Holi and weight gain go hand in hand and while we cannot miss out on all the delicious festival food from gujiya, malpua, thandai, ghevar, imarti to many other delicacies, we can certainly follow a healthy diet a week prior to the festival of colours to prevent gaining unwanted kilos. So, while you are sending invites of Holi party to your friends and relatives, do not forget to eat a nutritious diet and hydrate yourself well. From starting your day with a workout, to adding multiple servings of fruits and vegetables, having early dinners, to herbal tea at bedtime, here's a fitness routine suggested by a wellness expert you can follow today onwards.

"During the festivities of Holi, we celebrate the onset of spring and the life force on earth with joy. Playing with colours during this time energises us and adds to the festive spirit. During festivities, we tend to indulge in rich and calorie-dense foods for several days, both before and after the actual celebration. However, with proper preparation beforehand, it is possible to avoid consuming excess calories and gaining weight," says Dr Mickey Mehta, Global Leading Holistic Health Guru and Corporate life Coach.

Dr Mehta says by sleeping on time, having healthy food and workouts, one can counter the ill effects of high calorie food.

Here are some tips by Dr. Mehta.

Be regular with morning workouts

Mornings set the tone for the day and by being active with morning workouts one can achieve good metabolism before the festival.

Have early dinner

Early dinners, drinking a lot of herbal teas and vegetable juices, eating lot of fruit and vegetables, salads will certainly help. This can really help you prepare yourself and allow you to indulge a little bit more because you would have worked way ahead and deserve the fun. A healthy nutritive diet can certainly help cleanse and purify and reverse the indulgence.

Add herbal teas

Have loads of herbal teas, around six to eight cups and in between have loads of fruits or salads alternatively.

Go for vegetable soup

"My advice to people is that couple of weeks before, get a little disciplined so that some amount of abuse, as you celebrate doesn’t hurt you more," says the wellness expert.

Go for vegetable soups for lunch and dinner. Make use of bottle gourd, tomato, carrot, spinach, pumpkin, blends of vegetables mixed together of your choice. Include yam, sweet potato, leafy greens like spinach and methi, cruciferous veggies like broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower, and then maybe simply have a plate of hummus with veggie sticks or some sprouts or channa boiled or sprouted.

Khichdi

Consume khichadi both the times along with clear vegetable soup. A loaded moong dal khichdi with veggies like peas, carrot, french beans, bottle gourd, cauliflower in the afternoon and only moong dal and plain rice with jeera, adrak, lasun or dal khichadi at night.

Published in Hindustan Times