skinny for and during pesach

amother

Wed, Mar 24 2010, 2:18 am

Does anyone have advice on how to stay thin - meaning, eating right and finding the time to exercise - during pesach??

jewishdiabetes

Wed, Mar 24 2010, 4:44 am

amother wrote:

Does anyone have advice on how to stay thin - meaning, eating right and finding the time to exercise - during pesach??

Jewish Diabetes Association has quite a few articles to help get through Pesach trim and fit--here is one and there are more at www.jewishdiabetes.org

http://www.jewishdiabetes.org/.....m=117

בס'ד

I've heard it said that Jewish history can be summed up sort of like this. Someone tries to destroy us, G-D saves us—Lets celebrate---and that, of course, translates in to the family gathering around and eating, eating and more eating.

By default, being born Jewish we are celebrating almost three months out of the year. We have Shabbat every week, an eating holiday every two months---when we are fasting we are making up for lost time before and after. Then of course, the happy times; weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, engagements and the sephardic community even has lavish spreads during mourning—it is done as a good deed (mitzvah) to allow for a blessing for the deceased---but what about the ones doing the eating---are we eating ourselves to a shorter life span G-D forbid-- by now I hope you get the picture.

Then along comes Passover (Pesach) and we are so sure that it will be impossible to get through the very popular matzo, potato and egg holiday---well surprise surprise—We were undaunted and decided to start looking for solutions and substitutions for traditional ingredients—living a Jewish lifestyle does not have to mean living unhealthy—in fact, quite the opposite—we have a Torah commandment to "take very good care of ourselves" (Deuteronomy 4:15). We do not live the life that was lived one hundred years ago so we cannot expect to get away with eating many of the foods that they ate—most of theirs got worked off throughout the day—we hardly move and our present day foods are terribly refined.

This year Passover begins on Monday night, March 29th.

As we always say "if you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail". Passover is not that nutritionally difficult—in fact there are those that would say that there are actually advantages—such as not having fresh bread around and many of the cakes that are sometimes so hard to resist. In fact we are beginning to learn and recommend to many people with insulin resistance or tendency to weight gain, to start using whole wheat matzo all year round instead of bread, since it is much lower on the glycemic index than bread. It is easier on the system- healthier- and most important portion controlled, with one board of matzo being equivalent to two slices of bread. Another advantage is the crunch---which we always crave and t des take longer to eat than two slices of fresh bread.

What do we do with all the eggs---start using only half the yolks—if you have a problem tossing out the yolks remember that we are not garbage pails and every yolk has 60 - 70 calories and it is all fat. What about the potatoes; mix them with cauliflower, zucchini etc. Pile up on a variety of salads and use your imagination when putting together desserts using different flavorings, and extracts and fresh fruit.

When dealing with the four cups of wine for the Seder, remember that dry wine has become recommended fare for most healthy people-grape juice is a very concentrated source of sugar so there are many that prefer using wine and watering it down. One should check with their Rabbi to found out what is preferable as far as mixing wine with water but most allow it. There are different ratios of wine to water allowed but some allow even 50/50 or 60/ 40 which leaves us with not that much total wine. The amount of matzo that we need to eat is quite high; however the rest of the meal can be balanced with delicious salads as opposed to additional carbs.

We need to take a second look at food and understand our goals. G-D has given us a world with an abundance of fresh produce. Never in history has the world known the kind of affluence that we have today. Yet there is also an abundance of stress, which is one of the strongest factors leading to many chronic conditions such as diabetes—so get out and walk, keep smiling, and make small changes one step at a time.

*one should not make any changes in their regimen without checking with their health care team
Copyright © 2010 Jewish Diabetes Association/Nechama Cohen

Please insert your email: nechama@jewishdiabetes.org

SZH

Wed, Mar 24 2010, 9:12 am

my biggest issue is pre-pesach with being over tiered I turn to junk for energy

ora_43

Wed, Mar 24 2010, 9:22 am

Don't waste the egg yolks. Fat isn't always bad, it's what helps us feel full.

I don't have any special Pesach tips. Same as any time - if you must snack, snack on vegetables, eat a balanced diet, eat slowly and stop when you're full. There's no need to treat Pesach differently than any other time of year, IMO.

As for exercise, decide in advance when you'll exercise, then you don't run into the issue of never finding time. Work in reverse - for example, if you want to exercise on erev chag, you'll have to start cooking two days earlier, etc.

groisamomma

Wed, Mar 24 2010, 9:36 am

The only veg dh allows on pesach are potatoes, onions and romaine lettuce. I subsist on that and matza. Egg white and potato kugel-pan fry (no oil, use teflon pot with sprinkle of water on very low) and add those onions to kugel to make it tastier.

I make tons of applesauce, baked apple slices coated with cinnamon (for me and kids-dh won't touch anything but salt and sugar on pesach), broil all your chicken to reduce fat intake, stay away from ALL pesach snacks and cakes.

Also- make egg salad with one yolk for every five egg whites- it should last for two/three breakfasts with matza.

Do you eat cottage cheese on pesach? Eat that with matza, or scrambled egg whites with onions (omelette), etc.

As for exercise, I simply don't have the time on pesach, so I will I"H try to go to a nearby park with the kids and take along their bikes while I run alongside them. If you don't have time for any exercise, try to reduce the calorie intake over pesach, so exercise won't be as necessary. Easy for me to say, I know. Smile

Best of luck to all us dieters!!

P.S. Does anyone know how many points potato starch is on Weight Watchers?

chocolate moose

Wed, Mar 24 2010, 9:52 am

It's more what you eat than exercising, but of course both play a part. I exercise when I wake up anyway so chol hamoed will be no different.

For me, I cram the cooking into two days so my back and legs anyway hurt; I don't go to the gym or do an exercise videos during that time - it's just too much for me.

Are you eating a lot of chocolate and fried foods during Pesach? You might want to rethink that. Can you get yourself more fruit? Are you full on salads and soup ?

During yomtov, can you find the time for a walk, even if it's short ? One friend told me she always walks after each of the meals, instead of sleeping.

I think you have to work within the system and not beat yourself up about it. Missing a workout or 2 won't make you fat; and eating a few large meals won't either.

raizy

Wed, Mar 24 2010, 5:29 pm

never just pour oil from the bottle measure it out.you will be surprised that u use less oil like that not more. when u just pour u might over use it.

flowerpower

Wed, Mar 24 2010, 11:15 pm

I am nervous about it too. Here is what I will try to do-eat a normal healthy fulling breakfast and snack on fruits or nuts and then eat a normal dinner with vegetables as a main dish. Only ww matzo and low cal grape juice. Exercize will be hard to do.