All posts by Sumana Rao

Don't worry about the people in your past; There's a reason they didn't make it to your future.
Solitude and self analysis

Solitude and self analysis

Humans need social life. We always look for company to get out from boredom or look at others to get into happy mood. We are engrossed in social media just to get to know what is happening in other’s life and what they are doing. At least our devices and technology we are into makes sure that we are not alone anymore.

Human mind is good at connecting dots to create a storyline – it takes bits of information, gathers everything in mind and creates a sad or happy story by giving its own view and we share it with others. Why we do this is because we always feel that we need each other to be happy and to survive.

While doing such act, we are losing somewhere with our original personality and disconnect ourselves from our mind. It means, we lose the capacity, ability to be alone with ourselves. It acts on our overstimulated nervous system and there is no rest to recharge. When we circle around others life – trying to please or look up to someone to lead a happy life we might lose our self-confidence and creativity.

Be alone – that is the secret of invention: be alone, that is when ideas are born – Nikola Telsa

Being solitude once a while helps to understand oneself.  However, spending time alone thinking about ourselves may not be desirable for everyone. Over the years how much we are grown inside, what we have achieved, what should be our goal, revisiting situations in mind, how emotionally we are dependent on others – these talks and discussion with oneself is needed to get to know who we are at present. The power of being solitude should not be dismissed.

Many people are afraid of being alone as they feel awkward, painful and neglected. We all know it is difficult to be solitude all the time. Once a while to get benefits of solitude we can take help from mindfulness. Mindfulness helps to bring back the awareness and creativity. When we let go the fear of being alone, we can learn how to be honest, brave and happy with how things are going around right now. We will start appreciating what we have and probably will be able to create conditions that we need to be content with one’s life. The other advantage of spending time alone, is assessing our own thoughts – how to overcome situation, finding simple solution for a problem, looking to solve problem in different angles, differentiating painful, hateful and fearful thoughts, planning and organizing life and ability to recognize the faults and forces that are playing in life.

The calmness and silent surrounding helps to focus on our breath. This relieves the stress level. There will not be hormonal rush to alert body and it helps to relax mind. This self-created environment helps to understand oneself better and gives more time to think about creativity that is lacking in life. It is in these moments of solitude we discover our potential, identity and learn to express ourselves. We are free from others opinion, expression, interruption and it is all about our views and opinions.

How to find the opportunity to be alone?

  • Have lunch alone
  • Go for walk alone
  • Close your office door for half an hour and get your thoughts together
  • Wake up early and have coffee alone
  • Take a stroll in the garden
  • Go to library and sit in a place where no one is around you
  • Find a time where no one is present around at home or office
  • Travel alone

You can always find a way to be solitude and be mindful. Simply dedicate sometime for yourself. You will see the change in your attitude, productivity, creativity and energy that helps you to maintain stress and body to relax.

©www.werindia.com

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: October 4, 2018
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Customized Viruses stimulate the Immune system to fight Cancer

Customized Viruses stimulate the Immune system to fight Cancer

In past few years there are many treatments available for cancer patients. An article published in Nature Communication provides basis for innovative cancer treatment. Scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland and University of Basel have created artificial viruses to target and fight cancer. These designer viruses alert immune system and send killer cells to help system to fight the cancer tumor.

Generally, from body’s defense mechanism limited reaction is provoked in response to cancer cells. This results in cancer growth without much resistance from the body.

Viruses are good at destroying cells and they are threatening little creatures. Same viruses that are harmful now been used in a constructive way to attack and kill cancer cells.

Recently scientists were successful in sneaking custom made viruses into cancer cells and unleash gene editing tool of cancer cells. This resulted in self-destruct of cancer cells. Scientists from Switzerland and Basel have come up with a different approach. Results published in Nature communications reveal by using their own set of cancer killing custom made viruses immune system of person can be activated more. It means most of the heavy work will be done by patients’ immune system!

Scientists used a type of viruses namely Lymphocytic choriomeningitis – is a meningitis virus also known as LCMV. When inside a living creature it triggers to release what is called T cells, a type of white blood cells that consumes and destroys cancer cells, damaged cells as wells as viral infected cells. One problem of using these viruses that there is no guarantee of curing cancer same time.

To solve the issue scientists devised artificial, customized LCMV’s, ones that would behave like regular viruses to some extent but would not cause any harm to patients. They also contain genetic markers of the tumors (an equivalent of a red flag for mice’s immune system).

