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Why is Makhana a wonder snack food ?

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makhana

Makhana is also known as gorgon nuts, fox nut is actually the seed of a water plant called prickly water lily or gorgon which is not Lotus. It is the only food among all the food for fasting, that is not just high in carbohydrates but also in protein. It can be cooked in salty and sweet dishes for both snack and meals.

I am in love with makhana as its the quickest and easiest snack I can cook for my sons which is healthy too. Watch this video to appreciate how painfully difficult it is to make makhana!

I started eating more Makhanas as my tribute to this community whose living is dependent on Makhanas. 🙂

The farmers in Bihar collect this from the ponds by hands and process the seeds at home bearing great heat of the fire every day!

We are lucky to be able to eat this wonder food in all the parts of India and abroad thanks to many enterprising entrepreneurs.

Makhana is one of the lightest yet nutritious super food that can be served as snacks, sweet or savory dishes. I like to snack on them and so do my sons. They make me buy 10 packets every month.

Why do I allow my children to snack on Makhanas so much? 

Makhanas, when sauteed in desi ghee with salt has been my favorite snack but not very frequent until I researched about its nutritional values.

Food Item Source Type Nutritional Value (100gm)
Carbohydrate Protein Fat Minerals
Makhana/ Foxnut Seed of Gorgon 77g 9.7g 0.1g Vit C, Vit B3, B6, Mn, Iron, Ph, K, Mg, Ca, Omega 3

As a mother what do you look for in a food? Protein, Carbohydrate, Omega 3, healthy Fat, as many Vitamins and Minerals. Right?

Makhana has a very high quantity of Protein. Let me help you with the amount of protein found in common food we eat.

Let’s learn how much protein children need.

  • Calculate your protein intake as 2 – 2.2g/kg body weight.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 10 Kg, then he needs  20 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 15 Kg, then he needs  30 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 20 Kg, then he needs  40 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 25 Kg, then he needs  50 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 30 Kg, then he needs  60 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 35 Kg, then he needs  70 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 40 Kg, then he needs  80 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 45 Kg, then he needs  90 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 50 Kg, then he needs  100 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 55 Kg, then he needs  110 gm protein per day.
  • if your child’s weight is body weight is 60 Kg, then he needs  120 gm protein per day.
  • Let me take a body weight of 30 Kg of a child who needs 60 gm protein.
  • Divide the total protein quantity of 60 gm into 6 meals or 4 meals or 3 meals based on how many times you serve food. If 6 meals then you need 60gm/6 meals = 10 g protein per meal. But if its 4 meals, then you need to give 60gm/4 meals = 7.5 g protein per meal. Four meal is the least one should be serving to a child. As an adult, you may stick to whatever you plan.

If a lunch is 1 roti (1 g protein) + 1/2 cup dal (4 g protein) + 1/2 cup curd (10 g protein) + veggies (1 g protein) + rice (2 g protein), then you are getting only 18 g protein! The question is does your child eat all these in one meal? Mine don’t. So I roughly ensure every meal has more than 6 g protein.

Morning Breakfast Milk 6 g

Short Break has Biscuits, Khakhras, Fruits = 10 g protein

Long Break has Stuffed paratha / Bread with Cheese Slice/ Roti with Chicken nuggets = 10 – 20 g

Lunch has 1 cup Rice (2 g protein) + 1 cup dal (15 g protein) + Veggies (1 gm protein) + salad = 18-23g

Milk in the evening 6 g

Dinner has 2 Rotis ( 2 g protein) + Chicken/ Paneer / Eggs/ Fish/ Chole = 15 – 25 g protein

There days when I do not have anything healthy cooked, then I give them Makhanas as snacks either in the snack box or in the evening with milk. Now a days when exams are going on and kids are home by 12 noon, they are constantly snacking. Keeping readymade Makhana packets has really helped me. I buy different flavors of Popmak Makhana and keep it visibly stacked in the kitchen. This has reduced their dependency on unhealthy potato chips a lot.

Why during fasting seeds and roots are consumed?

Makhana is a very versatile item that can be eaten as savory or sweet dish.

We are high Adrenal functioning people and always snacking on high protein but salty items. But my mom makes yummy Makhana kheer by chopping makhanas into tiny bits and cooking in thick milk. It is an extremely tasty nutritional sweet dish. You must try it.

