Navratri and Ekadashi fasting - the truth about the post-fast binge

Navratri, Ekadashi and similar vrat fasts are less about starving and more about a shift in what's allowed - fruit, milk, sabudana, kuttu atta, singhare ka atta and potatoes stay on the table; grains, onion, garlic and certain pulses come off it. The physical fasting itself is rarely the problem. The problem is what happens at fast-break, when a day of 'virtuous' eating is used to justify a plate that erases the point of fasting altogether. This article goes through the actual evidence - not gym-folklore - on what a day of religious fasting does and doesn't do to your body, and why the fast-breaking meal deserves as much attention as the fast itself.