Anuradha Sridharan

I recently came across this pack that is targeted for the 7+ age bracket. I had earlier shared the  ingredient details  of Pediasure for the age bracket of 2+ years. "GROWTH" - this word has become extremely popular these days in the marketing collateral of various health drink brands available in India. Marketing showcases what the target market wants to hear. Parents want to improve the growth parameters of their children and there is a clear demand for such drinks in urban markets. Let's look in detail about this growth promising drink. The front of the pack states "with oats and almond". And it also shows oats and almonds in bright, attractive images. Read the ingredients list and you will notice the meager values of the same - Oats powder is 1% and almond powder is 1%. The tag line says " Specialized nutrition for growing children ". I started getting curious to figure out what this "specialized formulation" is.  And I also wanted to com...

  Surprised to hear this? Yes, I'm grateful for the pack of dosa batter and the store-bought idli chutney podi that helped me fix the breakfast needs of my family members this morning.   Since Mar 2020, I have been cooking every single meal in my home. All meals cooked from scratch, all staples DIYed. It was possible for me to manage this workload for a small 3-member family. In the past couple of months, with more people at home, it was becoming more challenging to achieve the same goal and practice my values with perfection. It was taking a toll on my emotions as well. The frequency of prep work that I used to do earlier suddenly increased. Batter had to be ground twice a week (instead of once a week). The condiments need to be prepared once a week (instead of once a month). Others eat their meal by looking at the time on the clock. Skipping meals or substitution of regular meal with low effort alternatives like fruits/salads/soups/kanji weren't an option given their health ...

Feeling quite tired and exhausted? The solution is not to lie on the bed throughout the day (unless you are suffering from crippling health ailments).  Some of us have this preconceived notion - "We need energy to move our body". No, it's quite the reverse. " We gain energy by moving our body ".  When I say "moving our body", I'm not referring to heavy forms of exercise or even brisk walking. Even a stroll amidst nature, sunlight, and fresh air will give us an instant boost of energy. Not just that, it improves our blood circulation, helps in regular bowel movements, improves our mood and overall mental well-being. Lying down all day not only takes away these above-listed benefits but it worsens any pre-existing health ailments. As I reflect on my early childhood days, our home didn't have any sofa/couch/cot/dining table, etc. We used to sit down on the floor for every activity - studying, playing, and eating. Sitting down and getting up multip...

Do we select our spouse ONLY because he/she has a good smile? Do we choose a job offer ONLY because it pays better? Whenever we make an important decision, do we use a single parameter to compare the options? Not really, isn't it? We compare across multiple parameters and take a decision that makes sense to us. But when it comes to our food, most of us rely on a single parameter that influences our choices. A few observations: (1) We choose artificial sweetener over sugar because sugar has higher calories and artificial sweetener has zero calories. We make our decision ONLY based on calorie comparison. Artificial sweeteners come with many side effects. Multiple research studies point out the negative effects of artificial sweeteners on our taste preferences, gut bacteria, and calorie consumption. In my opinion, it is better to drink 1-2 cups of coffee/tea with a tsp of white sugar than drink 7-8 cups of coffee/tea with artificial sweetener pills. If we ONLY use calories as a compar...

A few questions I received in DMs in the past week "How do you manage to cook 3-4 varieties each day?" "If all packaged foods from the store is not good, then wouldn't it be strenuous to make everything at home?" "It feels like I'm spending so much time in the kitchen. How to cook more efficiently?" I'll try to answer these three questions through this post.  First and foremost, the lunch plates you are seeing in my feed for the past month aren't how I normally cook. Since my in-laws are staying with me, I'm cooking more than usual. To get the real picture, check out my posts in Oct/Nov. I don't like to cook a lot of variety for each meal. If the menu is kept simple, the time taken to cook will be less.  Set the right expectations with family members. Making chapatis/parathas is a time-consuming process for me. My ILs love to eat chapatis for dinner but I have mentioned to them (even before they arrived) that I'll not be able to...

