, it’s a whole enormous body of knowledge.

12:02 Speaker 2 Right.

12:03 Speaker 1 And do you always follow it one hundred percent?

12:06 Speaker 2 Not entirely, and I’ll explain. I’m very conscious of what I eat. I’m very careful about things, and I really enjoy eating healthy food because I know what it does for our bodies. That’s the best part. But if I go to an event, or go out on a date with my husband, or sit at a family’s Shabbos table and they aren’t always careful about everything, I have my red lines. I won’t touch fizzy drinks; I’ll only drink water—before the meal, of course—and I’ll eat spelt bread because I don’t want to eat white bread. But there are things I will eat. For example, if there’s a food that I can eat anyway, like vegetables or fruit, and it’s seasoned with various spices, I’ll overlook that and eat it. I’ll trust the Creator that since I do everything else properly, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will help me.

13:02 Speaker 1 Well, in the end, the body knows how to deal with toxins.

13:05 Speaker 2 Right.

13:05 Speaker 1 You just have to keep it in modera—

13:07 Speaker 2 Exactly, in moderation, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu will help me.

13:10 Speaker 1 You wouldn’t eat a Magnum ice cream, say.

13:13 Speaker 2 A Magnum? No.

13:15 Speaker 1 You paused for a few seconds there. I think you had to remember what it was.

13:19 Speaker 2 Totally. I haven’t had a Magnum in a long time.

13:22 Speaker 1 I think that because this is what you do, and because you know so much about it, you don’t even go near the ice-cream freezer in a store. To you, it isn’t even an option. It’s not food.

13:34 Speaker 2 No, I don’t. I don’t go into candy stores and places like that to begin with, because I know they don’t have what I want to put into my body. I only want to put good things into my body.

13:42 Speaker 1 But listen, these days you don’t have to go to a candy store to come across that stuff. In any supermarket, I think most products are processed in the end. They’re—

13:51 Speaker 2 Right.

13:51 Speaker 1 They’re not the food you recommend, let’s put it that way. So you do come across it.

13:55 Speaker 2 Some are and some aren’t. You might be surprised. There are lots of foods we even have at home that are very, very healthy.

14:02 Speaker 1 Like what?

14:03 Speaker 2 Turmeric is very healthy.

14:05 Speaker 1 Turmeric, as in the spice?

14:07 Speaker 2 Yes, the spice turmeric. It’s better from a spice shop, where it’ll be fresher, but—

14:10 Speaker 1 Right, exactly. So with everything there are details and sub-details and—

14:13 Speaker 2 Yes, of course.

14:14 Speaker 1 Different approaches.

14:14 Speaker 2 We always prefer better quality, fresher food. We always prefer more whole-grain bread, and spelt is preferable to whole wheat. We always prefer something that retains more of what it naturally contains, rather than something they’ve processed, taken all the good things out of, and left only the—

14:29 Speaker 1 The fewer ingredients on the ingredients list, the better.

14:31 Speaker 2 That too.

14:32 Speaker 1 Right.

14:33 Speaker 2 It should be one hundred percent clean, pure.

14:36 Speaker 1 Tell me, I’m curious about your children. Do they have— Actually, they’re little. How old is your oldest?

14:44 Speaker 2 Okay, my oldest is three and a half. He’s little.

14:47 Speaker 1 Okay, very little, yes.

14:49 Speaker 2 And the one after him is a year and three months old.

14:52 Speaker 1 Okay, so they’re still little.

14:53 Speaker 2 Right.

14:53 Speaker 1 You don’t buy them candy or ice cream or things like that.

14:57 Speaker 2 No, absolutely not. I don’t buy it for them or give it to them. They know those things exist. Of course they’re familiar with them. Sometimes when—

15:03 Speaker 1 They exist in a parallel universe, sort of.

15:05 Speaker 2 Yes. And sometimes, when things are handed out at preschool or there’s some kind of party, of course they get some. You don’t need to be stressed about it all the time, either.

15:14 Speaker 1 Of course.

15:14 Speaker 2 But at home, when they come home, I like making them what they enjoy eating, in a healthy way, of course. For example, an omelet or a hard-boiled egg with vegetables. That’s what I like to give them, including in the morning, by the way.

15:27 Speaker 1 Wow! Tell me, you mentioned before the podcast that you live near your mother-in-law.

15:32 Speaker 2 Right.

15:33 Speaker 1 At their house, for example—

15:34 Speaker 2 At their house, they’re very health-conscious. My husband’s side of the family, and my mother-in-law, are very, very aware of it.

15:39 Speaker 1 Did you find that out before you got married?

15:42 Speaker 2 Actually, no, and I was really—

15:44 Speaker 1 It worked out well for you.

15:44 Speaker 2 I was happy that they’re so aware of health and nutrition. By the way, I’ve also treated my father-in-law and mother-in-law, and I still do.

15:53 Speaker 1 Wow.

15:54 Speaker 2 Yes, whenever something is needed, if they need medicinal herbs to strengthen the body, everyone takes them, and it’s nice. Of course, it’s their life, and they—but they know what I think about it. They often ask me, too, and it’s nice to give advice like that.

16:11 Speaker 1 Do you see with your children that maybe those things interest them less? Say someone offers them something at a Shabbos meal—there’s dessert, and they bring out something unhealthy, something really tempting. Could it be that it just doesn’t appeal to them?

16:25 Speaker 2 Honestly, they’re not at either extreme. It’s not that they really, really want that particular food, and it’s not that they don’t want it at all. It depends on what they feel like. Sometimes they want it, sometimes they don’t. They don’t always like it. My children actually don’t particularly like those things, but sometimes—

16:40 Speaker 1 Right, no, that’s what I’m curious about, because—

16:42 Speaker 2 Sometimes it happens, and I let them have some.

16:46 Speaker 1 After all, sugar is ultimately addictive to the body, too.

16:49 Speaker 2 Right.

16:49 Speaker 1 So they don’t—their bodies don’t really feel the need for it, because they’re sort of weaned off it. Do you understand what I mean?

16:55 Speaker 2 Yes, right.

16:56 Speaker 1 That’s interesting.

16:57 Speaker 2 There’s something to that—absolutely. Chocolate is addictive, too. When you don’t eat it at all, you don’t feel the need for it.

17:02 Speaker 1 The cocoa itself, you mean?

17:03 Speaker 2 Yes. And wanting chocolate all the time is something you see with children who really, really love chocolate and constantly want it.

