How to deal with Shabbos: healthier eating starts now

Shabbos, it happens every week. When dieting, most people I know chose to ignore the day. I have been one of those people most of my life. Shabbos was always, a free for all, eat drink as much as you want. Limiting would detract from the Shabbos experience. I agreed with that for many years. But when I began to be more serious about weight loss, I knew I had to start adjusting my behaviors.

However, I didn’t want to DIET on Shabbos. Shabbos in its most basic sense is a day of rest. But its more than that it is a day we elevate beyond the physical realm and attain a surreal sense of peace, contentment and joy. And I don’t know of any more meaningful medium for experiencing that except food.

There has to be more, because if over eating makes me unhealthy than it cant make me truly happy, peaceful or content. So I started thinking to myself how can I limit out limiting.

I went back to my primary principles of dieting which are positive. If I eat all the food I need to eat I won’t have room for bad things.

Here are the strategies I starting employing that really helped:

1. Add more veggies as a fillers to meals: Unlike week day meals Shabbos meals are different in that they have choices. I often have two or more choices or proteins, and carbs. By adding more veggie options I have more of an opportunity to fill up on vegges.
2. Start with a clear broth soup: fills you up and just plain delicious.
3. Eat whole grains:  As much as this hurts sometimes I have cut back on my potato intake and looks toward, buckwheat, brown rice and other options that are simply healthier.
4. Take a walk: I have tried to get out more on Shabbos, sitting around is not healthy for me or my kids
5. Make only one dessert: if I only have one I am more conscience of how far it goes over the weekend
6. Cut the excess: Most meals start with what my husband and I call the never ending salad course. We get straight to the point and eat the food we want (usually the chicken), instead of sitting around eating mindlessly.
7. Watch how many portions: I don’t pull out a measuring cup like the rest of the week, but I watch how many times I fill my plate.

I don’t think people should get obsessed with dieting to never have a day off. But I think more people are not having that problem, rather they like myself take too many days off. I have been trying to refocus my Shabbos, and remember that it is a spiritual event and maybe edge away from all of the physical manifestations. So that I may enjoy 120 years of Shabbosim.

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The Problem Of Sundays

I hate Sundays. Why? because its after shabbos. As a religious Jew I observe the day of rest as carefully as possible, which is a wonderful relief from the go go action of the week. Its one of the few time a week I can just chill out with my family, take pleasure walks and not feel rushed. The problem is that it is religiously mandated to eat at least three meals. Halachically what constitutes a meal is ritually washing hands and eating bread. But shabbos meals have gone far far beyond that simple definition into the realms of gorge fests.

All week long I am denying my self the wonderful things and then shabbos comes along and all inhibitions go out the window. Cake, cookies, sweets, meat, soda, you name it is on the table. Now because I am committed to losing weight and being a healthier person I have begun transforming my shabbos meals into healthier options. For example I always have two vegetable options that are low fat, so I eat my meal but make sure that at least half my plate is filled with veggies. I stay away from potatoes making brown rice instead. And we don’t fry anything, eventhough I dream of snitzel.

Yet Sundays are still the problem despite my changes I still know I am over eating, which means Sunday when I go back to measuring my food and no junk is all around a sucky day. I don’t want to limit myself on shabbos yet, its still my release day. But I know that I need to do something because Sundays are unbearable.

Hopefully I will grow into my healthy lifestyle to enjoy special food on shabbos and not overindulge. Like have one cookie and that’s it.

I am just going to keep trying until I get it right

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