Anuradha Sridharan

  A friend of mine messaged me about this product - milk flavouring straws for children who hate milk. One search  in Insta shows me how mommy bloggers have been promoting it with such impactful videos showing kids who say no to milk and regular foods but gulping down milk with this straw. Do see a few videos for yourself. Unbelievable! Professional ad makers can go on a sabbatical !!  What irks me the most is that in all these posts, these mommy bloggers say that these straws are sweetened with stevia. Guess no one bothered to see the ingredients list.  1. The very first ingredient is sugar. Yes, over 50% of the product is sugar. 2. The selling point "colostrum" is only around 4% in powder form. 3. Maltodextrin is the second listed ingredient. Why is this artificial ingredient needed in a toddler's diet? 4. The pack says no artificial flavours but nature identical flavours are present. Each pack comes with 30 plastic straws and servings recommended is ...

I have received 3-4 DMs in the past few days asking me to prescribe diet plans for weight loss. And there's one more question which I'm often asked is "Why do you always talk about what not to eat? Why can't you write about foods to eat? Why not talk about healthy packaged foods?" Since all these questions are related, I thought I would address them as a post. First and foremost, let's NOT ask random strangers on social media for weight loss diet plans. I believe that diet plans SHOULD only be recommended by qualified medical professionals. These days, a person loses 5 kgs and becomes a fitness influencer. As I wrote earlier , someone who does a nutrition course in Coursera calls himself/herself a certified nutritionist. So let's be extremely cautious of such people who are sprouting on Instagram all the time and not fall for the flat-abs/skin show that they unabashedly "curate" on their feed. Yes, we can take inspiration from peo...

I have been pondering about this topic for the past few weeks, mainly fueled by the books I have read and the people I have met over the past 2 months.  In Apr, I read this amazing book " Digital minimalism " by Cal Newport, where the chapter on solitude and contemplation left me speechless. I could relate to that chapter so much as I'm someone who keeps jumping from one thing to another all the time. There were hardly any minutes during my day where I did "NOTHING".  I deprived myself of solitude through various distractions.  Cal defines solitude as "a subjective state in which your mind is free from input from other minds." "Being alone with our own thoughts" used to be possible every day around 12-15 years back, while we are waiting in a queue, walking to a nearby store, taking public transport or taking a leisurely stroll in a park. Many times, I have been able to get new ideas/solutions to problems I have been wor...

 A famous blogger who claimed that the secret of her energy was Saffola Fittify hi-protein meal shake a few weeks back now has shifted her loyalties to Horlicks Protein Plus . Earlier I used to find such promotional posts irritating but now I find them so funny and entertaining. How quickly they switch brands with no hesitation!! 😆😆😆 Do brands even have any contracts/agreements with Insta influencers? Do these contracts have a no-compete clause at all? Anyway, let's focus on the product. I wanted to get the ingredients list but couldn't find it on Amazon or Bigbasket. I found the label on Flipkart.  When a brand claims "no added sugar", the first thing we need to do is to check the ingredients for artificial sweeteners. As you might notice, it contains Acesulfame potassium. I have written about this ingredient in Women's Horlicks review. All artificial sweeteners have harmful side effects.  This term "Contains added flavour" without any de...

    This book was recommended to me by so many people. I purchased a copy last year but didn't make the time to read it. While reading Mansoor Khan's " The third curve ", I noticed that he has mentioned this book in his list of recommendations. That was the "last straw" for me to pick up this brilliant book, which I managed to finish it in 3 days. I'm starting to believe this statement - " When the reader is ready, the book appears. " Coming to this book, Masanobu Fukuoka talks about the perils of modern agriculture and why return to "do-nothing" / natural farming is the need of the hour. Simplistic, easy to relate, hard-hitting and brilliant writing that I was totally hooked onto this book for the past 3 days. Having been reading up about food and nutrition for the past 7 years, it is a natural transition for me to invest efforts in understanding where and how our food comes from.  The author starts off with talk...

Before our mommy bloggers start posting that their children are the next Einstein because of consuming these brain boosters every day, let me jump ahead and post my review. The ingredients list look similar to Cipla's Immuno boosters (review posted here ). The main promise of this brain boosters is that it contains the power of real almonds and Brahmi. Look at the minuscule percentages - 5% almonds and 0.7% Brahmi extract. Each chocolate contains 3gm of sugar and harmful hydrogenated vegetable fats. Children can get all the required vitamins and minerals from natural foods. As parents, it is our responsibility to introduce real foods and ensure they get access to natural, home-cooked foods every day. Let's not rely on such chocolates please! We don't need to sugar coat everything. Brands keep discovering new ways to sell junk. Let's be conscious of our choices.

    "Karma", "Fate", "Destiny" - whatever be the name, it feels like I was MEANT TO read this book. Before I write about the book, let me share a quick story of how I ended up buying it. A few weeks back, we were roaming around Brigade Road and stopped at Blossoms Book Store. I was browsing through books on the ground floor and selected a few to buy, while my husband was on the third floor, sitting and reading a book. He kept it back on the shelf and we were walking back to our car. While we were driving home, he said, "You know, I was reading this book. You might like it. I have heard the author speak at IIMB a few years back". I was curious about this book but didn't follow through. After a couple of weeks, I was around Brigade Road, attending a personal finance workshop. The core topic of the workshop was all about growth, high returns from mutual funds and how the markets have fared well in the past 2 decades etc. Though the wo...

Products that were earlier launched for diabetics are slowly making entry into the mainstream, given that most of us are becoming health conscious and want to take preventive measures against lifestyle diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, thyroid issues, high cholesterol etc. Until 4-5 years back, artificial sweeteners were exclusively consumed by people with diabetes. But now, these artificial sweeteners are positioned for health-conscious, urban population, irrespective of whether we have diabetes or not. Many brands capitalize on this "fear factor" riding on the latest health fads. "High protein" seems to be the most popular fad these days. What used to be a health drink for diabetics is now repositioned for the general population. As mentioned in the pack, Protinex Diabetes Care is now Protinex Lite. Ingredients : Skimmed milk powder, Stabilizer [gum arabic [acacia gum]] soya protein isolate, maltodextrin, corn flour, soya fib...