Navratri Diet - Natural Process to Cleanse Internally!
The festivities and the festival season is around the corner and it is that time of the year where everything seems cheerful like the decorations, gathering or the food. Navratri is a nine day long celebration in which the people of the Hindu religion observe fast. Some people have a mentality of enjoying the delicacies like kaddu pakoras, kuttu puris and other delicious food items while there are people who like to detox or cleanse their body internally by following a very healthy approach of fasting in Navratri.
You can take advantage of the nine days of fasting during navratri for cleansing, rejuvenating and detoxing your mind and body through healthy fasting and prayers. This time is considered as the best moment to break apart from the regular routine, food and practices to a healthy routine and give your body the rest it deserves.
There are moments which can lead us to indulge during the nine days of Navratri celebration. We like to eat food that has high sugar content, food rich in calories, food rich in fat etc. The ingredients which are used to cook the traditional food items are very healthy and full of nutrition (wholesome).
The food items cooked during the festival season serves both the purposes, the first one is it provides all the essential nutrients and the second one is it keeps us away and protects us from any kind of disease and these are considered to be the main purpose of celebrating festivals to clean us from the inside and make us stronger during the change of the season. Some great sources of fiber, antioxidants, polyphenols and protein are samai, kuttu, amarnath and singhara. The addition of satiety for slowing down the process of digestion is done by soluble fibers and carbohydrates.
Eating dry fruits and nuts will help you boost the nutritional value of the diet that you have taken whereas inclusion of fresh fruits and vegetables will keep you energetic with the supply of minerals and vitamins.
There are certain ways that you should follow to cleanse your body from the inside and rejuvenate during the time of Navratri. Those steps are:
Cook right
Kuttu can be used for the preparation of uttapam, dosa and chapatis instead of making paratha and puri which becomes unhealthy due to the oil content (as this is cooked in oil). You can use rice to make kheer with milk which is skimmed or low fat or pulao instead of making samai from it. You can steam the kuttu for making idlis and eat samai whenever you want to have a delicious breakfast or snack. Chapati made up of amarnath and pulao made of quinoa are a great source of protein and fiber to the body. Roasting makhana with rock salt and preparing kheer from it (if you are a sweet tooth) instead of frying it as this will prove to be very healthy for your body.
Use healthy alternatives for ingredients
You can replace the usage of processed sugar from honey or jaggery (gur). The presence of spices in the food is very helpful as they act as antioxidants, protective food materials and they bring health and taste to the food in which it is out, the spices are also known to ease the digestion as well. Some spices which are very helpful, commonly used and have carminative properties are coriander seeds (dhania), cumin (jeera) and cardamom (elaichi).
Drink right, proper and adequate
The weather during this season is warm and you should be practicing to keep your body hydrated. When we are in the celebratory spirits we forget to keep ourselves hydrated by not drinking water or any other hydration products. You should drink only those drinks which have low calories in it like fresh lemon water (it also acts as a natural antioxidant as it has vitamin C) and coconut water (it can cleanse and rehydrate us because of the presence of calcium, potassium and sodium in it). You can also have green tea which can help in the detoxing of the body because it contains a strong antioxidant which is named as catechin and makes it the perfect drink that one should have during navratri and we should avoid adding any kind of sweetening ingredients into this as it would raise the calories in th drink thus, making it unhealthy. Other healthy alternative drinks can be fresh juice of vegetables and fruits and adds to the antioxidant content of your body.
Eat healthy snacks
If you want to have snacks i would suggest you to have fruits and they make the best snack ever as they are low in calories and they are full of nutrients like minerals, vitamins, fiber and antioxidants. This is a much healthier alternative than eating anything which is fried and has too much salt in it like namkeens. You can also air fry some dishes like sago papad, kuttu atta cheela, kuttu cutlets and pakora instead of going for those food items which are made by deep frying in oil. You can also seek for pancakes which are made from the singhara flour as this is also a very healthy approach. Adding these kinds of food items in the diet will surely help you boost the nutritional content of the body through diet and by adding seeds, dry fruits, raisins (prebiotic fibers), and nuts (polyphenols) in the diet too (our hunger pangs could be controlled if we have a handful of these in our diet at any time of the day).
You should have a variety of food items
Variety is considered to be the spice of life and mother nature has spread so much nutrition across all kinds of food products, fruits, vegetables etc. You should take or try new food items everyday as this will help you to taste the goodness of all kinds of fruits and vegetables which are present in very vibrant colors and take you out of the boring and sad life that you are living in.
Conclusion
You should choose cooking techniques and styles which are healthy over the tasteless food which drive you to choose unhealthy cooking methods. You can opt for all these steps which can make your navratri really special, happy and healthy.
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