Category: Healthy Heart

balanced eating, eating just right, eco freindly, engagemnets, event management, Food, Healthy Heart, heart diseases, high protein immune building, home made foods, Malnutrtion prevention, mile stones, Nutritious Food, nutrtional status, party world, sugars, Suphala care, supplies, traditonal, Uncategorized

Laddu Extravaganza for Bappa! Insights from an Expert Dietitian

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Lord Ganesha is offered several forms of laddu/laadu during Ganesh Utsav as he is fond of laddus. It seems like we have borrowed his sweet tooth for these ten days! 😊

After Modak, there’s a long list of laddus starting with motichoor laddu, boondi laddu, besan laddu, and rava laddu, which are commonly prepared and must-have prasadam/offering on one of the ten days.

However, it occurred to me that Ragi (finger millet) can be used to make delicious laddus and should not be missed as this is another preferred food of the elephant lord! In fact, I call Ragi laddus “Indian choco laddu” though they are devoid of cocoa. 😊

There are several variants in making these laddus. Below is my version of Ragi Laddus.

Ingredients:

  1. Ragi flour (Finger Millet) – 200 gm (slightly roasted in microwave for 1 min)
  2. Wheat flour – 100 gm (roast with a teaspoon of ghee (clarified butter) to a slightly brown color)
  3. Jaggery – 100 gm (grated)
  4. Dry coconut – 50 gm (grated)
  5. Milk – 100 ml (lukewarm)
  6. Ghee (clarified butter) – 20 gm
  7. Cashew nuts – 10-15 (plain roasted)
  8. Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Method:

  1. Mix all the ingredients in the sequence listed above to make a soft dough.
  2. Form the dough into round laddus. The malty flavor and chocolaty color attract kids at first sight, so do make a point to name it Choco Laddu. What’s more, you are giving your child the best choco ever, 100% nutritious! 😊
  3. Laddus can be preserved in the fridge for up to one week. If you find the laddus too dry, just break them and bind them again by adding a little warm milk.
  4. You can also make a soft porridge of this laddu by adding hot milk, an ideal meal for infants and toddlers.

Some Knowledge on Ragi and its Qualities: Ragi (finger millet) is popular in the southwestern states of India. It is widely consumed as a staple food apart from rice in Karnataka and some parts of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. Ragi is a very soft millet when made into flour and is a rich source of calcium, other minerals, and fiber. It is easily digested, soothes the digestive system, and is a natural coolant. Ragi soaked overnight in buttermilk or water is consumed as the first meal in hot summers, as it is loaded with rich minerals and fiber, absorbed gradually due to its fiber content, helping maintain fluid balance in the body and preventing energy loss/exhaustion. It is one of the cheapest and best infant foods popular in southern states of India and is making its mark in several branded cookies for its fiber and calcium-rich qualities, making it ideal for diabetics, cardiac patients, and weight managers. Regardless of the region, Ragi is a great food for infants because of its soft malty taste when cooked in milk with a bit of jaggery or sugar and a pinch of cumin powder. This is certainly an important food for moms-to-be and nursing mothers.

Nutritional Benefits:

  • Ragi: Rich in calcium, fiber, energy, and protein.
  • Wheat: Good amount of protein, energy, and fiber.
  • Jaggery: Unrefined sugar, iron, minerals, and fiber; great taste enhancer as a sweetener; complex form of sugar.
  • Coconut: Rich source of protein, vitamin E, minerals, and fiber.
  • Ghee: A better option of fat compared to saturated fats and trans fatty acids.
  • Cashew nuts: Rich in protein, essential fatty acids, fiber, and antioxidants.
  • Cardamom: Adds flavor, antioxidants, and essential oils.

Shall we call it a complete nutritious food? YES, of course! My take is that it’s the best food for all seasons and festivities and a great snack for kids with the goodness of all nutrients from various sources. You can make variations by replacing wheat flour with any other flour of cereals or pulses as per your taste and liking. You can also add cocoa powder to make it a real choco flavor for normal days. However, it is a practice in India to use all-natural sources of foods to prepare the Prasad or Naivedhyam (offering), so it’s all-natural in the current recipe. 😊

So, let’s get started with a hands-on experience!

Note: Always remember, anything in excess is dangerous!