A unique snack that I have been making is Makhana Bhel for my sons. I mix chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves, lemon juice, puffed rice and spicy ready to eat makhanas from Popmak. I have to tell you it not only is filling but absolutely not loaded with too much carbohydrate that gets converted into glucose easily.

Another way to eat Makhana is with daal chawal. My sons like to eat something tangy and crunchy with daal chawal. So Makhana also comes handy.

I am going to challenge you, moms, to come up with new recipes with Makhana especially if you are trying to lose weight. Then we can have a competition of the best recipe. I will probably ask the Makhana company PopMak to sponsor the winner! What say, people? Do you accept the challenge?

This article is sponsored by PopMak.

popmak makhana

Protein Source gm
1 egg 6gm
1 egg white 3gm
100g Chicken 26gm
100g Fish 18gm
100gms Paneer 20gm
100gms Curd 5gm
100ml Milk 5gm
1 cup cooked Dal 7gm
1 cup cooked Sprouts 7gm

Why during fasting seeds and roots are consumed?

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why during fasting seeds and roots are consumed

Photo source credit: Google Images

Fasting is abstinence. Abstaining from alcohol, nonveg and certain food increases one’s will power and concentration. Proper fasting helps in cleansing the toxins that build up in the body.

If you have been fasting regularly or occasionally you must be eating a lot of yummy food to break the fast. So I fasted after 20 years for this Maha Shivratri. Since I had so much time from not cooking, I started to Google the various food that can be eaten during fasting and to break the fasts. But before that an incident with my son.

My younger son found the lunch to be boring this day. So I told him that either he ate whatever is cooked or fast. ” I’ll fast mom”, he quickly wanted to escape the lunch. I tried my best to dissuade him but he was adamant. At night around 8 pm, he came crying to me and said, “I am going to die mom. Something strange is happening to me. My body is paining!” I gave him a bowl of five Rasmalais with it’s sweet milk. After 10 minutes, when the sugar had done it’s job and he was calm, I asked him how he was feeling. He nodded his head and said, “Now I am ok.” I looked at him and said, “Beta, this is how hunger feels like. Your body was aching because you had not eaten the whole day. Remember next time when you see someone hungry, what he is going through.”

After a quick search of the various Fasting food ingredients these were my observations:

These ingredients were acceptable during fast or to break the fast

  1. Fruits (Banana, Apple, Mango etc)
  2. Milk and milk products
  3. Dry Fruits
  4. Roots (potato, tapioca, sweet potato)
  5. Vegetables (tomato, cucumber, cauliflower etc)
  6. Seeds
  7. Ghee
  8. Sugar

Why not wheat, jowar, bajra, rice, garlic, ginger? Nonveg I got it should not be eaten.

 

milk

Cow’s Milk we all know is the easiest source of instant energy and protein.  All items made of milk like curds, paneer, sweets are favorites in fasting meals.

Fruits are ready source of carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins and very easy to digest.

Dry Fruits are to be taken in small quantity which slowly but easily digests to give energy which is from the carbohydrate, sugar and protein.

 

Vegetables like cauliflower, cucumber, tomatoes, pumpkin are used quite commonly in fasting meal.


makhanaMakhana is fox nut is also a seed of a water plant called prickly water lily or gorgon which is not Lotus. It is the only food among all the food for fasting, that is not just high in carbohydrates but also in protein. It can be cooked in salty and sweet dishes for both snack and meals.

I am in love with makhana as its the quickest and easiest snack I can cook for my sons which is healthy too.

Read: Why is Makhana a wonder snack food?

Sabudana or Sago is made from the starch of Tapioca Roots. 

sabudana

The root or tuber is chopped and fermented into open pits which attract several insects. Water is added into the open pit which gives birth to many white color nali ke keede! The pit has bright street light focussing at night which invite hundreds of insects that attain moksha in this starch paste. All these including insects are churned into a paste which is then sieved through a mesh to get tiny balls of Sabu dana. These are dried in open fields. If you are living near villages of South India where these are made by hand, you know your fasting is seriously not vegetarian or hygienic. Searching on Youtube, you will all videos on How Sabudana is made from SE Asian countries. The lone video from India Sabudana making process is now deleted.

