All posts by Sumana Rao

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Hibiscus watermelon juice

Hibiscus Watermelon juice for summer thirst

Hibiscus watermelon juice is a good option to beat summer heat and quench your thirst. Hibiscus plant provides many health benefits. Both leaves and flowers have medicinal properties and can be used for culinary purposes. Hibiscus flower juice is good for reducing body inflammation, for detoxifying, good for heart conditions and helps to rejuvenate hair. Watermelon is a summer season fruit. It helps to cool the body and keeps thirst under control by hydrating the body. It is also known to reduce muscle soreness and inflammation. By combining Hibiscus and watermelon we can prepare healthy juice at home. This juice is perfect for summer heat.

Ingredients:

  1. Hibiscus flowers -25-30
  2. Watermelon cubes – 2 cups
  3. Lemon juice – 2 tsp
  4. Ginger – 1 inch
  5. Sugar – ¼ cup
  6. Cardamom powder – Pinch
  7. Crushed pepper – ¼ tsp
  8. Water – 2.5 cups

Preparation:

  1. Collect and wash hibiscus flowers. Separate petals.
  2. Keep one cup water for boiling, turn off the heat and add hibiscus petals. Do not boil petals. Let petals steep in hot water for few minutes. Allow water to cool.
  3. Mash petals using a spoon.
  4. Grind watermelon cubes and extract juice.
  5. Strain hibiscus water and mix with watermelon juice.
  6. To Hibiscus watermelon mix add lemon juice, sugar, cardamom powder, crushed pepper – stir well. Let sugar dissolve completely. Now add rest of the water, mix well and serve.

*Adjust sweet according to your requirement. You can replace sugar with jaggery.

** Red and pink hibiscus flowers are known for their medicinal properties.

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: April 7, 2022
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Summer illness in kids

Summer Illness in Kids

Summer is time to enjoy and to explore new things. It is also time for family outing and go for long and short trips.

Children fall sick during summer for various reasons and some of the common diseases that are also outbreaks can make young body sick.

Taking precaution before and onset of a disease helps to reduce disease symptoms, illness and visits to the doctor.

  1. Boils: Skin boils erupts when the body is exposed to too much heat.
  2. Sunstroke: When children play outside in hot sun it results in heatstroke and children may develop fever.
  3. Allergy: Sun allergy, pollen allergy, dust allergy and allergy to insect bites are three common allergies children have in summer
  4. Food poisoning: Various types of outbreaks results in food poisoning and infections is common in summer. Watch for warning from your government websites or trusted health site. Salmonella, Malaria, measles, yellow fever, Vibrio are few examples of outbreaks reported in recent months.
  5. Food borne diseases: Many bacteria thrive on various types of food in hot summer. Watch out for old and left-over foods.
  6. Chicken pox: Red rash like spots or boils develops on body –contagious disease in summer.
  7. Mumps: Extremely contagious disease known to occur during peak summer.
  8. Water borne diseases: Children playing in water – swimming, drinking water from public sources that are not trust worthy results in cholera, typhoid, jaundice, dysentery, diarrhea, vomiting and other complications.
  9. Heat stroke, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke – all related to hot Sun exposure

Precautions: Maintaining and following proper hygienic practices is critical to avoid any conditions.

  1. Avoid feeding cut fruits and foods from outside the house. Buy fresh fruits and vegetables and feed children at home.
  2. Carry water from home which children are used to drink
  3. Provide natural fluids to avoid dehydration. Coconut water, lemon juice and fresh fruit juices are good for children.
  4. Avoid giving fatty foods and heavy snacks. Look for change in appearance of food that is a day old including refrigerated food and discard such food.
  5. Before stepping outside in hot sun, apply or ask children to apply sunscreen with good SPF. Ask children to stay away from direct Sunlight.
  6. Provide protection from insect bites – use insect spray
  7. Cotton clothing, light weight and loose cloths helps children to breath and avoids dehydration.
  8. Schedule outdoor activities morning and evening hours
  9. Make sure your backyard does not have too many bushes and outgrown plants – it should be tick safe zone
  10. Do not let water sit around house or in pots. This results in mosquito growth.

