Tuesday Tip: Swap In Easy Substitutions for More Healthful Eating

By Yehudit Garmaise

Rise and shine: People who want to lose weight would be much better off “fasting” after dinner than skipping breakfast, said Tanya Rosen, a licensed nutritionist who has practiced for 17 years.  

“Many people who skip breakfast mistakenly think that they are doing ‘intermittent fasting,’ but they are often just setting themselves up to overeat throughout the day,” said Rosen, who grew up in Israel and now lives in Flatbush.

Scrambled or soft-boiled eggs and wheat toast or a wrap, oatmeal with some fruit, or yogurt with granola and fruit are the best ways to get your metabolism going and start to keep your hunger in check for the rest of the day, Rosen suggested.

“Eating or packing breakfast at home is always preferable to grabbing take-out because bagel shops use a lot of unnecessary oil and add extra cream cheese,” Rosen told BoroPark24. “Cheerios or FiberOne cereal with low-fat or skim milk and fruit would be much better.”

Instead of skipping midmorning snacks: Rosen suggested that people eat something light every few hours. Instead of grabbing Danishes at bakeries, however, crisp apples, green grapes, whole wheat crackers and cheese, or homemade baked goods made with less sugar and oil, no preservatives, and more protein, are better bets. 

For lunch: Instead of grabbing take-out, which usually involves fried foods that contain more fat, sugar, and salt than necessary, Boro Parkers can pack up last night’s leftovers, make healthy sandwiches and salads, or broil or buy some salmon with salad or vegetables and rice. 

For afternoon snacks: Most foods that are bought outside the home, such as acai bowls, sugary smoothies, and decadent coffee drinks pack much more sugar and many more calories than most people expect, but pretzels and chips, and Popchips are fine in smaller portions, Rosen said.

Another great afternoon snack to prepare at home is cut-up celery, carrots, cucumbers, and red peppers. Stash your “salad-in-a-bag” and an individual hummus for when hunger strikes.

Also, most kosher grocery stores sell cut-up fruit salad to-go.

Every night: Everyone should aim to eat: one serving of protein, such as chicken, meat, or fish, a vegetable, and a starch.

The serving of protein, nevertheless, should not be “fried, nor too saucy,” pointed out Rosen, who added that stir-frying, broiling, baking, air frying, and grilling are the healthiest ways to prepare protein.

Thankfully, Rosen said there is no reason to totally cut out starches, which she said, “no one can stick to anyway.”

Small, sweet treats do not have to be skipped entirely, but they should be saved, in small portions, for after dinner.

“The key is to just eat a little bit, such as a TAP cake pop, a handful of gummy bears, or a popsicle, instead of a carton of ice cream,” Tanya said.

For men who come home from Maariv ready for a snack, or women who tend to nosh at night, instead of eating another dinner, another idea would be to split dinners into two halves or into courses. 

At dinner time, parents should sit down and eat with their families, but save a lighter second course, such as a bit more of Dinner Number One, soup, salad, a few crackers or rice cakes, or cut-up fruit for after Maariv.

On Shabbos, a big source of temptation for many are elaborate kiddushes: complete with cholent, herring, meat boards, and fresh bakery, which are usually followed by large seudos at home. Similarly, hosts of vachnachs often provide impressive spreads.

To prevent doubling up on dinners and lunches on Shabbos and at simchas, Rosen suggested that people choose in advance where they will eat their main seudahs and only eat their cholent and the bulk of their meal there.

“Although there is a big social element to eating at shul and at simchas, if people are watching their weight and their health, they should be careful to just take a small plate with small servings of one or two items, and then eat the rest of the meal at home,” said Rosen.

Increasing water consumption also significantly helps to speed up metabolisms and flush out toxins.

In addition, sometimes throughout the day, when people think they are hungry, they are actually thirsty, and cold glasses of water can often do the trick.

Write down everything you eat: “Just like with money, people have to stick within food budgets every day,” said Rosen, who can provide more information at nutritionbytanya.com or by calling (844) Tanya diet.“ You can go outside your budget, but of course, there will be consequences, such as debt or weight gain.”

By jotting down what they eat throughout the day in food logs in notebooks or on their phones, people “can remain accountable to themselves and also see where they can cut back to reach their goals.”