Health-conscious people worldwide are quickly recognizing the benefits of the traditional diet laws outlined in the Jewish Torah. This ancient text lays down strict rules about how devout Jewish must harvest, process, cook, and eat the three main food groups out there. Research now shows that following these dietary rules is not just great for maintaining your weight, but they are also ideal for a healthy heart and body. Here’s a quick look at the rules and how to follow them.
Food Must Not be Allowed to Mix
Kashrut laws direct you to separate the food groups when handling and eating them carefully. Further, you need to be highly cautious about accidental mixing, which is why the food should be prepped in different sections of the kitchen or after cleaning them thoroughly. Any utensils, pots, pans, and flatware you use should be scrubbed down. These precautions are critical to prevent the foods from mixing in your digestive system.
Food is Categorized into Three Groups
Humans eat food from three main categories.
- Fleishig are meat and meat products, including their bones and broth sourced from animals with cloven feet who chew their cud. For instance, goats, sheep, deer, and cattle. You’re also permitted to eat domesticated fowl like chicken, ducks, and turkeys.
- Milchig are dairy products such as butter, milk, yogurt, cream, and cheese made without adding rennet.
- Pareve are neutral foods that you can safely combine with fleishig and milchig, but not at one sitting. These foods include seafood and fish that have scales and fins. Fruits, vegetables, grains, and any plant-based foods are all pareve as long as they have been checked for bugs.
How is Kosher Good for Your Waistline? There Are Several Reasons
- Eating dairy and meat products at a single meal makes it harder for the body to break down and digest the food. These food groups need to be mixed with enzymes of different pH levels for proper processing. When that doesn’t happen, the excess food converts into fatty acids, which are stored, leading to weight gain.
- You need to balance fast-digesting and slow-digesting foods in your system to prevent the risk of developing stomach distress. The resulting inflammation in the body is the root cause of several ailments like heart disease and diabetes.
- You’ll eat adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables along with whole grains. A good example is Shiva baskets, filled with healthful treats like dehydrated fruits, nuts, breads, and pita with jars of lox or cream cheese and hummus.
- Food cannot have additives like preservatives and chemicals, which means that you’ll eat only certified organic food, which keeps you healthy and in shape.
- When cooking meat dishes, you’ll avoid using butter and instead add vegetable-based oils like canola, olive, or coconut. The sides of vegetables make the meal healthy.
- Eating pork is forbidden, as is red meat and processed or canned food with excessive sugar, salt, and oil–all of which contribute to weight gain and bad health.
If you’ve been looking for the best diet plan that will keep you in shape and healthy, you can’t go wrong with Kosher.