Anuradha Sridharan

 Having looked at the sources of some of the essential minerals, let’s now focus on Vitamins. Although nature has blessed us with abundant vitamins and minerals in plants, it has become a fashion to pop a multi-vitamin pill, thereby creating a billion dollar industry in itself. It is my firm belief that our bodies absorb or process vitamins better when consumed from natural sources. Unless there is a critical deficiency, there is no need to rely on these pills. Understanding the plant sources and meal planning the right way will ensure you get your daily dose of vitamins. To begin with, let’s look at Vitamin A. As kids, the popular health advice that we often heard was “ Eat carrots, they are good for your eyes ”. So much so that carrots have become synonymous with Vitamin A. Vitamin A is not only essential for your eyes but also for better immunity and cardio-vascular disease prevention. Our body gets Vitamin-A from a source of phyto-nutrients found in plants called carotenoi...

It was a sunny Saturday evening. We (husband, daughter D and I) decided to go to a park as D loves to play in the play area. Being a Saturday, it was crowded and the play equipments (swing, see-saw, slide etc) were lined up with children. D was so excited that she was shouting “yay” on top of her voice. I followed her around as she started to climb up the slide. Husband walked up to me slowly and was looking a little worried. I asked him, “what happened? You look tense”. He showed me his phone with an email open. Without getting into further details, let’s just say, it was a stinker email from someone whose ego was hurt and was venting out his frustrations. More on the lines of “How dare could someone do this to me?”. I was telling my husband to let it go and not give too much of a thought. With such an arrogant, rude and authoritative tone of that email, it was hard to put it aside your mind and enjoy the evening. Meanwhile, D got upset with two boys who were sliding down fast, witho...

As a mother of a growing child, it is a challenging task to keep up with the snack demands, especially on holidays. With summer vacation having started, my daughter likes to repeat “I want to eat something” multiple times throughout the day. Sometimes, it could be that tiny hunger pangs between meals, while at rest of the times, it is sheer boredom and attention-seeking (and also to keep mummy on her toes all the time!!). Summer prevents us from spending long hours in the hot kitchen. That doesn’t mean we need to buy loads of unhealthy packaged snacks and juices from the supermarket.  I have compiled 30+ quick snack ideas that can be prepared in less than 15 minutes. With a little planning and stocking up the essential ingredients, you can feed your children healthy and tasty snacks.   1. Fresh fruit juices - sweet lime (mosambi), watermelon, muskmelon or a chilled lemonade   2. Seasonal drinks - aam panna (raw mango drink), panagam (cooling drink made with jaggery), ...