Healthy Fasts Keep You Healthy During Lock down!

With Navratri falling during the lockdown, a lot of people would be fasting while they stay at home. A lot of people would also be carrying out with once a week fast according to their tradition.  During normal days, the movement out of home is not restricted. But due to coronavirus outbreak, for our own safety and security, we are all under lockdown at home except those of us going for essential duties and services. We, therefore, need to implement healthy fasting for keeping our immune system strengthened.

The fasts teach us to exercise self-control and pledge to remain healthy and safe. The fasts teach us to be kind. Therefore, following tips and tricks can help you in staying healthy during your fasts:

·        Keep water and healthy liquids with you always!

Keep your water bottle separate at home and keep sipping from it from time to time. Fasts are a good way for detoxification of your body. When one speaks about detoxification, healthy liquids cannot be ignored. The healthiest and the most necessary out of them is water. Water will help you flush toxins and pathogens out of your body. It will also provide the much-needed hydration, especially when one is fasting. Drinking water at regular intervals can cut down unusual and hunger cravings.
Milk and curd are other healthy liquids that can help you in detoxing your body if you are not allergic to dairy. You can also make healthy shakes such as almond shake, banana shake. Lemon water is also refreshing and provides hydration.

·        Keep eating healthy snacks at regular intervals!

Nuts are to your rescue. Amid this lockdown, if you have nuts in your home take walnuts, almonds, groundnuts, and fox nuts; use them as healthy snacks in your fasts. Eat them every three to four hours.
Foxnuts are highly rich in vitamins and iron. Roasted nuts can also be consumed.

·        Fruits can help you!

During this coronavirus lockdown, essential services are allowed. From the nearest fruit stall which is serving your locality, get fruits for 3 to 4 days at your home. When you go out to buy fruits, maintain social distancing. Fruits like banana have fiber and can keep you full for longer. Oranges are high in vitamin C and water content. Sweet potatoes are fiber-rich and have vitamin A, C, and B₆ and minerals like calcium, magnesium, and iron.
Consuming fruits help you in staying hydrated and keeps your immunity strong to protect you from infection such as coronavirus infection.

·        Avoid excess sugar and salt!

Sweets in the market contain a lot of processed sugar. Similarly, packaged chips contain a lot of salts. Try eating home-cooked food especially amid this lockdown. Make sweets at home and use healthy alternatives to sugar such as jaggery. Eat roasted potatoes at home in rock salt in place of packaged chips.

·        Do not break your fast with a feast!

There are ample of delicacies which are cooked at home to break your fast. Before you get all of them in your stomach, think about the purpose of fasting. It will also take a toll on your digestive system. Excessively fried food can give you a painful stomach and bloated belly. Instead of detoxification, gulping excessively fried food at once can add pressure on your vital organs and lead to the accumulation of toxins in your body.

·        Use healthy flours:

Amarnath or chaulai has protein, vitamin B₆ and E, iron, potassium and has several other minerals, fatty acids and amino acids that are essential to keep your immune system and body strengthening. Amarnath and jaggery can be used to make laddus at home.
Singhara flour has fiber which can help in regulating bowel movements, blood cholesterol levels, and sugar levels. Water chestnuts or Singhara also help you to lose weight. You can use water chestnuts even after fasts to continue with your weight loss plan!

·        Take a refreshing sleep!

Your body needs plenty of rest during fasting as it is undergoing detoxification. Do your meditation task without any excuse of lack of time as you are under lockdown! Don’t overindulge in mobiles and televisions and ignore your sleep. Take the required hours of refreshing sleep daily. Sleeping properly also helps in boosting your immunity so that you can remain protected from infections such as coronavirus infection.

·        Over-exertion is not permitted!

Fasting can not afford you to lose a lot of energy on unnecessary things such as arguments or excessively getting involved in physical exertion. Ten minutes of indoor exercise in mild form during fasting in a lockdown can help you stay energized and in good health during Navratri and your weekly fasts.

Prescribed medicines shall not be ignored!

      Many people have a habit of leaving the prescribed medicines during fasting. Do not do that especially now as any aggravation or worsening of health condition during prevalent coronavirus infection can increase your risk of getting infected and can force you to visit your doctor in an emergency. Stepping out of home shall not be promoted at all during this lockdown. Keep taking prescribe homeopathic medicines for improving immunity and controlling other ailments.

A sense of security will always be lacking if you do not follow precautionary measures advised to you during this lockdown period. We should not go to religious places and shall offer our prayers at home. Diabetics and other patients with chronic diseases shall avoid fasting as this can complicate their existing health condition. Each one shall follow the guidelines of the health care practitioner.

Let us take proper care of us and the people around us as much as possible to stay healthy. We will get Navratri in the future to enjoy festivities but this one is for self-introspection and self-healing for a better and healthier tomorrow for all of us.