In a culture with many components centered around food, it’s important to have health in mind.
FOR KOSHER
Once I became restricted to Kosher, I really didn’t want to pile on a lot of other restrictions. I can hear many of you yelling: what do you mean- being kosher isn’t a restriction; and you’re such a good cook- what do you mean restriction? Well, guess what. Being kosher restricts what you eat and how you eat it-even how what you eat is slaughtered and then treated to be deemed kosher. I’m not saying this is a bad thing or that there aren’t compelling religious and philosophical reasons for doing so; but being kosher is a restriction. So- if I don’t want to only use whole grains all the time, if I want to use non-dairy margarine rather than just oil, if I enjoy using prepared frozen pareve puff pastry in addition to filo dough I will do so without guilt. Eating healthy requires a balanced diet. Eat vegetables, fruits, more chicken than red meat, fish, some cheese, and a little dessert and you’ll be fine. You’re not going to eat a whole cheesecake (I hope), you’re going to have a slice or a spoonful, a piece of pie not the whole pie, one or two cookies-not the whole plate. Eat in moderation and you can enjoy everything.
FOR GLORIA PERSONALLY
For a while, my son checked the calories of everything he ate with an App on his phone. He only ate scooped out bagels and naturally the bagels were whole wheat. Fortunately, the calorie counting stopped-at least overtly. I have to admit that I’m not a devote of whole wheat bread or pasta. I can get into multi grain and I now use more brown rice than white. Basically, food deprivation doesn’t make me happy.
