Take Very Good
Care of YourselvesDeuteronomy 4:15

BSD
 
Slimming Down for Summer the JDA way!
Introduction
The Jewish community seems to be in real nutritional danger. This is not danger from those who seek to destroy us. We have become a serious danger to ourselves.
 
The Jewish calendar is filled with beautiful holidays almost every two months, each which is celebrated with elaborate meals. Yet, somehow, we have failed to understand that while we should definitely eat and be joyous, we have a responsibility to eat properly and take care of ourselves. Taking care of ourselves is a Torah commandment. It is an obligation that is incumbent upon us and is the motto for the Jewish Diabetes Association--the largest international health organization today helping the Jewish community deal with diabetes and related health issues. Eating jelly donuts during Chanukah or cheesecake during Shavuot is customary, but never at the expense of our health.
 
Losing Weight the Healthy Way
Living a healthy lifestyle is about finding balance. Learning where and how to trim can make a difference in one’s attitude. Here’s a point that bears repeating: Slow and steady weight loss is long-term weight loss. While it’s tempting to try to shed the pounds in a matter of days or weeks, losing weight too quickly can be self-defeating. When you lose too fast, you often end up rebounding to a weight that is higher than when you started out. Have you ever wondered why?
 
Rapid weight loss can lead to a loss of lean muscle mass in addition to fat. When you lose muscle, you decrease your metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn while sleeping). A decrease in metabolic rate can make it harder to lose the pounds that you gain when you occasionally fall off the diet wagon. Also, when you put some weight back on, you’ll be tempted to find another quick diet fix – a phenomenon called yo-yo dieting. Yo-yo dieters have a hard time keeping the weight off, and recent studies have found that doing this is also extremely unhealthy and hard on the cardiovascular system.
 
I find it almost ironic that brain cells, if for some reason die, have a very hard time replenishing. Fat cells,however, once born, never die. When you lose weight rapidly, they starve shrink and then as soon as you reverse to your hold habits of eating, they grab up whatever they can find. You need to train your body to adjust slowly. This way, you’ll have a better chance of keeping the weight off. After you have been eating healthily for a while, your weight might reach a plateau and sit there for a while. When this happens, the worst thing you can do is get discouraged.
 
If your regimen is combined with exercise, you may be losing inches and gaining muscle (which weighs more than fat). At this point, your health-care professional can suggest different ways to get your weight moving in the right direction again. Remember, it took you years to put the weight on – it’s not going to disappear overnight.
Presented here is an introduction to some of the options available for anyone who must lower his carbohydrate and/or fat consumption. Together with a nutritionist or health-care team, you will choose what’s best for you.
 
Believe it or not, there are people out there that do not need to lose weight, but as we age there is a natural tendency to add on pounds almost ten pounds a year can easily creep up without even noticing it. Thin people also do not have a guarantee with health issues. By not being overweight they are eliminating only one of the risk factors that are associated with diabetes and other health related issues nd they need to know how to stay healthy and which risk factors pertain to them. Educate yourself. Use your common sense. Any regimen that restricts entire food groups or foods that you know are good for you (such as fruits, vegetables or whole grains) should raise a red flag. For those of you who are trying to lose weight, remember that most fad diets create some kind of nutritional deficit.
 
This will lead to weight loss, but what price will you pay and how long will it last? Stick with regimens that safely reduce your weight to a reasonable level, don’t leave you starving, and are easy to maintain.
 
Again, choose moderation. Carbs aren’t bad. Fat isn’t bad. Protein isn’t bad. But too much of these can lead to weight gain and/or hinder weight loss! Lack of certain nutrients can be detrimental as well. Under the right guidance, try and create a realistic, healthy regimen for yourself that you can follow. One of the strongest indications of whether or not a regimen is for you is to realistically assess how long you can keep it up. If you cannot follow it long term, forget it. You will end up regaining all the pounds that you worked so hard to shed and undo all the health benefits you began to see.
 
What small changes can you make for a healthier lifestyle? You probably want safe, lasting weight reduction or maintenance. However, remember that you are looking for a better lifestyle, not simply a diet. A diet is usually something temporary; and if you look at it as temporary, you are bound to slip back into your old, less healthy lifestyle once you have reached your weight goal.
 
Since eating too much and/or eating the wrong kinds of carbs and fats are the main cause of obesity today, a complete overview will be presented over the following weeks.
 
 
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recently reported that deaths due to poor diet and physical inactivity rose by 33 percent over the past decade and may soon overtake tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death. There has been a great increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes, with the age of onset getting younger all the time.
 
The ADA says that approximately 64 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, and Americans are growing heavier every year. Obesity is the leading controllable risk factor for type 2 diabetes, which makes it no surprise that the rate of type 2 diabetes is increasing as well.
 
