Anuradha Sridharan

I wasn't planning to write about this brand of digestive biscuits, given that I have already reviewed a few other brands ( McVities , Parle Nutricrunch etc). But then I noticed a popular food blogger with a million followers, promoting Britannia Nutrichoice digestive biscuits as "healthy, high fibre, packed with whole wheat, nutritious etc". How irresponsible! The best part is that she adds honey in making a chocolate sauce and says that natural sweeteners are the best whereas the store bought chocolate sauce has added sugar. And then she proceeds to add 2 packs of Nutrichoice digestive biscuits to make a chocolate cake. What about the sugar and liquid glucose present in those biscuits, madam?  I ran a poll on Instagram a couple of days back and asked my followers to pick the product review they would be interested to read next on my blog. Guess what the majority picked - Britannia Nutrichoice Digestive biscuits, of course! The brand focuses on ...

Whenever something bothers me, I would like to explore that feeling further to see why I'm affected by it. I usually do this exploration through the process of journaling. If it is something personal, involving family or friends, I quickly jot down everything that is troubling me on top of my mind in a "note" in Evernote and delete that note right away. Whether it gives me an answer or not, this process definitely clears my mind. If it is something that can be shared, it turns out as a post in my blog (where else) tagged under "Ramblings". So here's one issue that is bothering me a bit this evening. Read it at your own peril, share your thoughts/perspectives but without any snide remarks or harsh criticism, please. I was at a bookstore this evening, perusing through books I want to read. As I was contemplating what books to buy, I couldn't help but check Amazon app for their respective prices. Most of the books in my wishlist are above Rs.500 ...

  I usually go by recommendations when picking books to read but this time, it was different. I randomly picked up this book from the Kindle store and am so glad I did.  Om Swami's The Wellness Sense gives a good overview on the basics of Ayurveda, living in tune with mother nature, the role of food in one's health and most importantly, role of our mental thoughts and emotions in modern-day ailments. The book starts off with the basic premise: "The health of an individual is not just the state of his physical body but an aggregate of the body, senses, mind and soul. Your immune system is directly impacted by your state of mind. The more positive and happy you are, the stronger your immunity." The author stresses the importance of mental and emotional health throughout the book. "How you respond to what life throws at you affects your health in the most significant manner. The way you look at anything and the manner in which you accept ...

   I'm a minimalist when it comes to clothes, jewelry, shoes, bags etc.  But I can't say the same when it comes to books. I invest a good amount of money on books every year. I believe that a single idea or an "aha-moment" can change our lives forever. Such ideas or inspirations can come from interacting with people from different walks of life, which is definitely THE best option. But as I said in my previous post , I need to make time for meeting new people and having conversations that elevate my current thinking models. Given the various constraints (both within and external), books seem to be the second best option. Every few months, a book lands up on my lap and creates such an impact that I wonder why I didn't read it earlier. On the occasion of World Book Day (Apr 23rd), here is my list of favorite books in no particular order (well, except the first!). Harry Potter series (Yes, right at the top always!) All books of RK Narayan All ...

Ever since I read Cal Newport's Digital minimalism , I have reduced my phone usage drastically. For the past 10 days, my usage is less than an hour per day, which is a significant reduction compared to my earlier usage of 3-4 hours. One of the most important takeaways from this book for me is that we have replaced real conversations with short bursts of interaction happening in social media. And the worst part is that we think this substitution is equal and we seem to be okay with it. I have been making this mistake and it felt like quite a revelation while reading the chapter on conversations vs connections. As I sit quietly and contemplate, the reason why I'm active on Instagram is not that I like the "hearts" or I want more followers. Either of them doesn't motivate me to post or check my phone frequently. What I have realized is that I CRAVE for conversations. I get excited to see comments on my posts or DMs. In a typical day, I have most of my real c...

    These days, I spot this pack of crackers often in the shopping trolley of the person standing before me in the billing counter, especially if they are senior citizens. My sample size is too small to reach a conclusion but based on my observations, biscuits feature significantly in the diets of senior citizens these days, irrespective of their health ailments. The pack quotes all the right phrases to capture today's urban consumers - sugar-free, honestly good biscuit, no added artificial colors or flavors, zero transfat etc. Let's look at the ingredients list: Refined wheat flour (91%) Edible Vegetable Oil (Palm), Yeast, Iodised Salt, Raising agent [503(ii)] Milk Solids Emulsifier (472e) Improver (1102)   The first ingredient is maida which constitutes a whopping 91%. Dietary fibre is not even mentioned in the Nutrition Facts table. Such highly refined/processed foods are NO good for any age group. There is no SUGAR listed in...