17:09 Speaker 1 Adults, too.

17:10 Speaker 2 As soon as someone opens a chocolate bar... Adults too, absolutely. And my children, baruch Hashem, either want some or they don’t, and often they choose not to, so—

17:20 Speaker 1 Wow.

17:20 Speaker 2 It’s their own choice, and I just enjoy watching from the sidelines.

17:22 Speaker 1 Exactly, enjoying it from the sidelines. Tell me, I’d be interested to hear if you have a story about a woman who came to you for treatment. The kind of story that’s lovely to hear, that makes you think, “Wow, I want that too.” Because, ultimately, I think every woman wants to improve her quality of life. We always have room to grow and something to aspire to.

17:41 Speaker 2 Absolutely, all of us.

17:42 Speaker 1 And success stories give you that drive.

17:47 Speaker 2 I have a story about a woman who came to me for an iris examination. She suffered terribly from headaches and pain in various other parts of her body. She was exhausted and tired, and she had trouble concentrating. She told me that lately she’d even been forgetting things.

18:07 Speaker 1 Wow, that was really...

18:09 Speaker 2 Really, really, really hard. And what mattered most to me was understanding why she’d come for treatment in the first place—what had prompted her, what motivated her. She told me she couldn’t function at home. She’d get home after work, which she could barely manage either, but she knew she had to, so she dragged herself through it. Then she’d get home and want to spend time with her children and do things around the house, but she simply couldn’t manage it. That hurt her, and she wanted to make a change. And once she decided to make a change, she went all in. She came for the iris examination, I gave her a diet plan, and she really stuck to it. A month later, she came back for a follow-up to see how things were going. By the way, we can also see in the eye whether there’s been a change. But before I even looked at her eye, she told me that all her symptoms had disappeared. All the pain was gone, she was much more focused, and she was living her life. She simply thanked me, and that moved me more than anything. It was so fulfilling to realize that I’m doing what I’m meant to do in this world.

19:11 Speaker 1 That’s moving. It really is.

19:11 Speaker 2 That’s what I want to do.

19:12 Speaker 1 It really is the work of a shlichus.

19:14 Speaker 2 Absolutely, it’s a shlichus. And with Hashem’s help, I hope I’ll always merit to reach as many more women and men as possible who are suffering and want to make a change. They absolutely can. They just need to choose to.

19:29 Speaker 1 Wow.

19:30 Speaker 2 Yes.

19:30 Speaker 1 If you had all the money in the world and didn’t need to work, would you still do this?

19:34 Speaker 2 Yes, I would absolutely treat people.

19:37 Speaker 1 Wow, that’s special.

19:38 Speaker 2 Yes.

19:39 Speaker 1 You can see that it’s—

19:41 Speaker 2 Yes.

19:41 Speaker 1 Part of you.

19:42 Speaker 2 For many years to come, may Hashem grant me the merit and the strength to help more people.

19:46 Speaker 1 With Hashem’s help. Wow. Has it ever happened—have you had someone come to you after trying all sorts of other treatments?

19:53 Speaker 2 Yes, that—

19:53 Speaker 1 Diabetes, for example.

19:54 Speaker 2 That’s common. It happens.

19:55 Speaker 1 Unfortunately, diabetes is very common today.

19:57 Speaker 2 Right.

19:58 Speaker 1 So when someone goes to a regular family doctor at a health clinic, what do they usually give her?

20:04 Speaker 2 Usually they start with pills, then move on to stronger treatments. And once they’ve moved on to stronger treatments, it’s harder to treat with alternative medicine, too. In other words, if you haven’t taken any chemical treatments and go straight to natural treatment, you can stop it very quickly.

20:19 Speaker 1 So when someone goes for conventional diabetes treatment, they sort of end up living with it for years. They just take pills, right?

20:26 Speaker 2 They take pills, absolutely, but that doesn’t treat the root of it. They still have to keep taking them. If they address it properly—if they manage it through diet and know what they can eat, including foods that actually lower blood sugar, and take herbs—then they’re treating it, including the symptoms of diabetes. Diabetes can have very, very serious symptoms, Hashem protect us. It’s simply a different quality of life. A whole different world.

20:57 Speaker 1 Wow. Diabetes today is something that... There are several types of diabetes, right? There’s the genetic kind.

21:03 Speaker 2 Right. They’re called type 1 and type 2.

21:06 Speaker 1 And there’s the kind we bring on ourselves—

21:08 Speaker 2 Right.

21:08 Speaker 1 So to speak. And today it’s doubled and tripled, with numbers around the world that are just staggering.

21:15 Speaker 2 Yes. All these illnesses—as long as we’re less aware of what we put into our bodies and how we treat ourselves, they just become more and more common. Genetics are genetics, but if we take care of our bodies, we can do as much as possible to prevent those genetic predispositions from developing.

21:33 Speaker 1 So sometimes someone comes to treat a specific problem, but because they’ve changed their lifestyle, they find that other areas of their life improve, too?

21:44 Speaker 2 Yes. Yes, because every food I recommend, every meal plan and every change also brings other benefits they may not even have been aware of. For example, someone might have one problem that’s very severe. They don’t notice the other things, or they don’t mention them during the examination because those things don’t bother them. Then, as they start making changes, they suddenly notice that other things have changed for the better, too. It’s just—

22:11 Speaker 1 So you’re really treating the whole person, because it’s holistic.

22:14 Speaker 2 Right.

22:15 Speaker 1 And you can see everything in the ir—if you can see everything in the iris, then I could come to you with, say, stomach pain, and you might suddenly ask me, “Wait, do you also happen to get migraines?” You could see that in my eye?

22:25 Speaker 2 Absolutely. You can see all the problems, all those things. And the person says, “Oh, right, I didn’t tell you I have this and that too,” because those things felt less important. She came because of something that really hurt, but along the way we saw other things as well.

22:37 Speaker 1 Wow, it’s really an examination—a sort of scan of the whole body.

22:40 Speaker 2 A scan, yes.

22:41 Speaker 1 Can you identify—

22:41 Speaker 2 It’s a key.

22:42 Speaker 1 Yes.

22:42 Speaker 2 A key to the whole body.

22:43 Speaker 1 Could you identify, Hashem protect us, if someone has a tumor?

22:48 Speaker 2 You can see it, but of course we’re careful about telling someone they have one. What I like to do, and prefer to do, is simply tell the person to go and get some tests—

23:04 Speaker 1 Comprehensive tests.