Ganapathi Bappa Moriyaa! Mangala Moorthi Moriyaa!

balanced eating, big fat Indian weddings, bonding, chicken burgers, engagemnets, food carving, Healthy Heart, junk foods, Suphala care

Suphala Care at Kidzee BTM 2nd Stage

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Suphala Care just finished a health and wellness camp at Kidzee BTM 2nd Stage at Bangalore. Much has been made recently about the meals that our children consume in places such as school cafeterias and outside.  A general sentiment that these types of establishments place cost and convenience over nutrition and well being seems to be developing.

In case parents have ever suspected that your child’s nutrition takes a back seat to fun , we hope this engagement with Suphala Care at Kidzee BTM 2nd Stage has helped put your mind at ease.  And if you’re still not convinced, we invite you to continue visiting this blog as we continue our series about healthy bytes and food full of nutrition and wellness.

 

balanced eating, big fat Indian weddings, bonding, Daibetes, eating just right, event management, Food, food carving, health consultants, Healthy Heart, Jeera, junk foods, love, Malnutrtion prevention

Press Release for My Book -Holistic Food For Nutrition

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Book released with title – Holistic Food and Happiness by Dr Suguna Sapre

Dr Suguna Sapre has written this book titled “Holistic Food For Happiness” to help the Readers make conscious food choices that will keep everyone healthy and happy.With a launch pad from Rythm Seven(www.rythmseven.org-An Art and Music Platform,Publication and Store)-this book is available on online book stores in India and abroad for preorder,and online purchase.
Bangalore, Karnataka, India., May 11, 2014 –

Published by Rythm Seven- this book-Holitic Food For Happiness”  will be available on all the online stores in India -like Flipkart,Amazon,Infibeam,IndiaPlaza and many more. Foreign edition of this book is already available- at following stores: http://www.amazon.ca/Holistic-Food-Happiness-Suguna-Sapre/dp/1304992802 an www.barnesandnoble.com/w/holistic-food-for-happiness-dr-suguna-sapre/1119249988 .One can prebook and order at following location online- http://rythm-seven.shopmania.biz/buy/holistic-food-and-happiness-9 

In this book Dr Suguna Sapre  has tried to communicate several small stories, real life incidents related to food and its importance in many forms of individual’ living and current research trends in nutritional sciences, importance of traditional Indian recipes and food market dynamics which are changing in the flat world.

About us:
Rythm Seven:
A platform for Art,Music,Publishing
Dr Suguna Sapre:
Dr Sapre pursued PhD (Doctorate) in Nephrology from Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, and was closely working with departments of Nephrology and Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism for over 6 years. She holds a Masters in Community Health & Nutrition and has been very passionate since then on to make use of her nutritional expertise to larger groups to create healthy and hearty minds !During her PhD and Masters course, she has travelled across the globe and understands various dietary practices and health habits. She has travelled across various Indian states which helped her gain in-depth understanding and importance of regional foods and health benefits of traditional recipes. Academically she has a sound background on various nutritional, therapeutic nutrition and other dietary aspects, and trained in lifestyle modifications and prevention of chronic disorders. She has over a decades experience in nutrition counselling and quality of life assessments especially in Diabetes Mellitus , Chronic heart diseases and Renal diseases. Her research education has equipped her with extensive knowledge in holistic nutrition, health coaching, and preventive health care. Drawing on these skills and her knowledge of different dietary theories, she works with clients to help them make lifestyle changes that produce practical and lasting results. She has worked as nutrition advisor and consultant for Life Sciences and Healthcare projects for several multinational, voluntary organizations, Pharma and Nutraceutical companies during her various job stints. She has also worked on developing tools for health care and life sciences domains. She has a keen interest in cooking especially cooking without fire! and enjoys experimenting with various foods to bring in the best on the platter.
Press Contact:
Sopaan Noor
Ananda ApartmentJ P Nagar , Bangalore

9916806697
http://www.rythmseven.org

 

Food, Health, Healthy Heart

Few of us take to heart !

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star fruit

The World Heart Day is celebrated across the Globe every 29 Sep.
A lot of educational programmes awareness camps, first aid for heart attacks etc are conducted. Several organizations organize Marathons and Walkathon etc.
But either we land up doing one of these or none thanking to “being very busy”

However this one day participation may not really make a difference except for helping few health agencies and companies getting your contact numbers and emails to send you news letters. Which again may be turned into ctrl alt del /spam.