To enjoy summer or any seasons take simple precautions that are necessary and keep your family safe and healthy.

Image credit: Cover photo created by rawpixel.com – www.freepik.com (Free for commercial use)

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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Disciplining child with love

Disciplining child with love

Even though grandparents are favorite of children, there are certain behavior that grandparents would to see in grandchildren. Disciplining child with love and affection helps children to learn how to behave and not to behave. Guiding and bringing those behavioral changes helps child to have a loving relationship with child.

Parents need to remember that discipline does not mean (always) punishment. If the discipline strategies are positive, then children will listen to parents.

Always recognize good behavior: Giving attention to child is critical and young child wants that attention. If the good behavior goes unnoticed, child will escalate to bad behavior just to get attention. Acknowledge child’s good behavior and when child helps others or talks nicely. Use encouraging words and note child’s behavioral improvement every time. Compliment child for behaving well.

Offer choices: When you tell child what to do, what to wear, what not to do they develop stiffness and feel sort of dependency all the time. This will lead to anger and frustration and temper tantrums. Instead, give child choice and let child chose what he wants. This eliminates the anger and option of saying rude “no” and child will feel empowered.

Time out or taking away objects: If child throws tantrums and uncontrollable, tell to stop and tell child to sit in a quiet place where you can see child. There should not be any distraction around – no toys, no TV, no mobile, no video games. Or take away something that child likes only temporarily.  And, explain child what wrong was done, why behavior was not good and how child should do better next time. Sitting and giving few minutes of thinking about behavior, taking away favorite toy will help child to realize between good and bad. When you use time out for certain behaviors, child knows what to expect when the behavior is not good!

Do not smack: Smacking does not teach children how to behave. Smacking only makes mattes worst or child will likely to develop challenging behavior – anger and anxiety that you will find hard to manage. Instead, explain what went wrong with child’s behavior and use one of the option mentioned above.

Sleep pattern: Refusal to get up on time and going to bed at night are two battles every parents face. These two routines must be introduced and make it happen in children life. Moreover, children need good amount of sleep. Disciplining with bedtime and raising up morning on time helps children to go through day to day activities without any trouble.

Teach child what is good behavior and what is expected. Children learn by watching others and especially parents. Show your children the good behavior by doing it yourself. Be an example and role model.

Listen to grandma: Healthylife.werindia.com

Image credit: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: April 1, 2022
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Vajradanti benefits

Home Remedies Of Beautiful Vajradanti Plant

Vajradanti plant is known for its traditional application for promoting oral health, especially for dental health. In home remedies and Ayurveda, Vajradanti formulations are used for dental problems and oral health. It is an important ingredient in many herbal toothpastes and mouthwash products. In Sanskrit Vajra means dimond and danti means teeth.

Botanica name of the plant is, Barleria prionitis. Common name is Porcupine flower! Plant is small shrub with spines and beautiful bright yellow flowers. Leaves, roots, bark, tender stem – all these parts are used for remedies in the form of paste, khashayam, powder, poultice application etc. It contains high amount of potassium. Shrub is known to help in curing kapha dosha.

Vajradanti has several benefits and has following medicinal applications

·         Anti-inflammatory – Helps in reducing inflammation of body

·         Diaphoretic (helps to sweat)

·         Diuretic – for kidney conditions

·         Anti-catarrhal – it helps to clear mucus and phlegm

·         Antiseptic – Reduces infections

Vajradanti exhibits many medicinal properties and widely used in- treatment of gastro-intestinal disorders, constipation, intestinal worms, liver disorders, whooping cough, fever, toothache, respiratory problems, joint pain. It shows hepatoprotective, anti-stress, immuno-restorative, diuretic, anti inflammatory, antioxidant properties. This plant is a good nervine tonic and used in nerve disorders.

Did you know? Crude extract of Vajradanti is also beneficial in graying of hair, arthritis and goiter curing.  Vajradanti has antimicrobial activity and useful in many infectious diseases. It has antiseptic properties, hence the extracts of the plant are incorporated into herbal cosmetics and hair products to promote skin and scalp health.

Parts of Vajradanti can be applied topically as well as can be taken orally to reduce or cure several conditions.

