And Now....the Jewish Diet

Chicken soup (with some chicken fat in it), corned beef, potato latkes (pancakes) fried in lots of oil. Let's face it: typical Jewish food--which does taste really good--is not going to make you lose weight. Just the opposite, in fact. However, recent studies show that when it comes to successful weight loss and maintenance, it's much more important in how you diet, rather than what you do or don't eat. And having a successful weight-loss attitude is very much tied in with Jewish values.

Those individuals who have lost weight and kept it off successfully share certain traits and behaviors, according to the National Weight Control Registry. The most important trait is that they didn't give up. Seldom did anyone lose and keep off the weight during the first or even second try. For most, it took several, even many attempts.

Judaism embraces the idea of persistence--from the efforts of Moses in ancient times to the modern struggles of Israel to find peace. These lofty goals of Judaism can work just as well for the individual in a personal struggle with weight loss and maintenance. It's the Jewish attitude of not giving up that helps weight losers reach and keep their goal.

Now over a decade old, the National Weight Control Registry was formed by doctors from the University of Colorado, Denver, the University of Pittsburgh and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, to study people who had shed at least 30 pounds and kept them off for a year. "They studied 2700 people who entered the Registry from 1995 through 2003," according to CNN.com. "Their average age was 47, most were women, and they had lost an average of 72 pounds initially."