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Passover celebrates the biblical freeing of the 'Children of Israel' from slavery under the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt. They left in a big rush so the bread dough didn’t have time to rise, which meant they had to eat their bread 'unleavened'. It is this unleavened bread, or 'matzo', that is eaten to this day at Passover. A large festive meal called a 'seder' is celebrated by most Jewish people on the first night of Passover, and by many again on the second night. It's a major eating occasion. Family and friends gather to recount the story of the Exodus from Egypt and eat symbolic foods (some of which are featured above on the 'seder plate') including hard boiled egg in salt water, bitter herbs, charoset (ground nuts, grated apple, cinnamon and wine) and of course, matzo.
Matzo is usually made from wheat, but it can be made from rye, barley, oats or spelt. It comes in many forms – in large sheets (pictured left), small crackers and as matzo meal and cake meal. During Passover, matzo in all these forms, is used to replace all bread, flour and grain products. No other food made (or derived) from fermentable grain can be eaten. Foods that can become leavened or fermented include bread and all the usual crackers, cereals, cakes and pastry products. These are also called 'chometz'. Any unopened foods containing chometz are usually put well away from food to be eaten at Passover. Food that meets the Jewish dietary laws is called 'kosher'. However, not all kosher food is kosher for Passover. This is because it may contain chometz. The more traditional or observant person will only buy foods with a 'Kosher for Passover' label. Avoiding chometz, eating matzo, and attending the seder are central to Passover.
When you’re tucking into your matzo, you might think you’re just having a light snack, but some traditional matzo toppings can be high in fat, particularly saturated fat, added sugars and salt. So try to think about the toppings on your matzo and the amount you’re eating. Get into the habit of serving your matzo with a salad, a bowl of soup or some crunchy raw chopped vegetables. This makes it more filling and nutritious. Try these:
Here are some practical suggestions to help you eat healthily this Passover:
The eatwell plate is a guide to the amounts of foods from the main food groups we should try to have each day. Although the eatwell plate shows many foods that are chometz, you can still use it during Passover as a guide to how much of what you eat should come from each food group.
When you're shopping for food, if you compare brands you can choose foods that are lower in total fat, saturated fat, added sugars and salt. You can use the following to help you work out if a food is high or low in fat, saturated fat, added sugars and salt. If the amount per 100g is in between the figures given below, then that is a medium level. Remember that the amount you eat of a particular food affects how much fat, saturated fat, added sugars or salt you will get from it. Fat High is more than 20g fat per 100g Low is 3g fat or less per 100g Saturated fat High is more than 5g saturates per 100g Low is 1.5g saturates or less per 100g Salt High is more than 1.5g salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium) Low is 0.3g salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium) Added sugars Have a look for the 'Carbohydrates (of which sugars)' figure. High is more than 15g sugars per 100g Low is 5g sugars or less per 100g This is the amount of total sugars in the food. It includes sugars from fruit and milk as well as the sugars that have been added to the food. You can check the ingredients list to work out if the food contains lots of added sugars. If you can only see a figure for 'Carbohydrates', and not for 'Carbohydrates (of which sugars)', this figure will also include starchy carbohydrates. You can still check the ingredients list to get a feel for whether the food is high in added sugars.
Passover is a time for fun and festivities, but putting on weight needn’t be part of the celebration. The extra calories from the larger meals, cakes, biscuits, chocolates and other delights eaten at this time of year can show on your waistline. So aim to ‘break even’ in terms of your weight: if you weigh the same at the end of Passover as you did at the beginning, that’s an achievement. Here are a few ideas to help you break even:
Passover seems to be a time when lots of eggs are eaten. They might be used to start the day in a steaming plate of matzo brei (fried matzo with egg), in all that lovely baking, and in the traditional and tasty ‘egg and onion’ and chopped herring. You don’t need to worry because there is no recommended limit on how many eggs we should eat, and eggs are a good choice as part of a healthy balanced diet. However, it is a good idea to eat as varied a diet as possible, which generally means not eating too many eggs – but Passover is only once a year! Eggs do contain cholesterol, and high cholesterol levels in our blood increases our risk of heart disease. But the cholesterol we get from our food – and this includes eggs – has less effect on the amount of cholesterol in our blood than the amount of saturated fat we eat.
Passover seems to be a time when some people complain of being hungry, even though meals tend to be larger than usual and there’s lots of food around. Stop yourself feeling hungry by eating meals regularly throughout the day and try our suggested snacks for in between meals. If you eat little and often during the day, you’ll find that it’s much easier to limit the amount you eat at the main evening meal.
Here are some ideas for a healthy snack to keep you going during the day:
Here are some options for a healthy lunch: