Ekadashi
what is eaten, and how to hold it
एकादशीEkadashi
The eleventh day of each lunar fortnight — twice in every lunar month, so roughly 24 times a year.
SOURCE·Published accounts of Ekadashi as commonly observed·customs differ by family, region and sampradaya·REVIEWED JUL 2026
How long Ekadashi runs
≈ 24hours
Approximate, as the dataset states it. The exact length turns on your date and where you are. Twice a month, the most frequently kept vrat of all. Grains and pulses are set aside for the day. Beyond that the observance ranges enormously: some keep a full phalahar day, some a single meal, some only rice avoidance, and a few keep nirjala.
As the dataset states it: Typically from sunrise on Ekadashi to the paran window on Dwadashi the following morning, though this varies with tradition.
SOURCE·Published vrat traditions + IFCT 2017·Ekadashi entry·REVIEWED JUL 2026
What Ekadashi is
Ekadashi is observed by Vaishnava traditions and widely beyond them, and because it recurs twice a month it is the fast that most shapes how people actually eat across a year — far more than any single festival.
The defining rule in almost every version is that grains and pulses are set aside. What replaces them, and how strictly, is where the variation lives. Because it repeats so often, it is also the observance where small habits compound: 24 fried-food days a year is a different year from 24 fruit-and-milk days.
Customs vary. Whether sabudana is included, whether particular vegetables are set aside, and how the paran on Dwadashi is timed are all matters of sampradaya and family practice. Nirjala is rare except on Nirjala Ekadashi itself.
How this entry is drawn, and how the food is counted
- The observance is read from published accounts of Ekadashi and written as commonly observed — never as required, never as correct. Where households differ, the entry says they differ.
- The arc above places the observed span between named stations of the day — sunrise, midday, sunset, moonrise — and never between times. Sehri, iftar, moonrise and sunset are local and religiously significant, and this site publishes none of them.
- The length is taken from the range the dataset itself states, as a range. Where the length turns on latitude and season, no duration is printed at all.
- Food energy is per the serving each item is really eaten in, from IFCT 2017 (ICMR–NIN) where the table has the food, and from a named alternative where it does not.
- Every food is reconciled against Atwater factors on each build, and a page that fails to reconcile does not ship.
serving kcal = per-100 g kcal × (serving g ÷ 100) energy check = 4·protein + 4·carbohydrate + 9·fat (±15%, ±20% high-fibre) day shape = observed span, station → station (no clock times, ever)
What is customarily eaten, and what is set aside
Described as commonly observed. Your own family's practice is the one that applies.
Commonly eaten
- Fruit, milk, curd and dry fruit
- Potato, sweet potato and other permitted vegetables
- Kuttu, singhara, rajgira and samak where a cooked meal is taken
- Sabudana, in many households
- Sendha namak
Customarily set aside
- All grains — rice and wheat above all
- Pulses, dals and beans
- Onion and garlic, in most observances
- In some traditions, honey, certain vegetables and specific oils
SOURCE·Published accounts of Ekadashi·reported, not prescribed; regional practice varies and the variation is the practice·REVIEWED JUL 2026
The food, with the numbers
Foods commonly associated with Ekadashi, at the serving each is really eaten in. Every one has its own page with the full breakdown.
| Food | One serving is | Calories | Protein | Carbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banana | 1 medium banana · 100 g | 105 kcal | 1.3 g | 24.0 g |
| Cow Milk (full cream) | 1 glass · 200 g | 124 kcal | 6.4 g | 9.0 g |
| Curd (Dahi) | 1 katori · 150 g | 90 kcal | 4.7 g | 4.5 g |
| Makhana (Fox Nuts), raw | 1 katori · 25 g | 87 kcal | 2.4 g | 19.2 g |
| Sabudana Khichdi | 1 plate · 150 g | 321 kcal | 3.8 g | 47.4 g |
| Boiled Potato | 1 medium potato · 120 g | 84 kcal | 1.8 g | 17.9 g |
| Boiled Sweet Potato (Shakarkandi) | 1 medium · 150 g | 164 kcal | 2.0 g | 36.5 g |
| Almonds (Badam) | 10 almonds · 12 g | 72 kcal | 2.5 g | 1.3 g |
| Samak Rice Pulao | 1 katori · 150 g | 189 kcal | 3.0 g | 30.6 g |
| Tender Coconut Water | 1 coconut · 250 g | 50 kcal | 0.5 g | 11.3 g |
One serving of each of these 10 items would come to about 1,285 kcal — a scale check, not a menu. Ekadashi is not a calorie target and this table is not a plan.