In mice these artificial LCMVs and flagged tumor cells triggered immune system to eject hordes of T -Cells into the bloodstream and killed enough of the tumor cells and pushed mice into remission! “The unique combination of signals and the cancer cell protein stimulated the immune system to create powerful army of T-lymphocytes or killer cells which identified the cancer cells through protein and destroyed them”.

There is no doubt that this a pioneering cancer killing method and it is an advanced immunotherapy can be used instead of drugs, radiation and chemotherapy in patients. It uses body’s own defense mechanisms to do the job and there are no notable side effects as it happens with chemotherapy and radiation.

Immunotherapy have been successfully used to treat cancer but stimulating the immune system was always a battle for scientists. This team of scientists lead by Professor Daniel Pinschewer and Professor Doron Merkler is now succeeded in manufacturing innovative designer that could trigger immune system wholeheartedly to combat cancer cells.

References:

Image credit: Image by skeeze from Pixabay  (Free for commercial use)

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: October 3, 2018
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Eat Right Movement

Eat Right Movement

After Fit India movement initiation, Government of India has taken another positive step to keep Indian citizen healthier by launching Eat Right Movement.

Eat Right Movement launched by FSSAI on July 10th 2018, to promote safe and healthy food for citizens of India. With this FSSAI launched Eat Right tool kit and safe and Nutritious Food at Workplace campaign.

Eat Right Movement is voluntary and collaborative movement built on two broad pillars “Eat Healthy” and “Eat Safe”.  This is to encourage people towards making right dietary and food choices. The focus is on both demand and supply side of food.  While demand for food focuses on empowering public to make right food choices and supply side it requests food makers and businesses to reformulate their products for better health of citizens. Reformulation of products to provide better nutritional information to consumers as well as to make investments in healthy food product business.

Reduce salt, sugar and saturated fat in packed food products – Asked FSSAI to Food industry.

Under Eat Right Movement FSSAI is asking all food industries to voluntarily reduce 3 S’s : Sugar, salt and saturated fats in packaged food products. This includes – bakeries, oil industries, halwais, FMCG companies like Nestle India, Patanjali, HUL. Many of these companies including Patanjali of India have taken pledge to reduce 3 S’s in their food products.

What is Eat Right tool kit?

FSSAI launched a tool kit to Eat right, safe and nutritious food at workplace campaign. The tool kit has components on eating safe – how to maintain hygiene, sanitation and food adulteration. In addition, it gives message on to avoid high fat, salt and sugary foods.

Eat Right Movement aims to cut down salt/sugar/ saturated fat consumption by 30% in three years. FSSAI has issued a new set of progressive draft regarding Food Safety Standards on making it mandatory for sugar and added sugar to mentioned specifically on all product nutrition labels.

With such a huge population, setting a campaign “Eat Right” is not easy for India. All the regulatory mechanisms that are implemented should remain strong and any malpractice should be taken care. As an initiative and to ensure public will get safe food, Government for the first time will serve cover food at Indian Railways and in Holy places.  And as for as the citizens of India concerned- it is the duty of every citizen to spread knowledge and keep informed about healthy food and its healthy impact on lifestyle.

Watch: http://www.fssai.gov.in/EatRightMovement/assets/video/Thoda%20Kam_2%20min_final.mp4

Read more here: http://www.fssai.gov.in/EatRightMovement/index.jsp

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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Baby music

Infants, toddlers and love of music

Music has a huge impact on a child’s mind and body development. Parents should encourage their kids to listen and learn music.

Good and rhythmic music naturally captures a child’s attention irrespective of their age. Similar to teenagers and young adults both infants and toddlers gain a lot from music.

Mothers are usually a child’s first musical mentor and their singing enhances the bond between mother and infant.

Research reveals strong connections between rhythm skills and pre-reading abilities in toddlers. Music enhances fine motor skills, or the ability to use small, acute muscle movements to write, use a computer, and perform other physical activities.

Infants and music:

  • Infants recognize the melody of a song long before they understand the words. They often try to mimic sounds and start moving to the music as soon as they are physically able.
  • Infants are intensely interested in music. This interest enables babies to perceive nuances and changes in pitch and rhythm of songs in foreign languages that even their parents don’t notice.
  • Infants have precocious listening skills. They can recognize the same song in a different pitch and tell the difference in songs containing missing or dissonant notes. Like adults, babies remember and prefer pleasant rather than unpleasant music.
  • Infants have an excellent memory for music. After 1-2 weeks of exposure, infants remember a song they have heard and can distinguish it from unfamiliar melodies.
  • They prefer new music to the familiar though, because they are curious and are stimulated by something new.
  • Infants who are sung to are more content, sleep better and have an overall better sense of well-being.

