To eat or not to eat – In defense of festival sweets !!

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Alright, so the fun times have started in India!  It has begun with Dusshera and now Diwali is not far away!  And so are the sweets. 🙂  It’s all going to start.  Visiting friends and family, being offered with sweets, eating too much, worrying about flab, searching google about Detox diet, feeling guilty and then going on a dumb fruits diet for 2-3 days before forgeting about the whole thing as life comes back to track after festive mode.  That’s the cycle – it happens every year. 🙂

Sweets are a symbol of joy.  They are a symbol of happiness.  People ask you to have sweets out of joy.  Because sweets are SWEET!  And we have to give that to them.  It's family love.  You can't really enjoy a festival if there are no sweets.  It's like a pageant without Q/A round. ;)
Sweets are a symbol of joy.  They are a symbol of happiness.  People ask you to have sweets out of joy.  Because sweets are SWEET!  And we have to give that to them.  It’s family love.  You can’t really enjoy a festival if there are no sweets.  It’s like a pageant without Q/A round. 😉

Now you’re thinking, “But hey, sweets make you fat!  They’ve got sugars you see.” And yes, you are right.  They do have sugars.  And over-indulging is definitely not a great idea.  But so is not being an “akdu” (stern bitch) when people offer you sweets.  So here are some ways in which you can maintain your happiness and at the same time live with the fit feeling.

 

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Generally sweets are best eaten after a work-out or the first thing in the morning.  And that rule stays no matter what season or festival.  You can always enjoy a sweet guilt-free in these times. 🙂 pic credit: fitbie.com
  • Sweets generally are best if you take them as individual meals.  As in, don’t have them as dessert or along with some meal.  Just have them individually.  If you have a big delicious “ghar ke ghee ka” (home-made laddoo of ghee and jaggery, yummy), relish it.  Enjoy it.  And then have another meal (even if it’s a sweet) after two hours.  The sweet as an individual meal will be first utilized for filling your glycogen stores and general metabolic activities.  Since you are not eating anything else, fat deposition would be little or nil.  Two hours is enough time for stomach to get hungry again.
Always ENJOY sweets.  It's often about the mind - how you deal with things.  Never curse food.  It's never about the food.  It's about how you feel for it and how you have it.  There is no point in doing a thing and feeling guilty about it.  Either don't do it or do it like a boss. :-) Photo credit: Spreading the festive cheer. Photo: K.R. Deepak (www.thehindu.com)
Always ENJOY sweets.  It’s often about the mind – how you deal with things.  Never curse food.  It’s never about the food.  It’s about how you feel for it and how you have it.  There is no point in doing a thing and feeling guilty about it.  Either don’t do it or do it like a boss. 🙂
Photo credit: Spreading the festive cheer. Photo: K.R. Deepak (www.thehindu.com)
  • Stick to your exercise routine.  And if you don’t have one, get one.  Exercise atleast 150 Hours a week.  Alternate days an hour a week is best option.  And hey, don’t do it for defeating sweets.  Do it for your fitness & well-being.  There is a difference in approach and attitude. 🙂
  • Have a good amount of water throughout the day.
  • Even if you have sweets, do take nutritious meals too during the day.  It’s important that the diet is balanced in terms of carbs, proteins and fat.
  • These tips are for festival days.  For rest days, stick to the general rules about sweets – only after work-out or in morning.  If you have it in any other time of day, it should be individual meal and only once a week or so, if you are eating right in all ways.

Wellbeing is not just about having a fit body, one also should also have a good social and family life.  It is possible only if you stay open to the festivals, meetings, family get-togethers.  As our favorite dietician/sports-trainer RUJUTA DIWEKAR recently posted on her Facebook, “Its not just a ladoo darling, its an unbroken chain of love, wisdom and nourishment shared by the women in your family across generations..” 🙂

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“Its not just a ladoo darling, its an unbroken chain of love, wisdom and nourishment shared by the women in your family across generations..” 🙂 – Quote by Rujuta Diwekar, Celebrity nutritionist/exercise-trainer

So have fun everyone!  Enjoy festivals, family, food and play safe with crackers. 🙂