How much do we really understand about health heart ?
Heart and mind work together and hence its certainly important not just to keep your self physically fit by working out, ensuring balanced nourishment, but its also necessary to feed some solace to your soul(for me soul is when heart and mind are in sync). But a very little thought is given to this in our current approach to healthy heart. You might find a lot of literature on 5 important things, 10 most important things or 50 things that keep your heart healthy. All these things have few things in common like, laughter, social forums, unwinding with family and friends etc. as important ways to reduce stress and keep you happy.

Happiness is state of mind. Unfortunately mind rules all our actions of past and present and leads to build pressure leading to a stressed heart. The current working patterns, competitions among peer organisations/employees, ambitions of organisations and employees and families are rising high.

This is a great sign of progress and achievements and we dwell in the life of high-end technology giving us a feel of super human being. Which is not true for varied reasons. The most heartening issue is of young employees (at least 60 plus decades of life ahead leaving the world ASAP because  mounting pressure work leading to traumatic stress levels.

I was reading a lot on five S’s to keep your heart healthy today,
Sedentary life,
Salty snacks
Sugary foods
Smoking/ substance abuse ( alcohol) and
Stress

My concern is more towards, how we keep your self Stress free? Which is key to produce good hormones that nourish and condition the heart and mind . Currently India is seeing a gradual rise in number of mental health problems on a rise and stress is one of the obvious reasons irrespective of background that builds stress.
I strongly feel and recommend that one needs inculcate these 5 C’s to make oneself Careful, Composed, Consistent, Contained and Conscious. This will lead to a more blissful life.

Careful : One needs to be careful in terms of what we eat, how we carry ourselves, decisions that we make at personal and career levels

Composed : Learn to be composed this will help us to remain unaffected by any kind of peer pressures, or high or lows in life at various fronts. We will be composed when we are careful in our decisions.

Consistent: One needs to strive to do a job/thing well and feel happy at the end of the task this will help us being consistent which will also improve the quality of what we bring to table. When we make careful decisions and not overwhelmed by our environments and remain composed consistency is born with in us even before we try to imbibe its powers.

Contained : This is one of the biggest things if we can try to achieved very easy to pen but extremely difficult to put into practice the desire to be happy with what we have. Being contained will certainly lead us to higher levels of happiness yet will give us more and more even when we do not want. Learn the art of giving , with true sense and it will give you more. Give more get more we can give only when we are contained with what we have and anything in excess you shall share……..

Conscious – A thinking mind, a conscious mind will lead to a true balance of heart and mind and when you are conscious you will have a happy soul. A soul that is contented takes us to higher levels of bliss.

A heartfelt thank you for reading this 🙂

Always wishing Pink of  health and heart to one and all.

Food, Health, Healthy Heart, Malnutrtion prevention, Nutritious Food, Suphala care, Uncategorized, Wellness

Thankyou All “Suphala Turns one today ! “

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Dear Suphala followers, supporters and readers,

Congratulations We are ONE today !

Thank you for your overwhelming response and making this organisation strive towards our key mission of  creating awareness and educating on importance of health, nutrition and wellness.

The immense support group of 300 odd members on Facebook (Suphala care page )https://www.facebook.com/SuphalaCare and genuine readers and honest comments from readers on Linked in, Facebook and Suphala care website has helped us immensely in improving and providing customised services to our members.

This effort has helped us in harnessing and improving quality of life of 73 individuals so far, benefiting people from all walks of life namely, toddlers, working women,  individuals with chronic health conditions like, Obesity, Diabetes, Hypertension, Cardiac diseases, Hyperlipidaemia, Hypo and Hyperthyroid, Gastric disorders, Renal stones, Calcium and Iron Deficiencies in woman etc to name a few.

It was wonderful to see your excitement and active participation  in, I can cook workshops for kids and workshops for nutrition management of Diabetic and Cardiac patients, Pregnant, Nursing mothers, fussy eaters (toddlers) and geriatric.

Thank you one and all for making this I year a memorable one and hope to see many more of you joining us and reaping the benefits of healthy eating and nurture quality life !

Join us in celebrating a wonderful One year with us today!

Introducing Special offer as part of First anniversary and National Nutrition week in India :

Free nutrition counseling (online or offline ) customised individual nutrition plans and Wellness assessment. ( for first 50 individuals). Last date for booking appointments is 7 Sep 2013.

