What I learned the hard way, a lifestyle change that needs immediate attention!

May 31, 2023Food, Inspirationaleasynhappy

I recently had a surgery, because I had cyst in my ovary and was also suffering from an infection called endometriosis. I was taken aback as out of blue after few instances of severe stomach ache got further tests done and this is what was diagnosis.

Although nothing was serious and I am healing and would be back to normal life in couple of weeks, but what shook me to the core was why this really happened? I do not drink alcohol, do not smoke and also in name of non veg eat just egg or max one bite of say chicken that too once in a blue moon. Then why it happened?

A healthy lifestyle, that keeps your life colorful and happy like these flowers!

The answer is simple, my sedentary life style. With a corporate job of mimimum 8 hours a day and me being a TV buff and watching it till late nights, I hardly got much time to exercise or rather I did not consider it to be a priority. For which I had to suffer and had to undergo a surgery.

As far as my eating habits are concerned, there were only two things which I used to take in excess and they were caffeine and salt. Excess salt is one of the reasons I suffered with this issue, caffeine as well has its own major drawback one of which being kidney stones (which I perpetually have). I have made a promise to myself that I will reduce my intake of both these things, 1 month post surgery, I have reduced intake of caffeine to 1/5th and that of salt to almost half.

Once I am fully recovered, have decided to make sure that I workout one hour a day and on top of that already working on reducing my screentime on TV+Mobile to a max of 2 hours a day. All this would ultimately lead to a better lifestyle and help me in being healthy.

It is very important for all of us in our late thirties or early forties to give up the bad lazy addictive habits we have and start living a healthy lifestyle. It was awful to stay away from my daughter for few days when I was admitted in hospital as I never wanted her to be upset looking at me in this condition, she is just 5.

I never want that instead of giving time to her, I spend time in hospitals or visiting doctors. So it is an absolute no no for me to continue with the lifestyle I had and would workout daily, instead of watching TV excessively would read books, have already asked my husband to gift me two, which I m looking forward to read. Would also write a blog on my key takeaways from them soon!

How to love your job!

August 8, 2022Happy-go-lucky!corporate life, job, working momeasynhappy

It gets boring and you start disliking your job in few months. It’s ok it happens with almost everyone!

How to love your job

In such a situation, give yourself two minutes and take deep breathes. Then eat or drink your favorite stuff, say a bowl of Maggi or a chocolate bar. This will at least temporarily divert your mind and will give your mood an enhancement. However if again you start feeling bad about your job and feel like quitting, then take a paper and pen and make a list of things you love about your job.

Trust me the moment you would reach 5th or 6th point in your this list you will start feeling fine.

Corporate world is like that, it is full of ups and down but don’t you think its a big point of our self esteem that we are earning and also adding value to an organization through our learnings. It gives us a eco system which gives a meaning to our existence.

So whenever your job sucks take it with a pinch of salt and keep sailing! 🙂

Simple tips for “How to love your job”!

Moong Dal Dhokla: A healthy and easy to make option for breakfast

December 10, 2021Foodeasynhappy

Moong dal dhokla recipe is already shared on Instagram. Putting the details here to give the detailed version which was not possible to share on reels video.

Moong Dal Dhokla:

Ingredients required: Moong dal(without chilka), salt, turmeric powder, hing, eno, garlic adrak green chilli paste(optional), hara dhaniya(optional), mustard seeds, curry leaves, chat masala(optional), red chilli powder.

Step 1: Soak moong dal in excess water for 6-8 hours.

Step 2: Drain the water out and then add little fresh water to it. Make a paste of it in mixy and some salt and hing and some adrak garlic paste and green chilli paste if you like the flavour of it in dhokla.

Step 3: Add some Eno to it and leave it for 3-4 minutes, pour the material we in an oil-coated(preferably refined) and smoothen on the top so that it looks nice after its ready

Step 4: Put it in the microwave for 4.5 minutes in the same setting in which you heat anything in a microwave

Step 5: Take it out and check if it’s prepared and nowhere it’s in liquid form. Leave it to cool down. Once its cold remove it from the utensil and cut in small sqaures

Step 6: Take some oil of your choice and mustard seeds, curry leaves let it splutter. then add the dhokla pieces and stir them. Add some salt, chat masala, hara dhaniya and any other spices of your choice. Can add water and let the dhoklas soak it so that they get soft.

Step 7: Serve hot with hara dhaniya chutney and enjoy the healthy and yummy moong dal dhoklas 🙂

Healthy evening snacks for kids

November 13, 2021Parenthoodfood for kids, healthy munchies for kids, healthy snacks, healthy snacks for kids, kids snackseasynhappy

Chips, biscuits, and other similar junk foods are what our kids enjoy a lot. These are especially loved in the evening with beverages. Our kids also need something to eat in addition to a cup of milk.

This blog is all about, how we can replace junk snacks full of preservatives with healthy and tasty munchies.

