Eat Right: Celebrate Holi with health and happiness

Holi, the vibrant festival of colours, is a time for joyous celebrations, cultural traditions, and indulgent feasting. However, amidst the revelry, it’s essential to remember the significance of maintaining a balance between enjoyment and health.

Let’s delve deeper into practical tips and strategies for embracing the spirit of Holi while making mindful choices to eat right and stay healthy.

According to Ms Sheena Ahuja, Home Science teacher at Apeejay School, Faridabad, Sector 15: “Preparations for Holi should start two to three days before Holi, and we don’t mean just festive preparations but even preparing the body and digestive system for the festival. The food you eat during this time should focus on strengthening your digestive system.

Ms Ahuja suggests the following tips on how the above can be done

Eat light: While celebrations for any Indian festival start a day or two before the actual festival, ensure that you keep your food light. Include more fibres and digestive food in your diet to help cleanse your body.

Take probiotics: Probiotics are good bacteria or yeast which help with the digestive process. There are several probiotic drinks in the market, so ensure you start taking some to strengthen the digestive system, these should be taken before, during and after Holi. Probiotics are generally safe for everyone, some may even suffer from diarrhoea, gas, bloating, or upset stomach for a couple of days after starting probiotics but this gets corrected easily. However, if these symptoms continue or if you get an allergic reaction, stop taking the probiotic immediately and consult your doctor.

Reduce the intake of sugar/sweets: In the pre-run to Holi, it would be safer for everyone to reduce the intake of substances that are rich in sugar.

“It is also important to take care of all the meals during the day of Holi. There are several things one could do on the day of Holi to stay healthy, from opting to make healthier supplements of favourite Holi dishes to eating right.

Here are some tips, as well as healthy dishes one could prepare for the day of the festival

Breakfast: Opt for a light breakfast on Holi, like poha or curd and flat rice. This would help keep your stomach full even after a long time of having breakfast and is light enough to be digested easily.

Hydrate yourself: Holi is the one time when we people forget to hydrate themselves, despite there being so much water around them. Ensure that you drink a lot of water to keep yourself hydrated.

Cook healthy substitutes: Tweaking your favourite Holi recipes, even a little can go a long way in making your Holi. Here are a few healthy tweaks to your favourite Holi dishes:

Baked gujias – the casing is made with whole wheat and semolina (suji) instead of refined flour (maida). Instead of deep frying your gujias, opt for baking them. This would reduce the oil intake of the gujias, leaving you free to dip these delicacies into sugar syrup.

Brown bread dahi vada – It is a healthy substitute to your regular deep-fried dahi vada and it takes only five minutes to make them.

Ragi malpuas – This one is made with ragi flour, whole wheat and oats. All the big flavours, minus the guilt.

Low-fat thandai – Holi is incomplete without its staple, thandai. A glass full of lip-smacking delicacy down your throat can not be altered by any other drink. This year just make it with low-fat milk and add honey as the sugar substitute and enjoy the guilt-free drink.

Frozen yoghurt: Instead of gorging on malai kulfi, one could opt for colourful frozen yoghurt which comes in exciting flavours and colours.

Baked kachoris: These deep-fried savoury delicacies taste as good when they are baked. Serve them hot with chana masala cooked in low absorb, rice bran oil instead of ghee and you have a healthy meal in your hands.

Fruit raita: It is healthy on its own, but this Holi, opt for a fresh fruit Raita, just throw some apples, pomegranate seeds, and bananas in a bowl of curd with salt and chaat masala and you have a healthy and unique raita at your disposal.

Last but not least, Ms Ahuja suggests one important tip to follow this Holi. “Avoid touching the food with dirty coloured hands. Some harmful colour particles could remain in your hands despite you having washed your hands vigorously. It is better to opt for eating with forks or spoons to prevent harmful chemicals from entering your body,” she said in conclusion.