It happens...an hour before dinnertime and you're starved.  You sit down with a salami, a knife,  and a magazine for just a slice or two...or three or four or more until you're down to the last two inches and you might just as well finish it up.  Half a pound or more has gone down the hatch, and you can't stop.  And the last little bit which you didn't really want, you couldn't waste.  It's that kind of compulsion that SOVEYA treats...with classes, lectures, personal coaching, eating plans, and a wide variety of effective tools.

Soveya is essentially the creation and ongoing labor of Rabbi Eli and Rebbitzin Zakah Glaser of Baltimore, MD.  They literally embody the concepts and methodology they promote.  Central to the program is a customized eating plan which is both flexible and easy to follow.  The resulting plan has an hashkafic basis, bringing material from the Mishna Brurah, Rambam, Elyah Rabbah, and others to halachically underpin the idea of bodily nourishment without over-indulgence. 

The eating plan permits a broad selection within six food groups: 1) PROTEIN (meat, fish, eggs, cheese, beans, soy, peanut butter, etc.), 2) GRAIN (brown rice, potato, barley, quinoa, kasha, rice cakes, etc.), 3) COOKED VEG (green beans, beets, mushrooms, cabbage, spinach, corn, tomatoes, etc.), 4) RAW VEG (carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, etc.), 5) FAT (olive, sesame, peanut oil, butter, mayonnaise, salad dressing, etc.), 6) FRUIT (whole fruit, cut up fruit, dried fruit).  The six groups comprise lunch and dinner, while breakfast is limited to protein, grain, and fruit. 

Products with added sugar (cane, corn syrup, dextrose, agave, etc.), processed flour (bread, cakes, pasta, etc.), alcohol, and simple carbohydrates are generally prohibited...eg. whole or cut up fruit but not fruit juice.  Any particular menu, however assorted, represents a balanced, nourishing, and actually quite satisfying meal. 

However, an important exception is made for Shabbos and Yuntiff meals, when a piece of challah and enough grape juice to be yotzei the mitzvah are permitted.  Pesach is a story all by itself.

The method incorporates adherence to the stipulated portions customized for each person by precise weighing.  No approximations, no eyeballing, no maybe's...if the eating plan calls for 5 oz of grain, then 5 oz of kasha it is.  This precision focuses the mind, and adds to satisfaction in preparing as well as eating the meal.

The Soveya eating plan is the official behavioral/eating modification program of the Plain Food Institute and several of our employees have had and are having success losing (1 to 2 lbs/week/6 to 12 lbs/month) and/or maintaining weight through it's use.