You MUST eat mithai this Diwali: Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar

The festival of lights is just around the corner, the streets are getting decorated and our local sweet shops are all decked up for the festive season with gazillion lights shining on them. Diwali is that time of the year when everyone makes an effort to spend time with their family and join them in the festive merriment.

While our childhood memories are laced with our nanis and dadis rolling ladoos and frying gujia, our generation is wary of the mere fact of consuming sweets, let alone making them at home. Terms like ‘Diwali-binge’, ‘’calorie-counting’, ‘sugar-counting’, and ‘festive weight gain’ have essentially robbed us of the spirit of enjoying the festive season to the fullest.


Debunking all these myths, celebrity dietician Rujuta Diwekar went online on Facebook and Instagram, focusing on why you should stop shunning the sweets and embrace them wholeheartedly.

Here is why you must eat sweets this Diwali

Answering the ultimate question whether we should be eating sweets or not, Rujuta stressed that we must indulge in all varieties of sweets that the Indian culture has to offer, including the homemade ladoos, barfis, katli, gulab jamuns, and gujias.

The sad part is, while we have labelled our ladoos, kaju katilis and gulab jamuns unhealthy, we have actually gone ahead and adopted western sweets including cupcakes and chocolates as the ‘healthy’ replacement.

Further, she also emphasised the importance of passing on food heritage and food value to our children. One way of doing so is to involve them in the process of making Diwali sweets and snacks and sharing festive anecdotes.

Talking about the chocolate industry, Rujuta raised awareness about the fact why we should not be eating chocolates. She said that chocolates is that one industry which is infamous for its child labour and consuming the same is basically supporting child labour. Hence we should refrain from exchanging it this festive season.

Why are these sweets healthy?

According to Rujuta, homemade sweets are actually very healthy, while sweets from the local vendor in your area comes a close second. The importance of sweets is very well portrayed in the fact that they are often placed in the centre of the thali during the Diwali lunch, meaning that is what you should actually be eating, instead of avoiding them like plague.

What we don’t know is that home-cooked sweets are actually naturally low in the glycemic index. As a result, they help in stabilising the sugar levels in your body, rather than raising them.

What lowers the glycemic index of homemade sweets is actually the ghee, coconut, pulses, millets and nuts that are used for cooking these sweet delicacies.

So, instead of opting for a tiny piece of chocolate, biscuit or even ice cream when you crave for something sweet, you should rather reach out for homemade ladoos, barfis or even halwa.

What about diabetes patients?

She furthers added that diabetes patients who are strictly asked to shun everything sweet can also have home-made sweets and all these recommendations are valid for them as well.

Lastly, for those who go on a diet before the festive season begins in order to compensate for the ‘festive eating’, Rujuta says that we don’t need to compensate by eating less in order to have sweets.

Mithais are actually a part of the whole Diwali thali and a part of your lifestyle too. So, you don’t have to feel guilty about following the traditional, regional diet that is actually good for your health.