Festival Fever

Starting August-September marks the beginning of the festival season in India. It starts with Raksha Bandhan, and Krishna Janmashtami, and stretches to include Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri, Dussehra, and finally Diwali. And festivities call for celebrations where family and friends get together to have a good time. During celebrations, health generally goes into a backburner as we indulge in fried, sugary, and junk food. We tend to ignore exercising too. And before we know it, we gain a few kilos, we feel tired and less active, and that poor health clearly shows on our skin and hair. Not that we should not have fun, and indulge in all our food cravings once in a while, but not while sacrificing our health.

We know it is difficult to eat healthy, exercise, and stay healthy in general, during the festive season. But, we have just the tips for you that will keep you healthy during festivities. 

Tips To Stay Healthy This Festive Season

Here are some tips that might help:

• We know that during the festival system, your kitchen might get filled with snacks, which might be tasty but are fried, are filled with excess salt or sugar, and are bad for your health in general. Hence, it is better to replace some of those with healthier alternatives such as dried fruits and nuts. Almonds, cashew nuts, peanuts, walnuts, raisins are some of the snacking options you can try.
• It might get difficult to control what you eat during festivals. However, if you control the morning, you’ll be better able to control the rest of the day. Hence, have a healthy breakfast no matter what. Have a fruit, or make a smoothie. Have oats with milk, or our very own poha or upma. If you dig the healthy breakfasts pit deeply, you will literally stumble upon a thousand options. Not only that, that healthy meal will keep you energetic throughout the day, allowing you to have the optimal amount of fun.
• We know that festivals might not seem to be a good time to exercise. Why lift those weights, when you can save time to enjoy yourself with family; or do those difficult Yoga asanas when you can chat with your friends? Such a conundrum is faced by literally everyone. However, it’s not so much difficult to take just 30 minutes out and do some stretching exercises. Or better, just go on a walk, and take your family members or friends with you. This way, you’ll not only remain active and alert but will also be able to take time out for your loved ones. Also, the festival is the time when you want to look in great shape. But, is it possible without regular exercise?

How To Manage Diet During Festivals?

Food is an integral part of Indian festivals. No matter what amount of fitness buff you are, you might not resist all those delicacies prepared during festivities. At such times, you are faced with two options: either have it, and compromise your health, or resist it, and miss out on your mom’s best-made foods. However, there is a middle ground too. Here are some tips that will help you stay healthy this festive season:

• Portion Control: You want to have those delicacies, but are also concerned about the whole calorie intake. One way you can take care of both is by exercising portion control. 
• Be Mindful: An amazing way to control the amount of food you eat and savouring it to the fullest is by being mindful of what you eat. When you eat slowly and focus on just eating, you allow the secretion of a hormone named leptin, which tells your brain that you are full and there is no longer to eat more.
• Say NO To Second Serving: No matter how much tempted you are, say a strict no to the second serving of that tasty, yet unhealthy food.
• Choose Healthy Alternatives: This is another way to make your festival a bit healthier. And it is easy too! Just switch whole fat milk for making sweets with the skimmed kind. Use artificial sweetener, or even better, jaggery or honey, instead of refined sugar. Also, switch from refined flour to the unrefined kind. Making the traditional festive delicacies healthier without compromising with the taste is easier than it seems.
• Stay Hydrated: It’s important to have your regular 7-8 glasses of water per day during festivals. Other than its evident health benefit, drinking water right before you are going to have a heavy meal, will make you full earlier, thus reducing the amount of food you eat.
• Light Dinner: We know it is festival time and you will probably be up till late at night, but avoid having late-night dinners. Also, do not indulge in late-night snacking. Not just will it mess up with your circadian rhythm, you need to give your digestive system a break, just like you need.

Tips On Exercising During Festive Season

Festivals are no excuse to not exercise. In fact, it becomes all the more important as that physical activity will keep you active, energetic, healthy, and in amazing shape. Here are some tips that might help:

• Take Out Just 30 Minutes: You know that is not tough. If you can devote time for everything else, why not take some time out for getting some exercise. A tip: keep it simple. Go for a walk, jog, cycle, do Yoga, anything that you like.
• What If Short Of Time? If you are running short of time, you can fit physical activities into whatever time you get. Doing household chores, cycling to the market instead of taking the car, doing 10-minute yoga sessions (there are plenty on YouTube), or just being more physically active, will help you to get some amount of physical activity that you absolutely need.
• Take Care Of Your Mind: Festival might be the time when you are unable to focus on your mental health. However, try to take some time out for the same. Just meditate for 10 minutes, do deep breathing exercises, or do Yoga -- these are enough to keep your mental health in a sound state.

COVID Precaution Tips You Must Follow This Festival Season

Festivals are the time to meet our families and friends, go out, socialise, indulge in festivities, and just have a good time. However, we are not living in the normal times. It is still the COVID-19 pandemic. The novel coronavirus, which caused COVID-19, feeds on such gatherings, lax public gathering measures, lack of adherence to COVID safety protocol, and people ignoring to take precautions to protect themselves from the deadly virus. As you might also be looking forward to having a good time with your friends and families, here are some COVID-related tips you must follow to protect yourself from getting ill:

• You Must Follow COVID-Related Protocols: As soon as the virus shows some respite, it takes no time for people to ignore safety measures, and act as if they are living in normal times. But, festivals are crucial times as a lot of social gatherings happen during this time, which can give the virus a breather to surge and take over the people. Hence, this festive season, do follow all the COVID-related protocols. Wear masks when out in public, wash your hands as much as you can and use a good sanitiser. You must also try to avoid social gatherings as much as you can.
• If You Get Any Symptoms, Get Tested: You might have stayed safe from the virus up until now. However, if you get any COVID-related symptoms, such as a fever, cough, or cold, get yourself tested. You might not actually have it, but confirming the same will not only help you protect your family from coronavirus, but you will also be able to seek appropriate medical care.
• Avoid Handshakes: Instead of greeting others with a handshake, do it with the traditional namaste. This way you will be able to protect yourself from the virus, in case someone you came across was in fact infected with the novel coronavirus.
• Get Vaccinated: There is no better way to protect yourself from getting sick that getting vaccinated for the coronavirus. This might not be able to protect you from getting infected but will prevent serious illness, or even death. Also, by getting vaccinated, you will not only do yourself a favour but also to those around you. 
• Take Special Care Of Elderly People And Those With Co-Morbidities: It is now evident that the coronavirus attacks the elderly and those with some underlying health issues more. Hence, if you are in this category, take special care of yourself. For others, make an attempt to take care of those. 

By following these tips, you will be able to enjoy this festive season the healthy way.