23:04 Speaker 2 Comprehensive tests, beyond blood tests. More thorough tests. “Have you had any recently? Maybe you should go and have some tests done. I’d be glad if you could do that soon, so we can all know everything is okay.”

23:17 Speaker 1 So you don’t actually tell them.

23:18 Speaker 2 I don’t tell them. No, I don’t. But I direct them to get tested, and then I know that, baruch Hashem, it can be discovered early and quickly.

23:26 Speaker 1 Right, because I’m suddenly thinking that people often find out, Hashem protect us, when things are already quite advanced. Maybe you can actually detect it in the iris at an earlier stage, and—

23:35 Speaker 2 Absolutely. And not only that: if someone maintains a healthy diet, they can also prevent things from happening.

23:41 Speaker 1 Why? How does it develop in the first place? From diet? Diet must be part of it.

23:46 Speaker 2 From an unhealthy diet, from smoke and soot that we breathe in, from chemicals we use at home, from so many different things. There isn’t really one single cause, but there is the possibility of prevention and of finding out earlier. That means you can face it better prepared and in a better condition, with Hashem’s help.

24:14 Speaker 1 Which means the chances of recovery are much higher.

24:17 Speaker 2 Right.

24:18 Speaker 1 Wow, that’s interesting. So you could have an examination every so often, just for peace of mind—to see that I’m okay and everything’s fine, and...

24:27 Speaker 2 Right. The initial examination is a one-time thing when someone comes to me, but after that, as far as I’m concerned, they can come for a follow-up every month.

24:32 Speaker 1 Wow.

24:33 Speaker 2 Yes.

24:34 Speaker 1 And do some people keep coming to you for years?

24:36 Speaker 2 Yes, and it’s the nicest thing to see.

24:38 Speaker 1 Like having someone looking after me. “Oh, I have a little ache—I’ll pop over to Esther and get it sorted out.”

24:43 Speaker 2 Yes, that’s basically how it happens. People who came to me a few years ago for a completely different problem suddenly have a pain, two years later, that they can’t get rid of no matter what they do. So they come to me and say, “You know, I came to you two years ago too,” and I tell them, “Yes, I remember.”

25:00 Speaker 1 You remember the people?

25:01 Speaker 2 Of course.

25:01 Speaker 1 You connect with them.

25:03 Speaker 2 Completely. Every person is a whole world.

25:06 Speaker 1 Wow. Tell me, do people come to you with a stiff neck, a stiff back, things like that too?

25:11 Speaker 2 Yes, I also treat orthopedic pain, which includes neck pain, back pain, leg pain and knee pain. I also treat internal problems, like stomachaches, dizziness and headaches. There can be many other things too. And I treat internal conditions, like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and more.

25:35 Speaker 1 Do you treat all the things you just mentioned specifically with acupuncture?

25:40 Speaker 2 It varies, but Chinese acupuncture is definitely one of the techniques I use to help and treat people. Basically, we have this amazing approach to nutrition that we use. There are also medicinal herbs, which give the body a lot of strength to heal itself.

26:01 Speaker 1 A kind of boost.

26:02 Speaker 2 Yes. And there’s Chinese acupuncture, which balances the body’s systems. It does amazing work.

26:09 Speaker 1 How does acupuncture actually work?

26:12 Speaker 2 Okay, so—

26:12 Speaker 1 Say someone comes in. I’ve had it done myself—you did it for me—and you just put needles in. And somewhere in the back of your mind you’re thinking, “What’s going on here? Is this actually doing something?”

26:24 Speaker 2 Right. So let me explain how it works. Basically, Chinese acupuncture involves inserting needles very, very hygienically, just beneath the surface of the skin. What happens is that when a foreign object enters the body, the body immediately starts sending signals to the brain: let’s direct attention there, let’s send all kinds of healing resources there to heal it and to figure out what this foreign object is. And when the body comes to deal with that needle—the foreign object that’s been inserted—it also deals, along the way, with the pain it hasn’t been able to resolve for a long time. So we’re helping the body address the pain that brought the person in for treatment.

27:04 Speaker 1 Wow. But say I have a stomachache. You wouldn’t necessarily put needles in my stomach. There are points that affect different organs, but why those particular points? Right?

27:15 Speaker 2 There are points that affect specific organs. They’re called distal points, and they’re connected by meridians. Meridians are pathways that pass through organs and different systems. There are certain really strategic points, the most important ones, where inserting a needle prompts the body to respond at that point and open up the blockage along that entire channel, that entire meridian. So we use points farther away that are connected, for example, to stomachaches, and also points on the stomach itself. With stomachaches, we do put needles there, and it brings a lot of relief, because along the way the body releases various substances and addresses the problems present at the time.

27:53 Speaker 1 Wow. Listen, the word “needles” is a little scary. Does it hurt?

27:58 Speaker 2 It hardly hurts at all.

28:00 Speaker 1 Right, it’s gentle. Just a little prick.

28:01 Speaker 2 Pain is relative. It varies from person to person. Some people are more sensitive, and some don’t feel it at all. So it varies, but it’s very superficial, very calm and gentle, with the real intention of helping the body.

28:17 Speaker 1 Do some people actually shout “Ow,” or—

28:20 Speaker 2 Some people do shout “Ow.”

28:22 Speaker 1 It’s not like a blood test, though. It’s less—

28:24 Speaker 2 No, it’s not like a blood test—

28:25 Speaker 1 Gentler.

28:26 Speaker 2 Because the needle isn’t nearly the same thickness, and it’s not on the same level at all. And the pain doesn’t linger. It doesn’t hurt the way a blood test does. Still, it is a needle going in, so some people will say “Ow,” and others won’t make a sound. Some will even ask me whether I’ve done anything, until I stimulate the chi, and then they’ll say, “Oh, okay, I felt that.”

28:46 Speaker 1 Yes.

28:46 Speaker 2 And that’s perfectly fine.

28:47 Speaker 1 Wow, really?

28:47 Speaker 2 Yes, but it doesn’t hurt. It’s a kind of nerve sensation. You know when you’re at a playground with the kids and you go to pick up your child from the slide, and you both get a static shock?

28:59 Speaker 1 Oh, something like that.

28:59 Speaker 2 Something like that, only slight.

29:01 Speaker 1 A kind of electric sensation.

