Tuesday, August 31, 2004

The Torah's Teaching on Healthy Living, Gluttany and Weight Loss

About three weeks ago I posted musings on what the Torah teaches us about how to treat our bodies. Because I have little to no work to do and MoC and Baynonim apparently have too much to do to keep me entertained with their blogs, I decided to research the issue online. I figured a good place to start would be with Moses... Ask Moses, that is.

Here's a great answer by S. Crispe, B. Erdstein and A. Trugman in response to the question, "Can I eat as much glatt [sic] kosher ice cream as I like?" Please read the whole response, it's very good. In short, the respondents write,

According to strict dietary laws of kashrut, one may eat as much ice cream as one wants. There is no requirement among the laws of kashrut to eat healthy, balanced meals. Although in theory one could eat as much as one wants, there could be two possible problems to this. The first one is in regard to the Torah commandment to “guard your soul,” which has been interpreted by our Sages to mean to guard one’s self from a wide range of activities and life styles that harm and endanger health. If one is overweight to the point that it is a health hazard then over eating could be transgressing this commandment. A product’s definition as being kosher only defines whether it can or cannot be eaten according to Jewish law. How, when and where we eat entails a whole other set of commandments from the Torah and the Sages.

Hashem wants us to eat, and He wants us to use the energy we gain through our consumption of food to keep His commandments and illuminate the world around us. Someone is eating in a manner which is unhealthy, then he or she is misusing and misunderstanding the point of why the ice cream is kosher. We must not only focus on what we can eat, but the entire purpose of why we eat and how we are intended to eat.

In response to the question, "How is kosher spiritual? The food seems so unhealthy and unrefined," Nechama Dina Kumer writes,

If "kosher" means having cream cheese and lox for breakfast, cholent with kishke for lunch, and schwarma and falafel for dinner, then this would not be the most healthful diet to choose on a daily basis. Fortunately, these foods have little to do with living a kosher lifestyle, but rather are some of the existing traditional Jewish foods. (And traditional Jewish foods are not always kosher, by the way—always check for certification!) Ideally, one should choose to eat a kosher, healthy and balanced diet that, when appropriate, can include these not-always-so-low-in-calories traditional foods. G-d does want us to keep our bodies healthy, as He commanded us "you must carefully preserve the soul," which includes making healthy lifestyle choices.

Nechama Dina Kumer also answers the question, "Are weight loss diets kosher?":

To know whether a weight loss diet is “kosher,” you must examine the motivating factor behind the diet, its means, and its end.

With eating kosher as a prerequisite, there is also a commandment to "carefully preserve one's soul" which means to maintain one's physical health and avoid doing things that endangers it. So, if a person diets to lose weight and thereby make his or her body healthier, then this is a kosher diet. If a diet is an aesthetic obsession, but he or she is not actually doing something dangerous to the body, then one needs to call to question the spiritually unhealthy factor motivating the diet. If the obsession leads to dangerous or damaging eating habits, then it is definitely forbidden.


Let's not miss the point, people!

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