BOSTON—Dr. Mark Mincolla, Ph.D., natural health care practitioner at Santi Holistic Healing in Massachusetts offered his top five nutritional supplements to watch in 2010 to New England Cable News, which was posted on the Boston Globe’s Web site. Mincolla said these five supplements will be beneficial to health management in the coming year:

* ACE Peptides: Composed of nine peptides derived from fish muscles, these proteins work to lower blood pressure.
* Pantethine: The biologically active form of the vitamin pantothenic acid (B5), pantethine is thought to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides, while raising the level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
* Monolaurin: This glyceride ester derivative of lauric acid has been used as an anti-microbial agent and is thought to protect the immune system from infection. Mincolla said it may protect against the flu virus.
* Theanine: An amino acid, l-theanine may enhance relaxation and reduction of stress. Theanine may also affect serotonin to relieve anxiety symptoms.
* DMAE (dimethyl-amino-ethanol): DMAE is an enzyme that may improve mental alertness and t may also help reduce Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) symptoms.
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Our question is: How come these were not beneficial in the year almost past????????

From Kosher Today (Dec. 28, 2009)

Knesset Set to Adopt Reforms in Kashrus Certification
Jerusalem…by Idele Ross, KosherToday Israel Bureau Chief and Staff Reporters…Rising abuses of kashrus in Israel are being addressed by the Knesset Comptroller’s Committee. It is determined to introduce new guidelines to assure that eating establishments that claim to be kosher are indeed certified kosher. A blistering report from State Comptroller retired Judge Micha Lindenstrauss found many instances of forged kashrus certificates with the owners claiming that they are genuine. Ynet reports that Knesset Member Otniel Shneller of Kadima, himself an observant Jew, is heading up the team which will set up a government authority to regulate Kashrus supervision. It will be responsible for setting the fees eating establishments will pay for certification, the hiring of the kashrus supervisors and their salaries. Shneller said that large sums of money are involved in the kashrus certification process. “And I am not certain that a kosher diner can be 100 percent sure an establishment is kosher just because there is what seems to be a valid certificate displayed in the window.” Many of the kashrus supervisors are officially employed by local religious councils but are paid by owners of the food establishments. “The system is flawed,” Shneller admitted, “because many times family members are hired causing many problems.” The new authority will base its operations on new laws which Shneller said will eliminate the need for the food establishments to pay the kashrus supervisor directly. The local religious councils will retain the responsibility for choosing the supervisors, training them and monitoring their work. The reform will enable the acquiring of two different standards of kashrus supervision—that of the rabbinate and that of a more stringent private rabbinical authority. Sheneller believes that it will take several months for the legislation to wind its way through the Knesset.

This past week, the New York Times had an article about people who have already converted to Judaism a/o people in the process of converting to Judaism and the problems they face at Christmas time. The article was actually fairly sensitively written, but, at the same time, was written by someone with no knowledge of the rules of Judaism and about people for whom conversion to Judaism was based less on behavior and more on some nebulous sense of spirituality.

For people who convert to Judaism, Christmas is a tough time. Do you go to your Christian family’s celebration? What do you eat? Do you give them presents? Do they give you Chanukah presents or Christmas presents? For newbies to the Tribe, how do we help them adjust to life without the tree? And make no mistake about it- WE have a responsibility to those people.

The article dealt with people who did not convert to an orthoprax life style. Right off the bat, that means that there are many of us who will deny the validity of the conversion in the first place. One family highlighted in the story invited the Christian mother to their Jewish home and invited other people who had converted to Judaism to join with them also. The born Jewish husband, the cook of the family, made a so called traditional Christmas dinner with bourbon glazed ham. Apparently no one thought there was anything wrong with that!

We do not wish to enter the who is a Jew debate. We also do not agree with those rabbis who attempt to retro-actively annul a conversion because a woman wore pants! Somewhere between that standard and what- based on the article- is a standardless conversion, there must be a Maimonidean Golden Mean.

Yes, this column is not about kashrut per se. But the NYT article is important. Read it and decide for yourself. Then ask yourself who gets to draw the line(s) on conversion and where.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/nyregion/26convert.html?_r=1

In the Shulchan Aruch, we read about the possibility of cooking chicken in almond milk and the inherent problem of marit ha-ayin (ie, it looks trefe). Needless to say, today with all the pareve stuff out there such as soy milk and ersatz “creamer,” we are used to seeing combinations that earlier generations might have questioned. (Remember when, even at the fanciest, upscale kosher affairs, the pareve creamer was always served in its original container?)

Soy milk has been a favorite of many kosher cooks of late. Well, now there is a new product on the market.

Blue Diamond Natural introduces Almond Breeze Original non dairy milk alternative and Almond Breeze Smooth and Creamy non dairy beverage.

Both are OU pareve. Both are healthy. Both contain only 60 calories per eight ounce serving.

So, what could be bad?

www.bluediamond.com

Since 1817, seven generations of bakers from Austria and Hungary have been baking these incredible baked goods according to a secret family recipe. Grandpa’s cakes are OU Pareve, Pat Yisrael.

So what does Grandpa offer? How about: Original Cinnamon with California Walnuts, Grandpa and Granny Smith Apple Walnut, Banana Walnut, Chocolate Chip Europa, Wild Blueberry, Outrageous Raspberry Delight, Banana Chocolate Chip. Lemon Poppy, Cappuccino Delight, Mandarin Orange and Mandarin Orange Chocolate Chip. And that, dear readers, is just a partial list!

A good chunk of the above list is also available in lower fat versions. Cakes come in two sizes: eight inch or ten inch. Cakes may be ordered whole, 12 cut or 16 cut.

You can order these babies directly from Grandpa. Call 800.688.9728 Or go on line to www.grandpascoffeecake.com

Order a carton and you can keep them in the freezer and never get caught short again! Because they are pareve, they are a perfect Shabbat dessert, too!