29:02 Speaker 2 And internal, yes. It’s internal. That’s called chi. We don’t do this for everything, but there are treatments where we do, and when it works, you can feel that chi. It helps resolve things the body hasn’t dealt with yet.

29:17 Speaker 1 Wow.

29:18 Speaker 2 Yes.

29:18 Speaker 1 That’s fascinating. It’s a whole world. Wait, tell me, how long does an acupuncture session last? You put the needles in and—

29:25 Speaker 2 Okay, we put the needles in, and then the person usually lies there for twenty-five minutes. If they can stay a little longer, even half an hour. But we take them out—

29:34 Speaker 1 Right, after that amount of time, it’s basically done what it’s going to do.

29:38 Speaker 2 It’s not the same as during the first few minutes, but leaving them in doesn’t do any harm.

29:45 Speaker 1 Now that I think about it, say a woman comes in to get treatment for something, you put the needles in, and she’s like, “Oh, this is nice.” She basically gets an afternoon nap.

29:53 Speaker 2 Right, a lot of people fall asleep.

29:55 Speaker 1 But—

29:55 Speaker 2 You have to wake them up.

29:56 Speaker 1 Oh, then forget it—don’t wake them up. Let them sleep. It’s part of the treatment.

30:02 Speaker 2 Right.

30:02 Speaker 1 You know what—

30:03 Speaker 2 They relax.

30:03 Speaker 1 Yes. Since we’ve touched on it, what do you have to say about sleep? It’s interesting. Sleep as—

30:10 Speaker 2 How to sleep? How to fall asleep?

30:11 Speaker 1 No, the benefits of sleep, and how a lack of it might cause illness, or how sleep might help heal illness. Or—

30:17 Speaker 2 Okay.

30:17 Speaker 1 Where does sleep fit in? Do you address it when you’re treating someone?

30:21 Speaker 2 Of course. Basically, when a person sleeps well, they’re alert during the day too. People often tell me they’re very tired, but that’s because they didn’t sleep at night.

30:31 Speaker 1 Right, like no one taught you at age one that you have to sleep to be alert.

30:35 Speaker 2 Yes, and often they don’t sleep at night not because they don’t want to. They really want to sleep, but either they can’t fall asleep because they have so many thoughts running through their heads, or they wake up at some point during the night. Three, four o’clock—they wake up, and that’s it, good morning. They can’t get back to sleep, and then they’re very, very tired. It already took them a while to fall asleep, so those few hours aren’t enough for them. The body also doesn’t have enough time for all the metabolic processes that take place at night. The immune system works at night, the digestive system works at night, and all of that doesn’t happen as it should. So the person doesn’t feel their best in the morning. What we need to do is treat the imbalance that’s keeping them from sleeping well at night. It can even happen because of nighttime urination. Adults can experience it, including women after childbirth, when the bladder still isn’t strong enough and they have to go to the bathroom at night. During pregnancy, too, many women get up during the night to use the bathroom. It’s common, and their sleep isn’t continuous or regular. Then our bodies respond with signals that show us exactly what—

31:47 Speaker 1 Wow.

31:47 Speaker 2 —happened the next day.

31:48 Speaker 1 That’s interesting. When I asked, I thought the answer would be something like, “Yes, you need to sleep a certain number of hours a night.” But you’re saying that often the treatment is for the sleep problem itself.

31:56 Speaker 2 So the person can sleep well.

31:58 Speaker 1 Wow.

31:58 Speaker 2 A lot of people suffer from sleep problems, and through examining the eye we can see what’s going on, why they aren’t sleeping well and what might help them sleep better.

32:11 Speaker 1 That’s very interesting.

32:12 Speaker 2 Yes.

32:13 Speaker 1 But of course, some people simply don’t sleep because, you know, they’re in the middle of something important, and it’s hard to stop what they’re doing in the evening and get to bed early enough.

32:23 Speaker 2 Right. The best-quality hours of sleep are the earlier ones. The later hours are much lower quality. The hours that make you feel you’ve slept well are the earlier ones. And going to sleep very, very late also leaves the body short of what it needs.

32:40 Speaker 1 So it’s not just how much you sleep, but when.

32:42 Speaker 2 When you sleep too, yes. The earlier hours.

32:44 Speaker 1 So we should go to sleep with the kids.

32:46 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

32:47 Speaker 1 What time do you go to sleep?

32:48 Speaker 2 I go to bed at around ten, but it varies. It’s very hard. It takes work on yourself, including putting your phone aside. There are lots of studies saying that when you use your phone right before bed, you’re still tense and stressed from all the messages and everything going on, and you can’t fall asleep. You really have to work on creating a calming bedtime routine.

33:10 Speaker 1 To get into it, yes.

33:10 Speaker 2 The body needs to get into a relaxed state to fall asleep. That’s also important to tell anyone who has trouble falling asleep: do some relaxation exercises, turn off the lights, put on some calming music, put your phone aside, and let your body slowly unwind from the busy day it’s had. Ultimately, we want to relax and stop thinking about everything.

33:30 Speaker 1 Right. And how many hours of sleep do you think? Let’s say I go to bed at ten. Wow, what a dream. Let’s say I did go to bed at ten. When should I get up? How much sleep do I need?

33:42 Speaker 2 It varies, and each person needs something different. You have to find out for yourself what lets you wake up feeling most alert and at your best. Even sleeping too much isn’t good.

33:49 Speaker 1 Oh, that’s exactly what I wanted to ask.

33:50 Speaker 2 Yes.

33:51 Speaker 1 Let’s say I go to bed at ten and get up at seven. Is it possible that nine hours is really too much for my body?

33:55 Speaker 2 Yes, it’s possible that after sleeping that long, you’ll wake up feeling like you haven’t slept well enough, simply because you slept too much. The Rambam writes between six and eight hours, so each person has to find the right amount—maybe seven hours, maybe eight, or maybe even six. Somewhere around there.

34:14 Speaker 1 I see. So a woman after giving birth, who gets up for her baby every three hours—well, there’s not much she can do...

34:20 Speaker 2 Right.

34:20 Speaker 1 I mean, it affects the quality of her sleep.

34:22 Speaker 2 It affects the quality of her sleep. It interferes with the processes the body needs to go through during the night, but it’s certainly for a good reason.

34:29 Speaker 1 Yes.

34:29 Speaker 2 So it also replenishes you in another way.

34:31 Speaker 1 Exactly. You get through it and move on. You keep sleeping until the next child.

34:38 Speaker 2 You regain your strength.

