Healthy Holiday Tips

It's so easy to put on weight during the holidays. The table is heavy with plates of delicious food. And soon after we've digested one meal, it seems like another is on the way!


Here are some tips for smart holiday eating:


1. Eat something light before Erev Chag so you won't be really really hungry when you sit down to dinner. Fresh fruit, vegetables and yogurt are good choices.


2. There's something satisfying about a full dinner plate. So go ahead and fill up your plate using this rule of thumb: Fill up half of your plate with vegetables, a quarter with whole-grain carbohydrate and the remaining quarter with low-fat protein.

3. Avoid fatty gravy and sauces. Trim the fat and skin from red meat and chicken.

4. Save on calories by drinking water rather than juice. And don't overdo it on wine.

5. If you have the option, choose fruit for dessert. Or take a small portion of cake or pastry.


6. Take a brisk half hour walk before Erev Chag and on both days of Rosh Hashanah.

7. Don't be tempted to nibble on leftovers. Pack them up for the freezer, set them aside for another meal or give them away.

8. If you've overeaten during the holidays, don't let guilt feelings get you down. Get right back on track with healthy eating, exercise and a positive attitude.

9. Relax and enjoy the holiday!

WISHING ALL OF YOU A SHANAH TOVAH U'METUKAH - A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SWEET NEW YEAR.

Simanim Part II

Here are the brachot (blessings) and the "requests" said with each of the Simanim before the main Rosh Hashanah meal.

After Hamotzi and before eating the main holiday meal, say the following:

Date (tamar)

Say the blessing borei pri ha’etz and eat a date; then take another date and recite: May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that they (our enemies) cease to exist
(yitamu sounds like tamar).

Take a vegetable (not one of the symbolic ones below) and recite the blessing borei pri ha’adamah, while having in mind the other vegetables that will be eaten.

Leeks (karte)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that they be decimated (she’ikartu sounds like karte) – our foes and our enemies and all who seek our harm.

Beet greens or Swiss chard (selek)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that they be removed (yistalek sounds like selek) – our foes and our enemies and all who seek our harm.

Black-eyed peas (rubiya)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that our merits increase like rubiya.

Winter squash (kara)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that You tear up (sh’tikra sounds like kara) the evil edict of our judgment; and may our merits be declared before You.

Pomegranate (rimon)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that our merits be plentiful as the seeds of a pomegranate.

Head of a lamb or fish (rosh)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that we be like a head and not like a tail.

Apple dipped in honey
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that there be renewed for us a good and sweet year, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.

(Translations are from The Orot Sephardic Rosh Hashannah Mahazor, Orot, Inc. 1996)

Baked Chicken and Rice

I enjoy cooking. So I'm looking forward to cooking for Rosh Hashanah. What's harder for me is the planning. I just don't feel relaxed until I've planned at least the basics of the menu. Not that I follow it precisely. But having something written down helps me feel organized and ready to go.

A week or so ago I started browsing through cookbooks for new ideas. The order form from our organic farm co-op just came, so I'm deciding on fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs. They don't have everything we need, so I'm making a list for the green-grocer. And another for the grocery store.

It's still quite hot here in Beer Sheva, so we're skipping soup this year. We'll have the Simanim, cooked as salads or side dishes: black-eyed peas in tomato sauce, braised beet greens, and leeks cooked with Indian spices. The butternut squash may go into sambousek - small pastries made with an olive oil dough. The trick is to make them this week, freeze them and bake them before dinner.

We're having chicken for dinner and salmon for lunch.

Here's an easy chicken recipe that you might want to try for Rosh Hashanah. It uses brown rice and Sephardic-style seasonings, including baharat, a Mediterranean blend that often includes cinnamon, cloves and chili peppers.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, minced
1 1/2 cups brown rice, rinsed
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground baharat (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups water
2 1/2 to 3 pounds (1 to 1 1/2 kilo) chicken, cut into pieces and skin removed

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 Celcius).

Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the onion, stirring, until golden. Put the onion into a large shallow baking dish or casserole. Add the rice to the onions and mix together.

Mix the spices and salt in a small bowl. Set aside a few teaspoons of the mixture and add the remaining spices to the water. Pour this over the rice in the baking dish. Place the chicken pieces on top and sprinkle with the remaining spice mixture.

Cover tightly and bake for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and browned.

Serves 4 to 6

Rosh Hashanah - Simanim Part I

Ask anyone what foods they associate with Rosh Hashanah and the answer you’re likely to get is “apples and honey.”

Would anyone say black-eyed peas? Or beet greens?

Not that long ago, I certainly wouldn’t have thought of these as Jewish holiday foods.

Weren’t black-eyed peas “soul food” in the U.S.? And who ate the tops of beets? I remember seeing them once in my mother’s borscht.

Then I moved to Israel and learned about Simanim – traditional foods eaten on Erev Rosh Hashanah. The Talmud mentions five of them: Gourds (winter squash), black-eyed peas, leeks, beet greens and dates. We arrange these on our holiday table, along with a pomegranate, fish head, apples and honey.

Each food symbolizes a wish for the coming year, based on its Hebrew or Aramaic name.

Since the Simanim are all seasonal, healthy and delicious foods, I incorporate them into our holiday meal. They make wonderful salads and side dishes that compliment our main course of poultry or fish. Add whole-wheat challah, a light soup and fresh fruit for dessert and you’ve got a healthy gourmet holiday meal - a wonderful start to the New Year!

