Name a festival which is celebrated without sweets... still thinking? I KNOW!  Maybe there aren't any. Festivals are celebrations. Celebrating means excessive joy, symbolised by the extravagant clothes we wear on the day of the festival/celebration, welcoming more people into your home, the food we consume is filled with extra calories, etc. So everything is ultimately consumed, used, or felt in more than regular quantities.

When it comes to sweets in the category of foods, we can make the most of them by adding extra nutrients to them and nourishing our bodies with a little extra love. This is where dried fruits, nuts, and seeds play a significant role. They are frequently used either as a main ingredient or for garnishing a dish. But, when combined with the healthier alternative of sugar, they act as little parcels of energy and nutrition. For example, we are used to having powdered sugar or sugar syrup acting as a binding and flavouring agent in most of the sweets we consume during these festivals. A better alternative can be ground dates or figs (anjeer). For the extra energy and goodness, you might want to go with peanuts since they are more economical. Not only this, they are also devoid of trans fats, rich in trace minerals & phytonutrients, and can also be used in powdered form if you do not like the chunky texture of nuts in a sweet preparation. Furthermore, to have a better variety in your sweet preparations, adding cashews, walnuts, sesame seeds, almonds, etc., contributes to even more dense nutrition, energy, and better immunity. A good example of such preparation would be all these nuts toasted and combined with a soft paste of dates or dried figs to create a laddoo!

So, to sweet, it is. Let nutrition and energy become the "extra" in your festivals and let your body have the indulging experience of consuming sweets with the added benefits.