Weight gain is almost inevitable during the festive season. Saying 'No' to all those tasty sweets and desserts can be a challenging task indeed. But, it can be done! Here's how:
- Have a realistic approach. Consider yourself successful if you have maintained your weight.
- Go slow on the sweets. Avoid fried foods and opt for desserts made out of paneer and milk, such as Bengali sweets. At least they are high in protein.
- Try and make sweets at home rather than buying it from a store. This way you can modify the recipes to make it healthy and low calorie, yet delicious.
- Jaggery-based sweets are a better option compared to sugar-based ones. The nutritional value of jaggery is higher than sugar.
- Use skim milk and low-fat cream wherever milk and cream is required in the recipe. Also, low-calorie sugar or artificial sweeteners can be used instead of regular sugar.
- Keep festive sweets and snacks out of reach after meal time. Clear the dining table of those tempting foods. Do not eat sweets as an excuse, that it might go for waste.
- Make sure you eat your meals regularly instead of skipping them. This will reduce the likelihood of you binging on sweets and snacks later, when hungry.
- Go easy on dry fruits and nuts. Choose to have them in the natural form, rather than fried, salted, or sugar-coated.
- Balance your intake of sweets and desserts by eating less rice and chapatis in the main course. At least you are not exceeding the calorie intake.
- If you have to attend parties, eat light and low-calorie snacks at home, like a bowl of fruits, before you go for the party. This will reduce intake of all the rich, high-calorie foods served.
- Try and plan or attend lunch parties instead of dinners. Heavy dinners will show well on the weighing scale the next day.
- However hectic your schedule may be during this festive season, do not forget to exercise. Walk as much as possible to burn off extra calories.
- Reserve your sweet serving for the last in the meal. You would be mostly full with the meal and you can't eat much.
- If you feel you have had quite high calorie stuff through the day then, try and keep your dinner carb-free. Have soups and salads.
