Sketching Out Blog: Sketches of art, watercolor, photos, recipes, books, interviews, Jewish topics, and Highland Park, New Jersey

Allergies, tofu, B vitamins, wine

modiin produce in Israel
Fruit in Modiin, Israel

I haven’t done a post on health topics for a while, so here are some recent internet picks:

  • Allergies: why are they on the rise? Lots of theories, such as a possible link to vaccines. Feel free to argue with any theory. I’m going to highlight this idea:

    Allergies And Ubiquitous Presence Of Some Foods

    Before the advent of freezers and airfreight most people ate local foods in season. Now most fruit and vegetables are available all year round, so that our systems are exposed to the same foods continually without respite.

    There has been a dramatic increase in people experiencing soya allergy, since soya has become a common ingredient in many processed foods. In Europe and North America rice allergy is relatively uncommon, whereas in Asia where it is consumed more frequently it is much more common.

    Note: In Israel one still eats local foods in season. It is difficult, for example, to obtain strawberries in the summer.

  • Why Tofu Wrecks Your Brain
    Always a good idea to read comments on Dr. Mercola’s posts
  • Can a good B vitamin help reduce susceptibility to sunburn? I’ve heard that B vitamin supplementation can ease the mosquito bites. However, my son claims he eats a lot of cereal, so he doesn’t think this is true. He gets very itchy mosquito bites.
  • Resveratrol in red wine prevents cancer

As I am married to a red wine lover, I’ll conclude with a photo from our trip to the Galil winery:
oak barrels
The wine is stored in these oak barrels (oak is either from France or the US) for a few years before being bottled and sold. We bought some Galil Pinot Noir and enjoyed it with our friends in Hashmonaim.

Tanks for fermentation and storage of wine are the answers to my quiz on this post.

Ilana-Davita says

As you know, France is a great country for wines but concerning French kosher wines there is room for improvement. Therefore I much prefer Israeli wines.
One of my brothers used to be a winemaker so it helped for the quiz eventhough the tanks were quite different. At first I thought there were fermentors for beer!

Reply
Baila says

I had no clue what that picture was.

You make that fruit stand in Modiin look gorgeous--it's the one in Country Center, right?

As always, thanks for link, dahlink.

Reply
Leora says

Ilana-Davita, the ones stored in oak are the more expensive wines. In Poland, Jews used to be in the beer business. I don't know of any Jewish-owned beer manufacturers nowadays.

Baila, yes, it's the one across from the large pizza slices place. I called you from there, I believe.

Reply
Dina says

Shalom Leora--what a surprise!! Sorry I missed meeting you in Israel but it is so good to meet you today via our blogs.
Yofi. Would love to read your son's lake essay.
lehitraot

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Leora says

Dina, the essay about the Kinneret vs. the Dead Sea was one he read, not one he wrote. It was rather poetic. Unfortunately, I don't have it anymore.

Reply
Dina says

Ahh, ani mevinah. No worries. Great that the boy can read a poem in Hebrew.

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hihorosie says

Look at all that watermelon! :D

Reply

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