Diwali is fast uproaching this weekend and most of us are busy cleaning the houses, helping mom make diwali sweets and savories, shopping and planning diwali gifts. Earlier we bought traditional sweets like peda or ladoo from the market but with growing complaints about adulteration and poor quality of the sweets; nuts and dry fruits are on people’s mind adding to a health touch.
Nuts are nutrient dense foods rich in unsaturated fats and other bioactive compounds like high-quality vegetable protein, fiber, minerals, tocopherols, phytosterols, and phenolic compounds. Studies have associated consuming nuts on a regular basis with decreased risk of heart disease, inflammation etc. It is also seen that cholesterol is lowered with nuts consumption.
Even though nut consumption is associated with a variety of health benefits, one needs to control the portion size. Unites States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends a serving of 28 g i.e roughly ¼ cup a day. One ounce (28 grams) of mixed nuts provide about 180 calories, 16 g of fat and micronutrients like Vitamin E, magnesium, copper selenium which are essential for the body.
“1 serving of nuts = 28 gm i.e. ¼ cup a day”
That said, diwali is a celebration spread over 4-5 days and eating mom’s hand made sweets filled with love, badam, kesar is a treat, but that’s the case in every house. You go for a diwali party you are greeted with sweets, relatives visit you and get sweets along with them. You might think its Diwali and indulge on the sweets but before you do that let me put some light on key things you must know:
A 100g of any nut contains around 50-70g of fat on average meaning 50-70% of calories come from fat.
Here is a sample recipe of one batch dry-fruit barfi, meaning serving size of 15-20 pieces
1. 150gm seedless dates
2. 80gm dried figs
3. 50gm almond
4. 100gm cashew, pista, walnut
5. ½ cup ghee
If you are a sweet lover you will easily consume this during diwali festival, that’s roughly 1500 CALORIES almost 10 TIMES MORE than the recommended PORTION SIZE
Similarly basundi is thick and creamy and “Oh so delicious!” but 1 bowl of basundi topped with nuts is enough to meet up your entire day’s nuts intake. Dry fruit nut Ladoo with dates, figs, raisins, badam,, cashew , pista would easily make up to 20-30 gm nuts in one ladoo itself and don’t forget the added jaggery, ghee, sugar etc
“1 kaju katli = 92 calories and 4.5gm fat
1 Anjeer barfi = 100 calories and 6g fat
1 Dry Fruit Ladoo = 80 cal and 6g fat”
Over-consumption of nuts and dry fruit over a longer period is associated with increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol etc. While we would want to go for healthier options like nuts, seeds and dry fruits, make sure you don’t overdo it .
Too much of a good thing is also harmful, so this diwali keep a moderate consumption of nuts and sweets made of nuts. Keep in mind the calorie and fat load that comes with it and stick to the portion size!!
The Logickcal way of eating nuts
Nuts and seeds are god’s gift to everyone. However, what we eat in this country in terms of dry fruits is an insult to good Nutrition. Why? Most of them are adulterated, contaminated or stored in a matter not fit for human health.
Have you ever thought why does nuts/seeds do not have a nutritional label at backside of the package? Why there is no common benchmark to select the quality of nut or price? Why do we rely on myths- Mamra or California Almond; Big Medium or small; Raw or Soaked; Kashmir/California or Chile Walnut ?
This is exactly how Gold used to be sold earlier without a hallmark.
But No Longer-Logikcal.in is a new company I collaborated to be confident so that I can feed my 6 year old son the right product.
There are three trail mixes of a product scientifically balanced by my research team to ensure Nutrition is maximized at an economic cost. Our mixes are more economic than most online brands. Our taste is better, our quality is backed by my reputation for being the best and seeking only the best for my clients and my family.
Ryan Fernando is an Award-winning celebrity Sports Nutritionist with 2GUINNESS world record and 2 Olympic medals under his belt. His client list include Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar, cricketer Shikhar Dhawan & bollywood superstars Aamir Khan & Abhishek Bachchan. He is Chief Nutritionist at QUA Nutrition Signature Clinics.
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