Tips to stay healthy during Festival season

Now that Deepawali is right around the corner, here are some tips to stay healthy during the festivities:

1. Maintain a regular meal pattern, avoid remaining hungry for too long or eat too much at one given meal time
2. Avoid deep fried foods and also foods with trans fats, such as deep-fried sweets and savouries like gulab jamun, jalebi, samosas to name a few and cookies, etc.
3. As the weather is also changing and there is lot of air pollution, it is good idea to remain hydrated, but at the same time sweetened drinks need to be avoided in order to, first of all not add extra calories, number two not increase the load of free radicals in the body and last but the most important, sweetened drinks at time lead to cell dehydration.
4. Detox post and during festival is a great idea to remove the free radicals accumulated during the season, this can be achieved by drinking green tea daily. For added effect one can also have ginger or hibiscus green/white tea, which gives a good detox effect. Unsweetened cranberry juice is also good for detoxification. Detox water, infused with lemon with its rind, orange along with orange zest, cucumber, apple etc., is also beneficial.
5.  Keep your exercise regimen in place or if not possible exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes daily, it can be done for 10 minutes at a time and twice daily.
6. Add plenty of fruits and vegetables to the daily diet, so as to reduce the calorie load and to increase the fibre and anti-oxidant content in the diet.
7. It is good to keep count of what you are eating, so you can make adjustments in other meals as regards to calories and other nutrients.
8. Try alternatives of sweets such as nuts and dried fruits etc, which would make great gifting choices along with green tea and herbal teas.
9. Eat small, even if you have to eat out or at a party, it is better to eat smaller quantities and adjust for the extra calories in other meals.
10. One needs also to be careful not to miss any medication, which needs to be taken regularly, especially for diabetics, those with heart problems or those taking blood pressure, to ensure staying safe and healthy, not only during the festival but after that also.