1.       For oral health:

·         If there is gum paining and there is bleeding, take few fresh leaves of Vajradanthi, add little rock salt prepare a paste. Apply the paste on gum evenly. Leave it for half an hour, wash using lukewarm water.

·         Root decoction is used as mouthwash or mouth rinse helps to get rid of mouth ulcers

·         For tooth cavities as well as bleeding gums crushed leaves or leaves paste can be applied to affected area.

·         Just like neem twigs, chewing vajradanti twigs daily is good for oral health.

·         It also reduces swelling in gums

2.       For cough and cold:

·         Grind a palm full of fresh leaves with very little water and collect about 5 to 10 ml of juice to this add little honey and drink.

·         Dry bark powder with honey has some beneficial effect for those who suffer from asthma.

3.       For high blood pressure: Drinking leaf juice helps to reduce high blood pressure

4.       For diabetes: Prepare fresh or dry leaves khashayam and drink twice a day.

5.       For skin:

·         Leaf paste helps to reduce itching, chilblains, eczema and skin allergies and gives relief.

·         For fungal infections -Grind dry root to prepare powder and mix with lemon juice.  Apply this on infected area.

·         For cracks in feet – applying leaf paste on cracks in the feet will help in recovery.

6.       For arthritis and joint problems:

·         Vajradanti reduces inflammation. Prepare poultice using leaves and apply on joint pain to reduce pain.

7.       For hair: Entire plant parts can be used for hair care. Mix crushed plant part in sesame oil and heat it a little. Apply this oil on scalp prevents hair loss.

8.       For fertility: Both in men and women vajradanti promotes reproductive organs health and improves fertility.

Caution: Do not take Vajradanti with other prescriptions as it can cause side effects.

Image credit: J.M.Garg, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: March 29, 2022
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Omicron BA.2 variant symptoms

BA.2 A Sub Variant of Omicron Is Raising In US, UK And Other Countries, But Experts Remain Optimistic

According to Center of Disease Control US, the BA.2 sub variant of the Omicron now makes up a quarter of Covid-19 infections in US. In US alone since January 2022, Omicron has made up all new infections and most cases caused by sub-variant of Omicron called BA.1. Both BA.1 and BA.2 are previously reported in early samples of Omicron, and now BA.2 is raising in number of cases.

How BA.2 is different from earlier variants?

A new omicron subvariant of the virus that causes COVID-19, BA.2, is quickly becoming the predominant source of infections amid rising cases around the world. the origin of BA.2 is still unclear, it has quickly become the dominant strain in many countries, including India, Denmark and South Africa. It is continuing to spread in Europe, Asia and many parts of the world.

Variant BA.2 has eight unique mutations not found in BA.1 and lacks thirteen mutations that BA.1 does have. BA.2 does, however, share around thirty mutations with BA.1. Because of its relative genetic similarity, it is called a subvariant of omicron as opposed to a completely new variant.

What are the symptoms of BA.2 infection?

The symptoms for BA.2 are like those seen in many COVID infections, including Fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea.

People who get infected with BA.2 seem to largely mirror a small number of symptoms commonly reported in omicron infections, those symptoms are the following: cough, Fatigue, congestion, runny nose and could be dizziness.

According to CDC’s Nowcast estimation, BA.2’s prevalence is highest in Northeast. It is prevalent and in New York, New Jersey. CDC is saying that an estimation of 39.0% of the Omicron viruses are BA.2.  The variant now is prevalent in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire.

While like rest of the world, Americans are getting back to normal life after tough two years of Covid-19 pandemic. But the rise of the new sub variant in US over the past few weeks has any measurable impact on Americans? – is the question. As per Dr. John Brooks, a medical epidemiologist of CDC Covid-19 response, there could be a raise in BA.s related infections but severe disease or deaths associated with the subvariant are unlikely to increase. Dr. Brooks said that “our data suggests that it’s going to keep growing, but we have few things working in our favor” In US many people infected with Omicron variant during Omicron surge and therefor likely to have high immunity from its subvariants including BA.2

“Prior infection with the original omicron appears to confer protection, not necessarily against infection but definitely against severe disease and death,” Brooks said.

