Body and Soul: The Torah Path to Health, Fitness, and a Holy Life

 

Body and Soul: The Torah Path to Health, Fitness, and a Holy Life by Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld (Author), Dr. Daniel Grove MD (Author) is a good practical book about getting healthier despite being part of a culture and society that promotes overeating. 

Yes, I said it. Traditional Jewish life, nowadays isn't very healthy, and to be honest secular life isn't any better. One big difference is that eating plays a major part in Jewish Life, and most people would be embarrassed to serve a meal that looks "frugal," which can be a negative way of describing a healthy meal or kiddush.

Body and Soul conveniently includes an extensive section with the calorie count of favorite Jewish foods including things like gefilte fish and kreplach.

Personally, I've spent my entire life trying to keep my weight down, and usually failing, though I don't eat the sort of menu Seinfeld and Grove consider typical. I hate to think of what I would look like and my health if I ate that typical high sugar and fat menu.

Early in Body and Soul we read of the dangers of sugars, yes, there are many different kinds, and the many seemingly "healthy" foods rich in it. Rabbi Seinfeld and Dr. Grove also explain how to calculate the amount of calories each individual needs to maintain present weight and a realistic amount to reduce to lose weight safely. 

Because food and ritual eating is such an intrinsic part of Judaism, Body and Soul definitely has a market. Rabbi Seinfeld and Dr. Grove have written a very Jewish diet guide including typical, for many frum people, Shabbat/Chag menus, including what one noshes on at a kiddush. If you pencil in the calorie counts (from the guide at the end of the book) next to what you normally eat and then add it up, the chances are that you'd be horrified.

My most successful weight loss periods were when I kept a food chart, writing down what and how much I ate, plus the calorie counts. If you use a smart phone, that may be the best tool. There's probably an app which will make it easier. Rabbi Seinfeld and Dr. Grove also say that you really must know and keep track of what you eat. One of their tips is not to take second portions. For many people that makes a big difference in total calorie intake. And your total calorie intake is what's most important.

I would just like to add one of my suggestions. Simplify what you serve; make life easier and healthier. Don't give too many choices, because most people will try everything and eat more than they should. Serve just one carbohydrate. There's no reason to have both potato kugel and roasted potatoes. If you follow the custom of two and three kugel Shabbat, make spinach kugel, carrot kugel, along with either a noodle or potato kugel. There's no need to have three types of fleishik. One's enough, especially if you've started the meal with the first course of fish. Make lots of fresh salad and a choice of simple vegetables, no sugar/jam/honey added.  

Body and Soul: The Torah Path to Health, Fitness, and a Holy Life is a very readable book and can really help people by opening their eyes and making them aware of what's in the food they eat. I recommend it as a very good start in improving one's and one's family's life and health.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Jewish Spiritual Literacy Press (June 1, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 510 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1680259156
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1680259155

Making Kitchen Progress, Who Wants These?

One of my tasks before redoing the kitchen, Gd willing, is to get rid of things that have been in it for decades, which I don't use.  And like many people, especially experienced and confident cooks, I don't open my old cookbooks.

Way back when I did love and utilize cookbooks, I'd frequently read them cover to cover and then internalize general principles. Except for cakes, I'd very rarely follow a recipe exactly. Besides eliminating or seriously reducing the amount of salt and other seasonings, it was usually impossible to find all of the ingredients in my pantry/kitchen. I became a "housewife" in late June,1970, and two months later we docked in Israel. Post-tzenna* Israel had plenty of food, but not all of the the ingredients in the American recipes.

My mother bought/sent me not only cookbooks, but lots of books about natural health, dieting, pregnancy and child-raising. I added many books and health/vegetarian magazines to the collection. But it has been a very long time, decades, since any of them have been opened and read. When I need a recipe, instead of taking down a few books, going through the index, putting small pieces of paper to mark the pages and then reading and comparing, I just check with Chef Google. Isn't that what almost everyone does?

So, as I've planned and envisioned my new kitchen, the bookshelves** will morph into my coffee corner. Gd willing in a few months, maybe by my next birthday, we'll be seeing my percolator, French Presses and coffee mugs on those shelves.

I've already given away more than half of the actual cookbooks. If anyone is interested in any of the remaining books, please come and get them.

*צנע tzenna or zenna, was the term for the austerity days of great financial difficulties and hardships in the early years of the State of Israel. The population grew dramatically, as Jews from all over the world hurried to our Historic Homeland. Basic food items were rationed, and families/citizens were given coupons to try to make it possible to share the limited supplies.

** That wall closet is to be re-doored with new formica to match the new cabinets on the other walls.