Ok ladies and Gents

Being as I'm Jewish I celebrate Hanuka.

It is from Dec 1-9th. It's SO easy to over eat during Hanuka YOU HAVE NO IDEA....Christmas=1 day....Hanuka 8 Days so YOU do the math LOLOL

I am making a Goal of 5lbs by Dec 1st!!!!!!!

anyone in with me????????????????????

So.. I'm not Jewish.. but I am super interested in how you typically celebrate for the 8 days of Hanuka, if you don't mind! Do you have a big dinner EACH night, like most Christmas-celebraters do for Christmas? What kind of traditions does your family have? Is there personalization to the traditions, or is it pretty "by the book"? What kind of foods do you eat, and how are you planning on tackling them for the sake of dieting?

Five lbs is a lot to lose by then, but not insane. That part I could definitely join in on - good luck to you!

8 days focused on oil, LOL.
Fried latkes, cheesecake, jelly donuts, chocolate coins ..., ahhh my favorite food group!

I'm in.

I've decided I'll make a lowfat version cheesecake. And I'm going to splurge with a couple of donut holes instead of a couple dozen donuts. One pack of gelt (for the whole week) instead of a one lb. box.

Hungry Girl has a 200 calorie cheesecake in her 200 under 200 cookbook. Its got apple chunks and cheddar cheese, low fat of course. Portion control is my friend. Portion control is my friend. Portion control is my friend.

We do 8 nights of Hanukah. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...

Not a party every night, but I will be attending a few and hosting 1.

For my event, baked sweet potato latkes are on tap as well as zucchini latkes and cauliflower latkes. Oooh that's a lot of latkes.

There will never, ever be an extended period of time where there is not a food challenge. We've just got to learn how to navigate eating well while facing these challenges. And it can be done. If you decide to do it. If you are passionate about it. If you make it a top, top, top priority.

For me, making definite no's is probably the biggest key to successfully staying on plan during a social event. Without a doubt. This way I don't have to decide should I?/shouldn't I?. Nope. I've decided ahead of time what I will eat and more importantly what I WON'T eat. Planning, planning and more planning.

And then a little more.

We spend about an hour to do our candle lighting and do our readings, scripture and Maccabbees. We enjoy chanukkah music. I try to make dinner special each night, making the table extra nice with holiday linens, etc., and with at least one traditional food. We give gifts to the grandkids for each night.

Robin, Sea

Yes I am very careful and will be I should say....

I love Hanukah but I also know I can get through it without over eating.

I know Pesach last year was REALLY hard because we spent both nights at a friends house in New Jersey TONS of food and well Matza is not exactly the best for weight loss LOLOL

September this year was VERY bad for me. Rosh Hashanna, Yom Kippur, Simchat Torah WOW I put on 8 lbs just during those holidays.

I will need your all's support but I know I can mentally be strong.

See we are going bowling one night with the Shul which will be fun and not around "food", not every activity is food related. The couple of nights we have the catered dinners they are always with alot of options.

This past Friday at Shul we had our monthly Shabbaton. I was proud of myself. I ate an awesome Spinach salad, soup, etc stayed away from Challah (except for the brochas of course lol) kugal, fried things and chicken I had one small piece. I focused on my company around me and choose to enjoy the people more than the food.

Being Jewish well, anyone who is knows there is ALWAYS opportunity to eat!!!!!!!!!! It's insane sometimes.

I suppose it's just about choice.

We've got no shortages of food challenges that's for sure.

In September, we had 20 Thanksgivings in one month if you are just counting the days of the holidays X 2, plus the one meal before Yom Kippur and after. That's a LOT of food.

Did I mention my key to navigating them all is definite NO's and planning? It's the only way. It is essential given the over abundance of food we are faced with.

You've got to learn how to honor the holidays, while still honoring yourself. You (I don't mean you in particular, just you as in general, as in - people) can't use your religion as an excuse to overfeed yourself. It's really just the opposite in fact. We are taught to be constructive, not destructive. G-d sure did make it challenging though! But the truth is, you will see as you go along, that once you get through a holiday unscathed that you can do it. And it's empowering and you build confidence and it propels you to do it the next time and the next time... And each time you will be less fearful.

It takes time though - and definite NO'S and planning and definite NO's and planning.

we keep it simple
we light the candles and the boys get a "little" something like $10 of itunes.
I will get latke from Trader joes for the kids if they want them. Fried food does not like me much so I tend not to eat it anyway.
IF we do a party, we all are eating better anyway so we keep it simple.

Oh and Happy Chanukkah to all that will celebrate the miracle of light!

Robin,
Do you by any chance keep Glatt Kosher? I do and that alone requires discipline. We have been Glatt Kosher since Pesach