Homemade sweets made with nourishing ingredients will not harm your health
Highlights
- Homemade sweets are made with jaggery and ghee
- Such ingredients are beneficial for your health
- Even diabetics can have homemade sweets in controlled proportions
Homemade sweets: Sugar is definitely bad for your health. But there's always scope for portion control and moderation. Diabetes, obesity, inflammation and high cholesterol are all conditions caused by a multiple factors, and not just sugar intake. Even if you want to lose weight, a little sugar in your diet will not harm your health. This stands true for diabetics as well. Highlighting the same is lifestyle coach Luke Coutinho on Facebook. In his live video, he talks about homemade Indian sweets as compared to commercially prepared sweets and desserts, and why the former is a clear winner.
Homemade sweets: Why you must eat them guilt-free
Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar is of the belief that you should eat homemade traditional sweets, especially during festivals. It is a way to bring families together and should be looked at as an opportunity to share culture with the younger generation. Laddoos, barfis, chikki, and multiple other sweets can be prepared at home with wholesome and nourishing ingredients that are not going to affect your weight or your health.
It is better to have homemade sweets rather than chocolates or fancy desserts
Photo Credit: iStock
When you cook sweets, or any other food at home, it gives you complete control over what you are going to put in it. Ghee, jaggery, besan, nuts, sesame seeds, cardamom, cinnamon and a variety of other spices go in making Indian sweets. We have discussed health benefits of these ingredients at length previously.
Also read: People With Diabetes, Sugarcane Juice Can Be Your Best Friend: Here's Why
In one of her recent posts featuring kada prasad on the occasion of Gurupurab 2019, Rujuta informs that going gluten-free can increase risk of chronic inflammation, type-2 diabetes with obesity. Well, these aren't these the exact same condition you avoided gluten in the first place?
Kada Prasad on #GuruPurab – If we go by the food and weight loss industry, Kada Prasad shouldn't exist. At various points in your life you must have come across the gluten-free, dairy-free, low-fat and sugar is poison trends. The food industry was always ready with alternatives though, profits over people is their motto after all. But Kada Prasad is still here and will continue to always be. Just like Guru Nanak and the essence of his teachings – staying strong and true to your beliefs against all odds and leading a label-free life. Science as usual has come around, it may be a few steps behind common sense and time tested wisdom, but it always catches up. This is what we know in 2019 - - going gluten-free led to increased risk to chronic inflammation, type-2 Diabetes along with obesity (diabesity), the exact same conditions for which you avoided it in the first place. - avoiding ghee led to an epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency amongst many other issues. - avoiding sugar made from cane led to increased consumption of artificial sweeteners and the associated illnesses. Hopefully, we will listen to our inner voice, give up looking for health in packets, hashtags and labels and embrace a life of eating and cooking according to the region, season and tradition. #GuruNanakJayanti #Kadaprasad
A post shared by Rujuta Diwekar (@rujuta.diwekar) on
She goes on to add that removing ghee from your diet can lead to Vitamin D deficiency. Ghee contains fats that are essential for fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Assimilation of these vitamins in the body happen only in the presence of good fats in ghee, coconut oil, olive oil, etc.
Ghee includes fats that can promote assimilation of Vitamins A, D, E and K
Photo Credit: iStock
Also read: The Truth About Fats And Why They Are Extremely Important For You
Furthermore, if you go completely off sugar, then it can increase cravings and make you switch to artificial sweeteners-which come with their share of side effects and health risks.
The idea is to understand the importance of eating according to your location, culture and tradition for a healthy weight, blood sugar levels, digestion and much more.
Thus, you can have homemade sweets made with natural ingredients used in the right quantity, while practice portion control. This is including diabetes patients, people who are obese and those looking forward to lose weight.
If you are having commercially prepared sweets, chocolates and desserts, make sure they are prepared with minimum ingredients, suggests Luke.
Also read: Attention Diabetics! These Superfoods Are A Must For You To Control Your Blood Sugars Easily And Effectively
(Luke Coutinho, Holistic Lifestyle Coach - Integrative Medicine)
(Rujuta Diwekar is a nutritionist based in Mumbai)
Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.