Dried Berries:

These are more of a replacement for candies that our kids eat. Readily available online and you can buy them from grocery shops as well. These are dried fruits, like Strawberry, Apricot, Pineapple, etc. Very tasty and kids love eating them.

They are a little expensive but if it helps in replacing candies, totally worth it!

Salted, roasted peanuts:

Evening snack for kids - Roasted, salted peanuts — Roasted, salted peanuts

Peanuts are so addictive and yummy and surprisingly have so many health benefits(used the word surprisingly because usually, all tasty things are junk or harmful to health :P) thus a very good choice for our kids. However, please do not make them eat deep-fried ones, as that could be heavy and might lead to indigestion.

Foxnuts(Aka Makhane):

Evening snack for kids - Foxnuts(Makhana) — Foxnuts(Makhana)

We Indians usually eat foxnuts when fasting, but it is also an amazing snacking option that kids can have in the evening. Roast them with ghee salt and slight pepper, kids love it.

It is light and also very healthy. You can also prepare caramel-coated or jaggery-coated which will serve as a sweet dish whenever kids are craving dessert.

Dry Fruits:

Dry fruits like pistachios, cashews, raisins are loved by kids. In the case of cashews, roast them in butter with slight salt and your kids will love it. You can also do the same with almonds and we all know how beneficial the almonds are for growing kids’ brains.

Dry fruits also help in adding healthy fats and calories to kids’ diet, especially suggested to mothers whose kids trouble them a lot in eating.

All mothers understand the trauma!

Assorted Papad:

Evening snack for kids - Roasted papad — Roasted papad

This is more of an Indian savory found in every household here and also our NRI friends 🙂

For the people not from India and reading this, you will easily find these in an Indian store in your area. Just make sure you buy non-spicy ones, otherwise, kids would not be able to eat them. There are a variety of papads available, choose the ones which tickle your little one’s taste buds.

These are the instant options that can be considered for an evening snack, other than this, pancakes, oats, Indian Chilas, Idli, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs are some of the freshly made things which can be considered for kids. In fact, these also make very good breakfast options as well.

Tips to reduce screen time of your kid/s

November 2, 2021Parenthoodbeing a mother, kids activities, kids activity, motherhood, motherhood tips, screen timeeasynhappy

These days it is almost impossible to have zero screen time for your kids. It is not practical and neither advisable.

The reason being, can we imagine a day without mobile, TV or laptop? It’s a big no right, then why do you expect it from your kids.

However this screen time should be ideally limited to one to two hours a day because more than that would have a lot of bad effects on your kid. It’ll make them lazy, might harm their eyes also would effect their personality.

Below are tips from personal experience of raising my daughter, who is three now and absolutely loves watching TV and mobile, but still I keep her screen time low. It takes a bit of effort but all these tips work like magic 🙂

Take them on a drive:

Always found this really effective, little ones are always enthusiastic about car drives and would easily give away your mobile or stop watching TV for it. In addition make them observe things when you go on a drive, it makes them learn a lot plus they also bond with you. You can also take them for those grocery shopping. This helps them learn a lot.

Make them play with games of clay, sand etc:

Easynhappy.com tips to reduce screen time — Clay games- Tips to reduce screen time

Different color doughs(clay) and sand games keep kids engaged for several hours and also improves their motor skills. The sand game is a bit messy and kids usually spread it across but just make them play on floor.

There are a lot of games available in market and are also available at nominal cost.

Take help in house chores:

It gives kids a lot of joy when you ask for their help. It gives them a feeling of independence. Simple tasks like, go get a bottle from fridge or please pass clothes from the bucket. Once they do it, compliment them and look at their happiness.

It not only keeps them away from screen but also inculcates a good habit.

Take them to a nearby park daily:

Have observed, this is the best way of making your child’s personality a good one. Pandemic has made our kids dull as they were stuck at home all the time. However now that things are much better we should take them out in a park daily. Let them play with other kids on the swings. I have noticed that this is the best way kids make friends other than school.

This is also involves physical activity, which makes them fitter and healthier.

Enroll them in co-curricular activities:

These days a lot of importance is given to co-curricular activities, which is a great thing. In order to reduce the screen time of your kids you can enroll them to some sports class, dancing or musical instrument class. It helps in keeping them busy in something productive, also they learn a skill. With higher classes their academic pressure will built up, and thus now, before they turn ten is the best time to enroll them in such activities.

Reduce your own screen time:

This is the last but the most important point, it is that we ourselves have to reduce screen time in order to motivate our kids. They learn from what they see, and thus if they see you reading a book or doing some non screen stuff they’ll get inspired and do the same.

I love watching TV and also checking whatsapp and Instagram on mobile but with my daughter growing and looking upto me for everything, I am trying everyday to reduce my screen time as much as possible.

Have come across parents who have reduced the screen time to zero, find that very weird because get real once they grow up they’ll have a lot of screen time and it’ll be unavoidable. So why not give a glimpse of that right away.