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By incorporating healthier ingredients into the favourite dishes, one can enjoy the best of both worlds—delicious food that’s good for your body
Lakshmi Puja is performed in the evening on Diwali. (Image: Shutterstock)
In cultures across the world, festivals have a great significance and are often marked by a wide range of traditional dishes. Diwali is around the corner, a time to celebrate with loved ones, and express our affection with gifts and sweets. Nowadays, these dishes tend to be loaded with sugar and fats eg. chocolates, cookies, pastries, desserts etc. However, the traditional delicacies made by our grandmothers and mothers were often inherently healthier because they used whole, natural ingredients and cooking methods that promoted better health.
Dr Meghana Pasi, Head, MyThali shares some ways in which we can make our festive foods more wholesome and healthier.
Use natural sweeteners in place of refined sugars
Halwas, laddoos, barfis include a lot of refined sugar. Using natural sweeteners like dates, honey, or jaggery in place of sugar is an easy yet efficient approach to make these sweets healthy.
- Jaggery has a higher nutritional profile than white sugar since it is loaded with minerals like iron and magnesium. It is rich in fibre and antioxidants, and its natural sweetness works well in many traditional desserts, adding a nutritious touch. Studies also show that jaggery helps reduce oxidative stress and provides a steadier release of energy, avoiding rapid spike in blood sugar levels.
- Honey is a great alternative for sugar in sweets like kheer or payasam. It offers antibacterial properties and adds a delicate sweetness.
- Coconut Sugar with a low glycemic index, it’s an excellent option for diabetics
- Dates can be used in kheer, cakes, brownies, shakes and ice-creams, adding fiber and essential nutrients.
- Puran Poli: This traditional Maharashtrian sweet flatbread stuffed with a mixture of chana dal (split chickpeas) and jaggery offers protein from the dal and minerals from the jaggery, making it healthier than modern sugary sweets.
- Pongal: This South Indian dish made with rice and moong dal was traditionally sweetened with jaggery. It provides a great balance of protein, carbs, and minerals.
Use whole grains rather than refined flour
Refined flour (maida) is used in many sweet and savoury dishes. The fibre, protein, and mineral content of these recipes can be greatly increased by substituting whole grains like quinoa, whole wheat, or millets for refined flour.
- Use whole wheat flour for dishes like puran poli or gujiya to increase the fiber content while maintaining the texture.
- Use millets (Ragi, Bajra, Jowar) in your ladoos or dosas to add fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Millets are gluten-free and excellent for heart health.
- Ragi Halwa: This delicious dessert made with finger millet, ghee, and jaggery is rich in calcium, iron, and healthy fats making this dish nutritious and suitable for all age groups.
- Bajra Rotis or Pithas: These rotis, made from pearl millet, served with ghee or jaggery are fiber-rich and have a low glycemic index, which helps maintain stable blood sugar levels.
Include Healthy Fats
Packaged sweets tend to contain high amounts of hydrogenated vegetable oil (dalda). Using ghee or cold-pressed oils like coconut, groundnut or olive oil in sweets and namkeens can add healthy fats to your dishes. Multi grain, besan or ragi laddoos can be made with ghee and jaggery. Ghee helps in digestion and improves immunity. However, be mindful about the portion sizes. Further, be careful about the cooking methods. Instead of deep-frying the namkeens like samosas, kachoris, mathris etc. you may bake them. This will significantly lower the oil consumption without compromising on the crunch.
Add Nutrient-Dense Ingredients
Nuts and seeds not only add texture but also improve the nutritional profile of sweets and snacks. Almonds, walnuts, pistachios can be added to kheer, halwa, or barfi for healthy fats, vitamin E, proteins and antioxidants. Chia Seeds and flaxseeds can be added to ladoos, granola bars, or desserts for an extra boost of omega-3 fatty acids and fiber.
You don’t need to give up on taste or tradition to stay healthy during the festive season. By incorporating healthier ingredients into the favourite dishes, one can enjoy the best of both worlds—delicious food that’s good for your body. This Diwali, celebrate with a blend of tradition and wellness!