Diwali is just around the corner, and with the festival come sweets of all description. We provide a guide on eating right and avoiding binging.
Diwali is just a few days away. While you are excitedly preparing for it, you are also mulling over how every Diwali makes you put on a few kilograms and scuppers all your plans to stay fit. The festive sweet preparations during this time are enough to shake the resolve of a saint, and there is simply no way to resist binging on sweets and other food and drink during this time. Or is there? We have a few tips on avoiding festive binging for Diwali 2018:
* Just say ‘No’.
You will be plied with sweets and deep-fried snacks both at home and outside, and you will soon begin to get sick of it all. Sugary snacks satiate you quickly but leave you craving for more in a while. The best way to keep the calories away is to refuse to eat more than a certain portion of sweets, or snack upon something else. Instead of sweets, eat unsalted dry fruit or a fresh fruit to fill up.
* Flush out the excesses.
The excess sugar, salt, ghee and saturated trans fats in Diwali sweets can fill you up with empty calories and make you gain weight. Digesting them can become taxing for the kidneys, liver and other digestive organs. Counteract the intake of these foods with lots of water, fresh and unsweetened fruit juice, green or chamomile tea, or warm milk infused with turmeric and a little ghee. These remove the build-up of toxins and flush out the excess sugar and salt from the kidneys to aid better digestion.
* Eat up before you head out.
A handy little trick to avoid festive binging is to curb your hunger pangs. If you are not too hungry, you can resist the lure of laddoos, halwa, kaju katli and other sweets more strongly. If you are headed to a Diwali party, eat a meal just before you head out so that you are too full to binge on sweets. Keep sipping water or fresh fruit juice to keep hunger at bay. Or opt for dry fruit from the trays being passed around instead of sweets. Simply sipping on herbal tea or water will also keep hunger pangs away.

* Sleep early and rest well.
All that partying and eating festive food can take a toll on your sleep. Heavy, calorie-rich food is difficult to digest so the system becomes sluggish. You might experience some difficulty falling asleep at your usual time. It is wiser to eat early and leave about two hours before you actually hit the sack, but do hit the sack earlier than usual during this time. Late hours and lack of sleep can wreak further havoc on the system.