2020 - Review

 Continuing my annual ritual of reflecting on the year gone by, I sat down this morning to think about my 2020.Early in Jan, K had been on a business trip to the US. He bought a gift for D - a cooperative strategy board game that all of us can play together as a family. Little did we know that this game would become a reality for all of us on the planet in 2020. Yes, the board game...

Why do numbers influence our behavior?

 Sometime in mid-Dec, I realized that I'm 10 posts away from crossing the highest blog posts count for a year (94 posts in 2017) and 15 posts away from hitting the magical number of 100 posts this year. Ever since I became aware of this number, I have been consciously working towards hitting this...

Thought rabbit-hole

 Have you ever been inside a thought rabbit-hole? Let me explain how it unfolds.You feel hurt by a situation or by someone. Or you feel angry about a situation or someone. But you couldn't do anything about it.You feel frustrated, helpless, and want to vent out.Sometimes, there might be people...

The hunt for growth

 Growth drives profitability.Especially in FMCG companies, where the margins are relatively low, the only way to achieve growth targets is to increase sales.How to achieve growth targets? At a higher level, brands adopt one of these three strategies(1) By increasing the consumption of existing...

7 eating habits to stop in 2021

 2021 is almost here. Most of us make resolutions at the beginning of the year. As I mentioned in an earlier post, "Habits, not resolutions" is the right strategy to reach our goals, be it in any area of our lives - fitness, health, career, passions, etc.Small, daily habits are a much better way...

Are you building your health corpus?

 Retirement corpus - a phrase I come across often, given that I listen to experts in the personal finance space. It is the amount needed to be saved before we retire from our work life so that we can lead a comfortable retirement life with the same lifestyle we are currently living in. I have a...

Why I love to walk outdoors every day

 "When something is taken away, you realize how much you took it for granted". This is one of the valuable lessons that Covid has taught me this year. The bright sunlight, fresh air, view of the outside world, clear blue sky, white clouds, the Sun, Moon and Stars, birds returning to their nest...

Remove, not add more

I have been asked this question multiple times - "Why do you mostly write about what NOT to eat? Why don't you share more about what to eat?"I had elaborated my answer in an earlier post but this point needs to be re-emphasized. When faced with a health issue, we immediately start looking for more foods...

Patanjali Thandai powder mix - Review

 76% of this pack is nothing but Sugar. Yes, the other ingredients seem natural. But it is certainly not a healthier drink that can be ingested everyday along with milk. Definitely not for diabetic patients and it is clearly mentioned in the pack. I'm not able to convince my family elders...

21 days of daily meditation

 Though I have been doing Yoga regularly, somehow I wasn't making time for meditation practice. The habit kickstarted all of a sudden one day and I have now completed 21 days of daily meditation before bedtime. Sometime in Nov, D was having trouble calming herself down for the night. Loud...

Book Review: Ayurveda - The Science of Self Healing by Dr. Vasant Lad

Among the various lifestyles that I have explored so far (vegan, WFPB, raw food, nature cure), the one I'm more inclined towards is the Ayurvedic way of living. Primarily, because it doesn't advocate a one-size-fits-all lifestyle. The emphasis on the individual, his/her unique traits, and suggesting...

The kitten mom

Once upon a time, there was a cat named Judy. She has just become a mother to 4 little kittens - Playful, Leo, Sleepy, and Scady. She brought the 4 kittens to a nearby apartment. A few families in the apartment fell in love with Judy and her kittens. They fed them food and milk. Judy was happily nursing...

How much can you eat?

How many idlis can you eat for breakfast? What's your "Capacity"? I can easily eat 4 rice idlis / 3 millet idlis. But do we have to eat according to our capacity every time? How much to eat for a given meal depends on multiple factors - appetite level, physical activity/energy expended, the...

Be mindful of your habits

 We are creatures of habit. The older we get, the more we run on autopilot. We stick to the habits even more strongly. We are reluctant to change. We have heard of this saying, "Old habits die hard". As I observe my dad and my in-laws, I have realized how true this is!It is extremely imperative...

How to stay active during winter?

 Winter season is upon us. All we want to do is snuggle nicely inside a cozy blanket and hibernate for most of the day. Our appetite levels are higher than usual. So there are good chances that we might choose heavy food, which would make us even more lethargic.Staying active throughout the day...

The biggest spy

For the past few weeks, I have been coming across certain information related to food from multiple sources - "Cooked food is dead food", "Eating raw is the best for health", "Grains are hard to digest" etc. This is completely in contrast to the eating patterns that I have been following since childhood....

THE BEST Diet plan for everyone

 Did I catch your attention? Let me break the suspense right away.There is no such thing as THE BEST diet plan for everyone. Repeat after me. There is no such thing as THE BEST diet plan for everyone. What works for one person may not work for you. It is up to each of us to figure out...