    Having loved Cal Newport's earlier books - Deep work and So good they can't ignore you , I was awaiting the release of his latest book, which is based on a topic of interest to me - Digital Minimalism. It was such an amazing read and certainly life-changing in many ways. Absolutely well written, thought-provoking and so relevant for our generation who lead a connected life 24*7.  I had already shared my personal views on why I'm embracing digital minimalism. Will continue to share more on the practices I'm putting in place going forward. Coming back to the book, in Part I, Cal Newport in his typical style sets the context so beautifully on why our current relationship with technology is unsustainable. He highlights many reasons on how certain platforms are exploiting our psychological vulnerabilities, leading to behavioral addictions. He has also expanded on this context with relevant examples and case studies from the past 2 decades - the entry o...

I'm currently reading Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism . Halfway through the book, I'm just blown away - too many "aha" moments, evoking so many emotions as I'm nodding my head and underlining powerful lines in every single page. Will do a detailed review once I finish reading the book. As I was reading, many thoughts came gushing from the top of my mind on why digital minimalism is important to me.  Cal Newport's earlier book "Deep work" had made such a huge impact on me when I read it in 2017. Since then, I have taken multiple breaks from social media and I have also realized that I'm not as addicted as I thought to be. One of the powerful takeaways for me was to set an intention for every technology we use - why am I using it? How is it aligned to my goals? Since then, I realized my goals for using social media were related to spreading awareness about healthy eating, food and nutrition and also share my perspectives on topics ...

  "Meal replacement" is the new buzzword these days. Meal replacement smoothies, meal replacement shakes, meal replacement soups etc. Breakfast bars and snack bars fall under this category too. Recently, I spotted this "max protein replacement bar" from a brand called RiteBite in Namdharis supermarket. I can spend hours at Namdharis mainly because I find so many hip, junk-pretending-to-be-healthy products. 😉 The front side of the pack has all the right words to grab the attention of today's health conscious, time starved consumers. Protein - 20 gm Fiber - 5 gm Vitamins - 21 But turn to the ingredients list and you'll know the real facts. Ingredients Protein Blend (soy nuggets, whey protein concentrate, soy concentrate, calcium caseinate), Corn Syrup, Edible Vegetable Oil, Dietary fiber (wheat fiber, fructooligosaccharides) Whole grain (rolled oats), Almonds, Cashewnuts, Raisins, Cranberries Yoghurt powder, Honey,...

  Things happen for a reason - I'm starting to believe this idea more and more these days. The people you meet on a random day can bring in new ideas or change of perspectives. This incident narrated below happened last October. I was traveling in a BMTC bus with my daughter D. An elderly lady was sitting next to us. She was reading a magazine titled "Heartfulness" and I was peeping to see what it was all about. Let me admit, I have this uncontrollable urge to find out what book/magazine someone is reading while at a public place (Anyone else does this?). Then she started talking and was telling me about a form of meditation and a book that has been translated into multiple languages. She also told me that there is a discount going on in Amazon for this book if I'm interested. As she was getting down at her stop, she turned to me and said, "We were meant to meet and I'm happy to have introduced this concept of meditation to you". She didn'...

Frugal living is a concept that I grew up with. It offers various benefits - to our pockets, our mental well-being and peace and of course, to our environment. Before I talk about ways to reduce expenses, let me share my views on why we should reduce consumption. The less we buy/own, the less time we spend in managing them, organizing them, the less money we spend in buying organizers to manage them, the less energy we spend in maintaining them. This applies to all categories of purchases we make. The bottom line is - The fewer expenses we have, the less complicated our lifestyle becomes.  A few weeks back, I had attended a personal finance workshop, where the financial advisors spoke about increasing your income potential and increasing your investments. But none of them spoke about reducing expenses. In fact, some of them go on record and say, "Don't think about expenses. Don't calculate how much you are spending". I completely disagree with suc...