Our collective health suffers more from white bread than from alcohol or tobacco

Natural costs more but satisfies for a long time so is less expensive after all

My teacher gastroenterologist Professor GNJ Tytgat taught that switching to whole-wheat-flour would prevent most illnesses. Most health specialists say that the greatest improvement to our collective health would be eating fiber-rich bread. If you switch that statement around you get our headline.

Of course, regular alcohol and tobacco attacks destroy the body but are in the population as a whole less frequent than the white-flour assaults.

It’s harder to see the ills of white-flour consumption because what hurts is not the stuff you eat but the stuff you don’t: fiber. Not only is the white-flour/sugar diet deficient like a food routine that provides no vitamins. On top of that, it fills the stomach, gives a fake feeling of satisfaction, and prevents the intake of real foods, no different from cola. It replaces food. And it withholds from the digestive-tract muscles the exercise they need, disturbs the absorption of nutrients, abruptly increases the blood-sugar level (and the influx of calories) after which it suddenly falls (which makes you feel hungry too soon after the meal), fails to empty the prostate, etc.

It also perpetuates the crazy idea that one eats to enjoy. A good taste is only the secondary aim of correct eating. The basic function must be that your intake maintains your health. Then, that intake should be pleasing.

To get used to more fiber in your food, make a sandwich with only one slice of white. Mix a rising percentage of whole flour, whole rice, or whole pasta through the white stuff you used up to now. * Something else that may help is to prioritize chewing calories you need over drinking them. Filtered grape juice is less than half of the volume of blended grapes.

***

The Traditional Jewish Blessing for bread acknowledges that G^d produces Lechem from the ground. In modern Hebrew, Lechem means bread. But in original Hebrew, it means food. A loaf is Pat or Kikar. Grain is the staple of life so at the beginning of a meal with bread, we only make a Blessing over bread. Yet, if your bread is white, it’s no more nutritious than a spoonful of white sugar. That’s not food. The rabbis, IMHO, should advise making the Blessing over whole-grain (or half-grain) bread, even when the intention is to eat a bite of it and then continue with while-flour produce. When health-supporting bread is in the house, sometimes, it might be eaten.

Most rabbis also rule that you don’t make a Blessing when putting chewing gum into your mouth because it’s not food. It gives false signals to the body that food is on its way. So do white-flour bread, pasta, pizza, cookies, white rice, sugar, etc. To call ingestion of white ‘bread’ the essence of eating, the staple of human food is a falsehood and untraditional. A lifestyle rejecting television should certainly shed the white-flour scam.

After it became clear that smoking tobacco is no innocent pastime, quite quickly the rabbis decided beginning to smoke is forbidden. How long from now will it be that they will outlaw consuming white-flour junk?

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1