Counting calories on fasting days without stress
Fasting days change what you eat, and sometimes when, but counting them doesn't have to be harder than any other day. Count the few things you eat the same way you always do, accept rough numbers, and stop counting for the day if it's getting in the way.
Key takeaways
- Vrat food is often dense: a plate of sabudana khichdi is about 505 calories, mostly from sabudana, peanuts and ghee.
- Kuttu and singhara puris have about the same calories as wheat puris; the frying oil is half of it.
- At iftar, dates, fried snacks and sweet drinks add up quickly.
- Rough numbers are fine. If counting on a fasting day adds stress, it's fine to skip it.
Why fasting days feel harder to count
Fasting days break the usual pattern. Meals move to different times, familiar dishes are replaced with vrat food, and there's often more fried food and sweets than on an ordinary day. Many people also find that thinking hard about food on a religious or family occasion feels out of place.
None of that changes how counting works. A plate is still a plate, a puri is still a puri, and the same rough method that works on other days works here.
What vrat food adds
Navratri and other vrat days swap wheat and rice for sabudana, kuttu, singhara and rajgira, and the cooking often uses ghee and peanuts:
- A plate of sabudana khichdi made from 50 g of dry sabudana is about 505 calories. The peanuts and ghee are close to half of that.
- A kuttu puri is about 105, close to a wheat puri at about 95, because the oil taken up in frying is most of the difference between a puri and a roti.
- A 200 ml katori of aloo sabzi is about 185.
- A cup of plain makhana is only about 105, because it's light; roasted in ghee it's more.
On Ekadashi many families avoid grains and pulses, so potato, sabudana, milk, fruit and nuts make up the day. The same numbers apply.
Ramadan: sehri and iftar
During Ramadan the day's food is eaten at sehri before dawn and iftar after sunset. Iftar often begins with dates, then fried snacks, fruit and sweet drinks. Dried dates have about 317 calories per 100 g, according to ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians (2011). A home samosa is about 165 calories, and a glass of nimbu pani with 2 teaspoons of sugar about 40.
If you count, count the iftar plate the way you'd count a thali: the pieces, the katoris and the glasses.
Sweets and drinks on festival days
Fasting days are often festival days too, with sweets and sweet drinks shared at home and at the temple. A home gulab jamun is about 155 calories, a besan ladoo about 165, and a glass of sweet lassi about 140.
Counting one or two of these isn't hard. It's the ones eaten in passing, a piece here and a ladoo there, that are easy to lose track of.
What a vrat day can add up to
As an illustration rather than a plan: a plate of sabudana khichdi, two kuttu puris with a 200 ml katori of aloo sabzi, and a glass of sweet lassi come to about 1,040 calories. That's before fruit, tea, makhana or sweets.
The total will be different in every home. What it shows is that a fasting day often isn't lighter than an ordinary one, and knowing that can make the numbers less surprising.
A calm way to count a fasting day
- Write down what you eat as you eat it, in plain words: "sabudana khichdi, 1 plate", "2 kuttu puri", "1 glass lassi".
- Use the same portions every time. Your plate of sabudana khichdi is one plate, whatever it weighs.
- Don't chase exact numbers. A range is honest, and fasting-day food varies a lot from home to home.
- Look at the week, not the day. One festival meal doesn't change much on its own.
When not to count
Counting is a tool, and it's fine to put it down. If counting on a fasting day makes the day feel worse, or takes away from the occasion, skip it and pick it up again the next day.
If you have diabetes, are pregnant, or take regular medication, talk to your doctor before fasting and about what to eat on fasting days. And if your relationship with food feels hard, or counting starts to feel like pressure, talk to someone. In India, Tele-MANAS is free and available any time on 14416.
Fasting days in Slate
In Slate you can mark your fasting days so it reads lines like "kuttu ki puri" the way you mean them. Slate never suggests a fast, a diet or a goal. If you'd rather keep writing but not see numbers for a while, Hide calorie counts removes every calorie number from the app; the macros stay.
Questions people ask
How many calories are in sabudana khichdi?
About 505 for a plate made from 50 g of dry sabudana with potato, peanuts and ghee.
Is vrat food lower in calories?
Usually not. Sabudana, kuttu, peanuts, ghee and fried snacks are dense, so a vrat plate can have more calories than an ordinary meal.
Should I count calories while fasting?
Only if it helps you. It's fine to skip counting on a fasting day. If you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor about fasting.
How many calories are in a kuttu puri?
About 105 for a home kuttu puri made with about 13 g of buckwheat flour, so four are about 420.
How many calories are in dates at iftar?
Dried dates have about 317 calories per 100 g and fresh dates about 144, according to ICMR-NIN. How many you eat decides the rest.