A recent wastewater analysis from CDC data revealed that there is an increase in Covid-19. Wastewater samples have  been used to monitor the spread of the virus as Covid-19 as virus shed in sewage even before the person may feel sick enough to evaluated for presence of Covid.

However, according to Dr. Bill Hanage, Epidemiologist  from Harvard University testing wastewater may not accurately foretell about BA.2 surge that might result in severe illness. It is “worth noting that places in the U.S. that have lots and lots of BA.2 according to wastewater are not skyrocketing in the way they did BA.1 or even delta,” said Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

In UK, BA.2 accounts for 85% of new infections and cases have increased by 8.5% in past week. So also, there is an increase in hospitalization and death rate also increases up to 26.3% in last seven days according to recent numbers published by UK Govt. In last seven days there are 950 deaths. Data from England, N. Ireland, Scotland, and Wales has been used for the purpose.

Compared to last years, the number of average daily Covid related deaths in US has fallen below one thousand. The average infection is 32,884 per day (as per NBC news). As per CDC, reinfection with BA.2 is rare and moreover vaccination helps to protect people. Those who completed vaccination have chances of getting severe infection is extremely low.

In India, infections due to  BA.2 sub-lineage of Omicron is increasing. The raise in cases was between December of 2021 to mid-January of this year. While the BA.2 has just become dominant in other nations, in India it has become dominant in early part of January which means BA.2 is now milder in India compared to previous variants. In India more than 190 crores people are vaccinated. The Central Government has done a  commendable job in vaccinating citizens.

Responsibility of public to fight BA.2 variant: Follow the instructions for vaccinated, non-vaccinated, Covid -recovery patients.

·         Follow the same guidelines that is recommended by WHO and Health Care centers.

·         Wear masks – even though you are vaccinated, use masks whenever you can.

·         Wear gloves

·         Wash hand

·         Maintain social distancing.

Get vaccinated to protect yourself and others from Covid. Let us not totally relax and let us keep our guards up to make sure to get protected from Covid infection.

References:

·         https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

·         https://www.cbsnews.com/

·         https://www.cnn.com/

·         www.cdc.gov

·         https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

·         Image credit: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: March 28, 2022
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Jackfruit seeds milkshake

Jackfruit seeds milkshake

One single medium size  jackfruit contains nearly 200 seeds that are packed with several nutrients. Jackfruit is much appreciated around the world because of its taste and nutrients. One jackfruit can fulfill 4-5 people stomach! Hence it is cultivated in many parts of the world. Jackfruit seeds also have many culinary applications.

Roasted jackfruit seeds are used in nut mix, desserts, pappad and other snacks. It contains protein, carbohydrates, no fat, riboflavin, thiamine, magnesium and phosphorus. Seeds supply Vitamin B in the form of thiamine and riboflavin. Seeds are good for gut health as they promote gut bacteria with fiber and resistant starch.

Jackfruit seeds milkshake can be prepared by using dry or fresh seeds. If you are vegan, then you can replace milk with almond or coconut milk.

Jackfruit seeds milkshake

Ingredients:

  1. Jackfruit seeds – 6-8

2. Jaggery – 2-3 small ones

3. Poppy seeds -1/2 tsp

4. Milk/coconut milk/almond milk – 2 cups

5. Cardamom powder – little

How to prepare?

  1. Remove outer coat /skin of jackfruit seeds. The outer coat will be papery/ plastic like and easy to remove.
  2. Wash the seeds and smash or cut seeds into two pieces. Pressure cook seed pieces with one cup water.
  3. Jackfruit seeds are hard and takes little time to cook. If you are using fresh seeds four whistles are enough. For dry seeds you need to give one or two more whistles.
  4. After cooking the seeds remove from the heat and allow them to cool. Retain the water that you used for cooking the seeds.
  5. Take cooked jackfruit seeds, little poppy seeds, cardamom and jaggery in a blender. Use the water that you used for jackfruit seeds cooking and grind the contents to smooth paste. If you see few chunks, leave it behind as it gives a nutty taste for the drink.
  6. Add milk (cold or normal temperature- your preference) or coconut milk or almond milk, blend the content one more time to get milkshake.
  7. Transfer jackfruit seed milkshake to serving glass. Cut banana into thin round shape, add 3-4 pieces on top.
  8. Enjoy nutritious jackfruit seed milkshake.

