Passover is the time when Jews celebrate their long-ago deliverance from bondage out of Egypt. As with many religious holidays, though, it can be a time of heavy traditional meals, and with that goes overindulgence in fat, and especially cholesterol.
Your Passover feast doesn't have to be a festival of fat. Drop by the Interactive Passover Dinner, and check out the difference between our traditional and low-fat, reduced-cholesterol offerings.
One of the main dietary traps of Passover is, of course, the prohibition against leavened foods. To make Passover foods fluffy, traditional recipes, for everything from cakes to kugel, call for eggs, eggs, oodles of eggs. But watch out! A solitary egg contains 212 milligrams of cholesterol, which is close to your daily limit of 300 milligrams. While eggs can certainly be part of a heart-healthy diet, they should be used only in moderation.
Your holiday feast doesn't have to be a festival for flab.
One strategy for those who need to limit their cholesterol, which is most adults, is not to eliminate eggs but to use egg substitutes or egg whites, since it's the yolks that provide all the cholesterol.
The matzo ball soup can be another cholesterol bomb because most traditional recipes call for the use of both chicken fat and several eggs in the preparation of these savory spherical dumplings. Once again, stick with the egg substitutes and egg whites.
Also, steer clear of gravies, which are full of animal fats. Also, bake stuffing outside the chicken or turkey so it doesn't absorb all the grease that would normally drip out of the bird as it roasts.
You can also stop by a bookstore to pick up one of the many excellent cookbooks on the market that specialize in low-fat kosher and Passover cooking.
