Sunny Health

Watching what you eat during festivies would seem to be a paradox because carbonated drinks, deep fried goodies, CHOCOLATE and holidays go hand in hand. Keeping fit is also difficult because shopping trips, traffic, and fatigue (because of the shopping and traffic) disrupt your regular fitness routine.

In addition to being a religious event, Deepavali/Hari Raya is also a food festival. Dishes like roti, channa (chick pea), aloo (potato), fish head curry are commonly served to guests. Unfortunately festive periods can never be used as an excuse to overindulge in food.

As we are ever so concerned about your well-being and health dear readers, here are some suggestions for you guys to follow this Deepavali/Hari Raya to keep a check on your calorie intake.

Get enough sleep

There’s ALWAYS one more party to attend. So it’s easy to suffer from a lack of sleep. Believe it or not, some studies have shown that when people are short on sleep, they eat more. It’s as though the body is trying to obtain energy from food that was meant to come from adequate rest.

Drink lots of water

It not only helps in detoxifying the body but has been proven to curb hunger. A couple of sweets are OK but don't let yourself have too much of carbonated cold drinks. Heck, even fruit juices provide more nutritional value. Long story short, you end up eating less without putting any extra conscious effort.

Balance

Moderation is the mantra to enjoy festive food. Eat fatty foods, sweets and other fried snacks in little amounts. If you are making sweets yourself, use low fat ingredients- like low fat milk and other dairy products. Use natural sweeteners like honey and dates to make sweets and avoid using refined sugar or artificial sweeteners. Instead of loading your plate to the brim with sweets, just take a few, may be one or two, items and eat them slowly and gradually. If someone serves fruits along with sweets, try to take more of them in your plate.

Have realistic expectations

Let’s be honest. Deepavali/Hari Raya is not the time to try and lose weight. Consider yourself successful just to maintain your weight. Don’t feel guilty either if, in spite of your best efforts, you put on a pound or two. A few pounds are easily taken care of when your schedule gets back to normal in December.

Beware the “all-or-nothing” attitude

This time can be deadly if you have the “all-or-nothing” attitude towards food. This attitude says: “What’s the use? I overate during the party. I might as well stop watching what I eat and go all the way”. Going all the way means giving up all control, eating every fattening morsel that comes your way, feeling terribly guilty, eating some more, etc. So what if you succumbed to the chocolate cake? It’s not the end of the world. You can always eat a light low-calorie dinner to balance it out.

We hope these options will help make your festive celebrations a little healthier.
Happy Holidays!