by Levana Kirschenbaum

You’ve been good all week, counting calories, minimizing carbs and then Shabat rolls around. Between the mountainous Challah and the tempting desserts, what’s a dieter to do? Well, to begin with, let’s not call this a diet. The point is to eat deliciously and nutritiously, Shabat and everyday. How can this be done? The key points, also outlined in my book and DVD-set “In Short Order” are as follows:

1. Prepare your own food. That’s the surest way to control what you’re putting in your mouth. You don’t have to be a four-star chef to make scrumptious, lean meals. You’ll see from Levana’s Lean Regime recipes.

2. Stop buying prepackaged foods. That’s right. No store bought prepared foods, no junk, no just-add-water foods, no bottled salad dressings. Many contain hidden salt, sugar, chemical preservatives and excess carbs and fat. And don’t be duped by the ease and convenience of pre-packaged diet meals. Behavior modification is the surest way to shed pounds–not delivery plans.

3. Use fresh ingredients. Raw fruits and vegetables only, please. No canned produce, unless they’re tomatoes. Also buy whole foods–whole grains, for instance, are always better than refined wheat.

4. Don’t drink your way to weight loss. From sugar-free sodas to meal replacement shakes, these drinks have the opposite effect than the one desired–they make you hungry and cause you to binge, when you’re not starving yourself. We all have a need to eat. So don’t deprive yourself. Drinking diets never work in the long haul. So pour yourself a glass of wine–one–and enjoy your meal.

5. Cook with friends. Too harried to take the time to prepare your own meals? Split the chores with friends and family, and enjoy some kitchen camraderie. Your children will savor the memories in years to come, and you’ll nurture many friendships along the way. Your food will taste even better with love and community on the ingredients list.

6. When in doubt, leave it out. These recipes are hardly recipes, they work beautifully, mostly by default, because of what I don’t do to them. In the spirit of less is more, let’s start with the bare bones, and in further columns we will move up to more elaborate preparations.

7. Serve strategically. Don’t leave yourself and your guests captive to four, five, six slices of egg-rich challah while the food is on its way. Serve an average of one (yes: one!) nice size slice per person, then make like a Sepharadi and serve lots of small salads and vegetable appetizers. Munching on all those nutritious dishes holds much greater promise than inhaling slice after slice of challah. And this way, you’re allowed to enjoy a chocolate chip cookie for dessert. It’ll help you from feeling deprived (thereby inducing crazy cravings that will be hard to tame) and give you just the reward you need. Simple behavior modification–it works! So: Bring it on, NOW!

Now take down these quick and guiltless recipes and trim the fat from your Shabat. These are my family’s favorites to this day. You might ask: Make these plain vanilla dishes, for shabbos??? You bet! Satisfaction guaranteed, from all guests big and small.

Roasted Salmon
Vegetable Soup
Tossed Salad
Roast Chicken and Potatoes
Chocolate Chip Cookies