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It is a mitzva to look after one’s health and not do anything that damages it. God created our bodies healthy, and it is our responsibility to keep them that way. People who endanger themselves whether by eating, drinking, or smoking will have to answer to God for their behavior. As it says, “But for your own blood, your own life, I will require a reckoning” (Genesis 9:5). Persons already addicted to smoking must make every effort to quit. Furthermore, until they do so, they must make sure not to smoke around others, because secondhand smoke – or passive smoking – is also damaging to people’s health and wellbeing.
When it comes to our health, we must follow the medical consensus. Currently, it recommends limiting the consumption of processed foods, sugary foods, margarine, salt, and trans fats. Included are soft drinks, commercial snack foods, deli meats, bourekas, and cakes. In contrast, it is recommended to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and to drink several glasses of water a day. Most important is to avoid overeating, and to get enough exercise and sleep. At the same time, extreme diets and other extreme health practices should be avoided. A healthy lifestyle includes being happy and living naturally, which are incompatible with extremism.
