By: Shari Marks
With Passover quickly approaching we have asked Shari Marks, mother of 6 and wife of Rabbi, who has also lost 50 pounds on TSFL and Certified Health Coach to be our guest blogger and give us some tips for staying healthy through the holidays.
Dear TSFL friends,
As we gear up preparing for Passover here, I am getting many questions regarding what to eat over the holidays.
One coach/client I know eats lean & green all day. You can still make Cauliflower pizza for lunch etc, Tuna patties (mix lil cottage cheese etc), salmon patties, fish, egg white omelets, celery sticks & she & her husband have actually lost weight over Passover.
You may choose to follow the Maintenance Plan for Pesach. Basically it involves eating 100 calories or so of protein every 2-3 hours. With a little more protein for lunch & dinner. See details below. (Note: I would only use nuts an in between meals if you pre-pack them in little snack bags & ONLY if you are able to not be the type who grabs for more.)
However should you want to try to lose weight over the holidays, I would omit the fruit and stick with the protein & green vegetables.. and take a nice walk every day.
Suggested plan I follow:
Breakfast; Egg white omelet with mushrooms,spinach & scallions (Yes I eat this every morning!)
Mid Morning; Plain Non Fat Yogurt with a Strawberry or two or cottage cheese. Sometimes I take an extra serving of egg whites along with me, or have hard boiled eggs without the yellow
Lunch Fish, salads, green vegetables, or a small serving of pureed vegetable soup (any green soup)
Mid Afternoon:  Small Piece of chicken, turkey, maybe some celery, cucumbers (If I’m hungrier I’ll eat more protein here & less later on)
Dinner: By this time I’m no longer really hungry Broth or light soups only, Small piece of chicken, meat, salad, vegetables
Other (Recipe)ideas for on the go:
-stuff tuna fish into celery or green pepper
-egg white salad
-almond butter on celery
-stuff mini peppers with chicken or white turkey chop meat or make chicken or turkey patties
-stuff zucchini with meat or chicken.
-stuffed cabbage with chicken or meat & use grated cooked cauliflower
-feta stuffed eggplant, eggplant Pizza
 
This is the maintenance plan per Dr A’s book:
Here is the Pesach plan I got this from Chapt 8 Maintenance..as per Dr A’s advice..
Please note that there are new additions in the newer quick start guides such as a tablespoon of peanut butter and therefore I would imagine that one can substitute Almond butter on Pesach for this.
A number of people are concerned and have asked for guidelines as to what they can eat over Pesach. It will help you to enjoy Pesach without regretting overeating or eating the right type of foods. Eating smaller meals every three hours keeps your metabolism up & running in a healthy manner. The menu ideas below are not for weight loss but rather maintenance.
I have discussed this with the Medical Director of the program and he has directed me to this suggested guidelines as outlined below:
Breakfast Options: (300-400 calories)
Smoothie
Vegetable/fruit- strawberries/peaches (size of small paperback)
Starch: whole wheat matza
Protein: 1/2 cup milk
or Egg white omelet/veggies
Lunch (200 calories)
Vegetable /Fruit 1 cup salad with half tomato with oil & Vinegar
No starch
Protein: 5 oz fish
Dinner (400 calories)
Vegetable/Fruit
Starch: whole grain Matza
Protein: Choice of Chicken/Meat/Fish
Mid/Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Fueling Options: (appox 100 calories)
Either 1/2 cup cucumber, 6 celery sticks, 6 slices red pepper, 1/2 cup broccoli florets dipped into fat free, sugar free dressing
3 oz  mixed nuts
1 serving string cheese
1 oz matza cracker , 1 oz smoked salmon(like kiddush)
10 almonds & celery stick
12 cashews
29 pistachios
1/2 sliced apple& 3 walnuts
1 medium apple
half small avocado
grilled portobello mushroom
Eggplant
1 cup tomato & cucumber soup
2 cups baby carrots
large  dill pickle
1/2 cup cottage cheese with 5 strawberries
1 cup of cream of any soup(non starchy veg)
1/2 cup cucumber slices
3 celery sticks with almond butter
3 oz yogurt
12 almonds
non fat low fat yogurt
Healthy Vegetable Soup
 
Here is a recipe that you will LOVE, regardless of what kind of eating plan you are on! This is a pizza made with a cauliflower crust, and it is fantastic! It is healthy and full of veggies and protein. It is low carb AND it fits the standards for a Medifast Lean & Green dinner. Winner all around! The original recipe is here; I tweaked it a little.
This pizza recipe is for year round, not just Pesach!(In the process of putting together an E-Kosher Medifast cookbook)

Mix 1 c grated cauliflower with 1/4c Eggbeaters, 1/2 tsp oregano and 1/2c shredded low moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese. (You can use reduced fat; Spread this mixture on a cookie sheet that has been *generously* sprayed with Pam. (Even better, use parchment paper. The crust *will not stick* if you bake it on parchment!) Use a spatula and spread/pat it into a circle about 10″ or so around. Put this into a preheated 440 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, until it is very nicely browned. The edges should look almost burnt.
Take the crust out of the oven (if you used parchment, slide it off and remove the paper at this point) and top with 3T of Chunks of tomatoes or your favorite no-sugar-added pizza sauce (Walden farms sauce). Then sprinkle with 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella. You can now add your favorite pizza toppings. If you want a Lean & Green meal you should add 1/4 c veggies… I used diced canned tomatoes. Otherwise, add whatever you like: turkey pepperoni, black olives, peppers, mushrooms, etc.
Put back into the oven under the broiler, watching carefully, just until cheese is melted. Remove from the oven and cut into wedges. Enjoy!
It tastes as good as it looks!
And yes, you can pick up the pieces and eat them with your hands if you baked it long enough. I did! Or you can eat it with a fork. Either way, this is delicious. It totally satisfies my desire for pizza. Next time, I am adding mushrooms!
Another great idea!
Tuna/Salmon Patties:
I love tuna and have it at least once a week. I make tuna salad with tuna, diced scallions, celery, tomato, dill pickle….whatever I have on hand. To this I add 2 tbl. of low fat mayo
You could also try making tuna or salmon patties. I mix 1/4 – 1/3 cup of egg beaters to 6 oz tuna, then spices (garlic powder, onion, scallions, pepper, whatever sounds good). Instead of 1 patty, I make 4 or 5 small patties. They are easy to flip that way. Hope that helps.
Matza Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1
Amount per Serving
Calories 120
Calories from Fat 0.0
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 0g
Saturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 0mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 27g 9%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Sugars 1g
Protein 3g   6%
Est.
Burn Off The Calories
You could burn off the 120 calories from this Matzo (matza, Matzah) in a variety of ways:
Scuba Diving – general for 15 minutes
Hiking – cross-country, general for 18 minutes
Tackle Football for 12 minutes
Swimming: butterfly for 962 minutes
TreadClimber – resistance 12 @ 1 mph for 31 minutes
This is based on your weight of 150 lbs