Navratri is a big festival in India. But some fitness freaks are thinking that how could I stay fit in navratri. In this article, we’ll look at practical steps to manage diet & workout during Navratri
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Basics
But basics first. As people fast during navratri and fasting simply means eating less food. So, when you eat less, there is an increased likelihood of you being hungry. But if you make appropriate food choices, you can easily manage this without feeling hungry.
Broadly, there are two types of fasts that we will cover.
First type of Fast
Where people only eat fruits & dairy products during the day and one meal made only from foods allowed during navratri (click here to see the list of foods allowed during navratri).
Second type of fast
Where people consume any food allowed during navratri anytime.
Fasting Type 1 : Fruits & Dairy during the day + one dinner meal with allowed foods
Fruit & dairy can provide all three caloric macronutrients (protein, carb & fat) and both non-caloric macronutrients (fiber + water) and a combination of both can easily help you move through the day.
Fruits are a good source of:-
- Fiber &
- Micronutrients (vitamins & minerals)
Dairy is a good source of:-
- Protein
- Fat &
- Calcium.
You can easily consume between 0.5 to 1 kg of fruits during the day. This will give approx. 25g fiber & 600 calories. But because fruits are fast-digesting carbs, so space them evenly throughout the day (say every 2 hours – 200g fruit) and combine them with a dairy source. This will keep you satiated for sometime.
An example of this could be –
- Breakfast – 2 bananas + 1 glass milk
- Mid-Morning – 1 packet buttermilk/chaach + apple (or any other fruit)
- Lunch – 2 fruit + 100g paneer cubes chat
- Evening – 200g curd + fruit of choice
Make combinations as per your choice. (Download this google sheet & change as per goal. Only change quantity, rest everything will change automatically)
Keep yourself hydrated by keeping a water bottle with you at all times.
Caffeine is a nervous stimulant. If coffee or green tea are allowed, make use of them to keep yourself energized along the way when a feeling of lethargy or lack of energy hits you.
Dairy is also a good source of saturated fat. So make sure you stay around 20-22g. (The same sheet ☝️ also has saturated content for various foods)
Workouts are energy-demanding tasks and your requirement for energy increases post-workout. Therefore, if you can manage with fruits & dairy, keep it in the morning, else it is generally recommended to keep workouts prior to your main meal during the evening.
For one complete meal using allowed foods in the evening/night, this 7 healthy navratri recipes article has plenty of options for you.
Fasting Type 2 : Eating allowed foods anytime
Again various options can be found from the navratri recipes link above ☝️.
Before we discuss the food strategy here, let’s look at the food swaps & effective food planning during navratri –
Food swaps
- Replace regular salt with rock salt (aka sendha namak).
- Swap rice with samak (barnyard millet), amaranth (cholai or rajgira). Cooking style is same with almost similar calories. Infact, amaranth and samak has more protein content than rice.
- Swap whole wheat flour with kuttu atta (buckwheat flour), singhada atta (chestnut flour), rajgira atta, samak atta etc.
- Replace chicken, egg, fish etc. with dairy, whey, seeds, nuts etc.
Food planning
- Boil full stock of potato, sweet potato etc. in the morning itself for entire day.
- Roast a complete batch of makhanas for 9 days of navratri.
- Keep your water bottles ready for office/work.
- Keep snacks in your bag before hand – fruits, makhana, nuts etc.
- Purchase dahi/curd or buttermilk from your cafeteria itself.
- F.ocus on eating high volume, low calorie & filling snacks such as boiled potato, makhana, cholai laddoo than the fried snacks available.
Food Strategy
Foods must be selected based on their ability to promote satiety & fullness. So, the order of priority should be –
Protein
- Dairy
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Nut butter
- Amaranth
- Kuttu
- Samak
- Makhana etc.
Complex Carbohydrates And Fiber
- Samak
- Amaranth
- Kuttu
- Singhada
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Makhana
- Nuts etc.
(Basically, leaving dairy, all plant based protein sources are also good sources of complex carbs & fiber)
Hydration
- Water
- Coconut water
- Buttermilk
- Curd
- Milk
- Fruits
- Vegetables
Sample meal created using order of priority
- Protein – 50g paneer
- Complex carb & fiber – 50g kuttu atta & one capsicum
- Fat – 10g ghee
Make paneer shimla mirch using – paneer, capsicum, ghee, salt & spices & rotis using 50g kuttu atta. This meal will give:-
- 23g protein
- 9g fiber
- 564 calories.
Workout tips
- People consuming all foods can workout anytime since you have a lot of food options to be consumed throughout the day.
- Increase your NEAT, energy expenditure by playing dandiya, & walking in pandals.
- Use whey, if completing protein is a problem.
- Consume calories as per your goals.
Have questions? Leave in comments.
Research conducted by : Jayati Verma
