Going Berserk on Festival Food!

Going berserk on festival food is something that is common to all of us, especially Indians. We wait for our several gods to be celebrated, all under the pretext of various sweets and delicacies to be devoured over and over again. Indians get to celebrate such occasions at least 4 times in a year, where a pan-religion response is seen. However, one must not forget that any form of enjoyment must be contained and kept within limits. Sweets and other eatables prepared during these festivals contain a lot of saturated fat which is not at all healthy for the body. These ghee-laden recipes often give us a tough time during our lengthy phase of weight loss. Therefore, a plan must be devised wherein you can gorge on those delightful delicacies and your tummy doesn’t start to bulge as well. People will recommend hitting the gym regularly after such festivals. But ‘regularly’ is a quite a redundant term here, since our workout regime is broken by these festivals at least thrice or four times - all thanks to our festivals. Therefore, in order to exercise and stay fit during these times, your workout regime should be kept continuous – turn it into an ‘on-the-job’ effort! Imagine yourself trying to put away those laddoos and kheer safely into those deep confines of your stomach – what you could do five minutes later is go for a small walk. Be it a 10 minute power walk – it will work! It might not give you immediate results on your kilo count, but it will help you feel a little positive – you’ll acknowledge the fact that some of your added-on calories have been burned away. Weight loss can further be possible if your turn this power walk into a habit. This can be counted as a small step towards a healthy lifestyle. If you are big on gymming, it is, then, very necessary to keep on going for workouts, especially during these festivals. Any sort of lethargy or inconsistency in your gym schedule will cause you to take a few steps back or maybe even start from square one. If you are in the mood to slow down the pace, you could de-intensify your repetitions or days of workout. However, you must keep it regular. Another approach to kill the bug at its nascent stage – increase the intensity of your exercise schedule. Go for more repetitions – run for a longer time on the treadmill, go for more abdomen crunches, lift more weights. But before taking a plunge, be sure to consult your trainer/ health specialist about this. If you do come across a situation where you really cannot avoid eating sweets – like at social events or processions – try opting for the lesser evil! From a plate, choose the least oiliest or biggest piece of sweet. You could also push for a platter for low-calorie sweets and delicacies at house parties, provided you are chummy with the guests as well as the hosts. Eventually, your weight loss is your concern and nobody else’s. So buckle up and keep fighting – you must remember that you can eat festival food but in restraint.