How to Enjoy Healthy and Delicious Food During the Holidays – Part One

The Jewish holidays are known for joy, feasts, and the special foods of each celebration. Once you understand the principles of healthy eating, you can incorporate them into your holiday meals. Yes, you can definitely enjoy healthy, tasty, and nutritious food during the holidays!

The benefit is two-fold. Firstly, eating healthy will make you feel better during the holiday. You'll feel lighter. Think about the heaviness after a too-rich meal. Eating in moderation makes you feel good and gives you more energy and zest for studying, family, or other joyful activities.

Secondly, eating right saves you the need for a post-holiday diet. How many times have we said "I'll start a diet after the holidays..."? If you eat right, maintain a healthy weight, and save the need for a future diet, b'ezrat Hashem (with God's help).

The goal is to make healthy eating a delicious and enjoyable lifestyle that leads to balanced weight, eliminating the need for a diet, b'ezrat Hashem.

The phrase "A healthy mind in a healthy body" is so true. It is important to celebrate and rejoice the soul during the holiday, but when the body is healthy, we achieve the health of both body and soul, b'ezrat Hashem. The Creator has given us the body as a gift. It's the dwelling where the soul resides, the divine spark given to us with His great kindness and grace. Eating correctly and healthily will only make it easier for the soul to achieve its best tikkun (correction), b'ezrat Hashem.

So how to eat healthy, especially during the holidays? How to implement it practically?

1. Read the article onMediterranean Diet based on the "7 Countries Study," a comprehensive international study proving Maimonides' recommendations.
2. Prefer healthy fats – Yes, there are healthy fats, like whole sesame tahini. It's important to note that this tahini contains nearly six times more calcium than "regular" tahini. If you're "worried" about the taste, you can add garlic, lemon, and other spices like cumin, in addition to salt and pepper, making the full tahini taste like the regular one.
3. Healthy fats also include avocados – you can make a variety of salads from them.
4. Unsalted and unroasted nuts and almonds – A handful provides essential fatty acids for the body. They should be unsalted and unroasted because the salting and roasting processes damage the fatty acids we're aiming for. Therefore, it's also better not to bake them (like in nut cakes) but to eat them in their natural form. They upgrade salads and add a special taste. Eating a handful each time, up to two or three times a day, doesn't pose a weight gain risk because the body breaks down the small amount of fatty acids into energy, so they're less likely to accumulate as body fat.
5. Prefer healthy oils – like cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, sesame oil, or even coconut oil or grape seed oil. The oils should be cold-pressed (heat damages fatty acids). Avoid refined industrial oils like canola, soybean, or sunflower oils because they are industrialized, processed, and undergo production processes that harm fatty acids.
6. Diversify salads and include them in every meal – Vegetables contain vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibers essential for the proper functioning of all body systems. The holiday is a great opportunity to diversify salads and surprise family and yourself with new and creative flavors! Fresh salads can be made from carrots, beets, cabbage, and more! This is beyond the familiar tomato and cucumber salad... A warm recommendation: Go to the market or supermarket, find special vegetables and fruits like pomegranates and yellow figs, or alternatively see which ones are on sale, then find new recipes online or from neighbors for the new vegetables and fruits. The Creator blessed our land with an abundance of fruits and vegetables, and it's worth enjoying them. Since it's a Shmita year, it's important to buy from places that adhere to the Shmita laws and to see which fruits and vegetables can be eaten, b'ezrat Hashem.
7. It's also recommended to add vegetables to sandwiches, for instance, making them healthier and more filling.
8. Avoid or reduce sugar and sweets such as sugar, cakes, pastries, etc. Prefer fruits, dates, and even silan (date syrup), organic maple syrup, or honey in small quantities over sugar. They can also be combined in cakes, cookies, and other pastries, reducing or eliminating the amount of sugar listed in the recipe. It's recommended to prefer real brown sugar over white sugar – though it, too, should be reduced as much as possible. There are various pastries that can be made with silan, maple syrup, or honey. It's better to prefer true pure honey. It's more expensive, but it contains more nutritional values than the "regular" honey sold in the supermarket.

Good luck!

Noa Roll specializes in healthy nutrition and personalized women's naturopathy. Founder of the "Directions" Center.