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jackfruit_seeds.jpg

Attibutions: Gharouni, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: March 25, 2022
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Seed Sprouts - Nutrition Power house

Seed Sprouts: Nutrition Power House

Sprouting is a process of germinating seeds to get small seedlings. It is a very simple process of plant seed germination and depending on the type of seeds, sprouting may happen anywhere between 3 to 7 days. Sprouts of nuts, legumes, grains and other seeds are highly nutritious. In fact, many restaurants serve various types of sprouts along with vegetable salad. Sprouting is an ancient technology that is necessary for agriculture. In the kitchen one can sprout seeds without soil and use sprouts to make various types of dishes. What is the content of the sprouts?  Sprouts are Nutritional Powerhouses – rich with vitamins, proteins and enzymes. In the process of sprouting, the vitamins, minerals and protein increase substantially with corresponding decrease in calories and carbohydrate content. They are good source of digestive fibers and are easy to digest.  One can eat them in various ways – raw, steaming, salad toppings, use in gourmet sandwich, prepare spicy salads, and add to juices & smoothies.

Pregnant women should be cautious to eat sprouts as sometimes the sprouts will carry microbes and it may result in food borne illness. In addition, it is better to use fresh group of seeds, organic seeds for sprouting. Make sure to wash seeds thoroughly before sprouting. If you buy sprouts from stores – consume them within 2-3 days as they may carry germs that results in food borne illness.

Image credit:

https://pixnio.com/flora-plants/seeds/seed-green-pea-food-bean-kernel-vegetable, Needpix: alfalfa sprouts, broccoli sprout,  https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=257297&picture=bean-sprouts , common.wikimedia.org, pixabay.com, (Raddish sprouts, peas sprouts) , https://www.flickr.com/photos/vegan-baking -lentil sprouts, https://www.flickr.com/photos/30478819@N08/48774909927 Marco Verch Professional (CC 2.0), https://www.flickr.com/photos/moggsoceanlane/6764001723/ (cc 2.0)

(All images used are commercially free)

Amaranth Sprouts: Click to read more

Amaranth Sprouts

Alfalfa Sprouts: Click to read more

Alfalfa Sprouts

Mung Bean Sprouts: Click to read more

Mung Bean Sprouts

Broccoli Sprouts: Click to read more

Broccoli Sprouts

Lentil Sprouts: Click to read more

Lentil Sprouts

Chickpea Sprouts: Click to read more

Chickpea Sprouts

Radish Sprouts: Click to read more

Raddish Sprouts

Pea Sprouts: Click to read more

Pea Sprouts

Onion Sprouts and Fenugreek Sprouts: Click to read more

Fenugreek Sprouts & Onion Sprouts

Adzuki Bean Sprouts and Horse Gram Sprouts: Click to read more

Adzuki Bean Sprouts & Horse Gram Sprouts

References:

  1. http://www.thedynamicturnaround.com/
  2. http://www.healwithfood.org/
  3. http://www.livestrong.com/
  4. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: March 23, 2022
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Amaranth Sprouts

Amaranth Sprouts

Many amaranths are considered as weed. However, the cultivated or weed these plant leaves are delicious and seeds can be used to sprout to eat. Ancient cultures depended on amaranth as a major staple of their diet, due to its high concentration of protein, folate, minerals, and vitamins. It has since been exported to other parts of the world, including Europe, Asia and North America, but it is still primarily grown and consumed in Central America. Amaranth grains contain around 14-15 grams of proteins per 100 grams. The notable thing about this sprout it isn’t so much the quantity but the fact that they hold all the nine essential amino acids in adequate proportions. Amaranth grains are particularly high in lysine. This amino acid is usually found lacking in other more commercial grains like rice, corn and wheat. Considering the versatility and high concentration of antioxidants and phytosterols, amaranth is one of the most of valuable health foods that you may have never heard of.

Health Benefit:

Good for cardio vascular conditions, bone development, varicose vein condition, for good vision, hair growth, for pregnancy and weight loss.

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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