Passover or Pesach is a fantastic opportunity to focus on your health and well-being.
Following the Second Nature guidelines during this time can help to ensure you’re eating a balanced diet, while still enjoying time with family and friends.
This year, Passover starts on the 12th of April and ends on the 20th of April. It’s a time to commemorate when the Jewish people left Egypt after being slaves there for many years.
For these 7 days, food that has been leavened (known as chametz) has to be removed from the home and avoided. This includes any food containing wheat, barley, rye, oats, and spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and rise.
For some, legumes, beans, peas, rice, and millet are also avoided. These foods are known as ‘kitniyot’.
The tradition is that Instead of bread, a flatbread called matzo is allowed instead. This is because the Hebrews escaped Egypt so quickly that there was no time for their bread to rise, or because matzo was lighter and easier to carry through the desert than regular bread.
In this guide, we’ll share some of our favourite Passover-friendly recipes and top tips for having a healthy Passover.
Recipes and meal ideas
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Second Nature yoghurt bowl or yoghurt, fruit, and nuts
Omelette or eggs with avocado and matzah
Desserts
Snacks
Fruit with a handful of nuts, cheese, or yoghurt
Mini omelettes
Boiled eggs
Olives
Top tips
Plan your meals, write a shopping list, and shop for the week ahead
Focus on the balanced plate model and ensure half your plate is made up of vegetables. Make sure that each meal has a good source of protein that makes up at least a quarter of your plate. Doing this will ensure you’re feeling full and satisfied.
If you’re having more carbohydrates at lunch and dinner than usual, having a carbohydrate-free breakfast might be helpful to keep a healthy overall balance throughout that day
When including sources of complex carbohydrates in your meals (potatoes, sweet potatoes, kosher quinoa or matzah), try to be mindful of portion sizes and aim for these to make up 25% of your meal.
Stay hydrated throughout the day. Aiming for 6-8 glasses (or 2L) will keep you feeling full and satisfied. Remember that any hot drinks count towards this total, particularly herbal teas.
It’s common to feel pressure to overeat ‘treats’ during celebrations like these, especially if a family member has made them for you. If you think this might happen, try to factor these foods in or come up with some phrases to help you set boundaries. For example, saying something like ‘I’m not hungry right now, maybe later’ can help set these boundaries. Reach out to your health coach for more help with this.
Focus on enjoying your food. Try to listen to your hunger and fullness cues when eating your meals, slow down, and engage your senses - what does the meal look, smell, and taste like?
Try to move away from the ‘all or nothing’ mindset. It can be easy to think that because this is a special occasion, we may as well go ‘all out’ and get back to our usual eating habits afterwards. However, we’d encourage you to try and think in a more balanced way by including some of these celebratory foods while still having balanced meals around them.
Be mindful of your overall alcohol and added sugar intake. Wine and grape juice are part of the Seder tradition, but we know that alcohol is very energy-dense and grape juice can be high in sugar. If drinking these as a part of the tradition, try to make sure you stay hydrated and perhaps reduce other high-sugar foods and drinks at other points in the day.
Written by Natasha, a Second Nature health coach