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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Health & F tness
How to Navigate the High Holidays By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN
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t’s that time of year again! The holidays are here, and much preparation is needed. Yom tov can be difficult for people trying to lose or maintain their weight since it involves a lot of late-night eating and significant temptations. During a regular week, it is easier to keep indulgences to a minimum because we are busy with our daily lives and are focused on our goals. During the holiday season, food is on everybody’s minds. We typically have multiple courses each meal, as well as new and unusual foods that symbolize this special time. Over the holiday season, we will be washing for bread 23 times! This is not the norm for a regular week for anybody, regardless of their health goals. I assure you that with my tips, as well as some willpower, the holidays won’t ruin your healthy-eating progress. Enjoy this festive time surrounded by great food, family, and friends. 1. Have a proper breakfast. I cannot stress enough the importance of eating a proper breakfast on yom tov morning. Understandably, the morning is hectic as we are often rushing to get ready for shul or preparing the food for the lunch meal. However, if you don’t eat, you will show up to your meal famished. This can lead you to overeat and/or make the wrong choices. Instead, plan ahead and buy yogurt, cook some hardboiled eggs in advance, or make some egg muffins so that you have quick and easy breakfast options for those busy mornings. Treat yom tov day like a regular day: have breakfast, eat lunch, have an afternoon snack, and dinner. If you keep to your usu-
al routine, your body will work more efficiently. 2. Find an alternative to challah. We will need to wash 23 times throughout the holidays! Although challah is delicious, and there is certainly room for it in a healthy lifestyle, eating this much bread is not very good for you. The refined carbohydrates will make you feel sluggish and will overwhelm your digestive system. My recommendation is to choose one or two meals where you will have a slice of challah (ideally day meals) and choose to wash on spelt or whole wheat matzah for the others. If you can, maybe experiment with a wholewheat or spelt recipe for the times you choose to have a slice of challah. Stick to a slice and remember that challah isn’t going anywhere and that you can have it next week.
3. Start your meal with a soup or salad. Instead of preparing a heavy meat appetizer, make a soup or a salad. On yom tov we tend to serve multiple courses of food. However, you don’t normally eat a three-course meal on a typical Tuesday or Wednesday. This can be a shock to the digestive system and may leave you with some discomfort. To save room for your delicious main course, keep the appetizer small and light. 4. Designate dessert. The cake, cookies, and tarts can be very tempting. Instead of restricting yourself, choose a meal (ideally a day meal when your body can work to burn it off) to have a piece of dessert. This will ensure you don’t feel the need to overindulge in desserts and will make sure your progress isn’t affected. If you can, try to choose a healthier dessert made with unrefined flour
and a natural sweetener. For the other meals, stick to fresh fruits or compotes. You can even make baked apples by simply baking apples sprinkled with cinnamon covered in the oven with a little water at 350°F until soft. 5. Plates and portion sizes. It is important to be cognizant of your portion sizes. It can be tempting to pile up your plate with all the foods you are interested in trying. However, eating too much will cause your stomach to hurt and your digestive system to be overwhelmed. Instead, keep protein portions the size of a fist and choose to fill up your plate with salad or non-starchy vegetables. If you want to sample every dish, you can do that by taking small amounts of each food and making sure you stick to one plate. Regulating portions can have a very huge impact on your weight and progress throughout yom tov. A tip I recommend to my clients is to assemble a plate of the foods you desire and don’t go back for seconds. Oftentimes, when we keep adding and adding to our plates, it is hard to keep track of how much we’re eating. You should be able to fit all of your food on one plate. If you can’t fit all of your food onto one plate, then you are taking too much food. 6. Don’t pick at foods. Sometimes, we pick at different foods and we don’t realize how much we’re eating. Mindlessly eating is when you eat while your brain is distracted and not aware of what or how much food you are consuming. Your brain can think you barely ate anything, when in reality you consumed 1,000 calories! A big factor in fullness and satiety is sitting down and focusing on the food
