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Counting calories on fasting days

On fasting days the food changes, not always the calories. Sabudana, kuttu, singhara, makhana, fried snacks and sweet milk are dense, so a Navratri plate or an iftar can come to more than an ordinary meal. Counting it works the same way as any other day.

Navratri and vrat food

Vrat food replaces wheat and rice with sabudana, kuttu (buckwheat), singhara (water chestnut) or rajgira, and it's often cooked in ghee with peanuts and potato:

  • A plate of sabudana khichdi made from 50 g of dry sabudana, with potato, peanuts and ghee, is about 505 calories.
  • A kuttu puri is about 105, close to a wheat puri, because the frying oil is most of it.
  • A cup of plain makhana is about 105, and 30 g roasted in a teaspoon of ghee about 145.
  • Fruit, curd, milk and sweets made with milk and sugar add up across the day.

On a vrat many families eat one full meal and snacks through the day, so the total depends on the whole day rather than any one plate.

Ekadashi and other grain-free days

On Ekadashi many families avoid grains and pulses, so the day's food is often potato, sabudana, milk, fruit and nuts. Potato sabzi in ghee, sabudana and peanuts are where most of the calories come from. A 200 ml katori of aloo sabzi is about 185.

Ramadan: sehri and iftar

During Ramadan the day's food is eaten at sehri before dawn and iftar after sunset. Iftar often starts with dates and goes on to fried snacks such as samosas and pakoras, fruit chaat and sweet drinks. Dried dates have about 317 calories per 100 g, according to ICMR-NIN. A home samosa is about 165 calories, and a glass of nimbu pani with 2 teaspoons of sugar about 40.

How to count a fasting day

  1. Count each item as you would on any day: the plate, the katori, the piece.
  2. Watch the ghee and the peanuts. They're the biggest part of most vrat dishes.
  3. Count fried snacks by the piece and sweets separately.
  4. Count drinks: sweet milk, lassi and sherbet carry sugar.

If you have diabetes, are pregnant, or take regular medication, talk to your doctor before a fast and about how to eat on fasting days. This page is about counting, not about whether to fast.

Where Slate helps

In Slate you can mark your fasting days, so it reads lines such as "sabudana khichdi" or "kuttu ki puri" the way you mean them. Each line gets its own number, worked out from IFCT 2017 values and recipes in grams. Slate never suggests a fast, a diet or a goal.

Questions people ask

How many calories are in a plate of sabudana khichdi?

About 505 for a plate made from 50 g of dry sabudana with potato, peanuts and a tablespoon of ghee.

Are vrat foods lower in calories?

Not usually. Sabudana, kuttu, peanuts, ghee and fried snacks are dense, so a fasting-day plate can have more calories than an ordinary meal.

How many calories are in dates?

Dried dates have about 317 calories per 100 g, according to ICMR-NIN. Fresh dates have less, about 144 per 100 g, because they hold more water.

Should I count calories while fasting?

That's your choice. If you have a medical condition or take medication, talk to your doctor about fasting. Slate counts what you write and never suggests a fast or a goal.