But, if you are buying Sabudana from malls, then probably, you will eat these made from a very different process. Tapioca is powdered and its starch is treated to make tiny balls. But by the time it reaches your kitchen, it has lost the nutrition due to chemical bleaching and washing of the tapioca paste to get that pure white color.

kuttu

Kuttu or Buckwheat is seed and not a grain and very high in Carbohydrate and highest in Protein. It is one of the most economical seed and its atta makes very tasty pooris.

 

singhada

Singhare or water chestnut is a fruit grown underwater that has a fair amount of carbohydrate which is a great way to eat a variety of carbohydrate. It is dried and powdered to make atta. Poories are made out of Singhare ka atta. Singhara can also be chopped into pieces and seasoned with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
potatoAloo or Potato full of carbohydrate is a root that is grown under the earth and we all know it. It has a load of carbohydrate and minerals that are needed to break the fast. It is the most common yet most tasty fast-breaking food. I love when my mom makes the fasting aaloos with roasted peanuts and boiled potatoes garnished with green corianders leaves.

 

sweet potato

Sweet Potato is also excellent as it is a tuber or root and it has carbohydrate and vitamins. It provides a sweeter version of carbohydrates and is used to make Halwa. It is very tasty when smoked in charcoal.

 

samvat riceSamwat Rice is actually a seed not a grain and hence included as Fasting food. Since it is a seed, it has all the properties of seeds mentioned below.

Ramdana

Ramdana or Rajgira is also a seed of Amranth. It’s gluten free, low on glycemic load, enriched with antioxidants and essential vitamins and minerals. You can make atta of Ramdana to make pooris or roties. But I love laddoos made of puffed Ramdana and jaggery. Remember, if there any food that has larger than life nutritional values they will be named after Indian Gods/ Goddesses. Ram-dana, now you get its value!

 

homemade gheeGhee is an intrinsic part of fasting food. Ghee is a very small yet big dose of good fat which our ancestors knew about since Vedic days.                                    

 

How Ghee cures depression in children, teens and adults

 

Our ancestors knew what food had the highest amount of Carbohydrate that can be very quickly converted into Glucose that the body requires after fasting for more than 8 hours.

The human body’s key source of energy, through aerobic respiration, providing about 3.75 Kcal of Energy per gram of Glucose.

Why roots? Roots are full of starch. Starch is the easiest food that is digested into glucose. And we all know glucose is the stored into muscle cells as glycogen. When we move our body, this stored glucose uses oxygen and provides energy.

Why Seeds and Ghee? Seeds are a very rich pack of Magnesium to help store energy in muscles, Zinc for immunity, Omega 3 for brain functions, improves insulin regulation, increases good HDL cholesterol, antioxidants, tryptophans that help in sleeping soundly, anti-inflammatory properties of these two super foods.

Seeds that are used as flour to make pooris and rotis are gluten-free at the same time is extremely nutritious. It is enriched with fiber, protein, Vitamin B, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Why milk and milk products? Milk is a complete food in itself as it has carbohydrate, protein, and fat with ample mineral and vitamins. Milk products like curds is also eaten to give loads of protein and carbohydrates.

Why grains and pulses are avoided during fasting? Grains and pulses/ daal, slow down the digestion process, especially wheat. And since fasting is to give rest to the digestive system, why eat anything that will overload the system.

Food Item Source Type Nutritional Value (100gm)
Carbohydrate Protein Fat Minerals
Makhana/ Foxnut Seed of Gorgon 77g 9.7g 0.1g Vit C, Vit B3, B6, Mn, Iron, Ph, K, Mg, Ca, Omega 3 , Omega
Saboodana/ Sago Very starchy Roots of Tapioca  85.5g 0.2g 0.2g Iron, Ph
Kand/ Sweet Potato Starchy Roots of Potato, Sweet potato 20g 1.6g 0.1g Vit A, Vit B6, Mn
Aaloo/ Potato Starchy Roots of Potato 17g 2g 0.1g K, Ca, Iron, Ph, Vit C, Vit K1, Vit B6, Vit B5
Kuttu atta/ Buckwheat Seeds of Buckwheat 70g 12.62g 3.1g Vit B6, Mg, Iron, K, Mn, Omega 6
Samvat Rice/ Samo Seed 36g 3g 1g Iron, Ca, Vit C, Vit A
Singhare ka atta/ Water chestnut Starchy Seed 24g 1g 0.1g K, Na, Vit C, Vit B6, Mg
Ramdana/ Amranth Seeds 128g 28g 12g Iron, Ca, Vit C

Source:

Difference Between Seeds and Grains

Start using these oils if you want healthy children

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Mustard (Sarson) oil, sesame (til) oil, coconut (nariyal) oil, yellow butter of cow’s milk and cow’s ghee.

These must be cold pressed not processed by chemicals in factories.

Stop refined oils of any brand. All are chemically processed to such an extent that they have lost their real nutrition.

You want healthy children the start using cold pressed vegetable oils and desi ghee especially home made.

Refining of vegetable oils was to increase shelf life.

Another reason was to be able to withstand climatic variations while transporting oils.

We ate desi ghee and pure vegetable oils in the first half of our lives. Heart diseases and diabetes did not occur much. But, did they decrease because of shifting from ghee to dalda or from pure vegetable oils to refined vegetable oils? On the contrary, the percentage of heart diseases have increased exponentially!

But our children have been on refined oils since their birth! Can you even fathom their health in their forties?

Get address of your nearest oil mill where cold pressed oil can be bought.

It will be slightly expensive but slowly with more demand, there will be more oil mills to counter the price.

This will be the best gift you will give to your children. Remember that what oil they eat in their childhood will become their oil for life.

So in short, stop refined oil and start cold-pressed oil made of coconut, groundnut, sesame, mustard. Start using desi ghee and butter made at home.

I make butter and ghee at home just enough for 4 people. Even my pet dog eats roti with ghee!

Learn to make ghee at home here. 

Review of Amul Taaza Milk

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Review ofAmull Taaza milk and many food items will soon here on my blog.

review of amul taaza milk

Product Details as mentioned on Amul’s website.

Product Name Amul Taaza
Description Pasteurised Milk Amul milk meets the PFA standards for the respective type of milk.
Packing Poly Pack – 500ml, 1000ml, 200ml, 5 Ltr *
* In selected markets only

Product Specifications as mentioned on Amul’s website.

Composition Fat (%) 3.0 min
SNF (%) *8.5 min
Nutritional Information
Nutritional Information*
Serving Size 200 ml
Amount per 100 ml
Energy 58 kcal
Energy from FAT 27 kcal
Total FAT 3 g
Saturated FAT 1.9 g
Cholesterol 8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 4.7 g
Added Sugar 0 g
Protein 3.1 g
Calcium 150 mg
Phosphorus 130 mg
Sodium 50 mg
Thiamine 42.5 mcg
Riboflavin 120 mcg
Niacin 100 mcg
Folic Acid 7.5 mcg
Vit. A(Retinol) 32 mcg
*Approx. values
Shelf Life 48 Hours from the date of packing if kept under refrigeration below 8°C
Storage condition Under Refrigeration (Below 8°C)

Product Features as mentioned on Amul’s website.

  • Amul Milk is the most hygenic liquid milk available in the market.
  • It is pasteurized in state-of-the-art processing plants and pouch-packed to make it conveniently available to consumers.

[tweetthis]Amul Milk is the only milk I trust but still never blindly. [/tweetthis]I continue to test milk at home, though it’s not Amul milk that we take. It’s a local dairy which does not tone milk. Thus we get milk with maximum nutrition and full fat.

When milk is pasteurized, Vit C is destroyed completely and Lactose is destroyed to an extent. Though, a warning. Raw Milk, has lot of chances of contamination with bacteria. So boiling at home is very important. Especially when there are children below 10 yrs at home.

I boil the milk and store (malai ) cream in the refrigerator. Every month, I get enough cream that is used to make pure Desi Ghee.

Check out this chart where you can see what is there in  Pasteurized Milk Toned Milk where both have added synthetic Vitamin D, A, and C. What a joke! Destroy the natural Vitamins and then add synthetic ones. Natural vitamins will be absorbed easily and better than synthetic.

raw vs pasteurized milk chart

I will definitely warn you all against milk in tetra packs.

