Purim is a happy holiday that also strengthens the bonds between a person and his friend.
One of the most prominent commandments on Purim is the sending of portions to one another, and in doing so, holy Israelites used to glorify and usually give more than one shipment that is required by Halacha.
We are now in the planning and preparation stages for organizing the parcel deliveries, and when we enter the ‘supermarket’ for shopping, it is hard to miss already at the entrance a large stock of sweets and parcel deliveries packed with sweets.
Out of curiosity, when I checked how sweet such a packaged package delivery could be, I found that it contained about 25 teaspoons of sugar!
Really scary.
Usually, our children receive much more than one shipment and imagine all the sugar that enters their body, and the health damage that may be caused to them.
Such dangerous parcel deliveries are the result of negative messages conveyed by the industry. An example of this is an advertisement from one of the big candy companies that apparently addressed children directly – in which a disguised figure is seen with a basket full of sweets and it says next to it in this language: “What a sweet child disguised as Mordechai and distributes sweets endlessly.”
This is despite the fact that the company has undertaken to refrain from advertising food products that are considered harmful to children.
It should be noted that in Israel the prevalence of overweight and obesity is among the highest in the world. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children aged 5-9 in 2016 was about 38%, ranked 8th out of 35 OECD countries.
In 2019, according to surveys, it was found that about 30% of Jewish children were overweight and obese. Furthermore, obesity is the most significant risk factor for diabetes and 7.8 times increases the chance of getting the disease.
We parents, have a great responsibility for our health and the health of our children and it seems that it is no small challenge to prepare a parcel delivery that is on the one hand happy to receive, and on the other hand healthy to give.
We will offer some ideas for organizing healthy and good parcel delivery:
Bake challahs and whole-grain rolls in your homes, with the help of which your loved one will be able to celebrate the Purim meal with elegance and health.
Prepare healthy and original salads yourself, such as: whole sesame tahini, dipped salad, chickpeas, matbucha, eggplant and various vegetable salads. These salads can be perfectly combined with the pastries for the meal.
Roast grains and peanuts in a salt-free oven or with mild saltiness and cook legumes like chickpeas and attach them to the delivery so you will reward the others with the custom of ‘eating the seeds’ on Purim in memory of Daniel and his friends and Esther who were saved from eating forbidden foods.
4. Add health and citrus using citrus fruits, bananas, dates and apples from Eretz Israel and thus add color, health and a smile to the face.
5. If you buy food or drink, look for products with the green marking on the front of the package and reduce as much as possible when buying harmful products with the red marking.
For children who are used to it and want to give sweets, it is recommended to bake personalized cakes reduced in sugar at home. You can easily reduce one-third to one-half the amount of sugar from a common recipe.
• The author is a dietitian and nutritional consultant for the ultra-Orthodox public in the Ministry of Health