No doubt India is quite innovative as far as the art of sweet (mithai) making is concerned however, this art has made a lot of people vulnerable to obesity & many other lifestyle diseases.
Therefore, it is important to find mithais that are good for us and do not take a toll on our health.
But for that, we need to first get the basics right.
Mithai Basics
So irrespective of which mithai it is, essentially a piece of mithai is made up of about 50% sugar & the remaining 50% contains other ingredients such as flour, dairy, nuts/seeds, water, fats, flavors, etc.
That’s the reason it’s called a mithai. (because it has meetha i.e. sugar).
And as you all know, sugar is a source of empty calories i.e. meaning it only contributes to your calories for the day without contributing any essential nutrients your body needs for optimal function.
And this sugar makes a mithai highly palatable (tasty) and therefore, you end up eating more & more.
And, that’s the biggest problem one faces with mithai. They don’t know when to stop which significantly shoots up calories for the day.
Therefore, a better approach to finding the best mithai is to moderate the consumption of any mithai, and more so with sweets that you love. And below are the four strategies to do just that –
1. Mithais that are divided into pieces
Pick a mithai that’s divided into small portions such as barfi, kaju katli, peda, rasgulla, petha, sandesh, rasmalai, besan ka laddoo, kalakand, modak, jalebi, etc.
So if you’re someone, who doesn’t know when to stop while eating a mithai, then this strategy is definitely for you. Just pick a single piece of any of these mithais and you’re done. Portion control is what we’re looking at here.
The above-mentioned options will give anywhere between 70-150 calories with rasgulla being the lowest & soan papdi being the highest.
2. Moisture-based sweets
The next strategy is to look for water or moisture-based mithais. Let us explain that in a little more detail.
Any mithai made either from water or water based foods will obviously have more water content than the sweets which don’t use water.
The idea of doing this is to minimize the consumption of calories since water doesn’t have any calories, so you can still eat more in terms of volume and the mithai will contribute lesser calories.
Some examples are Pongal which is made from rice, moong dal & water, Gajar ka halwa which is made from carrot & milk which are almost 90% water, rasgulla from milk, shrikhand from curd which again is almost 88% water, rava kesari made from suji & water. Some more examples are – kheer, rasmalai, kalakand.
These sweets are almost 50% water and remaining 50-60% is made from other ingredients.
A 100g serve of these mithais will give 160-220 calories where Pongal is the lowest & rava kesari or suji ka halwa being the highest.
Both these strategies will make things easier for you. If you’ve questions so far, leave in comments.
3. Nutrient-rich sweets
See most Indian sweets are made up of good ingredients. In fact, from the 18 popular Indian sweets that we covered for this article (more details about sweets) 40% were milk-based which is a good source of protein, fat & calcium. You can pick any of them.
Rest were made from other good ingredients such as – Gajar ka halwa from carrots & milk – a source of protein, fat & vitamin a, besan ka laddoo from besan (gram flour) giving fiber, protein & micronutrients, cashew-based kaju barfi giving good fat, protein & micronutrients, pongal made from rice & moong, kheer made from rice & milk, modak made from coconut & rice flour and so on.
Exercise portion control even while consuming them as explained above.
If you want to reduce your calorie consumption from sweets even further, you can check Healthy Mithai Co. sweets which are sweetened with stevia which adds sweetness without adding calories.
4. Minimize or avoid the consumption of deep-fried mithais
Lastly, we have deep-fried mithais – that include jalebi, ghevar & gulab jamun. If you can limit your consumption to small pieces, eat them, else avoid them because they offer negligible nutrition, are very tasty & a source of empty calories.
Conclusion
Mithais are almost 50% sugar and 50% other ingredients. And sugar is what makes them highly palatable. So rather than finding the best mithai that you can eat in unlimited amounts, eat any mithai in limited amounts and make in healthy for you.
Because the best mithai is the one, where you stop eating on time.
And in a country like India, where meetha is deeply ingrained across cultures, instead of blaming meetha for your ill health, a better approach is always to make better habits.
And as long as, regular physical activity, control on choices & eating in moderation is part of your lifestyle, a piece of mithai here & there can do nothing.
Research conducted by Chandni