Eating kosher is not just about complying with traditional Jewish dietary laws, but research is now recognizing the full health benefits of this meal plan. The Jewish book of sacred texts or Torah has outlined the kosher nutritional pattern, which is essentially a strict framework of rules. These rules pertain to how food should be sourced, processed, cooked, and served so that it is pure and suitable for human consumption. Eating kosher meals can help you keep your weight down and stay in shape while protecting your heart and preventing illnesses.
Food is Sorted into 3 Main Categories
Kosher or Kashrut laws sort food into three main groups.
- Milchig or dairy products with variants like milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt
- Fleishig or meat products sourced from mammals that have cloven feet and chew their cud; fowl or only domesticated feathered birds, including their bones or broth, can be eaten.
- Pareve is considered neutral foods or any food that isn’t dairy or meat, such as fish with scales and fins, plant-based items, and eggs.
Followers are forbidden to combine dairy and meat products into a single meal. The principle is that meat and milk-based products should not enter the digestive system together. You’ll not only refrain from consuming them at a single sitting, but you’ll also avoid using pots, pans, flatware, and other utensils for cooking or serving the different food groups in case there’s accidental contamination. Kosher laws are extremely strict about mixing foods to the extent that even the sinks where the utensils are washed should be segregated or scrubbed down carefully.
Research Proves that Eating Kosher Keeps Weight Down
Scientific research indicates that when dairy and meat products are eaten together, the body finds it harder to break down and digest the different types of protein. That’s because food groups need enzymes with varying pH levels or levels of acidity to process them. The same rule holds true for pork and shellfish, which are eliminated from the Jewish kosher diet. When the body can’t digest the food efficiently, the excess is converted into fatty acids and stored, resulting in weight gain.
So, if you’ve been looking for a diet plan that helps you stay in shape, consider buying kosher gift baskets and giving yourself good health and wellness. You could get hampers piled with fresh, dried, or dehydrated fruit, nuts, and whole-grain breads like bagels, challah, and pita with cream cheese and hummus.
Kosher Laws Direct You to Combine the Right Food Groups
Working out the right combination of food groups helps balance fast-digesting and slow-digesting foods so that they don’t build up in the digestive system. You’ll not only develop stomach distress, but the accumulating toxins result in additional health issues, with weight gain being only one of them. You might just find that dietitians recommending heart-healthy diet plans follow the Kosher food rule like eating meats that have all traces of blood carefully removed by thoroughly washing and soaking in water. In other words, you’ll avoid eating red meats that can cause heart disease.
How About Neutral Foods?
To answer your question, neutral foods include fruits, vegetables, grains, and other plant-based products. The only condition is that the produce is cleaned and checked carefully for bugs that are not kosher. Fish (no shellfish) and eggs are also neutral and can be combined with dairy or meat dishes at a single meal. Eating a fiber-rich plant-based diet with eggs and grilled fish is easily one of the simplest weight loss plans.
If you’ve been looking for an effective diet plan that keeps you in shape while avoiding health issues, going Kosher might just be the best solution.
Photo by Tetiana SHYSHKINA on Unsplash
Author: Mandy Kloppers
Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.