 Toddlers and music:

  • Toddlers love to dance and move to music. The key to toddler music is the repetition of songs which encourages the use of words and memorization. Silly songs make them laugh. Try singing a familiar song and inserting a silly word in the place of the correct word, like “Mary had a little spider” instead of lamb.
  • Toddlers often get exposure to new songs through their favorite TV shows, such as The Wiggles. They can identify these tunes easily and relate them to these programs. Toddlers enjoy singing on their own and while they play.
  • Even deaf children will sing independently without prompting. Deaf toddlers with cochlear implants also love music, despite the tones being suboptimal. They also sing along -through off-key, and get a lot of pleasure from music. While they don’t often recognize melodies, deaf toddlers do recognize rhythms.

What parents need to know?

Maternal singing is mesmerizing to infants and tends to catch their attention better than spoken language. It also eases the burdens of care giving by producing a more content baby and a more relaxed mother.

Structured music may not appeal to some children if it’s not customized to their interests or tastes. Thus, they lose interest. Some children receive more exposure to music and may simply be more musical due to that fact. However, interest in the kind of music can affect desire.

Infants live in a highly musical environment. With technologies, everywhere, now a days Infants are surrounded by music, even in the musical or sing-song way parents speak to infants. Studies show that infants prefer sing-song kind of speech and are more attentive when parents communicate in this way. Parents and grandparents often sing lullabies and play songs. In a good way, these melodies are more emotional, higher-pitched, have a slower tempo and are more intimate. Infants prefer maternal singing to maternal speech and find it more calming.

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References:

  1. https://childrensmusic.org/
  2. http://www.zooglobble.com/

Image credit: Photo by Alireza Attari on Unsplash (Free for commercial use)

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: September 27, 2018
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Homemade pickle recipe

Preparing pickles? See what grandma has to say

Traditional Indian pickles are spicy, tasty and strong. There are many varieties of pickles one can prepare (see here).  Main ingredients such as different varieties of mangoes, lemon, lime, vegetables, herbs and roots – ginger, turmeric, hemidesmus give unique taste to pickles. Remaining ingredients are almost same in most  Indian spicy pickles. Turmeric, fenugreek, asafetida, chilli powder, mustard and salt are the common ingredients. For variation people add green chillis, mustard powder, fennel seeds. Oil is another key ingredient of pickles.

Reason we eat pickle is to enhance taste buds especially when we are sick, to enhance food taste, to add extra spice and it aids digestion.

What are the role of ingredients?

  • Turmeric: Gives color to pickle and it has high medicinal property. It helps in digestion and increases metabolism. Moreover, adding turmeric to food improves our overall health.
  • Fenugreek: Helps to reduce cholesterol, lowers sugar and improves digestion.
  • Asafetida: Reduces stomach pain, gas, bloating and inflammation of digestive system
  • Oil: Oil type and quantity varies and depends on pickle type. Two types of oil generally used in pickle are:  Sesame oil is important for bone, arthritis and hair growth, mustard oil has several health benefits – hair growth, skin and known to reduce body pain.

Now a day many varieties of ready made pickles or aachar is available in supermarket. Not all brands are good – either the smell is odd, or taste would be stale. Reason for this is, quality of the oil. Oil preserves the pickle for longtime. However, if quality of oil is not good it gives an odd odor to pickle. Other reasons for pickles to go bad or does not taste good is because of quality of materials that goes in – mustard powder, old chillis or chilli powder, improper processing, quick mixing and fixing pickle are few reasons for pickles to go bad. Preparing pickles at home is easy and does not require much effort.

If pickles are made at home there are several precautions one should take -,

Traditionally, pickles are made in air tight containers or jars. Mango, lemon pickles prepared by salting them for at least 15 days and stored in dark places to avoid fungal and bacterial growth. Before putting in salt handpicked mango or lemons are washed thoroughly in water and air dried for several hours to ensure there is no water content. Water retention spoils the pickle as water gives a way for microbial growth. Every alternate day salted content is mixed using dry ladle.

When adding salt or rock salt, make sure it is not impure and there is no water content in it.