34:39 Speaker 1 Yes.

34:39 Speaker 2 It takes the body time to regain its strength, and in the end, when it does...

34:42 Speaker 1 Absolutely.

34:43 Speaker 2 You have the strength.

34:43 Speaker 1 Tell me, this is interesting. In alternative medicine there are lots of clinics, lots of people offering it, and there’s maybe a certain stigma, let’s call it, that some of them seem to be pulling the wool over people’s eyes. You go to a place and listen and listen and listen, and then you don’t feel any change in yourself. What would you say about that? I’m curious.

35:09 Speaker 2 Okay, so I believe that everyone wants to do good in this world, and everyone has their own way of doing good and wants to help others. So I’m sure that anyone working in this field who wants to treat others has good intentions and a good goal, and is certainly doing good. So how do we know whether a particular place is good, whether it’s right for us or not? It really comes down to how you feel. Actually, a story comes to mind. A few months ago, my husband and I were walking along a pedestrian street and wanted to eat at a steakhouse.

35:57 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

35:58 Speaker 2 We were looking for a good place. Of course, there were several places, and the one that immediately caught our eye was the one we assumed would be good: the place packed with people, busy and full of seating. We went there. My husband stood in line to order, but no one paid any attention to him. He would have had to push his way in just to order. After about fifteen minutes of waiting in line with no response, he came over to me and said, “Listen, this isn’t right. I can’t order food like this. Let’s go somewhere else and find something.” So we walked down the street and saw a place off to the side that we’d passed over before. It was a steakhouse with hardly anyone there. Some teenagers were sitting there, and they were serving food, and we decided to give it a chance. We went in, and they simply treated us warmly. The food was delicious, and they couldn’t do enough to make us happy and give us what we needed. In the end, we praised them and even gave them more than the usual tip. We left not only full, but with a lesson for life. There are lots of places where you see all kinds of things—criteria that tell you, “This place is good”—but that isn’t necessarily so. A place can also be very, very good for someone else and not for you. It depends on how you feel. Do what feels right to you. I mean, I might go somewhere that another woman doesn’t feel good about, but for me it could be excellent. That’s why I say each woman should consider how she feels and what she experiences at the place she goes to.

37:35 Speaker 3 So even if it’s a word-of-mouth recommendation—if a friend told me she had an excellent experience—that doesn’t necessarily mean...

37:41 Speaker 2 Right.

37:42 Speaker 3 That it’s the right shliach for you.

37:44 Speaker 2 Absolutely. We daven that we’ll follow the path Hakadosh Boruch Hu chooses for us.

37:50 Speaker 3 Yes.

37:50 Speaker 2 Yes.

37:51 Speaker 3 And do you sometimes see it as a question of the method? I mean, could a particular method not be right for certain people, or is it always a matter of how consistently they stick to it? For example, could this approach to nutrition just not be good for me? I’m only using myself as an example.

38:10 Speaker 2 That couldn’t be the case. What can happen, though, is that people sometimes decide they no longer have the strength or energy for the process, so they stop halfway through. It can also happen that someone comes in without really believing in the treatment. They come to be treated, but suddenly decide it isn’t for them—or they don’t even come in for treatment at all. So it comes down to willingness. It depends a great, great deal on the willingness of the person who wants to come in, take care of themselves, and make a change.

38:43 Speaker 3 I think that’s another very significant difference between alternative and conventional medicine: first of all, you need a lot more patience. The processes take longer. It isn’t a quick fix. It isn’t a matter of taking a pill and supposedly solving the problem.

38:57 Speaker 2 Right, because we treat the root of the problem—

38:59 Speaker 3 Exactly.

38:59 Speaker 2 And we also help the body treat the problem itself.

39:01 Speaker 3 Yes.

39:02 Speaker 2 We’re only giving it a helping hand.

39:03 Speaker 3 And because it takes patience, it also takes cooperation and persistence on the part of the patient. Some people say, “Come on, I don’t have the strength, I don’t have the time. I’ll just take a pill, take some Acamol, and deal with my migraines that way,” for example.

39:18 Speaker 2 Right. There’s a path that’s long but short. In other words, you treat the root of the problem. You begin the process knowing that you’re going to make a change, and you want that change. In the end, it pays off. You’ll resolve many other things along the way. You’ll live a healthier life, a life that’s better for you. And there’s a path that’s short but long. You treated the pain and took a pill, but you never really addressed what’s causing all that pain. Taking another pill every time the pain comes back is just...

39:55 Speaker 3 Treating the symptom, really.

39:56 Speaker 2 Yes, rather than treating the source of it all. And we always want to resolve the whole problem, one hundred percent.

40:03 Speaker 3 Yes, it’s like the example of a car: a warning light comes on to alert you to a problem, and instead of fixing the problem, you just turn off the light.

40:14 Speaker 2 Yes, exactly, it’s the same principle. When a person wants to change, they do everything they can to make that change.

40:23 Speaker 3 And because it takes effort and persistence, do you find that people often give up halfway through? Or generally—how long does it take someone to start seeing results?

40:34 Speaker 2 It varies. Some people see results very quickly, and that’s encouraging. A lot of people see a change and say, “Okay, I’ll keep going.” And then there are people who don’t see a change, and that’s the real test: when you don’t see a change, how strongly do you feel that you’re in a process that’s right for you, and will you keep going? When people do keep going, it gives me such pleasure to see it. Now it’s their turn to enjoy the results of everything they’ve done.

41:01 Speaker 3 It really is hard. Say I make a drastic change to my diet, and a month goes by—and every single day is a whole day. I’m dealing with it, a month goes by, and I still don’t see a change. That really is hard. You truly have to see it through and believe in it.

41:13 Speaker 2 Right. Of course, the nice thing is that most of the changes happen pretty quickly. There are still exceptions, like the ones I mentioned who wait a long time to see a change. But in the end, someone who stays strong and steadfast with the changes they’ve made does see it.

41:33 Speaker 3 Wow. I just remembered a question I wanted to ask you earlier, about examining the iris. Can you do that from a photo, or do you actually need to see the person up close?

41:46 Speaker 2 I can do it from a photo too, but I like it to be really precise. So I prefer looking at the eye with a magnifying glass and seeing everything directly. With a photo, a flash or something like that could obscure the exact part of the eye I need to see.

42:04 Speaker 3 Just tiny things, like really small details that...

