Monica's Archives

Vitamin D is both a nutrient we eat and a hormone our bodies make. It is a fat-soluble vitamin that helps in the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, promoting growth and mineralization of our bones. It helps control infections and reduces inflammation. Vitamin D is also known as the sunshine vitamin because our bodies can make and absorb Vitamin D from sun exposure. Sun exposure of 5-30 minutes up to 3pm twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen is usually enough to help Vitamin D intake. This process varies widely depending on the season, time of day, cloud cover, skin color (darker skin needs more exposure), and sunscreen use, so eating food sources of vitamin D is also important.   There are two forms of vitamin D in the diet: ·          Vitamin D2 – found in a plant source, mainly in mushrooms ·          Vitamin D3 – found in oily fish, fish liver oils and egg yolks....

Hing or Asafoetida has many medicinal uses. The most common problems of the stomach like gas, irritable bowel syndrome, bloating, intestinal worm infection, and flatulence can all be treated with this magical ingredient. It has both anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic properties that help in alleviating these kinds of health issues. Today, I am giving you the recipe of Hing ka Achaar (Asafoetida pickle) which you can take along with your meals and can enjoy its benefits. It is a spicy, sour, and tasty pickle. Ingredients: Kaccha aam (raw mango)                 - 1.5 kg (cut in thin small pieces) Salt                                                   ...

The deaths of actors Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor are shocking, but then death is the ultimate leveler. It is the thought of death and misery that has forced people to leave everything and begin the search for truth. All things have to reduce to dust. Lord Krishna in The Bhagwad Geeta talks of the worldly nature of material things around us. Nothing is yours and when you leave the world it is the ‘Atma’, i.e., consciousness that stays. I am reminded of these thoughts amid the coronavirus crisis that is taking its toll all over the world and the deaths of two fine actors in Indian cinema – Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor – from cancer of different kinds one after the other. As a soul, in every life, we get new roles, relationships, material possessions, and success on the basis of what we have earned by the actions performed in our previous births. So every birth offers us an opportunity to do better actions and create more happiness for the self and others. It’s not possible to...

Bhindi(Ladyfinger) is a vegetable that is mostly eaten in summers. To add a crunch to the vegetable, we can make bhindi pakoras which are crispy from outside and soft from inside. These delicious pakoras are mostly taken with dal chawal (rice and lentil). Ingredients: Bhindi (Ladyfinger)                                  - 250gms Grated paneer (cottage cheese)          - 100 gms Besan (gram flour)                                      - ½ cup Soda bicarb                             ...

Today, everyone knows that to be healthy we should lead a healthy lifestyle. But at times, we get confused about what is healthy lifestyle. The way we are living is our lifestyle. Now, how can we make it healthy? People in our society can be categorized like bachelors/single women, married men, married working women, homemakers etc. who may need to think to bring some changes in their lifestyle. Working bachelors can be either staying at home with their family( parents and siblings) or have to shift to other city and are staying with friends or in hostel/ PG. Healthy lifestyle broadly can be classified in four steps: 1) Eat healthy 2) Exercise regularly 3) Reduce stress 4) Drink plenty of water The key is to be consistent. Whatever changes you bring to your lifestyle should be exercised regularly. It may seem difficult at first, but please make a start. Like first you may be able to do it twice or thrice in a week. Let it be. We cannot expect to change our lives in a day. ...

Financial Planning involves channelisation of our funds towards the fulfillment of our goals. All of us have some desires and needs, like that of buying a car in a couple of years, buying my own house before I turn 40, want my children to go in a good university for higher studies, planning for retirement etc. When it comes to realizing these goals we have no definite plans. We just leave it all on mercy of God and expect everything to fall in place. Eventually, in most of the cases, we do not achieve our   intended goals in a manner we wish to and our dreams end up being just that – dreams. Mostly our daily life is focused on arranging finances for our immediate needs, like our child’s school fee, arranging funds for next month’s EMI, buying clothing for coming festival and likewise. It’s not as if we don’t think about securing our future and achieving long term goals, but day-to-day routine activities leave us with little time to give our future a serious thought. Among ...

Ingrdients for salad: Macroni                 - ¾ cup Peanuts                   - 2 tablespoons Oil                           -   ¼ spoon Green capsicum     – 1-2 spoon Yellow capsicum – 1-2 spoon Red capsicum          -1-2 spoon Cucumber                 - ½ ( cut into semicircles) Ingredients for dressing : Olive oil                    - ¼ cup White vinegar      - 1 tablespoon Lemon juice         -   2 spoon Onion       ...

Growth and development cannot be forced as it takes time and patience. Children need to be nurtured like plants and allowed to blossom naturally. The role of parents is to help a child to help himself, as growing up is a tricky business. Disciplining is helping a child to behave in a socially approved manner. It involves good manners and acceptable behavior. Before trying to change a child’s behavior, it is a good idea to examine one’s own self. Many parents find it very difficult to keep their own attitudes, likes and dislikes, from influencing the manner in which they handle behavior in children. There may be times when a child will make parents very angry. Parents do a lot of harm to the child when they say things that they do not mean in the heat of the moment which may have a damaging effect on the child. Each child has a different set of needs. The hereditary makeup and the rate of maturation differ from that of another child who is of the same age. What may seem to be su...

In the past, the common health problems were the infectious diseases that spread rapidly and affected a large number of people. To control these diseases a number of steps have been taken like mass vaccination, improving quality of drinking water, providing better sanitation and drainage. Many diseases are controlled but still diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are a problem. In recent years new type of health problems have become far more common. Non-infectious diseases are now becoming the main cause of death and are affecting the quality of people’s lives. Non-infectious diseases include: §   heart diseases; §     cancers; §     brain strokes; §   Injuries; §     loss of hearing and sight; §     Diabetes; §     joint problems caused by arthritis; §     bone diseases that cause bones to break easily; and §     Mental diseases such as depression. These...

Once I visited one of my friends for lunch. I enjoyed the lunch, as she had made many delicious dishes but masala Mirchi was outstanding. I took the recipe from her and have made it many times. If you love to have spice and crunch in your food, then this recipe is for you. It is a very easy and quick recipe that can be taken as a side dish. It goes well as a condiment with simple Indian meals like dal-rice, curd-rice, vegetable pulao and even with roti-sabzi. I used to even have them with pakoras. It also goes well with stuffed parathas or plain parathas. Ingredients: Green pickle chilies – 200gm Amchur powder (Dry mango powder) Red chili powder Saunf (fennel seeds) Heeng ( asafetida) Salt Mustard oil Method: ·          Wash the chilies and wipe them using a cotton cloth. ·          Make a slit in the center of each chili using a knife. ·  ...

Life insurance is an essential part of financial planning. The main purpose of purchasing a life insurance policy is to ensure that the dependents are financially protected in the event of the death of the life insured. It is important for the person to be sure that the coverage he purchases fits his needs. Deciding the coverage amount There are two theories for deciding the coverage amount – human life value concept and need-based approach. Human Life Value The human life value concept uses four factors to determine how much life insurance will be needed by an individual to protect his family and assets. These factors are: 1)       Annual income 2)       Annual expenses 3)       Years left until retirement 4)       Expected value of the current rupee at the end of this period due to inflation. Need-Based Approach It focuses on the financial needs of surviving fami...