Book your appointments today, by mailing us at  info@suphalacare.com with subject line    ” your Name – Appointment date and time” .

Always wishing you Pink of Health !

Dr. Suguna Sapre

Wellness Coach and Mentor @ Suphalacare

Food, Healthy Heart, Jeera, Nutritious Food, Spices, Uncategorized

Dice and Spice Your Vegetables !

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Recently I had been to Sanjeevanam a health restaurant in Bangalore and realized that food was cooked with very little oil and was happy to see people in decent numbers. However I felt that use of spices and herbs and few other nuts and oil seeds would have really enhance the palatability of food and nutritionally more wholesome and healthy.

 Then I thought to my self let me start my first write-up on the soul of cooking healthy and wholesome foods – spices and herbs.Imagine plain sautĂ©ed mix of several finely chopped greens  or Okra (lady’s finger) with out spices ………. yes don’t worry I am not asking you to do that to stay healthy 🙂

What I would like to highlight is the first thing that we need to have in our kitchens  is the spice and herbs box. Traditionally this has been used by our grand mom’s and few mom’s 🙂 and slowly losing ground named,  Tikhat Mitha cha daba in Marathi, Ogrenni samaan in Kannada, Popu Dabba in Telugu, Paanch Phorna in Bengali etc…

We are lucky to be in a land blessed with a variety of spices. The use of spice is different in different regions of India. However due to fast paced lifestyles we minimize the use of spices  and herbs in our foods which are actually small concentrated store houses of  nutrients  and antioxidants  and very small quantities can bring in all the magic to the recipe. Before I go ahead and detail individual spices and herbs and which are the most important, in the followings days of this week. I shall like to share few key basics that we should have it handy in our kitchens especially when you intend to dish out  healthy Indian recipes.

10 must have spices in your kitchen  !

Always keep the following spices handy in small bottles (preferably in glass or steel) and whats important : Store tightly closed after each use!

 1.Mustarad seeds  (Raie) (big/small as per your preference)

2.Cumin seeds (Jeera)

3.Fenugreek seeds (Methi seeds)

4.Coriander seeds (Dhaniya dana)

5.Redcilly powder (Lal mirchi powder)

6. Red chillies (whole) (Lal mirch khada)

7.Turmeric powder (Haldi powder)

8.Pepper powder (Kali Mirch powder)

9.Asafoetida powdered (Hing powder) &

*10. Masala powder (Kala /Goda /Garam) {mix of  equal quantities of Cinnamon (Dalchini), cardamom(Elaichi), Cloves (Lavang), Black Cumin seeds ( Shah Jeera), Bay leaves (Tej patta), Star Anise (Badal phool) Black Stone Flower ( Dagad phool, it’s a form of lichen)}

 *Masala powders vary from region to region and liking for specific herbs and spices , however my idea behind using the way I have mentioned, these spices are commonly available globally and if roast these and powder and save it can be used for a long time without losing its flavours and nutritive values. However fresh ground masala is the best when you plan to make a large quantity of  particular recipe which requires garam/ goda/kala masala.

 On a typical rush hour we dice up a vegetable and stir fry it in a seasoning of mustard seeds, cumin , turmeric powder and red chilly powder  and finally finish with a dash of fresh herb like coriander and green chillies and salt as per taste. In the same time if you can add  a few more of these listed spices , provided you keep all these ingredients handy  your food will not only taste healthy but will heal you holistically. A set of different vegetables when cooked in combination of specific spices they enhance the nutritive value and also make the food more healthy and palatable. So folks keep watching for more posts this week to spice up your diced veggies 🙂 the healthy way!

Coming up next , my favourite spice (Jeera)

Jeera to jazz up your food!

Food, Healthy Heart, Jeera, Nutritious Food, Spices, Suphala care

Who am i?

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I’m a holistic nutrition and wellness coach–I work with people from all walks of life, Senior citizens, women, men, youth, teens, and kids to create a happy, healthy life in a way that is flexible, fun, and free of denial and discipline. No one diet works for everyone. I guide my clients, in sessions that can take place either in person or over the phone, to find the food and lifestyle choices that best support them. We are currently overloaded with information on health and diet from multiple sources however challenge is to make use of this information practically, my objective is to help you to make gradual, lifelong changes to food choices and healthy habits. For more information or to set up a consultation with me, visit my contact me section 🙂