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Why is it okay?!?
which are we talking about the overweight men or the underweight women?
Who said it’s ok?
What are we talking about?!?
Who says it’s ok?!?
Who said it’s a frum community problem?
Who said it’s a lifestyle?
Who said it is unhealthy?
So far every responder to the original post is completely oblivious to the problem. Healthy lifestyle has always been job of the mothers, it takes a lot of education, and a lot of time and effort. All this gets much more difficult with every additional child. In the last generation the traditional tafkid of women both in Judaism and in scosiety at large has been canceled. But in frum world situation is worse. When you go into regular supermarket there are usually worse and better food choices. Kosher supermarkets are only now slowly starting to carry some at least healthier sounding products.
So we are a bit overweight. Looks at some typical pictures of frum Jews from, say, 73 years ago. Be happy. It is a bracha to live at a time when obesity is considered to be a public health problem.
And if someone doesn’t want the convenience of prepared foods and restaurants, they can go back to what was done in the past – buy the ingredients, and the fruits and vegetables,and prepare your own. It isn’t like one has trouble finding kosher potatoes.
“So we are a bit overweight.’
A bit” would be fine…In conjunction to most Frum people doing zero exercise is a major issue (the walk form your house to the car does not count).
Unhealthy liftstyle exists everywhere.
Why is this a thread?Kosher supermarkets are only now slowly starting to carry some at least healthier sounding products.
Kosher supermarkets have always carried a large assortment of fruits, vegetables, and many other healthful foods.
As many others have posted, who made this into a frum problem? Is there any evidence whatsoever of the frum lifestyle being less healthy than the rest of society?
Obesity is not a sole frum problem, but alot of things the goyish velt does to fight it isnt done as much in the frum community. True we dont eat McDonalds or some other high calorie concoction, but we dont exercise either or eat healthy. There is definatly not a trend to eat more veggies , especially green ones. Alot of Shabbos food is grease and fat which is unhealthy.
How many frum people even play pickup basketball or Raquetball which are healthy exercises
ZD, shockeling is the frum equivalent of those games. It has an advantage in that it can be done solo.
DaasYochid, while it’s true that kosher supermarkets have always carried healthy food, it is also true that they have only recently started to sell healthy sounding products.
BTW – I’ve been looking at some pictures from Syria and Iraq, and they have done a good job on reducing obesity. And lets give credit where credit is due, 73 years ago the Germans did a fantastic job on reducing obesity among European Jews. (in fact most Europeans were quite thin by the spring of 1945, and would you believe, they were complaining about it).
Be happy to live in time where being too fat is considered a problem. Baruch ha-Shem we have more than enough to eat.
Akuperma
” Be happy. It is a bracha to live at a time when obesity is considered to be a public health problem”
I don’t think we should be “happy” nor consider it a barachaa that yidden have among the highest rates of obesity and suffer from obesity related diseases at a higher rate than the general population. Your sense of simcha is a bit warped and misplaced.
Gadolhadorah, do you have statistics to back up your claim?
zahavasdad,
“There is definatly not a trend to eat more veggies , especially green ones. Alot of Shabbos food is grease and fat which is unhealthy.”
So start one! Invite guests for Shabbos and knock their socks off with delicious foods packed with green vegetables and whole grains. Brag about the health benefits. Share the recipes.
“How many frum people even play pickup basketball or Raquetball which are healthy exercises”
How many Christians walk to church on Sunday? Why limit the options to things that may not be the best cultural fit for the frum community?
Health
I would like you to write a halachic sefer on this halacha
some questions to be tackled
1)exactly how many calories may someone eat each day bf being over this “unhealthy lifestyle” halacha?
2) Is any candy/chocolate allowed?
3)what about Shabbos exemptions? chassuna exemptions? Kiddush exemptions?
4)which packaged products are we allowed to buy? how much processing in each product is mutar?
5)what percentage of bran is required in bread?
6)how to do tshuva for eating an extra pickle?(too much salt)
etc.
This will definitely outsell that tznius book we all love to hateakuperma,
Just because things were worse in previous generations does not mean we should accept the status quo now if there is a problem. We believe that every life is precious, so if there is a way to save or improve even one life, why would we sit back and say, well, at least it’s not a thousand lives like it used to be!
Health,
If your goal is to advocate for the frum population to make a healthier lifestyle (e.g., healthier eating habits and increased exercise), it would be good salesmanship to avoid anything that may sound like a knock against frum culture.
Also, I think the ads you mention skew more towards younger people because their deaths R”L are usually unexpected, and therefore there is a higher chance that there wasn’t a completed plan of support for their dependents. I don’t think we can derive statistics from those ads. Also, the causes of death cited in those ads tend to be things like cancer or accidents, not obesity related disease.
Avram
The same people who walk 1/4 mile to shul on Shabbos will drive it the other 6 days of the week, There is one area to start. Walk to Shul and the Beis Medrash and dont Drive
Avram
Actually I try to tell people about my new health regiment and exercise and people have noticed that I look thinner and more muscular, but they really arent interested in doing exercises or lifting weights. Ive gotten answers like “You can do my exercise”. Truthfully I feel alot better too, I was feeling out of breath before I started the exercise regiment and now I feel great
Have you seen the latest Oorahthon ad?
We seem to have fixated on weight as THE prime health determinant. A lot of research has shown that exercise is just as important. However, we don’t give our kids – especially the boys – any chance to be fit. Pick-up basketball at recess is not going to cut it. The kids who are already fit will play, and the ones who need it the most will sit and watch. We need regular gym classes several times a week with a teacher who knows what they’re doing, with activities that are noncompetitive and where everyone participates. (This might also make a magical reduction in the number of kids diagnosed as ADHD or autism spectrum. Children and teens were not meant to sit an entire day in class 6 days a week..) The girls have it better in this respect, but they’re also at risk from extreme dieting.
As adults we know what we should be doing, even if a lifetime’s habits of inactivity are making it difficult. We could at least give our kids a healthier start.
BTW, has anyone checked out the aisles and aisles of junk and soda at their local kosher grocery? Back in the day you had to eat healthy if you ate kosher because there simply wasn’t that broad of selection. We don’t need twenty kinds of chips and thirty kinds of soda. And the cereals? You might just as well pour the sugar bowl into the kids’ breakfast bowls.
While in poor taste, the Eat4Oorah joke is a parody of Lose4Autism, not an actual endorsement of weight gain.
🤣😄🤣
Did anyone actually go to Oorah’s “Eat4Oorah”‘s website? Please visit and try to either sign up or sponsor someone who already signed up. It’s a big mitvah.For those who don’t want to visit the site; it’s a joke. It’s a play on Lose4Autism. They don’t actually have any such campaign at the moment.
I’m not a big excersize fan. But I like sports, I’d run around a ball for an hour a day.
Unfortunately there’s no private female only sports where I live….Midwest2, just because they didn’t have a lot of chips, cookies, and candy back in the day doesn’t mean our ancestors ate healthy. Shmaltz and gribbenes aren’t exactly health foods.
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