Tips for Fasting

How to fast during Navratri?

Fasting during Navratri is an ideal way to detox the body, enhance digestion and increase positivity.

While the benefits of fasting during Navratri are plenty, many of us fast incorrectly which further disturbs the balance in our body.

Here is a complete guide on how to fast during Navratri in a way that is conducive to your body and mind:

How you can plan your fast for the nine days of Navratri?

Follow a fruit diet. You can eat sweet fruits like apple, banana, sapodilla, papaya, watermelon, and grapes. And you can also have Indian gooseberry (amla) juice, bottle gourd (lauki) juice and tender coconut water.

On the next three days, you can have a one-time meal of the traditional Navratri diet (given below) along with fruit juices, buttermilk, and milk for the rest of the day.

During the last three days, you can follow a traditional Navratri diet.

In case you have a health condition, it would be best to consult a doctor before fasting and remember to do only as much as you are comfortable with.

A traditional Navratri diet

A conventional Navratri diet is one that pacifies our digestive fire. It can be any combination of the following ingredients:

Buckwheat (kuttu) roti, fasting rice (shamak rice), Dosa from fasting rice; Dishes made from sago (sabudana), water chestnut (singhara) flour, rajgira, yam (suran), colocacia (arbi), boiled sweet potatoes (shakarkand), etc.
Clarified butter (ghee), milk and buttermilk. All these have a cooling effect on the body
Yogurt combined with bottle gourd (lauki) and pumpkin (kaddu)
Lots of fluids – tender coconut water, juices, vegetable soups, etc. Besides providing energy, they prevent dehydration and flush out the toxins released during fasting
Fruit salad made with papaya, pear, and apple

When following a traditional Navratri diet, it is also recommended to:

Use rock salt instead of common salt for cooking
Use healthy cooking methods like roasting, boiling, steaming and grilling
Be strictly vegetarian
Avoid grains for the first few days
Avoid any fried and heavy food
Avoid onion and garlic
Avoid overeating

Those who cannot fast should abstain from non-vegetarian food, alcohol, onion, garlic and use rock salt instead of common salt for cooking.

Breaking your fast

When you break your fast in the evening or at night, have a light meal. Avoid heavy meals as that not only makes it difficult for the system to digest but also undo the cleansing process and positive effects of fasting. Eat small quantities of easily digestible food.

Observe fast with yoga and meditation

Gentle yoga poses, stretches, twists and bends complement the fasting process. It speeds up the detoxification process, and you will feel uplifted and energized.