Diet the fast way

Deepika Dua Arora  suggests ways to eat healthy this Navratri

Earlier, Navratri used to come around winter season. So digestion of heavy food was easy and the movement of a person was also more. But these days, lifestyle and weather have changed the eating trends during Navratri. This Navratri, try out a low-calorie diet that pleases your taste buds and also helps you to reduce weight. Below are a few simple and easy diet tips that one can follow.

• Your diet needs to be alkaline. Stick to fruits, nuts, dairy products and certain categories of flours.
• Kuttu was chosen as a mandatory food ingredient earlier majorly during Navratri because it is fibrous and gives heat to the body. But this requirement has changed now. With the weather being too hot and these heavy foods can lead to acidity, indigestion, gastric problems and some loose stomach also, so be selective.
• Add singhara ka atta or samak rice in your daily intake instead. Do not forget to take more fluids.
• Take more of lassi and buttermilk because they comply well with the hot and humid weather. Curd water has latic acid and it can create body pain. So try to make anything in the variety of lassi and buttermilk to avoid the pain-stress.                
• Add a pinch of heeng in vegetables for easy digestion along with flavour.
• Drink detox water. 
• Eat more fruits — papaya, guava and half a banana every day can be beneficial to a regular dietary habit. Take a slice of pineapple at night if you feel constipated.
• Change your source of cooking like air-fryer, appam or patra-tawa instead of normal frying.
• Use more of kaddu (pumpkin) or ghia (lauki) instead of potatoes.
• Try to have these heavy-meals and rice in the fast half of the day for easy digestion.
• You may also use sendha namak for seven days as it helps you reduce swelling in the body and water retention. It also controls BP.
• Instead of singhara puri or pakoras, have boiled aloo chaat or paneer, makhana kheer, mixed fruit curd or flavoured curd.
• Try idli or dosa from samak chawal atta or samak chawal pulao.
• Avoid sabudana or other fried food and include more of yoghurt, smoothies, lassi and fruits which not only will keep you full but maintain the optimum fluids in the body.
•  Instead of having namkeens as snacks have a handful of roasted makhanas or nuts like almonds or walnuts

The writer is a dietician at Mutation Diet Clinic, New Delhi