Let the topic of white flour and the harm it causes alone for a moment. We still can’t overlook the damage caused by the other ingredients of an innocent looking jelly doughnut beckoning you to bring it to its tikkun by eating it.
In Hebrew the jelly doughnut is called ‘sufganiah’ derived from the Hebrew word ‘sofeg’ meaning absorbed, absorbing or sponge. This is because the jelly doughnut sponged up all the oil it was fried in. We thank G-d for the miracles of Hanukkah but that miracle doesn’t necessarily include the miracles of coming out unscathed from self-inflicted ailments caused by jelly doughnut consumption packing in copious amounts of fats in a short amount of time. Not only that, the jelly doughnuts commercially baked are even more dangerous and inflict more damage since they may have been fried in oil that wasn’t changed for a few batches that is far less healthy than oil used only once.
Still can’t give it up? Try this experiment. Take a jelly doughnut, put it in a bowl of water and wait an hour. You’ll find that it puffed up a lot and that’s what it does inside us too! Maybe that might convince you but if it doesn’t perhaps nothing will!
What does consuming even one jelly doughnut a day (for a total of 8 over Hanukkah) do to your body? It can give you headaches, bloating, stomach aches, nausea, the urge to vomit, low blood pressure, low blood sugar after a sugar spike, a fast pulse, hypertension and more.
Think of it this way, it may help: If you can’t fight the temptation at least pick a small unfilled homemade jelly doughnut which will cause you far less harm than a regular commercially baked one.
With jelly doughnuts the rule is: “Eat now, pay later.”