mumbai the hindu festival of navratra celebrated with full devotion and happiness for nine days purifies the whole environment it is celebrated with gusto in different regions of the country in the eastern state of west bengal the festival takes the shape of durga puja when the devotees of the deity celebrate the triumph of good over evil on the festive occasion of navratra fast is observed by people for seven or eight days fasting has various advantages for our body too according to dr bhim sen bansal chairman and managing director rg stone urology and laparoscopy hospital our body uses quite a bit of energy to digest food and when fasting this energy becomes obtainable for further uses in the fasting state the body cleanses for dead cells damaged tissues fatty deposits eruptions all of which are burned for energy or barred as waste the elimination of these obstructions restores the immune system functionality and metabolic process to an optimum state fasting restores good digestion and elimination and peristaltic action is quickened fasting allows a deep physiological rest of the digestive organs and the energy saved goes into selfhealing and selfrepairing by eliminating obstructions by cleansing detoxification and purifying the intestines the blood and the cells we can overcome many of our physical ills as well as get a boost in energy fasting not only removes obstructions and helps the body to heal itself it is also rejuvenating and lifeextending these resulting benefits can have lasting affects in your mental and emotional health dr bansal also added one should take certain precautions during fasting because it may also affect your kidney and can lead to kidney stones too our urine carries salts including calcium oxalate uric acid cystine or xanthine these salts can become extremely concentrated if there is not enough urine or if unusually high amounts of crystalforming salts are present when salt concentration levels reach the point at which they no longer dissolve these salts form crystals thus it becomes necessary to maintain the balance between the two thus to avoid such problems we should drink enough water fluids so that calcium and allied such nutrients do not deposit we can also take lemon water pineapple juice coconut water fruits rich in vitamin a so as to avoid such problems besides one must avoid taking too much tea or coffee sweets such as burfi ladoo etc there are certain things that we should keep in mind then we can celebrate navratras with full mood and good health extra precautions must be taken by people prone to health risks while observing fasts these include people suffering from diabetes hypertension anaemia and those who have recently underwent some kind of surgery individuals with chronic health problems related to kidneys heart liver or lungs must observe fasting only after consent from their doctors pregnant and lactating women must also be precautious typical navratra food including potatoes kheer sabudana pakodas can be fattening and cause complications that is why overindulgence must