42:07 Speaker 2 Yes, the photo also has to be taken very precisely. It’s not...

42:09 Speaker 3 Yes.

42:10 Speaker 2 With a regular camera. You need a special camera to capture the small details, because there are so many patterns in the eye. There are eight thousand different patterns, shapes and colors—

42:17 Speaker 3 Wow.

42:17 Speaker 2 Different ones.

42:18 Speaker 3 Does the color make a difference? Is it harder to see in a dark eye, for example, or...

42:21 Speaker 2 With a flashlight and magnifying glass, it’s easy to see in anyone’s eye, generally speaking. A lot of the time, when we look at a light-colored eye, we suddenly notice a brown spot. I don’t know if you’ve come across that, but some people notice it and go, “Whoa, what’s that?” In a brown eye, though, we don’t see it.

42:39 Speaker 3 You mean people even notice it in their own eyes?

42:41 Speaker 2 Yes. They might suddenly notice a spot in their eye and ask what it is. That’s if they have light-colored eyes; in dark eyes you can’t see it. But with a flashlight and magnifying glass, which is how I do my assessments, we can see everything that’s going on.

42:55 Speaker 3 Wow, interesting. So if someone looks in the mirror and sees a spot they hadn’t noticed before, it’s like, go get it checked out.

43:02 Speaker 2 Right.

43:04 Speaker 3 How interesting. It’s really something anyone can see, even from a distance. Of course, they wouldn’t know what it means and all that.

43:13 Speaker 2 Well, if it’s a light-colored eye, some people can see it. They can notice small changes, or suddenly notice something... By the way, there are also spots people are born with. They’re simply part of our genetics. And if we don’t eat healthily or take care of our bodies, they can of course get worse in color and shape. That’s why we try to take care of ourselves.

43:40 Speaker 3 For example, can you look at someone’s iris and see a tendency toward blood-vessel problems, even if she doesn’t necessarily have an active problem right now?

43:48 Speaker 2 Right, a tendency. We often see tendencies toward all kinds of things. If we take proper care of our bodies, we can protect ourselves and keep our bodies healthy, with Hashem’s help.

43:56 Speaker 3 And know what to watch out for. Wow.

43:58 Speaker 2 Yes, what to avoid.

44:00 Speaker 3 What a sense of shlichus that must give you. I imagine you getting up every morning thinking, “Yes, I’m going to help people.”

44:07 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

44:07 Speaker 3 That’s amazing.

44:08 Speaker 2 Right, absolutely. Every time someone tells me I’ve helped them, or a woman tells me she feels much better, it fills me up and gives me strength I can’t explain. I’m fulfilling my purpose. That’s how I feel in those moments.

44:24 Speaker 3 It’s a chain reaction, too. You treat a mother and she feels better, so she’s better able to be there for her children. And if she’s a teacher, say, she’s a better teacher for her students.

44:32 Speaker 2 Right.

44:32 Speaker 3 So it has this continuing effect.

44:35 Speaker 2 Absolutely. I often treat older people, and when they don’t feel well, you can see how their families suffer too and really feel their pain. When the person feels better, the whole family is happy. It’s just wonderful.

44:52 Speaker 3 Wow. Do you sometimes see it with your own eyes? Say someone comes in with a companion, like their son or someone.

44:58 Speaker 2 Yes, of course.

44:58 Speaker 3 And you see a change in the family members too, in how they...

45:01 Speaker 2 Of course. They come in smiling more, happier. They tell me, “Wow, we’re doing so much better now.” But with Hashem’s help, we’re still hoping for the very best possible outcome. So yes, I definitely see it, and there’s nothing more rewarding.

45:15 Speaker 3 That’s amazing.

45:16 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

45:16 Speaker 3 You also give yourself treatments. That’s interesting.

45:19 Speaker 2 Okay, so I do cosmetic acupuncture on myself. Cosmetic acupuncture is a treatment that plumps and firms the skin, and even lightens stubborn pigmentation that’s been there for twenty or thirty years.

45:28 Speaker 3 But you’re twenty-four.

45:30 Speaker 2 Right, so I’m not doing it for that...

45:31 Speaker 3 What, Pamela?

45:32 Speaker 2 Right, but I do it for prevention. I only use certain points that are really key points in the face. Needling those points helps prevent the muscles from sagging and collagen from diminishing. After all, our faces sag more as the years go by.

45:48 Speaker 3 Yes.

45:48 Speaker 2 They look different.

45:49 Speaker 3 Tell me, just a practical question: if you put needles in your face, doesn’t that leave little holes afterward, or are they very...

45:56 Speaker 2 Usually it doesn’t leave anything. Sometimes, very rarely, it can cause bruising. And even when there’s a bruise, the body’s response to it is healthy: it treats the bruise and sends fresher blood there. I even see good results afterward when that...

46:13 Speaker 3 Really?

46:13 Speaker 2 Happens.

46:13 Speaker 3 Are you saying that about bruises in general, or specifically...?

46:15 Speaker 2 About bruises on the face in general. I see good results afterward. It’s like when someone has an intensive facial treatment: right afterward, the face looks redder because blood flow has increased. There might be some bruising too, and all of that does the face good. Of course, it doesn’t look especially nice at the time, but after a week or two the bruising goes away completely, wherever it is on the face, and it’s wonderful to see the change afterward.

46:39 Speaker 3 Wow, how interesting. What else can you do for yourself? You can’t do cupping, for example—you couldn’t physically manage that.

46:46 Speaker 2 I can’t put the cups on myself. But if I have pain in a finger or a wrist joint, sometimes from writing for a long time or typing on the computer or things like that, I can give myself acupuncture. Personally, I’d rather not needle myself for those kinds of things, since they’re more health-related, but it is possible.

47:04 Speaker 3 Wow. Just like, “Ow, that hurts”—a little needle.

47:08 Speaker 2 “Put a needle in here for me.” Yes, yes.

47:10 Speaker 3 I bet you have some in your pocket.

47:12 Speaker 2 Of course. I always have needles in my pocket.

47:14 Speaker 3 Really?

47:14 Speaker 2 Of course.

47:15 Speaker 3 I was joking.

47:16 Speaker 2 I always have needles in my bag. I might be out somewhere and suddenly a woman is suffering, someone wants a treatment, someone needs something, something hurts.

47:21 Speaker 3 People need to know. When you get on a bus, for example, you should wear a sign saying, “I have needles in my pocket,” so they know they can come to you. Wow, you’re ready at a moment’s notice. Okay, Esther, as we’re coming to a close, give us a treasure trove of worthwhile tips. Golden tips.

