Passover Nutrition: From Motzah To Macaroons

For many of us, Passover is just like Thanksgiving or Christmas - a day to get together with our families and stuff ourselves silly. The food may be a little different and harder to pronounce, but the family fighting and constant eating are exactly the same.

Passover is more food-oriented than pretty much any other holiday, particularly because all traditional Passover foods are symbolic. The food represents everything from tears to mortar, which makes the whole holiday a lot more meaningful. Unfortunately, though, the impact of all this food on our waistlines is literal. Here are our tips for enjoying the holiday's weight without adding to your own.

1 - Motzah

Motzah is the first thing you think of on Passover, and everybody loves it (especially Goys for some reason, though we're not entirely sure why). Anyway, motzah is a staple through all eight days of Passover, so you're definitely gonna be chowing down on this stuff if you celebrate Passover or get dragged along to a friend's Seder. Just remember that motzah is more like a tortilla than a piece of bread, in that all of the flour and carbs are condensed and flattened. That means that you get to eat less motzah for the same amount of calories. It's not fair, we know, but since when has life been fair for the Jews? This is just another example.

2 - Haroses

This is one of our favorite Passover foods - a fun concoction of apples, walnuts and wine that you eat in a motzah sandwich with some horseradish to spice it up. It is delicious and a real life-saver for vegetarians or anyone who gets low blood sugar after the long Seder. If this is going to be your main course, we recommend eating a giant portion of the "sandwich" - the ingredients are all really healthy. But if you're just warming up to make room for latkes and stuffed cabbage, then go easy. Nuts can be hard to digest when all this other stuff gets piled on top of them.

3 - Potato Latkes

Who doesn't want an excuse to eat glorified hash browns with their dinner? Latkes are delicious and really fun to make (even though it's a lot of work). Go ahead and eat one or two latkes, but don't get into a latke eating contest with your cousin - this always ends badly. Also, we are going to take a firm stand in the apple sauce vs. sour cream war and our vote goes to apple sauce. Not only is it more traditional, but it's a lot healthier. The last thing you should put on your fried potatoes is 200 calories worth of fat.

4 - Gefilte Fish

Okay, we fully admit that this stuff sounds and looks kind of gross, especially that gelatinous sauce that the pre-packaged kind comes in. For those of you who are still mystified, let us clear up one thing: gefilte is not a type of fish; it is more like a fish patty. (Gefilte means "filled" or "stuffed" in Yiddish.) Before you judge, we recommend that you try it just once. If you hate it, fine, but it's actually pretty healthy and if your grandmother or mother went to all the effort to make it, do her (and yourself) a favor and try it.

5 - Macaroons

These are a popular Passover dessert because there's no leavening in them, but we think they are overrated. First of all, there are plenty of Passover-friendly chocolates out there and we'd rather eat those than these coconut balls any day. Furthermore, these tiny macaroons have over 100 calories each! You can enjoy one or two of them after your big meal, but try not to work your way through a can of macaroons on each of the eight days of Passover. This will help you go back to regular cakes and cookies feeling like you earned them.

Comments

[smartcookienyc]

I do hope that chocolate is fair trade. It would be sad if people had to "slave" in the fields to give you nice treats on this particular holiday.

[Katbird]

Hellooo...spelling> M-A-T-Z-O-H
Pretty pathetic that you'd get that wrong.

[maddie0001]

Potato Latkes - as in Chanukah?

[nyboomer]

Stuffed cabbage??????? I don't recall there being much cabbage in Sinai. Fish was not mentioned all that often as a staple in that area. Fishing in the desert is remarkably unrewarding.

Still you can have a nice, diverse meal. Enjoy!

[dancewosleeping]

Jarred gefilte fish vs. made-from-scratch gefilte fish is like comparing oleo margarine to creamery butter!
I would NEVER recommend the jarred stuff to someone "just trying it out."
At the least, take the jar (well, take the fish out of the jar!) and simmer it with some fresh onions and some pepper...makes a world of difference...

[Atticus]

Thanks for the enlightenment. But what about the stuffed cabbage? Recipe?