Jewish Musings, Wednesday, 9/21/2016

[savtele]

What’s on your mind – how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Angelika
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

[savtele]

Boker Tov All! Louise - I am so happy things are looking okay at this time!
Beryl - have you discovered Christmas melons? They have a long season - into late November, early December.

So today we come to the abundance that hinders.......And holidays are looming! Breads, challot, bagels, rolls. Oh yes, they all hinder me quite well!
Sweet or savory?
Creamy or crunchy?
Hot or cold?
If you are in a hurry, is a quick drive-thru your choice, stop at a market, or would you wait till you get home & whip something up?
I was recently caught hungry in the frozen food aisle at Trader Joes. They have all their "goodies" right up over the frozen cases - the toffees & salted caramels, peanut butter cups (TJs are The Best!) & salty licorice. Lacy cookies and biscoti. Coffee scones & chocolate covered cherries. (I spent $27 in that one aisle!!!) I did give the pistachio toffee to my mom. And the coffee scones are in the back of the pantry - they've been calling my name for 2 days now. I am resisting steadfastly. Tomorrow, they are going into John's car.

The only way I can actually make it through all this - is to make sure I am never really ravenous. And then to make sure there is something appropriate available.

After our swim class, we are all going out for coffee today. A minefield - I'm pretty ravenous after swimming! Planning on a plain omelet.

What's your minefield look like?

[gazelle18]

I have a hard time not over-eating around the Jewish holidays. I love traditional Jewish foods, as well as foods which we have made our traditional
High holiday foods.

Every year we host a break fast, for about 25. My hardest thing to pass up is food I have cooked myself, in which the recipes are tried and true to my own taste. I make homemade blintzes for break fast, for example. I make about 100 crepes, fill them with a cream cheese/ cottage cheese/ powdered sugar mixture, then freeze them. On the night of break fast, I fry them, and they get topped with preserves, sour cream, and / or more powdered sugar .

We also have kugel, lox and bagels, a savory egg dish of some sort, and brownies. I mean, really!!

The best way for me to handle it is to eat to my heart's content that night, and then force all leftovers to go home with someone!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. I got DS off to his job orientation bright and early this morning; we got up at 5AM and left the house at 6 (!!). I'll be picking him up at 4PM, and I'm taking him out to dinner to celebrate. Our favorite place has flame-broiled hamburgers, so we will probably go there.

Re overeating on delicious foods: It's tough not to do that. However, I find that if I let myself enjoy the food, I eat less than if I tell myself that I can't have it and then go crazy.

I'll be back later. Have a peaceful day, Lee

[peachymom1]

Lee, I'm so excited for your DS!

[lee058]

Back again. Thanks Peachy! I'm drinking more coffee to try and stay awake. DS called me on his lunch break to say that the orientation was great; I'm so glad.

I have an appointment at 2PM, and then will go pick DS up. I need to distract myself for an hour here at home so that I can function!

[louise]

When I pass by the Kiddush tables after RH services I sing "These are a few of my favorite things" in my head. Hard to pass it by. One thing that worked one year anyway was to pick out a few things and put them in a Ziploc bag to have later (when I'm safe from seconds and thirds).

During the Christmas holiday season I'm at a loss with all of the cookies and caramel corn that finds its way into the office. I think the same would work there - take some portion back to my desk and nurse it. The alternative is "Just say no", like that food has nothing to do with me.

Frankly my eating has been so excessive lately that I am sure my weight is at an all time high. The thing is though that I'm also having a not insignificant amount of pain sporadically through the day when I walk and most especially on stairs. Whenever I get up from my chair I dread taking the first steps because I don't know how bad it will be. It is making me feel (and look) old. I think it is very important for me to bring back something that was working well for me before the fit hit the shan - Eat the cupcake or feel less pain - your choice. I don't need a doctor to tell me that 50 pounds less would make a big difference to my joints. I would like to take control of this part of how I'm aging.

[hollygail]

For me, it's chocolate. Preferably dark. And the darker, the better. A friend posted a picture on Facebook and labeled it with my name. It says "CHOCOLATE" in large print. Below that it says "is the answer. Who cares what the question is." I've lost track of how many other friends either "like"d it or left a comment.

As for snacks, most of the time I carry something with me. Often, an apple. Unless I know for sure I'm gonna be home before I get hungry again.

Of course, I'm avoiding telling you all about last night... My rabbi does this "Bnei Mitzvah Institute" for the parents and kids who's date is coming up within about 6 or 8 months. And for the first time, she invited me, so of course I went. Dinner was served (buffet style, and vegetarian). The "caterer" (if you can call it that) was a nearby Middle Eastern restaurant. I have little to no interest in bread or white rice, so didn't take either. However, I did taste one felafel, one samosa, Israeli salad, tabouleh salad, humus and babaganouzh. OMG!!! I put some of the humus and babaganouzh (okay, spell it the way you want to; that's how I pronounce it) on the felafel and on the samosa. The latter was beyond delicious! I really wanted one more samosa with babaganouzh, even though I was no longer hungry. I waited about 15 minutes and then went for one more. The samosa itself was no longer warm, but with the eggplant on it, OMG! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it!

And I didn't gain an ounce...