47:41 Speaker 2 All right. I’ll give you tips that didn’t originate with me. The Rambam was, of course, a great physician, and he wrote these wonderful things in his books. All we have to do is put them into practice. First, don’t fill your stomach completely with food; always stop just a little before you’re full. Don’t weigh yourself down. The key word, really, is listening. When we listen to our bodies, we don’t end up regretting what we did. Say someone thinks, “I want to eat this last bite, even though I feel I don’t need it. I’m almost full; I don’t need this bite,” but eats it anyway. Then they feel uncomfortable and say, “Why didn’t I listen to myself? Why did I put that bite into my body?” So that’s the first tip: don’t fill your stomach, and listen to your body.

48:32 Speaker 4 Lovely.

48:33 Speaker 2 Yes, and there are a few more rules. Eggplants, for example, belong to the nightshade family. Nightshades are very, very acidic, and when we eat eggplants, we increase the acidity in our bodies. When acidity in the body gets very high, it can cause stomach acid and bring on reflux, heartburn and a lot of unpleasant things. And if that acidity flares up in the muscles and tissues, it can trigger inflammation; if it goes toward the head, it can even cause headaches. So it’s important to know that avoiding eggplants is very, very important.

49:09 Speaker 4 Wow, that applies to everyone.

49:11 Speaker 2 Yes.

49:12 Speaker 4 Wow. You know I don’t like eggplants?

49:14 Speaker 2 That’s great.

49:15 Speaker 4 People always say to me, “How can you not like eggplant? It’s so delicious.” I don’t know, I’ve never had to deal with the—wow, it’s like—

49:20 Speaker 2 Great.

49:22 Speaker 4 That’s something.

49:22 Speaker 2 It worked out well for you.

49:23 Speaker 4 That’s something. Wow, that’s surprising. I think a lot of people listening will be surprised, no? Because eggplant is a vegetable, after all.

49:29 Speaker 2 Right, it’s a vegetable, but baruch Hashem, we have plenty of other vegetables and fruits we can eat, with lots of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. So we can set eggplant aside.

49:38 Speaker 4 Yes. Okay, nice, interesting. What else? Surprise us again.

49:44 Speaker 2 Don’t drink water during a meal, as I mentioned. That’s very, very important, because it mixes up the food and makes a mess of things. It’s also very, very important to drink water half an hour to an hour before a meal, to moisten the stomach, to help the lining—prepare the stomach for the meal. That’s very important too. And after we finish eating, we don’t drink water right away. We wait half an—half an hour to an hour, depending on what we ate, so the food can digest, and then we drink water. Of course, it’s good for everyone to start the morning with two glasses of water, and you can add the juice of half a lemon. The half lemon depends on the person; it isn’t for everyone, but two glasses of water are for everyone. And... afterward, of course, you can have coffee or tea. Yes, we won’t get into that, because everyone has their own life and decides what they want to do.

50:34 Speaker 4 But in general, what do you say about coffee?

50:37 Speaker 2 Coffee stimulates the blood, and it can often help people who suffer from migraines, headaches, or low blood pressure. So it can sometimes even be beneficial and give us energy. But for some people, coffee can actually trigger anxiety.

50:53 Speaker 4 Wow.

50:53 Speaker 2 Yes. So it really varies, and a person can listen to their body and see what coffee does to them and how they react to it. Of course, large amounts aren’t healthy for anyone, because then we’re constantly stimulating the system, and it stays under stress instead of being relaxed. When we’re relaxed, digestion works better and the immune system functions, and that’s really important.

51:14 Speaker 4 Oh, now I want coffee. What are we going to do? We’re talking about coffee.

51:18 Speaker 2 Choose whatever you want to do.

51:20 Speaker 4 Do you drink coffee? No.

51:22 Speaker 2 I hardly ever drink coffee. On the rare occasions when I feel I need to be more focused, I do have coffee, but not all the time. I mean, it’s not something I’m addicted to. That’s the most important thing.

51:34 Speaker 4 You know, you mentioned—

51:34 Speaker 2 It’s about moderation.

51:35 Speaker 4 Yes. You mentioned digestion. I’m curious: do people come to you to lose weight?

51:43 Speaker 2 No.

51:43 Speaker 4 As in, that’s their problem, or does it—

51:45 Speaker 2 Yes.

51:45 Speaker 4 ...happen along the way?

51:46 Speaker 2 Well, some people do come to me to lose weight, and often there’s an underlying problem that’s keeping them from losing weight.

51:54 Speaker 4 Wow, that’s interesting.

51:54 Speaker 2 It could be something physical, like a thyroid that isn’t properly balanced. Or they aren’t going to the bathroom; they aren’t having bowel movements, and that can affect it too. Often they only want sweets, and that’s actually because they feel weak all the time, so they need something sweet, and the sweets make them gain weight. Carbohydrates do cause weight gain, after all. So when we bring everything into balance, the weight loss happens too, of course.

52:19 Speaker 4 Wow. That’s something. So often, when a person says, “I really don’t eat that much, and I’m gaining weight,” they might actually be right.

52:27 Speaker 2 Right. Often it’s genetic. Often there’s a tendency inherited from one of the parents to gain weight—

52:32 Speaker 4 Yes.

52:32 Speaker 2 —really quickly from some little thing that someone else could eat with no effect. They wouldn’t gain weight the way this person does.

52:38 Speaker 4 And is there something you can do in that case too?

52:40 Speaker 2 There is. There are medicinal herbs that help the body suppress cravings for sweets and carbohydrates, and there’s proper nutrition that helps—

52:48 Speaker 4 Acupuncture too, right? Something in the ears. I remember there’s—

52:49 Speaker 2 Right, there’s also acupuncture to suppress appetite, Chinese acupuncture. There’s also acupuncture for burning belly fat. There are lots of options.

52:56 Speaker 4 Wow, wow, wow. It’s starting to sound like a beauty clinic.

52:59 Speaker 2 There’s also the cosmetic side we talked about for the face.

53:02 Speaker 4 Right, exactly. So it really is both.

53:04 Speaker 2 Right.

53:05 Speaker 4 That’s something. Okay, I interrupted your tips. You were at—um, wait, you were talking about drinking water in the morning.

