Festival of (Light) Food

For those hosting a meal at home,it turns out most hosts already know what to do. “In today’s day and age,people are very conscious; they already will make the small changes that are required,” states Dr Vishakha Shivdasani,who specialises in nutrition. “The basic concept is to choose the right food. For example,serve baked samosas instead of frying them; replace fried gulab jamun with low-fat milk based sandesh. Modak can be steamed and,since it contains jaggery,is an excellent yet traditional option,” she offers.

Surviving meals at the homes of extended family members can be a challenge in itself; resisting the temptation to converse with the dinner table can be hard. Gauri Kitchlu,an expert calorie dodger suggests you should “eat a small meal before you go,so you don’t over-indulge”. She also recommends cutting out one main carb-spewing portion from the meal. Avoiding alcohol at card parties is a no-brainer; you need to be at your sharpest while gambling. If you must,though,avoid overly sugary cocktails and try mixing spirits with soda as sugar leads to water retention and bloating.

While the rule of thumb is not to over-indulge,there is thankfully that whole concept of detoxification. “Consuming insoluble fibre,such as oats or whole-wheat bread is a great way to eliminate waste,” suggests Shivdasani. Mahadevan believes exercise is a vital aspect of detoxification,and suggests avoiding sugar and salt while consuming plenty of water and watery fruits.

Shivdasani sums things up well,stating that one should “be smart about indulgence during Diwali or for that matter any other time of the year.”