Party hard but don’t put on weight this festive season

As Diwali approaches, there is excitement in the air and wardrobes are being spruced up. The card parties and social get-togethers have started doing their rounds. Heavy food and sweets have flooded our dinner tables. Even the most health conscious get tempted and forget to count their calories. Statistics show that most people put on around 2 kg weight post Diwali followed by guilt feelings.

Do not be disheartened. Let me suggest a few things that you can do whereby Diwali continues to be fun yet weight gain is restricted.

1) The golden rule: Learning to eat right, in moderation and smaller helpings.

2) Set the limit: Do not go beyond 2000 calories. For some time you may forget dieting but weight maintenance should continue.

3) The rule of sweets: The sweets should be taken as “stand alones”. Do not combine with other foods. A ladoo for example consumed alone will be digested well and not overload the calorie burden.

4) Restrict alcohol consumption: Alcohol dehydrates, causes fatigue, hangovers and adds to calories. Avoid creamy cocktails and stick to light beer or wine or maybe 1-2 shots of whisky. Do not drink on an empty stomach. Combine it with healthy light snacks or after a meal. Drink plenty of water before and after consuming alcoholic beverages.

Calorie Alert

• One glass of beer- 150 calories

• One glass red wine- 125 calories

• 45 gms of gin/rum/vodka/whiskey/ tequila-100 calories

5) Hydration (atleast 1.5 to 2 litres of fluid a day) : Keep yourself sufficiently hydrated throughout the day. Healthy drink options – “Jal Jeera” green tea, lemonade, mintade,coconut water are better than fizzy drinks.

6) Snack time: Use roasted or steamed snacks instead of fried . Chirwas, dhoklas, bhel, sprouts chat made at home provide healthy and tasty options instead of samosas and pakoras.

7) Eat nuts instead of sweets: Patronize the dry fruit thali instead of the sweets platter if you have a choice. Nuts have lesser calories, are healthy and provide satiety. But consider having ONLY a handful.

8) Other Tips

a. Work fiber into your diet- whole grains, plenty of fruitd and veggies

b. Stick to small portions sizes. May use smaller plates. Studies have shown that large plates lead to overeating.

c. Remember to eat before you leave for a social event. I suggest as protein rich snack which will keep the hunger pangs away for a few hours. Try a boiled egg or a piece of roasted/steamed chicken or fish or maybe a soup and sprouts salad.

d. Try not to talk while eating. Give time to your brain to process the signals from the stomach when you have eaten enough.

9) SWEETS

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• Buy sweets with quality certifications: : We all indulge in commercial sweets but remember they are high on calories, may contain transfat, harmful artificial colours, stabilizers, emulsifiers and unhealthy bulking agents. Sometimes synthetic milk is also used. They can cause allergies and affect your kidneys and liver as well as trigger asthma attacks. Make sure you buy your sweets from reputed outlets preferably having quality certification.

• Watch the calories: Be aware of the calorie content of Indian sweets. The following may help you choose the most suitable :

CALORIE ALERT

One boondi ladoo -185 calories

One rasmalai-180 calories

One rasgulla-170 calories

One gulab jamun-143-150 calories

One jalebi-140-150 calories

One piece sandesh-143 calories

One besan ladoo-140 calories

One plain burfi-125 calories

One kaju barfi-90 calories

Remember that no one has just “one jalebi”. The count goes upto 3-4. So we are looking at a total calorie count of atleast 420. Jalebi is one of the most fattening sweets.

• Other things to watch out for:

a. Some sweets like barfi have silver coatings. This maybe adulterated with Aluminium, which is hazardous, accumulates in bone tissues, may enter the brain and can cause dementia.

b. Toxic synthetic milk: Beware that a high percentage of milk solids used for making sweets are adulterated with synthetic milk made with urea and detergents which may cause liver and kidney failure

c. The transfat used in sweets are partially hydrogenated cheap vegetable oils and are known to cause lifestyle problems like hypertension, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes , cancer and more.

d) Switch to healthy homemade options: If you have a choice, go in for homemade sweets which would definitely be more healthy, lesser in calories and at the same time satisfy your sweet cravings.

• There are plenty of healthy ingredients to choose from- oats, whole wheat flour, “ragi” , “besan”, “ jowar”, “bajra” and a few nuts, dried coconut, figs, dates, thickened skimmed milk, a little ghee, combined with organic jaggery and honey. These may be used to churn out an assortment of sweets like ladoos, cookies etc. There is no need for added sugar.

• Another very healthy option is serving fruit slices dipped in melted dark chocolate or a fresh sweet salad made with anar (pomegranate), apple, figs, dried apricot, cranberries , raisins and walnuts with a honey dressing.

10) Do not be sedentary. Physical activity like a brisk walk- 30 minutes a day should be part of your daily routine.

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