National Date Fruit Week on February, 2025: can pregnant women eat dates?

National Date Fruit Week 2025. National Date Fruit Week February 15-22 is National Date Week. Dates are not only delicious and

can pregnant women eat dates?

The latest research shows that pregnant women should eat lots of nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables; restrict added vegetable oils and and avoid processed foods that contain partially hydrogenated fats.

Both mother and child need essential fatty acids that are classified into omega-3s and omega-6s. Pregnancy uses up fatty acids, particularly omega-3s such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Several recent studies show that post-partum depression is caused by low levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are found in all nuts, seeds, beans and whole grains, but not in refined flour used for most bakery products and pastas.

Seafood is also a good source of omega-3's. High concentrations of mercury and other toxins have raised concerns about the safety of some seafoods, but this appears to be a turf battle between various fishing interests more than an actual health threat. I believe that the benefits of seafood far outweigh the potential health concerns. If you are pregnant or nursing, check with your doctor for the latest guidance. At this time the recommendation is to limit or avoid the largest ocean-caught fish: swordfish, tilefish, large tuna, shark or king mackerel.

Pregnancy depletes folic acid, and a deficiency can cause birth defects. Folic acid is found in leafy greens, nuts, seeds and beans. Extracted oils from seeds such as corn, soybeans, cottonseed, rapeseed (canola) and safflower are often converted to partially hydrogenated fats and added to foods. These fats deplete the body of omega-3 fatty acids and therefore should be avoided by pregnant women.

Everyone can enjoy an occasional meal in a restaurant and order whatever they want. But if you have to eat in restaurants several times a week, you need to devise ways to make healthy choices and avoid the temptation to over-eat. If you are trying to control weight, diabetes, cholesterol or high blood pressure, you need to must find ways to meet your special requirements.

First, choose restaurants that gives you a fighting chance. Find a restaurant with a good salad bar and load up on fresh vegetables. Order broiled fish for your entree. Ask to have it prepared with lemon juice instead of butter. Have steamed vegetables as an accompaniment, without added butter, and fresh fruit or fruit ice for dessert.

Asian restaurants often have a wide array of tasty dishes with lots of vegetables. Thai and Vietnamese restaurants and Mongolian grills are good choices if you stick to the vegetarian and seafood entrees. Go easy on the white rice.

Your chances of finding whole grains in a restaurant are slim to none, but if you travel a lot, you might want to pack or shop for your own cereal to eat in your hotel. Large cities and college towns often have vegetarian restaurants that offer varied, flavorful meals made with vegetables, beans and sometimes even whole grains.

Whatever you order, watch out for the huge portions that many restaurants serve. Divide it up at the beginning of the meal and save some for the next day's lunch, share with a friend, or just leave it.

The restaurants listed below are a few of the national chains that offer good to excellent salad bars and some other healthier choices for people on the go.

Black Eyed Pea Bob's

Big Boy

Chili's

Denny's

Golden Corral

Long John Silvers

Lone Star

Olive Garden

Ponderosa

Ruby Tuesday

TGI Friday's

If you eat out, choose restaurants that gives you a fighting chance. Find a restaurant with a good salad bar and load up on fresh vegetables. Order broiled fish for your entree. Ask to have it prepared with lemon juice instead of butter. Have steamed vegetables as an accompaniment, without added butter, and fresh fruit or fruit ice for dessert.

Find a whole grain cereal that tastes good dry, and use it for snacking or breakfast on the run.

Make your own fast food. Once a week, cook up a huge pot of chili, soup, or one of my vegetable or seafood casseroles. Freeze the leftovers in individual serving containers for quick suppers or lunches.

Cook a pound of whole grains at a time, and freeze the leftovers in 1/2 to 1-cup portions in baggies. These can be reheated in the microwave in seconds. Chapter 6.

Stock up on the dried soup cups that have beans or lentils as their main ingredient. Find flavors you like and use them for lunch at the office or on the run -- anywhere you can get hot water. Mix with one of those baggies of whole grains for a hearty main dish.

Find a few veggies that you like raw and unadorned to eat as you would eat fruit. Try red bell peppers, green beans and cauliflower.

Romaine hearts, packed in plastic bags, can be used as-is for quick salad preparation. Just tear or slice into bite-size pieces. Good even without dressing.