DO NOT buy milk or anything stored in Tetra Pack. It destroys all the nutrition.  Keep following my blog to read about the Tetra Packs.

Source:
http://www.problogbooster.com/2014/09/raw-milk-vs-pasteurized-milk-nutritious-facts-advantages-disadvantages.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/raw-milk-debate-contreversy_n_5595345
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/pasteurized-homogenized-milk_n_5606168
http://www.realmilk.com

Why I turned to eating our ancient Indian food?

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My 13 yr son lost 7 kgs in 2 months and I am losing fat gradually ever since I started to focus on what food was cooked by our ancestors. The result is not very quick and dramatic as you observe in diets or weight loss pills.

This post is for parents who want to give healthy food to their children but are confused. Not their fault. Our society takes pride in eating Non-Indian food especially the youth. TV, media and movies have glamorized eating Pizza and Burgers so much that it has become a status symbol to eat them. My sons too happily eat these western food without a single fuss but will take hours to finish Daal Chawal and Roti Subzi.

I was always focusing on healthy food but missed out on one very important factor. “Our genes!”

So when my teenage son who was always chubby wanted to slim down, I started to go back to the masalas that have been passed down by my nani and mom to me. They burn fat and boost metabolism.  We have been eating these masalas especially made by my mom during winters and post partum. Maybe that is why I quickly lost all the fat without any side effects but never gave any thought to it.

15193494_10209747560319513_1975517827792927939_n

I started to give him the same masalas and started to be curious about the ingredients. Also, I was challenged by a few Ayurveda followers about my knowledge to ignore it. Yes! I was always pro allopathic. Even now I am pro allopathic drugs but open to Ayurveda too. Realizing my ignorance would not allow me to argue much on this subject, I spent the whole of last year reading books on Ayurveda. I have to give the biggest credit to Mr. Rajiv Dixit, whose videos got me interested into the logic of each ingredient. I bought books on Ayurveda by Rajiv Dixit and by Vagbhatt Ji. Initially, it was all Greek to me.

[tweetthis]Values of Ghee, White Butter, Pickles, Masalas, Cold Pressed Oil, cooking & eating within 45min, chakki atta is clear[/tweetthis]

Slowly, the values of Ghee, White Butter, Pickles, Masalas, Cold Pressed Oil, cooking and eating within 45 minutes and chakki atta became obvious.

15370021_10209774419270970_2972582648014174822_o

I have read so much in the past one year, that now when I see any spice, all the benefits, indications and health values start to flash in my head. Why Jeera is so widely used to how Badi Elaichi can cure irritable bowel syndrome!

After reading so many research papers on the internet, it has become obvious that Ghee and Fat was made to look like the villain causing obesity when the actual villain was White Sugar.

It became clear why the factory processed atta of any grain makes us fat or diabetic or causing all kinds of stress related diseases. Read this article where Aashirvaad Atta is cheating us.

Hope to slowly share this information with young parents via this blog to start making the change in the health of their children and self.

Genes, Birth place, Native grains and oils, Grown in India fruits and Vegetables, Indian Spices, Masalas and Myth will be my focus.

Parents must start incorporating these changes in their lifestyle as much as possible. It may not be possible to completely stop using processed factory food but the goal should be to minimize their use.

If you have anything to ask or share, do comment below.

Review of ITC’s Aashirvaad Multigrain Atta – Cheaters

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Today I bought the Aashirvaad Multigrain atta. Well actually I had asked my husband to buy.

Since we are shifting to healthy eating and I use lot of mixes of various grains, I wanted to try out this Aashirvaad multigrain atta.

What a rip off? Had I check the pack and labels I would have laughed at the way ITC is cheating common people who really want to eat healthy.

If you look at the pack of 5 kh atta, it looks appealing with bold claims of providing a mix of Wheat, oats, soya, ragi, channa, maize and husk.

See the picture of the front.

aashirvaad-multigrain-atta-review-madhuriesingh.com

Now turn the pack and check the proportion of each of these multi grains in comparison to Wheat.

aashirvaad-multigrain-atta-proportion-review-madhuriesingh.com

 

Do you see the cheating?

