Health Check Manual For The Festive Season

The second half of the year brings with it a series of festivals in India. It is a delightful time for everyone. From Krishna Janmashtami to Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri to Diwali, Eid to Onam, everyone has something or the other to celebrate.

One of the most integral parts of these festivals is food. Thus comes the challenge of maintaining your health. Festival food like sweets, snacks, and beverages are rich in fats, carbohydrates, and sugar. Your calorie intake increases, and if you’re unable to burn them, the surplus calories turn into fat.

People with lifestyle disorders like diabetes, indigestion, gas, and bloating are at a higher risk. That restricts them from enjoying the festivals to the fullest. If you’re one of them, you must have a look at this health check manual to maintain your health without compromising enjoyment.

The Health Check Manual

There are two core areas you must approach intentionally.

1. Diet: Tanya Sharma, a nutritionist and lifestyle counsellor, says that a well-balanced diet is crucial for a healthy life. That includes consuming carbohydrates. But if you intake carbohydrates without balancing them with protein, vitamins, minerals, and fibre, it will have unhealthy repercussions.

So, ensure that you make a balanced diet your priority this festive season to not miss out on the fun and vigour.

2. Physical Activity: Festivals can get challenging by default if you’re not physically active. Thus, if you want to enjoy the festivals to the fullest, get moving!

Physical activity or workouts do not always have to be intense and painful. Something as simple as using the stairs instead of the elevator or walking short distances is a healthy choice. That being said, incorporating cardiovascular exercises will help you burn surplus calories and improve your metabolism.

Stay in touch with physical activity at least five days a week to enjoy the festivals and the food.

Follow these simple tips to enhance your health.

1. Hydration: During Navrati, many people tend to fast or follow an intermittent fasting routine. Increasing water intake at such a time is a great way to detox your body. Include fluids such as coconut water, lemonades, honey, buttermilk, and more to improve digestion and maintain health.
2. Chew It Out: Festivals and their foods excite our taste buds. It is overwhelming to see the delicacies staring at us from the table. And in the course of consuming them, we hardly pay attention to how properly we chew the food.
   Chewing the food at least 25 – 30 times before swallowing is crucial to facilitate digestion. Thus, if you want to enjoy the lip-smacking food, chew it away!
3. Low-Calorie Sugar: Sweets are the most common foods during festivals. They are almost unavoidable. Thus, low-calorie sugars can serve as a great substitute.
   These sugars, unlike caloric sweeteners, impart sweetness to your food without the carbohydrates that harm your health. Sweeteners like Saccharin, Aspartame, Sucralose, Allulose are sweeter than sugar and come with low calories. If you have diabetes or other health issues deriving from sugar, try low-calorie sugar to stay safe during the festivals.
4. Nuts And Seeds: We often visit our relatives and friends during festivals. Often, snacks like chips and namkeens are served on such occasions. Replacing snacks with roasted nuts like almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pistachios, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds can serve as a simple step towards a healthy festival.
5. Avoid UPFs: Ultra-processed foods like biscuits, cakes, nankeens, chips have become very common these days. They are loaded with ingredients like emulsifiers, preservatives, and more to increase shelf-life. They are also addictive and are highly calorie-infused.
   Thus, stick to homemade foods as much as possible and reduce the consumption of UPFs.

Final Words

Maintaining good health comes with certain costs. To expect that you can consume everything and have no impact is foolishness. Approach food with a bit of self-control coupled with good habits for a healthy, long life.

Eat healthily, stay fit!