Most Asian restaurants offer carry-out service. This is a good standby for lazy days. Comb the menu for soups, veget

Does this exception to Passover date explain a problem about Jesus’ death?

Does this exception to Passover date explain a problem about Jesus' death?

Sabbath means holy day. There is one every Saturday in Israel commencing at sundown on the Friday, but there are also several during the year that are date specific. That means they are always observed on a specific calendar date, regardless of the day.

The special Sabbath John referred to is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it’s a date specific holy day; always observed on the 15th of the month called Nisan, which corresponds to March/April on our calendar. So the first thing we learn is that the special Sabbath mentioned in John 19:31 wasn’t a Saturday. In fact there are three special Sabbaths (or Holy Days, if you prefer) in the month of Nisan alone; Passover on the 14th, the Feast of Unleavened Bread which begins on the 15th and runs through the 22nd, and the Feast of First Fruits on the Sunday morning following Passover. Of the three, only Unleavened Bread prohibits work like the weekly Sabbath, but all have both a historical and prophetic purpose and like all days in the Jewish calendar they begin at sundown, following the pattern of Genesis 1.

Some years before the birth of Jesus the Passover celebration had been changed and in the Lord’s time called for a brief ritual meal of lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs to begin the 14th followed by a great and leisurely festival meal on the 15th, when the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins. This tradition is still followed today. The 14th became known as Preparation Day (Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:31), because on it they made ready for the great feast day beginning at sundown, after which no work was permitted. Matthew identifies the day after the Crucifixion as the day after Preparation Day (27:62) so all four Gospels agree. Jesus died on Preparation day, the 14th of their month Nisan, which is Passover. He ate the ritual meal with His disciples in the Upper Room, and then was arrested, tried, convicted, and put to death; all on Passover. He had to be, in order to fulfil the prophecies of the Passover Lamb.

So just like the Lord had commanded in Exodus 12, He was selected on the 10th (His triumphal entry into Jerusalem where he was hailed as King), inspected on the 11th, 12th, and 13th, and executed on the 14th of Nisan. Jesus had to die on Passover to fulfil the prophecy. Early that Thursday morning the Jewish leadership received permission to crucify Him. (Matt. 27:1-26) His fate was sealed and He was hanging on the cross by 9 AM. His actual time of death was about 3 PM and His body was laid in the tomb sometime later, since the officials wanted it off the cross before sundown brought the Feast of Unleavened Bread, after which no work was permitted. By then Jesus had been in Sheol for several hours. Thursday was day one.

Because in Jewish reckoning the night precedes the day, at sundown it became Friday the 15th, night one, and the special \Sabbath John mentioned began (John 19:31). At sunrise it was Friday day, day two. The next sundown brought Saturday night the 16th, night two, and the regular Sabbath began. As of sunrise it was Saturday, day three. At sundown on Saturday it became Sunday night the 17th, night three, and sometime before sunrise Jesus rose from the tomb - three days and three nights. When the women arrived at sunrise on the first day of the Jewish week (our Sunday) to anoint His body, He was already gone.

In the week Jesus died, two Sabbaths that permitted no work were observed back to back: The Feast of Unleavened Bread on Friday the 15th, and the regular weekly Sabbath on Saturday the 16th. In Matthew 28:1 we read that at dawn on the first day of the week (Sunday the 17th) the women who were close to Jesus went to the tomb. Luke 24:1 tells us they were going to anoint His body for burial. The two Sabbaths had prevented them from doing so earlier. But He wasn’t there. He had risen. Being the Sunday after Passover, at the Jewish Temple it was Feast of First Fruits. At the Empty Tomb it was Resurrection Morning.

NOTE: Some say this view doesn’t permit three full days and three full nights in the tomb but that’s not what the Scripture says. It simply says three days and three nights. If you move his death up to Wednesday like some teach to get three full days you violate the Passover Lamb prophecies. So the Thursday date is the only one that will accommodate both the Passover Lamb and the three day three night prophecies.

P.S. The Bible makes it very clear that when the women went to Jesus' tomb and discovered it was empty, it was very early in the morning on the first day of the Jewish week - which corresponds to our Sunday.

How can my friends obtain their national insurance number?

How can my friends obtain their national insurance number?

They can ask HMRC by contacting the National Insurance Registrations Helpline on Tel 0845 915 7006 (lines open 8.30 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Friday)

Holidays also on this date Saturday, February 1, 2025...