Navratri is here and as we all know it means a lot to us. During 9 days, devotees of Navratri fast to seek blessings from goddess Durga. Although everyone has their own way of fasting, it can be all 9 days or just a few days, it can be vegetarian only and just give up alcohol. However you choose to fast, there are some basic items to include and avoid to make the best use of your fasting time with health remaining a priority.
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Here we will talk about 7 such foods that you should AVOID in the name of fast-
1) Sabudana Vada
Sabudana Vada is the ultimate getaway for many people in a quick time. Deep-fried Vada will be very high in calories. Sabudana is already high in starch so if you want to eat sabudana you can take it in the form of khichdi or sabudana tikkis which requires less oil. A great option is to grill and fry!
2) Fruit juice
Fruit is a great source of energy for food especially during fasting. If you think switching to fruit juice, whether homemade or packaged, it will do more harm than good. Fruit juice lacks fiber and nutritional content is severely reduced compared to whole fruit. In addition, packaged fruit juices have a lot of added sugar.
3) Milk and dairy products are a big hit during fasting. If nothing we always know a cup of warm milk will come to the rescue. Very few homemade smoothies or milk with nut flour work best. One thing that shouldn’t be, however, is for dairy-based sweets. Even if they’re ‘quick friendly’ khoyas, there’s still an excess of sugar in the end.
4) Nuts
The nuts themselves are great. Using them in the evening or in the morning will give you a great feeling of fullness. People buy sugar-coated or salted nuts in the name of being healthy. Excess sugar or salt is unnecessary even on days when you are fasting.
5) Faradi snacks
The food market is full of new products every day. One of the areas that is growing strongly is the snack sector, especially ‘fast food-friendly’ packaged foods. These foods are high in calories not only can’t we control the quality of the ingredients used to make these products. Switch to homemade snacks. You can make baked fries, grilled makhana, tikkis, millet (amaranth) snacks, etc. instead of store-bought products.
6) Homemade sweets
Dried fruit ladles can be made instead of store-bought. Store-bought ladles or sweets as mentioned above will have too much sugar while on the other hand, dried fruit ladles can be made without sugar at home. You can use a small portion of jaggery or you can also use the natural sweetness from the dates and coconuts.
7) Only some millet is consumed during fasting. This is the best time to combine a variety of millet that you don’t want. Singhada, for example, is consumed as puris (deep-fried). A healthy alternative is to make mini roti instead of purines.
In short, if you fast for 9 days, don’t overdo it with fried foods and sweets. Consuming those foods with no guilt because you’re fasting doesn’t help at all. Your body needs more care during fasting days. Lots of health
About the Author: Ms. Prachi Shah, Clinical Nutritionist & Consultant, Founder, Health Habitat
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