Running Zaidy

  Children and Sugar In my previous articles I talked about healthy eating and exercise. My primary focus was adults. But today I want to talk about our children. The childhood incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes is on the rise. In most cases this is a direct result of eating the wrong foods and overeating. The easy availability of junk food, sugar sodas, and prepared foods is widespread. Adults are not the only ones who should cut down on their vitamin K (kugel, knishes, karnatzel, kidush club, kishkeh, etc). Children are bound by the same 75% rule as adults. That is, one only needs 75% of what is eaten as the Rambam rules. And children need to exercise. I see so many children using electric scooters these days, most without helmets. Recently I was in a grocery store here in Montreal. I was walking through the junk aisle. What was Shmarya doing on the junk aisle? Didn’t he read the articles he wrote? Well, grocery stores lay out their products in a very clever way. There is a

  Pesach has come and gone, and spring has sprung even in Montreal where I live.   With the start of the new Rambam cycle those who are learning 3 chapters a day will be learning Hilchos Deot this week. Those learning 1 chapter a day will get there in the middle of Iyar. As you know the first 2 Halachos of Perek 4 discuss healthy living. Before discussing the Rambam I want to mention that the Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) will be introducing a new course called Healthy and Holy. It’s a two-part course, the first discusses in detail the Torah sources for leading a healthy lifestyle. The second part deals with nutrition and healthy eating. I’m very excited about it and look forward to its formal introduction in the next few weeks. The course is designed to be presented to high school level students and can be used in Chabad Houses as well. The nutrition section was written by a nutritionist and outlines a moderate approach to healthy eating. No fad diets and no drastic unsustainabl