HYDERABAD: For each of us the festive season has a different meaning, and there are different aspects to look forward to. However, there is one thing that’s common across cities, cultures and families -abundance of delicious food. Festivals are a prime time to indulge in decadent food, sweet or savoury, and it is during this time most of us throw caution to the wind and over binge.
It is just post-Diwali and most of us are fretting our lack of control on ghee-laden mithais during that period. Yasmin Karachiwala, fitness and celebrity master instructor gives tips to get fit by eating healthy.
Replace oily snacks with healthy alternatives like almonds
To avoid snacking on oily and fried food, replace them with healthier alternatives like almonds. Almonds make for a tasty snack, which also add positively to health. Almonds provide energy and will keep you active through the day. They are known to have satiating properties, which will help keep you full in between meals. You could them plain, salted, roasted or even flavoured. Alternately if you like experimenting, try making a batch of rasam spiked almonds or channa masala almonds by mixing flavours to create healthy, and yet tasty snacks.
Dark chocolate for dessert
Instead of adding typical desserts like barfi or gulab jamun, opt for unconventional forms of sweet such as dark chocolate. Dark chocolate generally contains less sugar than milk chocolate and is also a rich source of antioxidants and minerals. However, although dark chocolate is a good alternative to sweets, moderation is the key. When you have the craving, you can indulge a little. Besides this, there are several ways to add dark chocolate to your diet. Grate it over fruit salads, giving it a bitter-sweet taste or melt the dark chocolate over a saucepan and dip roasted almonds/cut fruits such as strawberries into it.
Just grill it!
To make sure your food is delicious yet healthy, instead of frying, opt for grilling food. For instance you can make grilled vegetable kebabs and stuff it in paneer or your pick of vegetables such as carrots, beans, onions, capsicums, etc. Add some spices along with it and you will definitely not end up feeling guilty about your choice.
Grilling is better as the resultant food is low in calorie than fried foods and most importantly it makes sure the nutrient content in the food is intact.