  • Oil – use suitable oil. Coconut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil does not give good taste for pickle. Best oils are sesame oil, peanut oil or sunflower oil. Mustard oil is good but if you are not used to its strong odor you may not like it.
  • Asafetida – Adding asafetida gives good taste and smell to pickle. Add asafetida with seasoning and its odor spreads in pickle.
  • Chilli powder – It does not hurt heating chilli powder under low flame for few minutes and cool it before adding to pickle. Reason to heat chilli powder is, sometimes chilli powder processing might have exposed to moisture. Mild heating ensures no moisture entry inside pickle.
  • Airtight containers – Keeping moisture away is critical for pickles. Always use sterilized, dry containers for storage.
  • Cutting vegetables and other raw fruits: Use a dry knife. Before cutting main ingredients, wash and dry them thoroughly.
  • Selection of main ingredients: This is critical as pickle taste depends on the main ingredient varieties and appearance. For example for tender mango pickle one cannot mix fully grown unripen mango. Similarly, lemons should be juicy and there should not be any spots on the skin. If you are preparing herbs pickle, there should not be any spoiled or old leaves (example: gungru, cilantro pickles).
  • Do not make mistake of using wet spoons or ladle to serve pickles. Always use dry spoons.
  • Timings – while preparing pickle, time plays vital role. For example, salt should be absorbed in main ingredient properly. It takes 10-12 days. Salt acts as preservative of pickle and well processed pickle can be stored for more than 6 years without contamination or microbial growth. Secondly, adding spices and leaving it for a week or so, helps spices to blend with ingredients. Each ingredient takes its own time to blend with other ingredients and all together finally yields that unique flavor and taste.

The longevity of the pickles depends on all the above factors. Pickle preparation is easy but proper precautions should be taken to avoid its spoilage. Once you follow those precautions, you will enjoy taste of homemade pickle for a longer time !

 

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: September 19, 2018
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Reduce travel expenses

Tips to reduce travel expenses

To get out from daily routine life, we all need a vacation once a while. Question is where to go and how to afford the expenses while enjoying visit and stay in good places. Some places on the earth are so expensive that we must start saving for the trip from a long time. Even if we save, it might not be enough to have a comfortable visit. If the vacation causes stress what is the use of going on vacation? A comfortable visit is a must for a healthy stay. For a healthy visit and stay we should be able to afford travel expenses. How to reduce travel expenses ?

Tuesday is important day:

Tuesday is a good day to travel in terms of catching a flight. Cheapest flight of many airlines is available during Tuesday as the rush is bit less. As the demand increases, so also the price of the ticket. Sometimes, off peak travel is better. Also, many times Wednesday deals will be good. One can enjoy good seat, good view and relax during travel

 Stay in bed & breakfast, rental houses:

When you are planning trip, look for bed and breakfast places. While hotels are great place to stay, short term rental houses, hostels as well as bed & breakfast places work out cheap. It is good option as it is affordable for most middle class families. There are home sharing apps in many towns and cities. Advantage of using such facilities is, staying in a homely place and if time permits one can cook and enjoy the perks like cable, car and neighborhood. This is a great way to enjoy small towns and cities without spending much. Some organizations that you volunteer for might provide accommodation arrangements in different places.

 Take advantage of overbooked flights:

This is a common issue with many airlines “overbooking”. If you have time and willing to get into next available flight negotiate with airlines. Airlines need volunteers in such situations and are willing to provide good amount for your seat. Many airlines give you voucher /money to give up your seat. The amount you might get sometime will cover your meal and stay expenses our your entire trip!

 Carry snacks:

When you leave home, carry snacks with you. Use a Ziploc bag and separate breakfast bars, nuts, biscuits, crackers and other fried items like chips into different bags. This will help you to save some money in your travel on snacking. Airport food tend to be expensive and so also other theme parks. Carry green tea bags, herbal teas, regular tea bags with you.

 City guide and tourism cards:

City attraction guides and tourism cards will offer discounts at restaurants and local shops. You may find bus services to different places. Some places offer free entry to top visitor attraction. Find about these options in visitors guide. Use group tours and sometimes these tours will be cheaper with hotel you stay.

Lunch:

Get buffet or big lunch specials with less prices. Many restaurants offer left over carry box system. Carry the good food and save it for dinner. Eat good dinner at nice place on last day of your trip.

 Carry medicines:

Always carry common cough, cold, fever, diarrhea and pain medicines – tablets in your bag. In new place you may not able to find doctor or it can be expensive. For small health conditions medicines that you carry will be helpful for immediate relief.

Before your trop create a budget on your spending. Stick to the budget. It will help to keep your trip on track, saves money and you will enjoy trip.

Image : www.WerIndia.com

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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