5 healthy tips to have a guilt free Diwali

Useful tips from fitness expert Meenakshi Mohanty to ensure that you keep your health a priority during this time of decadent meals and excessive drinks.

With traditional sweets and indulgence in excessive drinks, Diwali is a festival packed with calorie bombs!

The festivities are about to knock our doors and we all know that the 'festive spirit' can sometimes tempt us into a sense of carefree recklessness, leading us to indulge in excessive amounts of unhealthy food and drink.

With Diwali around, diets and exercise will soon be replaced by decadent meals, excessive drinks and laid back time with friends and family.

While we understand that Diwali is a time for celebration and indulgence, nutrition-wise, this festive fare can be a challenge.

It is necessary to let yourself off the hook once in a while and give yourself a break from the strict diet constraints and celebrate a #GuiltFreeDiwali.

However, we should be careful to not over-indulge. For many of us, maintaining a healthy diet and a fit lifestyle during the festive season is a real task!

If you want to control your unhealthy eating habits, and cut down on the calories, here are .

1. Include food that are high in fibre

You should avoid indulging in traditional sweets, carbohydrates and fried food and choose food that are high on protein and fibre.

Include fruits, vegetables and whole grains in your diet. They are good for your health and will provide the essential nutrients and substance to your diet keeping you feeling full for a longer period.

Include at least 2 servings of fruit and 5 servings of vegetables on a daily basis to your diet.

You could also snack on vegetable sticks such as cucumber or carrots with low fat dip at social gatherings, switch to fruit salad for dessert instead of the high on calorie sweets, you can also add a mixed salad or whole fruits to your diet.

2. Avoid unhealthy snacking

It is easy to lose control and end up indulging in decadent sweets and fried savouries.

But you need to remember that these are high on fat, salt or sugar content and eating too much can increase your daily calorie intake, leading to weight gain.

Stay away from rich sugary foods, as it can amplify the sugar content in your body and make you crave for more rich and sugary foods.

You should keep a watch on your snacking habits.

Opt for food that are nutritious and filling such as salads, home roasted poha, roasted channa, fruits, low fat yogurt etc.

Also you should consume food that boosts your metabolism such as almonds, walnuts, cashew etc and proteins such as milk, chicken, eggs, curd, paneer etc.

Drinking vegetable juice once a day can also prove beneficial.

3. Opt for home cooked meals

There is ample of food, snacks and traditional sweets available in the market today.

While street food and restaurant food is tasty, they are loaded with unhealthy preservatives, sugar, oil and starch which can be harmful to the body.

This Diwali, you can control your calorie intake by making healthy choices and cooking at home:

• You can choose your own ingredients while cooking at home. Try using ingredients that are low on fat and sugar content so that the end-product is healthy.
• Switch to cooking methods like baking, steaming, or grilling instead of frying
• Offer dry fruits for healthy snacking during get togethers
• Instead of ordering from outside, prepare a nourishing meal like khichdi and chaas. 

4. Pay attention to your drinks

During the festive time, we tend to drink a lot of alcoholic and aerated drinks which are loaded with sugar and calories and can affect our metabolism.

Also juice with high sweet content can be harmful, therefore it is better to eat whole fruits.

If you really must drink, try to incorporate a few glasses of water in between servings to reduce the amount of other drinks you consume.

During the day, you should drink at least 8-10 glasses of water. Due to the excess intake of mithais, namkeens and beverages, one can feel dehydrated if you don't drink enough water.

You can also switch to lemon juice or green tea instead of aerated drinks.

5. Never miss out on breakfast

Having a wholesome breakfast will give you the energy to get through the day as well as keep your stomach full and prevent you from unhealthy snacking.

During the festive season, we tend to skip breakfast due to a late night or we are too busy preparing for the day.

However don’t forget, that a healthy breakfast can reduce the desire for snacking during the day.

You can have some oats or a fresh fruit smoothie, prepared using your favourite fruits and nuts.