I started this blog over a year ago. After my first post, I never ended up doing anything with it, so a few months ago I closed it to the public instead of letting a dead blog sit out there.
But recently a few inquiries about HealthyKosher have prompted me to make another attempt at it.
I welcome any & all suggestions for posts and submissions for guest posts.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Introduction
I’m a thirty-something Orthodox Jewish male living in the northeastern United States who’s been overweight most of my life.
Recently I opened up my eyes to what I was putting into my body. I began reading up on what is actually in the processed foods that most of us eat, day in & day out.
I’ve given up refined sugar, cut down on fat, and begun to lose some weight. But more importantly, I’ve begun to feel more awake, with more energy, less depression, and more zest for life.
I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 21 – (lacto-ovo), but that doesn’t mean that I’ve been eating a healthy diet all these years.
A big part of the problem is the kosher food products out there. The “frum” brands are the worst. Have you looked at the ingredients in Osem soup mix lately? Refined sugar, saturated fat, MSG, etc…
Kosher consumers, many of whom have large families, don’t have time, or money, to really look for healthy products. Do you wonder why yeshivot & day schools have such behavioral problems? The amount of sugar these kids consume is unbelievable. Why does every shul have a candy man handing out Paskesz candies, which are pure sugar, to all the kids, whether the parents want them to eat it or not?
What about shul kiddush? Yes, some shuls have baby carrots these days, but most people head right for the cake table, which hold what are basically sugar with chemicals.
Next time you’re in the checkout line of a frum supermarket in the NYC area, look in the shopping cart of the harried woman with 4 kids climbing on her in front of you. Sodas (full of caffeine and high fructose corn syrup), parve ice cream (basically fat mocked up to look like ice cream with tons of sugar – and yes, even Toffuti is like that!), potato kugel (pure, unadulterated carbs, as bad as refined sugar, along with tons of oil), to name a few!
There ARE good products out there and there are ways to eat healthier while maintaining kashrus and not breaking the bank & I plan to blog about that here.
Another thing I’ve been focusing on lately is the benefits that particular types of foods bring us. For instance, have you heard of resveratrol? It’s a component in the skin of dark grapes, especially those grown in the NY State area. It comes out in red wine (not grape juice) and has been linked to longer life through studies of the “French paradox” and others. How about the importance of your internal “gut” ecosystem, which can be damaged by antibiotics? How can yogurt help? Can Kefir help even more? How to fit all this into a kosher diet? What are all these about? Stay tuned!
Recently I opened up my eyes to what I was putting into my body. I began reading up on what is actually in the processed foods that most of us eat, day in & day out.
I’ve given up refined sugar, cut down on fat, and begun to lose some weight. But more importantly, I’ve begun to feel more awake, with more energy, less depression, and more zest for life.
I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 21 – (lacto-ovo), but that doesn’t mean that I’ve been eating a healthy diet all these years.
A big part of the problem is the kosher food products out there. The “frum” brands are the worst. Have you looked at the ingredients in Osem soup mix lately? Refined sugar, saturated fat, MSG, etc…
Kosher consumers, many of whom have large families, don’t have time, or money, to really look for healthy products. Do you wonder why yeshivot & day schools have such behavioral problems? The amount of sugar these kids consume is unbelievable. Why does every shul have a candy man handing out Paskesz candies, which are pure sugar, to all the kids, whether the parents want them to eat it or not?
What about shul kiddush? Yes, some shuls have baby carrots these days, but most people head right for the cake table, which hold what are basically sugar with chemicals.
Next time you’re in the checkout line of a frum supermarket in the NYC area, look in the shopping cart of the harried woman with 4 kids climbing on her in front of you. Sodas (full of caffeine and high fructose corn syrup), parve ice cream (basically fat mocked up to look like ice cream with tons of sugar – and yes, even Toffuti is like that!), potato kugel (pure, unadulterated carbs, as bad as refined sugar, along with tons of oil), to name a few!
There ARE good products out there and there are ways to eat healthier while maintaining kashrus and not breaking the bank & I plan to blog about that here.
Another thing I’ve been focusing on lately is the benefits that particular types of foods bring us. For instance, have you heard of resveratrol? It’s a component in the skin of dark grapes, especially those grown in the NY State area. It comes out in red wine (not grape juice) and has been linked to longer life through studies of the “French paradox” and others. How about the importance of your internal “gut” ecosystem, which can be damaged by antibiotics? How can yogurt help? Can Kefir help even more? How to fit all this into a kosher diet? What are all these about? Stay tuned!
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