Diwali is a festival that we all celebrate with bright lights, sweets and family. This makes it very hard to maintain any sort of healthy diet. No, we are not giving you tips on how to stay away from good food – you can have your mithai, chakli and more and without guilt too! Here’s how:

Use natural sweeteners like dates, jaggery, or figs in sweets instead of sugar or artificial sweeteners.

The best time to eat sweets is either on an empty stomach or after a heavy workout. This is because when your body is low on calories, it does not convert the carbohydrates into fat, but uses it up for other functions.

Bake Your Savouries Instead Of Frying Them:

If you thought you could shop guilt-free for your Diwali savouries in the low-fat variety, you’re wrong. Those attractive packets of diet chakli, diet chivda or farsan can be deceptive. And despite what they claim, most packaged food items contain trans-fats which can be very dangerous for our cholesterol levels and hence our weight and heart health. Make your savouries at home. And opt to bake instead of frying them to cut down on fat.

Be a health-conscious host this Diwali. Serve snacks like dhokla, unsalted dry fruits, sprout-chaat, fruit salad, idlis, baked chaklis etc. Avoid hoarding up on soft drinks or artificial juice. Serve nimbu-paani, jal jeera, chaas etc. You could try out our recipe for JALJEERA.

Your guests will surely love it!

  • Other tips for a guilt-free Diwali:
  • Before going to visit friends and family, eat at home.

This will ensure you won’t end up binging outside. Everyone struggles with loads of mithai and chocolates at home post-Diwali. Instead of eating them yourself so that you don’t waste them, distribute them to people who are not fortunate enough.

Just because it’s the festive season doesn’t mean that you binge. Taste of good Health wishes you a very happy and healthy Diwali.

JAL-JEERA

A yummy summer cooler you must make and drink this season

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Mint leaves
  • 1 cup Coriander leaves
  • 1/2 tsp Grated ginger
  • 2 tbsp Lemon juice
  • 3 tsp Cumin seeds, dry roasted and ground into a fine powder
  • 1/2 tsp Black salt
  • 3/4 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Amchur (dried mango powder)
  • ¼ tsp Black pepper
  • 1 tsp Sugar
  • Hing a pinch
  • Chilled water 4 cups

Method:

  • Add black salt, salt, mango powder, sugar and cumin powder to the 4 cups of water
  • Dry roast hing for a few seconds.
  • Grind hing, mint leaves, coriander and ginger into a fine paste.
  • Pour the ground paste through a strainer into the water mixture.
  • Squeeze in the lemon juice, and stir well. Serve chilled, topped with mint leaves.

Nutri facts:

This drink is known to aid digestion, bring down body heat and supply you with a bounty of nutrients. The lemon packs in vitamin C, mint leaves have a fair amount of vitamins and dietary fibre.