Anuradha Sridharan

A few days back, I was explaining to a startup founder about my blog. Me: "I help people decipher the ingredients list and nutrition facts of packaged foods, so they can make conscious food choices." Him: "Interesting....but do you see it is making a difference?" Me: "I hope so" Him: "No one reads the labels. Packaged foods have become a way of life and we can't escape from it" And the conversation continued in different directions. It is a sad reality that most people don't read food labels. Because of this, many brands are fooling consumers in multiple ways. Be it the use of health tags, unbacked health claims, namesake mention of ingredients that are perceived to give good health etc.  Let me share yet another example of how brands exploit our attraction towards "superfoods" and target people who jump to buy anything IF oats/quinoa/kale/millets/moringa etc are mentioned in the packs. I have alread...

  Yesterday, one of my Instagram followers had replied to my post that I should start using #anueatsclean tag. During my initial days on Instagram, I used to add this hashtag #eatclean to many posts but I no longer use it. And there is a reason behind this decision. The term "Clean eating" has become associated with fancy super foods, imported produce, calorie counted / macros distributed plates and latest diet fads. Since I don't subscribe to any of these ideas, I decided not to tag my posts with #eatclean. Nutrition and food has become a passionate topic for many, including yours truly. And each of us believe our ideologies strongly. Yes, these are our beliefs. I believe that avoiding packaged foods and eating fresh, local, seasonal and traditional foods is one of the important elements behind good health.  I never said in any of my posts that calorie counting is bad OR macros tracking is bad. All I say is that I don't believe in calorie counting or ...

I had already posted about the ingredients in flavored Greek yogurt . This one is the newly launched smoothie variant in a plastic bottle. The price point is Rs.70.   This 200ml strawberry flavoured pack contains a whopping 24.3 gm / 6 TSP of sugar . Yeah, 6 TSP. The total fruit content is only around 7%.  And the best part is this line "our smoothie is just like your lassi". Really? I don't remember that we add permitted enzyme, stabilizer and acidity regulator in our lassi. And definitely not 6 TSP of sugar. I'm not even looking into the protein content, given the high amounts of sugar. Will eat a bowl of dal / sundal for my protein. Yet another junk masquerading as healthy. Would the new investor Deepika Padukone include this in her diet?

   Though social media usage is attributed to several issues, I must admit that I discover interesting people and their works through social media. Early 2014, a friend on FB shared a video snippet of a talk by Dr.Sivaraman and ever since I saw that video, I have become a big fan of him, read all his books and articles. His works have made a tremendous difference in my food habits since then. A few months back, I stumbled upon a hard-hitting talk given by Aarti Rajarathnam on modern-day parenting issues. Since then, I have listened to many of her talks. So sensible, patient and relevant for today's parenting challenges. I also found out that she had written a book on the topic of parenting along with Brinda Jayaraman.  I was so happy when I realized that this book is on Kindle Unlimited .  This book dives into depth about four parenting styles, the issues both the child and parent need to handle and the impact on the personality of growing childre...

  I have been following Luke Coutinho's works for the past couple of years. His thoughts on wellness, nutrition and fitness resonate with me so much. Needless to say, I've become a fan and look forward to his videos on FB/youtube. When he announced his new book "The magic weight loss pill", I was pretty excited and I had pre-ordered a copy. If you have been listening to his videos regularly (like me), you would definitely hear his voice as you read this book :-)   The focus area of the book is LIFESTYLE and it is prescribed as a magic pill, not just for weight loss but for general fitness, well-being and for a healthy life. The first part of the book covers the four pillars of good health - balanced nutrition, fitness, sleep and emotional detoxification. Many examples and case studies are covered, along with ailments-specific explanations. The second part of the book talks about 62 lifestyle changes, explained in an easy-to-implement manner. What I ...

Over the past year or so, there has been a rise in the number of packaged milkshake brands that are being launched in India. At the same time, I also notice the proliferation of milkshake outlets in every nook and corner of Bangalore - Frozen Bottle, Keventers etc.  What are the factors influencing the growth of milk-based beverages market? What's the growth rate of milk production in the country? How is the local demand trending? Are people shifting from packaged fruit juices to packaged milkshakes/flavored yoghurts etc? Or is it because of flat or declining export demands ? Something worth exploring. As part of my daily news updates, I go through fnbnews to learn about new product launches. I came across this launch announcement a few days back - ITC launches dairy beverages SunFeast Wonderz milk in 4 variants.  A Bigbasket search for milkshakes shows up at least 7-8 brands of milkshakes with many variants, all of them with the usual promise of "high protei...