Doc’s 5 tips to cut Passover food risks

Warning that “Jews are at risk” from the foods they eat during Passover, a top Israeli gastroenterologist on Tuesday issued a list of top five tips to get through the festival in good health.

Noting that the high levels of “salt, fat and calories in holiday meals” carry health risks, Rambam Hospital’s Professor Jesse Lachter urged Jews worldwide to carefully monitor their eating habits during the eight-day holiday, which starts Friday night. (Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus is a 1,000-bed academic hospital serving the over 2 million residents of northern Israel. )

Here are the five Passover tips from the hospital’s Lachter:

1. It may surprise you, but matzah is fattening and should be treated as having double the calories of bread. It gets a score of 3 on the standard weight watchers dietary point system, so don’t be fooled by its feather-like weight.

Jesse Lachter (photo credit: Facebook)

2. Matzah is also very binding, which can often lead to constipation and discomfort. Increasing our water intake throughout Passover will help you avoid this unwanted side effect and get you into a healthy habit of drinking lots of water, which will be good practice ahead of the summer months.

3. The Passover Seder can be an extraordinarily heavy meal, and is not a great time for counting calories. However, making sure the Seder is complete with an array of fresh and also cooked vegetables will ensure that your guests aren’t struggling to walk out the door on their way home.

4. With such delicious food in front of us it’s often all too easy to get excited and over-indulge ourselves. The great 12-century scholar Maimonides, fro whom Ramban Hospital is named, recommended the following: Take your time and eat until you’re 2/3 full, then relax and you’ll soon feel satisfied/satiated. Enjoy your Passover delicacies but in moderation.

5. The vacation days are an opportunity to get some exercise: Get moving!