90.9% = Wheat ???? which is 91% wheat

The rest 9.1% = Multigrain Flour Mixture of Soya = 5.1%, 1% Oats, 1% Maize, 1% Channa and 1% Psyllium husk as mentioned on the new pack.

So if you make take 10 spoons of atta, only one spoon will be made of multigrain!

And 1% of that 1 tsp is psyllium husk??? Why are they adding psyllium? Why not add the husk of the wheat which is bran?

Even though the cost of Multigrain (Rs 265) is up by Rs 10 per 5 kg as compared to the normal atta of Rs 255/- 5kg, I think the damage done to the consumers that is more expensive.

I have read people with diabetes are buying it in the hope of getting multigrain atta’s benefit.

So people best is to buy your own grain and back to the atta chakki if you really want to be healthy.

Read Why I turned to eating our ancient Indian food

Review of Patanjali Almond Kesar Handwash

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Review-almond-kesar-hand-wash

A few months back my dear friend Olga was home. We chatted about a lot of stuff and started to exchange views about natural products and brands in India.

She mentioned that the only hand wash her sensitive skin could accept was almond and kesar soap by Patanjali.

I was all ears as my younger son has hypersensitive skin and his palm skin reacts to any soap we have been using.

The skin actually peels off his palm! All kinds of oil, moisturiser, cream and Vaseline products did no good.

So I decided to buy this Patanjal Almond and Kesar Handwash.

One week of washing and his palm started getting softer. The redness and peeling was very less.

It’s been now two months now and his skin is normal, smooth.

Then I did a research on the ingredients.

It has Almond Oil which is full of Vitamin E, which is a known fact that helps skin.  It also contains Omega 3, potassium, proteins, zinc all of which helps in building cells.

Read Why you should never eat dry Almonds.

It has Aloe Vera, which is also very good for skin and soothes any iching as  it possesses anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, antifungal, antioxidant, and astringent activity.

It has Neem Oil, which is antiseptic and great to cure / prevent any infection

It has Tulsi oil which is also anti microbial, thus removing any germs.

Read Why I bought Tulsi plants even though I do not do pooja.

It has Tea Tree oil which cures infections such as acne, fungal infections of the nail (onychomycosis), lice, scabies, athlete’s foot (tinea pedis), and ringworm.

[tweetthis]Kesar has anti microbial property and also reduces inflammation in acne & psoriasis[/tweetthis]

Then are all the common ingredients used to make soap like Surfactant, Carbomer and Water.

Surfactant’s one end of the molecule is attracted to water, while the other end is attracted to dirt and grease. So the surfactant molecules help water to pick grease, break it up, and wash it away. Cool!

Carbomer is used to create gel-like formulations which is easy to use without spilling watery soap.

Click to read the ingredients.

review ingredients of patanjali-kesar-wash

Buy Almond Kesar Handwash from Patanjali if you too have sensitive skin, eczema, allergic skin, peeling skin, rashes or redness. 

Complan Memory for brain and memory or something else for my children

 

Why health insurance is not going to pay you in need!

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The EVILHealth Insurances

Yup! The false security that you have about your health insurance paying you in your hay day is only a dream.

So even though I took a great time researching our health insurance, we still got a shock.

We took Apollo Munich’s Health Insurance 3 yrs back.




The plan was Optima plus, where in if the insurance amount is 10 lakhs and its unused for 1st yr, the next yr, your insured amount doubles up to 20 lakhs. Hence in time of your need, you avail Rs 20 lakh worth health treatment.

Also if you have claimed for one disease this yr, you are immediately reinsured for other health treatments from next month without paying anything more till your next premium.

SO where is the catch?

The catch is in those very tiny fine lines that we never get to read before we buy the policy, nor will the agent every tell you or even want you to open and read it.

So let me tell you a secret, a rather dirty one about these insurance companies.

Their objective is to never pay you back!

The dirty trick may be one or all of these points after you have bought the policy:

  1. All diseases have a time period when it starts to show up or not to the final stage. They are aware of it. We are not. So if you go to them with a kidney disease, they know it takes say 3 yrs to come to failure stage. If you have taken a policy 3 yrs back and you were not aware of the disease, they assume that you have on purpose not informed them, hence you have connived in future surgery by taking their plan. So straight away they will refuse you surgery cover.
  2. There are a few diseases that take one, two or three years to come to surgery stage. If you have not read the insurance documents, you will be shocked to know that a lot of diseases are not covered till 3 years are over. So its best to go through a thorough health test, instead of a superficial one for your own good.
  3. Last point. They will say no first, whether you are right or not. Then they wait and respond only to those who pursue. They will not hand it down easily. You have to snatch it what is rightfully yours. Damn! Always!

