An average healthy adult man requires around 2,000 calories a day, while an adult woman requires 1,700 kcal. . However, during festivals, one often ends up consuming more than 1,500 extra calories every day through constant snacking in between regular meals.
Few traditional food which are consumed on diwali are very high in calories like Burfee is 250 calories a serving, 50 gms of cashew contain as much as 450 calories, traditional Diwali foods like 4 pc of matthis contain 250 calories. tikkis (350 calories for 2), jalebis and gulab jamuns (140 calories each). Most of these food contain empty calories and saturated fats . While it is traditional to exchange sweets and gifts during festivities choosing your snack is very important for health and diet.
As most of the people are becoming health conscious so healthy snacks are also finding their way on the party table as well. While all the food is not healthy but you can find something which is healthier than others. For instance, having dahi vada is better than eating tikkis as it some of the fat is absorbed while dipping them in water and it is served with yogurt rich in calcium and protein. Take care while you serve your food avoid sweet chutney or sev while serving and you will save as much as100 calories in one plate of dahi vada. A fruit chat is another choice which you will get in any chat party .
here are a few tips from experts on how to avoid these this season...
Plan your meals. When you are partying during night then eat less through the day. But don't go starve yourself. Eat a light snack like a salad, soup, lentils, milk, yoghurt before you go out. Keep a control on your portion size and choose from the food which you absolutely love as lot of variety of food is available so sticking to 2-3 dishes which are your favourite makes sense.
Choose sweets dishes like shrikhand and rice puddings like kheer and phirni. Other less fattening Diwali sweets include sandesh and pedas.
Keep drinking water as it helps to alleviate false hunger
Choose roasted or baked, grilled or barbequed snacks instead of fried ones.
At home, do not accumulate boxes of sweets or chocolates. Chances are you'll end up gorging on these. Get rid of them by gifting these to others.
Avoid drinking more than two medium measures of alcohol or wine. Alcohol is the main source of empty calories also save yourself from empty calories from sugarby avoiding aerated sweet drinks. Choose diet sodas or fruit juice instead of these foods.
Finally, gift healthy this Diwali, Instead of traditional sweets and namkeens try gifting fruit hampers. Don’t limit yourself just to food while gifting try other gift hampers too. It helps to shift focus from just food.
Diwali is a festival to spend time with friends and family So go ahead and have a healthy and Happy Diwali this year.