Here's a holiday recipe for beet greens. You can use Swiss chard as well:

BRAISED BEET GREENS OR SWISS CHARD (PARVE)

2 pounds (1 kilo) beet greens or Swiss chard, washed and checked well
1 medium onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon each ground cumin and coriander
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Slice the greens, including the stems, into ribbons, about an inch (2 to 3 cm) wide.

Put them into a pan with the remaining ingredients. Cover tightly and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, or until the greens are very soft and silky. Stir occasionally and add more water if necessary to prevent sticking. If the greens are too watery, uncover the pan and cook for a little longer. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 4-6

The beautiful watercolor above is courtesy of Beer Sheva artist Ruth Gresser. To see more of Ruth's art, visit her website at: http://www.ruthgresser-ruthart.com/home/

Rosh Hashanah - Starting Early

In Israel, you can feel the New Year coming. Evenings are finally cooling down. Calendars are in the mail. Stores are displaying local wines and honey.

At the green-grocer, peaches and nectarines are being replaced by fresh figs and dates, apples and pears. Green beans and leeks are here. My son just brought home his kibbutz’s gift of organic pomegranates, spices and dates.

Families are making plans. Not for vacations, but for meals. Who’s eating where? When you have married children, it’s an issue. Grandmothers, aunts, cousins all need to be consulted. And it always works out. With nearly a month of holidays, there are plenty of meals to share.

This year we’ve invited a delightful young couple from Oregon who just made aliyah. Annie is a medical student in the Columbia-Ben Gurion program. Her husband Shimron is a chef. As a former Oregonian, I’m familiar with some of the chefs he worked with back home – top notch restaurateurs known for their innovative use of fresh local ingredients.

You can imagine how excited I was when Shimron offered to help us cook for the holidays. I’m looking forward to my first time in the kitchen with a real professional.

We haven’t yet decided on a menu, but it’s not too early to think about dessert. On Rosh Hashanah, my mother’s honey cake is a given. It can be baked several weeks in advance, wrapped well and kept in the freezer. Since honey is a natural preservative, you can even leave this cake at room temperature for a week or two, providing it is carefully wrapped.

Mom’s Honey Cake (Parve)

2 cups honey
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup strong hot coffee (brewed or instant)
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Generously spray a large bundt pan or two 9 × 5” (23 x 13 cm) loaf pans with baking
spray.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 Centigrade)

Heat the honey in a very large pan until it begins to bubble slightly. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the baking soda. The mixture will bubble and foam up to the top of the pan. Stir in the coffee and set the mixture aside to cool.

Whisk together the flour and spices and set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat the eggs until creamy. Add the sugar, a little at a time, until the mixture is thick and pale. Add the cooled honey and the flour mixture alternately to the eggs, a little at a time, mixing on low speed to combine. Pour the mixture into the baking pan(s) and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the pan. The cake should start to come away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out dry when ready.

Cool the cake(s) on a wire rack.

Serves 12 to 16

Get Yourself a Professional!

Israelis are big on alternative medicine. Our major health care providers offer alternative treatments such as acupuncture, shiatsu, biofeedback, Chinese medicine and homeopathy.

So I wasn’t surprised to read that 14% of Israelis seek nutrition and diet advice from alternative practitioners. The good news is that 76% go to registered dietitians. 7% talk with their physicians and the remaining 3% seek “others”.

I worry about some of the alternative practitioners and the “others”. Many of them have little or no formal training in nutrition science.

How many times have I heard health-food store clerks casually recommend food supplements?

What about a nutrition evaluation based on looking into your eyes? Or diet recommendations made on the basis of your blood type or your personality?

If only it were so easy!

Fortunately, plenty of qualified people are available to advise you on questions of diet and health.

In the U.S., you can seek out an RD – a registered dietitian. The American Dietetic Association awards this credential to those of us who have passed an exam after finishing academic coursework and an internship. To maintain registration, you’ve got to keep up professionally with continuing education.

In Israel, the Health Ministry – משרד הבריאות sets standards for practicing dietetics. We also have Atid – עטיד, an organization that promotes education for nutrition professionals.

If you’re really serious about getting good nutrition advice, see a professional.

Raw or Cooked?

Last night I spoke about my book at the O-U Center in Jerusalem. It was a lovely group of people, including old friends and new faces.

Here is one of the questions I was asked:

"Is it better to eat vegetables raw or cooked?"

We know it’s good to eat lots of vegetables, but is one way of preparing them better than another? How can you best preserve their nutrients?

First of all, vegetables have to taste good. Otherwise you wouldn’t want to eat them at all. That may mean adding herbs, salt, olive oil or salad dressing to perk up your vegetables. Full-fat salad dressing and avocado added to vegetable salad actually increases the absorption of many nutrients in salads. Add nuts and seeds for a similar effect.

Raw foods are not necessarily better than cooked. Cooking breaks down the thick cell walls of plants, making their nutrients more "accessible". For instance, cooked tomatoes (as in sauce) have a much higher content of the antioxidant lycopene than fresh tomatoes.

Every preparation method has its pros and cons.

Raw carrots are high in polyphenols but low in carotenoids. Boil them and you lose most of the polyphenols while increasing the carotenoids.

Broccoli retains most of its vitamin C when microwaved or pressure cooked. Steam or boil it and you’ll lose more of the vitamin.

When carrots, zucchini and broccoli were tested, they retained more of their nutrients when boiled, compared to steamed, fried or raw.

And don’t store your vegetables and fruits for very long. They lose nutrients over time in the refrigerator and the freezer.

What’s the best strategy?

Eat a wide variety of vegetables.

Include vegetables and fruit in every meal.

Vary your cooking methods.