So that’s what I did it last week. I sat for 2 hours at their office, talking to all possible people on phone and told them, unless, they found a solution for my problem I will not leave their office.

Then I retweeted all the dirty tweets of their past customers.

While I was thinking of getting their CEO’s number by tweeting to him directly, I was told that they have reached a decision. They will pay up the entire bill as it may come up to during and after surgery provided we signed that in future we will not claim for that same surgery again. We did that immediately.

By next morning we got the authorization of the going ahead with the surgery cashless at Apollo.

How to build immunity the easiest way?

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Yesterday when my technical teammate told me her son was unwell and has very frequent cold, I was reminded of my days. Small babies are extremely prone to falling sick between the age of 1 to 5 yrs as their immunity is still building up. 

There are more than 600 types of cold viruses so it's but natural to fall ill. Especially when the children are part of day cares or preschools. 

How can you help build the immunity of your baby?

No lecture just a few points

1. Try to cook food and cover with a lid always. When the food is half done, open the lid and tilt the lid onto a small bowl, vaati or katori. Ensure that the bowl was washed and microwaved. Even one teaspoon of the condensed liquid is full of minerals and vitamins. Pour it down your child's mouth when its cool down.

2. Make this magic soup that builds immunity super sure. Boil palak, carrots, potatos, tomatoes, lauki, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, laung, elaichi, cardamom, methi seeds, kali mirchi, haldi and salt. You may add chicken too. Slow cook with lid for 15-20 minutes.  There you have the soup to bring an 80 year old to jump off the bed (just don't let them!).

3. If you know the power of lemon juice, then I am hoping you are not adding the juice into the food when its getting cooked. You will kill the vit C. Never add lemon juice and let the food boil. The right way to add lemon juice is by waiting for the food to be cooked. Now add the lemon juice and cover it again. If you really want to add it for only the taste, then you might as well add citric acid to give it that khatta taste. But then do not imagine to be giving any vit C to your kids. (For your information Lemon juice has two parts, Vit C + Citric Acid). And did you that it's peel has more Vit C than the juice!

Enough for tonight. It's 1 am and I need my beauty sleep.

 

How I try to be energetic and healthy

Written By

Sharing a few of my trusted daily regime with all ladies who have been asking me what I eat and drink.

1. Drink aamla and pudina every morning the first thing with 600 ml water

2. Eat paratha or roti with eggs in breakfast or occasional idli, dosa, poha and upma

3. One green chilli each meal is must. No red chillies in my kitchen

4. Fresh green chutney is must every day made of dhaniya, lemon, garlic. Other ingredients added could be green capsicum or roast brinjal or tomatoes or cucumbers or carrots or peanuts

5. Daal is must with a bit of rice

6. One glass fresh juice of orange and apple in the evening

7. Snack on peanuts or chana zor in the evening

8. Salad or lauki or tori or palak at night by 8pm

9. Min 2 ltr of water other than the abov mentioned liquids

10. No alcohol, no pan, no hajmola like things before or after meals, no pickle , no aerated drinks, no cakes and pastries, no biscuits, no non veg, no green tea too ;). (I do not enforce any of these on to my kids or spouse. It has to come from within. A lot happens by observing. So no one has the habit of eating pan, hajmola, sweets. Aerated drinks only when we dine out and pastries are rare. Biscuits are dwindling.)

11. Yoga and meditation each morning

12. Sleep 4 hrs at night and then 2 hrs again early morning after sending kids to school. If nothing better to do, I sleep whenever possible as it rejuvenates the body best.

13. Surround with books and stay away from negativity. I spend free time with books only.

14. I do not take stress anymore as everything can be achieved without taking any stress.

15. Daily calcium with vit D caps must.

 

Try this for 21 days and then for 40 days. If you see the change in your energy level, positive attitude, loss in fat, gain in self-esteem, gain in positive energy do comment here.