Being overweight may also increase the likelihood of developing other diabetes health related conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, gall bladder disease, osteoarthritis, and some types of cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the incidence of diabetes and diabetes health related conditions has jumped nearly 50 percent in the past 10 years and is expected to increase another 165 percent by 2050 if it keeps up at the same rate. Results from the CDC’s Diabetes Prevention Program showed that a person at high risk for developing diabetes could delay or prevent its onset by almost 60 percent over a 3-year period by losing initially only 10-15 percent of his or her weight and exercising 30 minutes a day, at least 5 times a week. Furthermore, even modest weight loss for an overweight person with type 2 diabetes can improve his or her blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
 
About 15 percent of children today are overweight. That’s four times as many as there were thirty years ago. The numbers are stunning, but the trend can be reversed. The ADA has also reported the findings of a study which found that over half the eighth grade children surveyed in America had one or more health problems – such as overweight, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and blood glucose abnormalities that put them at high risk for diabetes and premature cardiovascular disease.
 
Children and Obesity
One-third of the mothers and half the fathers of these children, who were themselves either overweight or obese, rated their own size as “about right.” And one-third of the obese girls and half of the obese boys also were rated by their parents as “about right”. In addition, a British study found that most parents of obese children were unaware that their children’s weight was above normal. This means that what a large portion of the general public may consider to be normal weight is seen by the medical community as hazardous. As a service to our children and ourselves, we must increase our awareness and knowledge in order to start making major changes.
 
First, no-carb diets are not good for kids. They need good carbs, such as whole grains, certain cereals, most fruits, vegetables and dairy products in the right amounts – combined with the correct amount of protein, fat and fiber. Kids should be avoiding foods that contain large quantities of sugar, salt and hydrogenated oil. They provide nothing but empty calories and teach kids to prefer sweeter, higher fat foods. Don’t let them eat while they are reading or sitting in front of the computer, as they will almost always end up consuming more than they should.
 
Second, forget what your mother told you – it’s really okay for kids not to clean their plates. Knowing when to stop eating is an important skill in weight management. Don’t tell them about the kids that are starving in Africa – one day mothers in Africa will be telling their kids about the children in the West who are eating themselves sick!
 
Third, keep them moving. They don’t burn many calories sitting in front of a computer or reading. Most babies are active on their own, but as kids get older, they’ll most likely look to you for guidance. If staying in good shape is important to you, most likely it will be the same for your children. If you stay fit, you will be setting an example that lasts a lifetime.
 
We often find ourselves worrying more about our children than ourselves, but we really should make healthy choices for our own good. Children tend to eat whatever is available and to copy what adults do. If you are always grabbing the “fast food” choices, your children most likely will do the same.
 
Although some of these foods are truly convenient, we can easily get into the habit of having healthier “grabs” on hand, with preparation and a little forethought. Having a family is a commitment for life. We are well aware of our responsibility to pass on to our children our values and beliefs. But it’s also our duty to teach them, through our example, the lessons of healthy eating. Since so much of our family life revolves around food, let’s make sure that our kids are getting a healthy message!
 
 
It is easy for us to tell people that th need to make lifestyle changes, even telling them how is not difficult. But we need to give them the hands on tools to be able to really get started and stay with it---that is what the Jewish Diabetes Association has been doing since 1985. This updated web site is fast becoming a real hands on tool to healthier living and keeping up to date on all the news that will help one get by.
 
Now with EnLITEned Kosher Cooking one really has a large variety of choices for Shabbos, holidays, entertaining or even stay home by yourself quick meals. Everything that you will see here for the next few weeks are compliments of the Jewish Diabetes Association and EnLITEned Kosher Cooking. It is much more than just a cook book; it is loaded with tips and starts with a full introduction to healthier living choices and the appendix is packed with lists and charts that will guide you right in to and through the process of choosing the right choices for you, and help you slim down for the summer and stay that way forever.
 
One of the most important steps to healthy food choices and correct eating is portion control. We are proud of the way each recipe in our book is broken down in to portion sizes and amounts of servings per recipe. Just knowing the nutrition facts for dishes is never enough you need to always remember the portion size that they pertain to if not it is easy to eat three or even four times the amount of the nutrition facts for a particular food or recipe. The same goes for store bought and packaged food.
 
Eyeballing Food for Portion Size
 
Food = approximate size
The Jewish Diabetes Association (JDA) has extended its wonderful work to Israel. It has been recently reported that in Israel, where there is the largest concentration of Jewish people with statistics there has been an almost 70% increase of diagnosed diabetes in these past four years bringing the reported cases to over one million people with an estimated 800,000 with pre diabetes or undiagnosed diabetes. This is a frightening example for the Jewish community worldwide. We are well aware that diabetes is high in numbers among ethnic communities. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact numbers in the Jewish community due to the lack of specified research. The genetic factor becomes difficult to determine due to the Holocaust. With all this in mind it is incumbent upon the JDA and the community to become actively involved in research. Therefore the JDA has started work in that venue. For more info on this please contact us.
 
copyright Jewish Diabetes Association updated June 2018