Diwali is the festival of Lights and Joy.  It’s time to enjoy and have loads of fun. And thanks to the goodies which we eat, no work stress and workout activities because of the holidays, there is a tendency to put on weight (fat) and go off track.

So to avoid the unnecessary weight gain and post-holiday lethargy and gastric issues, a conscious effort needs to be made to proactively keep a balance in the festive activities and health. Here are some tips which may help you to keep your weight in check and stay healthy throughout and after Diwali.

Exercise:

1. Make sure that you continue your routine daily workout if you are already working out. If not then do at least 30mins of brisk walk and/or 3 sets of Suryanamaskar with proper warm up and cool down – bottom line – 30 to 45 mins activity daily (early morning or evening before dinner- no activity post dinner).
2. Daily deep breathing exercises like Pranayama or NadiShuddhi, AnulomVilom etc. to keep your lungs clear, because there will be a lot of pollution in the air due to the smoke from fire crackers in addition to the usual smog(fog +smoke,due to the vehicular pollution)
3. Include at least 10-15 mins of stretching in your daily workouts to keep yourself flexible during the festivities.
4. Meditate at least 5mins towards the end of your workout to keep yourself stressfree.
5. If you feel that you have over-eaten, then burn more calories the following day by adding an additional 30 mins of any cardio activity of moderate intensity like brisk walk + jog, cycling, swimming etc.

Diet and Nutrition

1. Use Jaggery instead of sugar while making the sweet condiments of Diwali. Jaggery has comparatively less calories than sugar and is a healthy source of iron.
2. You can also use “Sugar free” wherever you can
3. Use Rice Bran oil to prepare the fried condiments like Chakali, Chivda, etc and in less amounts. Rice Bran is a good source of the EFAs (Essential fatty acids) like N3,N6,N9.
4. Whichever sweets you like to eat, eat them in moderation.
5. Have the Diwali sweets in small amounts. Have a fruit like Apple or an Orange prior to having these condiments so that you get enough fiber coating in your digestive tract and you won’t over eat.
6. Mix a small cup of fresh green peas while eating  your chivda (rice flakes spicy preparation) or Sev which are a good source of fibre apart from the vitamins and minerals
7. While preparing Wheat flour condiments, add Ragi flour in 4:2 proportions for increasing the fiber content and also as it’s a good source of calcium too.
8. The more health conscious can use Brown or Red Poha to prepare the chivdas or bhel kind of preparations.
9. Keep the Use of Ghee minimal
10. Have at least 2 single fruits a day with 2 cups green tea.

It’s all about enjoying Diwali in a Healthy Way.

Eat Healthy…Stay Healthy

Be Active. Proactive!

Image Source: dailyroabox.com