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Madhurie Singh, India’s First Schools and Product Reviewer

Writing since 2006, honest reviews of schools, admission process, application dates and interview questions for Nursery to class 12. Read all posts to understand which is the right board/school/preschool/ coaching/product for your child. CBSE, ICSE, IB, CAIE, IGCSE, NIOS, PMShri, BSB or State Boards.
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You are here: Home / Archives for Healthy

Healthy

Why is Makhana a wonder snack food ?

Written By Madhurie Singh Last Modified Date: March 26, 2017

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

Filed Under: Health Product Reviews Tagged With: foxnut, Healthy, lotus, makhana, prickly lilly, snacks1 Comment

Stop using these 10 things from today to live healthy

Written By Madhurie Singh Last Modified Date: December 12, 2016

10 things to stop for healthy living

Stop using these 10 things from today to live a healthy life. If you can’t stop completely, at least minimize their usage. Writing articles about each point mentioned below will take time but I would want you to trust me and try to minimize using as many things mentioned below for your children’s health and your own, especially when you reach 40 yrs.

Explanation will follow in future articles.

  1. Plastic containers
  2. Maida
  3. Sugar
  4. Refined oil
  5. Packaged Baked products both sweet and salty
  6. Brown, yellow, red, pink, green, blue, orange colored food where it’s mentioned “Added Color”
  7. Syrups of any flavor where the label mentions “Added Flavor”
  8. Processed Oats, wheat, rice, pulses
  9. Olive oil or any oil whose seeds are not grown in India
  10. Colas and Packed fruit drinks where the label mentions “Added Flavors, Added Preservative, Added Color and Added Sugar”

Keep reading for explanations of each of these points and reviews of food products.

Let’s make India a healthier place once again. Keep sharing the link of this post with your WhatsApp groups and school parents.

Filed Under: Fat-Fit Tagged With: Healthy, unhealthyLeave a Comment

Review of Patanjali Almond Kesar Handwash

Written By Madhurie Singh Last Modified Date: October 6, 2016

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

 

Filed Under: Health Product Reviews Tagged With: Almond, disease, Handwash, Healthy, Kesar, Natural, Patanjali, Saffron, skin, soap1 Comment

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