Karwa Chauth 2022: Foods to include and avoid in your sargi thali for healthy fasting

Karwa Chauth 2022: Plan your sargi thali well to make sure you stay well-hydrated and get all required nutrients for the day.

Karwa Chauth 2022: Karwa Chauth, the one-day festival that celebrates the bond between a husband and wife, is just a day away. Also referred to as Karak Chaturthi in Sanskrit scriptures, the festival is celebrated on the fourth day of Hindu lunar month of Kartik. On Karwa Chauth, that roughly falls mid-way between the festival of Dussehra and Diwali, married women keep a day-long 'nirjala' fast (without food and water) and pray for the long lives of their husbands from sunrise to moonrise. To end their fast upon moonrise, women offer an 'ark' to the moon from their karwa (earthen pot) and then see their husband's face with a sieve after which they drink water and eat food. Before the fasting begins, a pre-dawn meal called sargi, that has seven, none or eleven types of bite sized foods items including sweets, savouries, vegetable curries, fruits, rice, and roti is lovingly prepared by mother-in-law for her bahu and served in a thali. The ritual is to make sure the ones who are fasting take in adequate nutrition and hydrating foods that help them keep the Karwa Chauth fast in a healthy way. (Also read: Karwa Chauth Date 2022: Is Karwa Chauth on October 13 or 14? Know all about upavasa time, puja muhurat, moonrise)

Fasting without food and water could be challenging and the food served in the sargi thali will help the woman to have an ease of fasting, without causing any health concerns like acidity or headaches.

A mother-in-law making the thali would put in her best efforts as it's not just sargi, it’s also an emotion

Here are few tips suggested by Avantii Deshpaande, Nutritionist and Gut Health expert, to add healthy foods to your sargi ki thali and avoid those that could leave you with less energy.

1. Probiotic drink: If fasting is not done on a regular basis, a day’s fast could cause gut issue like bloating, hyperacidity. To avoid this, worry its best to include a probiotic in the diet. The simplest way to do this is to add a glass of buttermilk in the sargi thali. To prevent bloating, add black salt, cumin powder and asafoetida to the buttermilk. This ensures a balanced gut without bloating or acidity.

3. Include hydrating foods in your thali: The key to a successful fasting in the day is to keep the body well hydrated. If the fluids in the thali are less, it is bound to cause dehydration in the day. If the foods items are too oily or sweet too, they will cause dehydration. So in place of high fibre fruits try to include foods high in water content. For example, include watermelon, muskmelon or coconut water.

4. Avoid sweets high in sugar: In the sargi thali, milk-based sweets like kheer are often served. Make sure that it is made without the use of table sugar but other natural sugars like khandsari, jaggery or honey, in moderation. High sugar foods tend to increase thirst. Since there is no water consumption in the day, these high sugar foods are not a good idea.

Similarly avoid preparing ladoos using refined sugar, but rather use natural sugar like dates or in place of ladoos, simply serve mixed dry fruits like almonds, walnuts, dates, dry figs etc in the plate.

5. Avoid adding deep-fried items: Just like sugar, oily foods will also tend to make you feel thirty in the day. Traditionally, deep-fried foods are served in the sargi thali, like puris, papadams etc. However, this time try replacing the fried puris with parathas smeared in ghee and the papadums can be replaced with pan seared cutlets. These will be more nourishing for the day ahead.

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