Ten Diet Tips for Navratras

Here are a few tips to remain fit, fine and healthy during navratras. Hope you adhere to these tips and stay healthy through those 9 days of fasting.

[Read: Positive Effects of Vegetarian Diet]

1. In the place of puri or pakodas (fried items) made from kuttu atta (buckwheat flour), one must go for kuttu ki roti. One can also prepare some idli from the kuttu atta (buckwheat flour) and dosa from the samak rice.
2. One must make use of refined or olive oil as a substitute of ghee.
3. Go for skimmed or low fat milk and curd. Add cucumber (kheera), bottle gourd (lauki) or tomato to it.
4. Drink a lot of fluids such as juices, vegetable soups, lassi, milkshakes and herbal tea. Besides giving you sufficient energy to keep you active all day long, they also keep a balance of the fluid levels and cleanse the harmful pollutant from your body.
5. People who have a desire to lose weight during narvtaras can consume following foods during fast:
   
   • Raita of bottle gourd (lauki)
   • Kuttu (buckwheat) roti and fasting rice (samak rice) must be eaten but should not be deep fried.
   • Raita of pumpkin (kaddu)
   • Avoid sweet potato (skaharkand), kachalu, colocacia (arbi) and sabudana (sago).
   • Fruit chat made with papaya, pear (nashpati), apple, and some amount of potato.
6. If one suffers from acidity and heartburn problems, be sure to not remain empty stomach for long hours. Eat tiny portions every few hours daily. Cold milk, cream, curd and bananas are effective remedies for acidity.
7. Diabetics need to be extra careful of feast and fasting syndrome during this Navratras. They must avoid long breaks in between their meals. Eat some food every few hours so that it is satisfying and yet does not push the blood glucose levels up too fast. You may eat lauki ka raita, almonds as snacks, stuffed kuttu roti, and pumpkin. In fact you may also have fruits at regular intervals such as papaya, berries and pears.

     8. Avoid fried foods and take more of curd, milkshakes, fresh fruits and so on. Fried foods produce a lot of burning sensation in the body. So fruits and curd act as cooling agents. Make sure to go for healthy cooking methods such as roasting, boiling, steaming and grilling.

     9. Substitute fried potato chat with adequately boiled potato chat and kheer with fruit, preferably mixed fruit curd.

    10. In case of pain in the body or colic (acute abdominal pain), put a few drops of peppermint oil in plain lukewarm water and drink it. 

Navratras is the time to eat a whole lot of healthy foods. The perfect fasting diet must contain proteins, carbohydrates, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

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