What the vrat foods cost, counted per serving rather than per 100 g.
SOURCE·Published vrat traditions + IFCT 2017·per stated serving weight·REVIEWED JUL 2026
How to hold it without wrecking the week
This is the part nobody publishes well. None of it asks you to change the observance — training, sleep and meal timing are the variables you control, and the fast is not.
Training
One day a fortnight is short enough that most people can train exactly as normal, and long enough that a heavy leg session on a fruit-only day can feel unusually flat. If it repeatedly ruins your best session of the week, the usual fix is scheduling — put the hard session on a different day rather than changing the observance.
Sleep
Ekadashi rarely disturbs sleep unless the paran meal is very heavy or very late. Where it does, a lighter evening intake on the vrat day itself is what helps.
Blood sugar
Skipping grains for a day changes the glycaemic pattern more than the calorie count. Anyone on a sulfonylurea or insulin whose dose is matched to a normal meal pattern should discuss a twice-monthly fast day with their doctor once — not repeatedly improvise it.
Hydration
Ordinary hydration applies. Most versions of Ekadashi permit water freely, and there is no benefit at all to drinking less than usual.
The specific risk with Ekadashi
Because it recurs so often, Ekadashi is the fast where a medication clash is most likely to be repeated. If you take medicine with food twice daily, a fortnightly change to your meal pattern is worth one conversation with your doctor rather than twenty-four improvised days.
Who should not fast · Fasting and blood sugar · Hydration during fasting · Sources
Questions asked about Ekadashi
How often does Ekadashi come?
Twice in each lunar month — once in the waxing fortnight and once in the waning one — so about 24 times a year, occasionally 26 in a year with an extra month. Your local panchang has the dates; they do not fall on fixed Gregorian dates.
Can I eat sabudana on Ekadashi?
Many households do and some do not. Sabudana is not a grain botanically, which is the usual reasoning where it is included. This is a matter of family and sampradaya practice, not something a website can settle.
Does Ekadashi help with weight loss?
Not reliably, and it is not what it is for. Two fasting days a month reduce total intake only if the days around them stay normal, and vrat food built on sabudana, fried puris and dry fruit can carry more calories than an ordinary day, not fewer.
Related observances
SOURCE·Published vrat traditions + IFCT 2017·observance accounts and food composition·REVIEWED JUL 2026
Practices are described as commonly observed; customs differ by family, region, community and sampradaya, and this site is not an authority on any of them. Food values come from the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (ICMR–NIN), the older ICMR–NIN tables, USDA FoodData Central, named composition studies and the shared ThaliFacts dataset, reconciled against Atwater factors on every build. Which source applies to which food is listed per food, and every source carries the date it was last checked. General information only — not medical or religious guidance. Fasting is not safe for everyone, particularly during pregnancy or with diabetes or other conditions. Speak to a doctor first.
The people behind these sites
Follow the build
This site and nine others like it are built and photographed by two people: Amit Sharma — behind the build; Geeta Patel — the poses, demonstrated. New work goes up on Instagram and Facebook before it reaches a page here.
Amit Sharma
@amitsharmaofficial
Instagram
Geeta Patel
@geetapatelnz
Instagram
Geeta Patel
GeetaPatelYoga
Facebook
Following changes nothing here — every page stays open, with no account and no wall.
