Chaitra Navratri is an auspicious Hindu festival that is celebrated for nine long days. Most of the devotees observe a fast to pray, celebrate the festival, and detoxify the body. However, since people refrain from eating the usual wheat flour or rice during fasts, food options are limited. Even though the motive of the fast was to eat healthy food, some people eat fried dishes and a high-calorie diet.
In this light, Slurrp interviewed Abhilasha Sharma, a nutritionist and a lifestyle coach, to share some low-carb diets. The expert says, “During fasts, people eat more fried food than ever. They feel that potato is the devil and they should avoid it altogether, but it’s actually the cooking method that causes the harm.” So, if you’re looking for healthy fasting options, here are some dishes shared by the nutritionist herself.
Curd-Based Dishes
As Chaitra Navratri falls in the summer season, eating curd is really important to stay hydrated and refreshed. You can either make raita with curd and grated vegetables like cucumber, tomato, and mint. Or, you can make a parfait with yoghurt, chia seeds, honey, and chopped seasonal fruits to make a guilt-free dessert.
Assorted Vegetables
Abhilasha says, “The secret to a healthy diet lies in making your plate colourful and adding more raw fruits and vegetables to it.” You can make a meal out of assorted vegetables like paneer, broccoli, tomato, cauliflower, and so on. All you need to do is ensure that you have very little oil for sauteing the vegetables and not frying them.
Paneer Sabzi
There are so many dishes that can be made paneer while you are fasting. For example, a healthy bowl of palak paneer, paneer bhurji, matar paneer, or even barbequed paneer tikka. Instead of eating fried snacks all day long, you can eat paneer that will give you nutrition and keep you full to prevent overeating and munching.
Stuffed Mushroom
Another healthy option you can eat while fasting is stuffed mushrooms. Since mushrooms have high nutritional value, you can stuff them with a paste of assorted vegetables and then roast or grill them as per your preference and pair them with a bowl of raita.
Gheeya Curry
Vegetables like tinde, gheeya, karela, tori, petha, etc., are all healthy options that can be substituted with fried foods that you might be munching while fasting. So, you can make gheeya curry with gheeya (bottle gourd) in a tomato-based curry. You can pair it with roti made with fast-friendly kuttu atta.
Coolers
Keeping yourself hydrated during fasts is extremely important, especially if you stick to eating only one meal. You can keep on having coolers like lemon water, jeera water, jaljeera, cucumber water, aam panna, etc. For more filling drinks, you can make a mango shake, banana shake, lassi, smoothies, thandai, and so on.
Chia Mango Pudding
For a healthy dessert, you can make a chia mango pudding. You can make it with milk, honey, mango puree, and chia seeds. After mixing all the ingredients and letting them cook on low flame, you’ll get a custard-like consistency. Once the pudding is thick, you can let it cool. Finally, you can garnish it with chopped mango pieces and enjoy your fast-friendly dessert on Navratri.