53:14 Speaker 2 Right. Drinking water in the morning helps flush out the body after all the cleansing it did overnight. That’s very important. And during the day, I recommend that everyone know what they’re eating, be mindful, and not just grab food on the run. Instead, get organized—even before the week begins. Plan the whole week: what you’re going to do and what you’re going to eat each day. Actually make a chart. Once you have regular meals planned, you can buy all the ingredients you need, because that takes planning too. You know when you’re preparing food and what you’re preparing, and then your whole week is in order: you’ve kept to regular meals and had water in between. So it’s really, really worthwhile.

53:59 Speaker 4 Right. I think that’s often where we slip up—we didn’t plan ahead, and then we’re stuck.

54:04 Speaker 2 Right. The trick really is to plan ahead. When people come for an iris examination and are so ready to make a change, with that level of awareness, they leave me and go straight to—well, with a shopping list—

54:16 Speaker 4 Yes.

54:16 Speaker 2 —to the supermarket, or even a spice shop, or wherever they can buy the things I recommend. Then they already have everything on hand and just choose what to eat on which day.

54:27 Speaker 4 Right. It isn’t just “What am I going to eat?” It starts at the supermarket.

54:31 Speaker 2 Yes, it’s about planning everything ahead. When you go shopping, you decide from the outset not to buy snacks and that sort of junk, but to buy healthier things that nourish your body more.

54:39 Speaker 4 Yes, and if we’re really treating a specific problem, sometimes it’s not just a matter of healthy or unhealthy, but what I specifically need and what I specifically can’t have.

54:46 Speaker 2 Yes, of course. I give each person specific things to avoid or to take, and they buy what they need and make arrangements for it.

54:55 Speaker 4 Tell me, can that change? Say I came in with a certain problem and wasn’t allowed to eat a whole list of things. Could I be allowed to eat them later? Or does it mean my body is sensitive to them forever?

55:07 Speaker 2 Well, some things can change and some can’t. I mean, with a great many things, we’ll try doing a detox at first and see what happens. Then, when we’re feeling really, really good, it may be possible to start eating some of those things, because the body is stronger and doesn’t react to them as severely as it did. But yes, there are things it’s better to avoid for life, and anyone who manages to stick with that is protecting their body.

55:35 Speaker 4 Yes, the benefit—the gain is all theirs.

55:37 Speaker 2 Yes, absolutely.

55:38 Speaker 4 Nice. Okay, do you have another tip? I sort of stopped you halfway through.

55:45 Speaker 2 One last tip to finish: try to include as many fruits and vegetables in your diet as you can. Not together, of course, but separately. Starting the morning with fruit and having a meal with vegetables are very, very important. They give us lots of vitamins and minerals that your body may be lacking, which could be why you’re feeling the things you’re feeling. They also give the body what it needs in the most natural way. And, with Hashem’s help, when you keep at it day after day—consistency is very important here—you see results.

56:16 Speaker 4 Interesting. You said “not together,” of course, about fruits and vegetables.

56:20 Speaker 2 Right. There are, of course, food combinations that aren’t healthy, and you need to be careful about them.

56:25 Speaker 4 For example, you know those recipes with lettuce and strawberries, that kind of salad?

56:30 Speaker 2 Right.

56:31 Speaker 4 That’s not okay?

56:32 Speaker 2 So that’s the thing—it’s not that you can’t. It’s just that in some cases it can cause stomachaches, and for people who already have stomach problems, it’s not advisable to put more strain on their stomachs on top of the pain they have. But say someone wants to go on a diet, or manage their diabetes—in other words, lower their blood sugar a little. What we actually suggest is having fruit with protein. Now, that combination can cause stomachaches, so of course you need to check that it doesn’t do that for you. But the body digests protein more slowly than it digests fruit, carbohydrates, and sugars, so it ends up digesting the fruit more slowly too, along with the protein. So for a diet or for diabetes, that can be recommended—of course, after checking. But plenty of people may find that it really bothers them, and for them it’s not advisable to combine foods that way. We would actually separate protein and fruit. We’d eat fruit only, say, an hour after having protein, for example.

57:34 Speaker 4 In short, it depends, depends, depends.

57:36 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

57:37 Speaker 4 I can say that Esther really shares a lot of tips. So tell everyone your phone number, so they can follow you and see. One day you’re talking about diabetes—

57:45 Speaker 2 Yes, I often post—

57:46 Speaker 4 It’s really interesting.

57:46 Speaker 2 ...all kinds of issues, tips about nutrition, what you can do, things at home you can get into the habit of doing. So each one is really specific to that issue. People can listen and...

57:56 Speaker 4 Yes, it’s very interesting. Go ahead and give us your phone number so we don’t miss it.

57:59 Speaker 2 Okay, my number is 0505963592.

58:05 Speaker 4 So write to her, “Hi Esther, I’d like to follow you,” and all that. Listen, I found this so fascinating. You’re amazing.

58:12 Speaker 2 Thank you.

58:13 Speaker 4 And—

58:13 Speaker 2 It was fun.

58:14 Speaker 4 I think what always amazes me about you is, wow, how much knowledge you have—

58:18 Speaker 2 Baruch Hashem.

58:19 Speaker 4 ...at such a young age, and—

58:20 Speaker 2 Baruch Hashem.

58:21 Speaker 4 It’s really special and rare, and you—

58:23 Speaker 2 It comes from wanting to help with more kinds of problems, find more things and more solutions, so that as many—

58:30 Speaker 4 That’s it. I think you’re really something in this field.

58:31 Speaker 2 ...people as possible will feel much better.

58:32 Speaker 4 Right, so I’m always saying, “Wow, I want to study that too, and expand my knowledge of it,” and so on.

58:35 Speaker 2 That’s right. I’m studying now too, so...

58:38 Speaker 4 Wow.

58:38 Speaker 2 Always moving forward, always—

58:39 Speaker 4 How wonderful.

58:39 Speaker 2 ...reading, always learning.

58:41 Speaker 4 Amazing.

58:42 Speaker 2 Baruch Hashem.

58:43 Speaker 4 Wow. So I wish you continued success as a shlucha.

58:45 Speaker 2 Amen.

58:45 Speaker 4 For the Jewish people, and may you bring more health—

58:48 Speaker 2 Amen.

58:48 Speaker 4 ...to everyone.

58:49 Speaker 2 With Hashem’s help, amen.

58:50 Speaker 4 Wonderful. Thank you, Esther. Bye.

58:52 Speaker 2 Thank you.