Festivals and celebrations are part of what makes life fun, and their mouth-watering delicacies are just too hard to resist, especially if they’re sweets. But, during these wonderful occasions, sugar consumption doubles, leading to several health complications.

Increased sugar intake in the form of sweets and flavored beverages can become a strong reason for some critical health complications, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and atherosclerosis. On the top of that, stagnant lifestyles, lack of exercise and unhealthy eating habits make the situation even worse.

It’s better to stay aware to avoid any future health complication, and this is accomplished by knowing which healthy alternatives are available. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at some healthy sweets and flavored beverages that serve as alternatives during festive seasons.

Fruit

For the most part, fruits are sweet and healthy, making them excellent alternatives to gifting sweets. Not only is there no added sugar, but they also contain a lot of fiber and plenty of vitamins and minerals needed for the whole body to work efficiently.

Additionally, fruits contain healthy calories that add value to your health, while sweets are just empty calories with zero or little nutritional value; they add nothing but a large amount of sugar.

Fresh, Cold-Pressed Juice

In case you don’t have time to cut and consume fresh fruits, an excellent substitute is consuming them as cold-pressed juice that’s tasty, easy to consume and carry, and perfect for people who are always on-the-go.

A good thing about the cold-pressed juice that makes it different from centrifugal juice is that it preserves the fruit’s and vegetable’s nutritional value at its best thanks to its advanced juice extraction technology, which make it high in nutritional value and more fibrous as well.

Another thing that makes them the first choice for healthy gifting is their easy availability. For example, some good juice manufacturers like OMJOOS will deliver fresh juice right to your doorstep.

Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate is one of the healthiest and tastiest alternatives to traditional high-calorie sweets. Chocolate is a favorite of almost everyone, and whether they’re your friends or relatives, everyone will love to receive some as a gift.

Dark chocolate is one of the best sources of antioxidants on earth. It contains a good amount of fiber, and a lot of micronutrients like iron, magnesium, copper, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium. What’s better is that dark chocolate also reduces the risk of heart disease and helps maintain a healthy blood pressure level.

Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds have been a go-to festival gift option for quite some time in India, but not as much as sweets. It’s time to reverse this tradition and increase the quantity of nuts while sweets decrease. Nuts are all-natural, packed with health benefits, and are available in attractive gift packs during festive seasons.

They’re also rich in fiber, essential vitamins and minerals, aid in weight loss, reduce the risk of many diseases, make one feel fuller for longer, and, quite honestly, are pretty tasty too.

Homemade Sweets

Adulteration of food products is a common problem in India during festive seasons — most of the sweets we buy from the market fail to meet quality standards. This is also a very good reason to look out for healthy alternatives, and homemade sweets are just that.

Use of good quality ghee, milk solids, and sugar are advantages of homemade sweets. The most common sweets include almond barfi, besan barfi, besan ladoo, atta pinni, etc.

Stuffed Dates

Dates are a good source of natural sugar and are loaded with benefits. They’re rich in fiber and antioxidants, good for brain health, amazing for improving bone health, and even keep blood sugar levels in check.

Stuffed dates are available in different stuffing and flavors that make them not only tasty but also a treat to eyes. Overall, stuffed dates make a great healthy gifting option over sweets.

Final Thoughts

Health should be a primary requirement for any celebration, and it’s one that can only be achieved through a balance of exercise and a healthy diet. Don’t let the frenzy of celebration feasts cloud your judgement! Instead, energize yourself with healthy eating. Cut down your intake of sugar and let your body consume healthy nutrients.

OMJOOS wishes a happy and healthy festive season to all readers!