Healthy Jew Personal Coaching
Every Healthy Jew has their own story, personality, challenges, health conditions, and bloodwork. I’m a certified health coach, which means I can:
guide you how to best invest time and money in eating well (nutrition), being well (exercise), and being well (facing stress and challenges).
answer many of your questions about health, wellness, and Judaism.
advise you how healthy choices can help live with - and sometimes even heal - many chronic conditions.
suggest herbs and supplements (when appropriate, not just for fun!).
People get personalized help for relationships, religion, and professions. How about for just you?
You probably have lots of questions. I’ll try to answer them now.
What problems can you help me with?
Chronic digestive conditions - indigestion, IBS, IBD, celiac, reflux, and more.
Nutritional deficiencies - anemia, vitamins, minerals, macronutrients.
Metabolic disorders - diabetes, weight management, blood pressure, thyroid, cholesterol.
Mood disorder support - anxiety, depression, and more.
Stress, fatigue, and insomnia.
Chronic respiratory infections - seasonal viruses, sinusitis, and more.
Anything else that healthy lifestyle can heal or alleviate!
(Please note: I don’t work with gynecological issues or cancer.)
So you’re like a doctor?
Not at all.
I’m a Certified Health Coach from a 3-year program at Reidman College of Jerusalem. (My official title is Healthy Lifestyle Counselor / Natural Nutritionist, but that's too unwieldy.)
Does that mean you’re one of those alternative quacks?
Not that either.
I studied Complementary and Integrative Medicine, so I’m trained in traditional and holistic approaches to health and healing that aren’t substitutes (“alternative”) for conventional medicine but partner with it. So I’m not against pharmaceutical drugs, but I can help you live in a way that you’ll need them less and maybe not at all. And many chronic conditions have no effective cure but can recede, or even disappear, as a result of lifestyle changes.
Ok, but are you against vaccines? And what about Covid?
I already said I’m not a doctor. Ask your family doctor - the one you’d go to if you had pneumonia. Do whatever she says.
Let me explain a bit more. The holism, or wholism, that I subscribe to expands the reductionist biomedical view of health and illness to include traditional and psychosomatic approaches (such as herbalism) - but remains bound to the demands of the intellect.
Therefore, I believe everything discovered by scientific inquiry, and reject anything proven to be wrong, but won’t discard wisdom merely because it hasn’t yet been tested in a randomized control trial, and perhaps, due to various technical reasons, never will be.
Are you a therapist?
No. I have no training in professional therapeutic techniques. I won’t create a therapeutic relationship or alliance in which our interactions themeselves effect change. (Although, of course, all human connection has the power to heal, particularly when built on seeking help.)
To apply an analogy I once heard (in another context), going to healthy life counseling and not doing anything outside the session is like going to the gym and watching everyone else work out: it’s a step in the right direction, can increase awareness, but won’t make someone any stronger.
Furthermore, although health can’t and shouldn’t be separated from emotions, I’m not qualified to guide people through emotional crises. However, when applied together with appropriate professional help, lifestyle changes can astoundingly improve mental health - just as with physical health.
I’ll also note that I’ve learned enough psychology and psychiatry to recognize when I can’t help - or, more precisely, can help by referring to competent mental health professionals.
Is there a religious angle here?
Good you asked. Unlike my writing in The Healthy Jew, where I often explore the spiritual dimensions of healthy living, counseling remains religion-neutral. We’re here for a specific, practical goal: to help you find wellness. Of course, my religious life affects everything I do, particularly regarding health. Yet during counseling I’m not selling religious rituals but doing the best I can to help you.
I'm in. What’s the plan?
We'll first connect (preferably over the phone) to see what you're looking for and if I can help you.
When we meet, we'll talk through your medical and lifestyle history.
Based on what we discover, I’ll offer clear and comprehensive suggestions, and, if appropriate, inform you about herbs and supplements that may be helpful.
You'll receive a full written summary, including links to all information or products we talk about.
How much does it cost?
This initial plan and followup is $200. Followup sessions are $150 each.
To get rolling, reach out to contact@healthyjew.org
Testimonial
Thank you so much for helping me out with fatty liver. I was feeling hopeless when I came to you; in fact my first sentence to you was "I'm really skeptical if this gonna work, or that I'll stick to this healthy lifestyle."
Four months later, my triglyceride level droped from almost 400 to 149. My fatty liver is gone. ALT levels droped from 209 to 24.
I feel better, more energetic and alive.
Thank you!
Yosef, Ramat Bet Shemesh