 I gained a lot of clarity this weekend on the role I'm playing in creating awareness of packaged foods, thanks to this incident. A few weeks back, I had written a post about Thandai powder and how family elders were drinking it despite us warning them that it contains loads of sugar. When MIL was refilling the bottle, I showed her the label and the statement " Not to be consumed by diabetic patients ". FIL asked me, "How much sugar is there in this pack?" I showed him the pack and told him that it contains 75% sugar. He was shocked. They immediately decided to stop drinking it after seeing the label for themselves.  I felt happy that they have finally decided to stop drinking it. MIL mentioned that these printed labels are hard to read for senior citizens like her. The role I played in this situation is that of a MAGNIFYING GLASS. I realized that this is the role I have been playing in the last 4 years through my blog posts - magnifying the image of the nutrit...

 When two people with contrasting perceptions are put under the same roof, there is bound to be disturbance and alterations in the vibrations. I have been feeling the same in the past month. I have started to believe that everything happens for a reason. I'm now questioning how I can prevent myself from getting triggered in such situations. Do I have to raise my tolerance and patience levels? Do I have to be indifferent and turn my back without sharing my thoughts? Do I need to accept the situation wholeheartedly without trying to change it? As I pondered more on these questions, I started receiving this answer - "It's all about how we perceive". My perception of health might be different from someone else's. My perception of cleanliness might be different from someone else's. I might find someone's ideologies on food to be extreme. Someone else might find my ideologies on food to be on the extreme. My understanding of taking care of my health - eating mor...

 As you might know, my intention verb for 2020 was MINIMIZE. Here's a quick summary of how I executed this verb in 2020. Brought down the number of pressure cookers I have from 5 to 3 (this is a BIG deal, I love pressure cookers!) Minimized the number of books I bought (Bought only 2 Kindle books and 1 physical book in 2020) Deactivated FB and Twitter Minimized my online content consumption intentionally Minimized my time spent on OTT platforms  Minimized my dependency on Yoga class and brought the discipline to practice on my own. Minimized my FOMO. I have now strongly come to believe that the information that is required for me will come to me. Minimized my tendency to multitask (no Youtube while chopping veggies, no music/podcasts while walking) Minimized the number of times I ate at a restaurant or ordered food delivery (I shouldn't take credit for this!) Minimized the number of times I took Ola/Uber (again, not taking credit!) The home decluttering and organizing didn...

 During these Covid times, we are taking all forms of precautions throughout the day - frequent hand washing, using hand sanitizers, wearing masks, drinking gallons of kabasura kudineer, using vegetable washes, etc. Why? Because we know Covid-19 is transferable (or communicable) from one person to another.  But are we giving the same attention to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc? Not really. Why? Because we know these are non-communicable.  What if I told you that such lifestyle diseases are communicable in a family? No, I'm not referring to genetic influence. Let's say, there are a couple A & B - both in their late 20s, working in sedentary jobs, stressful work environments, little attention towards food and nutrition, disturbed sleep cycles, etc. One of them, say A gets a wake-up call. It could be frequent acidity, heartburn, constipation, or weight gain. When A does a health checkup, the numbers are slightly off...

A few days back, I came across a full front page ad by Veeba on TOI. The product advertised was their tomato ketchup along with the tagline "No added preservatives" in big, bold letters. I had to find out more about this product. As I looked through the ingredients, yes, there are no added Class II preservatives.   But isn't this a sufficient criterion to claim that this product is "made with quality ingredients"?  The 3rd and 4th ingredients are Sugar and Liquid Glucose. As I compared the sugar values with that of other tomato ketchup brands, Veeba has the highest sugar content. Around 40% of this ketchup is nothing but SUGAR. Iodised salt is the 5th ingredient but Sodium values are not mentioned in the nutrition facts table.  If preservatives aren't used, how does the product sit on the retail shelves for 9 months? Something that brands need to explain to consumers. Ketchup has become a staple commodity in our pantry these days. High amounts of sugar and s...