Its a Party Time..but what about my Diet?

              

 

Its a Party Time..but what about my Diet?

Whenever any festival time comes or if there is any socializing / parties are planned among friends and family circle or whether its a wedding season, a common question is how to maintain weight or how to avoid over intake of calories and mainly how to keep digestion system healthy.

Before going into further guidance its important to understand the definition of Diet. It is the kind of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats. That means Diet is not like medication course which you are on for a certain period of time. It is what we eat and have been eating since the stone age. 

So don't think that diets can not be done while travelling or while enjoying party. You can chose between eating mindfully or just eating randomly on these occasions. 

So to correct the above question put it is as  

Its a Party Time..so how I can maintain my Healthy Diet?

Answers are…

# Balance is the key.

Planning our day/week - If any parties are scheduled in a day or on weekends, we should plan other meals accordingly to create balance in terms of calories, sugar, salad and proteins intake.

E.g. If there is a wedding lunch to attend, enjoy it. And then ask your stomach what it really needs in the evening. Maybe you can give full rest to your stomach then after. And if there is a dinner party, then don’t have your earlier meals as usual, you may consider lighter to digest food in smaller portions for day time.

# Do Sampling.

If there are more than 3 to 4 snacks, sweets and beverages on offer, take 1 to 2 spoons/sips of each delicacy rather than over stuffing our plate as well as our stomach.

 

# Chose Special.

This is my funda. What we don’t get every day, relish on those special items during special occasions. E.g. at restaurants, prefer to order starters and desserts, as we don’t eat grilled items and exotic desserts every day. Dal rice roti gravies are regular items which we can consider to skip at party time.

 

# Self Talk.

Ask ourselves that do we really need it, because most of the time we overeat in the feeling of that we never ever going to get that taste/food again. Our stomach and mind is our lifetime dietitian, get trained to listen them.

 

# Eat slowly.

While eating any food, enjoy its aroma, it's taste, identify all ingredients, discuss it's recipe and as we are with our friends and family, enjoy this time to chit chat (it is alright to talk during eating on a party. But have a positive and happy conversation). In short, take time to eat food slowly. Enjoy every bite of it because it takes 20+ minutes for our brain to get the signal that we are actually full.

 

# Follow the sequence.

Start with soups, salads....drink sips of water to reduce hunger which thereby helps to avoid overeating.

(e.g. after enjoying different salads, I sometimes go straight to the dessert counter and ditch other in-between courses)

 

# Avoid Repetition. 

Avoid every other day outside food, sweets, deep fry food, alcohol - it causes indigestion, gases, acidity and bloating.This is common during festivals and on four days big fat Indian wedding.

(So then we wonder why newly stitched blouse/trousers/lehenga are not fitting and why looking dull even after that facial and makeup. ) Again refer to the first point, balance is the key. Plan it out. If you are confused about priorities, nutrition coach can guide you.

 

# Sharing is the Key.

This is the time of coming together. So respect reason of occasion or an event, enjoy being together rather than keeping the whole purpose of attending parties, festival gatherings and wedding to just eat. Sharing a plate between dear ones is the best way to increase love and decrease (calories) load.

 

Few tips for Festival Snacks:

- Stay away from snacks with artificial colors and preservatives.

- Do not store excess sweets, chocolates at home to avoid in between temptation.

- Nutrition is the key over empty calories to make snacks and sweets:

a. Use dates, jaggery, cardamom powder, nutmeg powder, dry fruits powder, saffron, honey over refine sugar.

b. Use ragi, semolina, whole wheat flour, rice flour, shingada flour instead of the only maida.

c. Use milk powder/ chakka/ paneer instead of only khoa.

d. Use ghee instead of vanaspati/ dalda.

 

Follow Healthy Lifestyle Everyday

(Even if it's your wedding)

# Keep it up with daily physical exercise (just 5 to 15 minutes of static and dynamic stretches keeps you energetic full day)

# Stay well hydrated.

# Sleep well.

# Just 1 to 5 minutes of Pranayama and Meditation strengthens our mind for the whole day.

 

 

Write up by Dietitian Prachi M. 

I'm Postgraduate in Nutrition and Dietetics, working in the field of Nutrition Coaching and Diet Planning since year 2007. I also completed 220 hours teachers training in Yoga Philosophy and Practice.

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