50 Desi Super Drinks

Stress is a silent killer that is now rooted deep into our systems, and what makes it dangerous is that we are almost always unaware of it. Sometimes it’s the stress to achieve, or it’s the stress to retain or the stress of coping with a loss. No matter where we are in life, there’s no room for complacency anymore. There’s an old saying, ‘Jaisa ann, vaisa mann’ (As is the food, so is the thought)...

This desi drink is something I thought I would never need to defend until I started my practice in Delhi. The number of people who called it fattening was rather shocking. Once a lady almost cried after a 20-minute-long fact check comparing sugar-free frozen yoghurt to coconut water. There are 39 calories on an average in one coconut. It takes 7,700 calories to make one kilo of fat and even though that math is not always linear, co...

This one is a dieter’s delight, a morning ritual for instant weight loss. Those numbers can govern our mood, energy and self-worth. Now there goes an error in judgement; our body weight is a limited measure to evaluate fitness. But there’s still something to the kilos that makes us take desperate measures towards weight loss success. I often come across women who would otherwise prefer a salt-free dinner and ‘indulge’ in dal–rice, ...

Every time we hear the word ‘berry’, our mind automatically goes ‘healthy’, so it should come as no surprise that mulberry makes it to the superfood list. This sounds very foreign, but it is more commonly known as shahtoot in India. It is a desi super fruit that can give any exotic berry a run for its money. Listen to the Podcast 50 Desi Super Drinks with celebrity nutritionist Lovneet Batra and with one of ...

Popping up everywhere, from fancy juice bars to your neighbourhood park, wheatgrass juice is an old player in the world of natural health. It comes from the freshly sprouted leaves of the wheat plant that are usually harvested in 7–10 days, after sprouting. It is traditionally sown in India as khetri during Navratri as an offering to the Mother Goddess on the last day, symbolizing devotion and prosperity for the upcoming harv...

Bael juice is a summer solace that can rescue us from the scorching sun. The cooling effect of this hard-shelled fruit is not just restricted to heat relief for the body but is believed to bring calmness to the mind. It’s known as Shiva’s (the hot-tempered deity) favourite fruit, so much so that worshipping Lord Shiva is fruitless without the leaves of the bael tree. The trifoliate shape of the bael leaf signifies the t...

Pharmacies have never looked so colourful and friendly before, thanks to a new rage for skin care and nutraceutical products. If you have been distracted by those tempting claims, you might have stumbled upon a whole array of functional extracts that go beyond the regular vitamin, mineral and protein mixes. Our problem is too many choices, which is a good problem when you know what you really want but it leaves you restless otherwi...

When we think weight loss, we think of restriction and cutting out the calories. Then begins the game of willpower; some people might also think of gaining weight as a lack of discipline or just a simple culmination of bad choices. But if you think about it, how free is our free will? Aren’t our choices a by-product of the options we have to choose from and in the case of food, our natural instinct to satisfy hunger governed ...

Indian blackberry or jamun is a purplish mix of sweet and sour with a tinge of astringent-like taste and numerous health benefits. They say get busy living or get busy dying; well, we are busy for sure, but with a mix of both. We cannot let go of habits that are slowly killing us so we have the hope and longing to find antidotes for our vices. No wonder we are on a constant hunt for detox to clear up the toxicity born out of our ha...

A flat stomach, glowing skin and a detoxed system are a few benefits promised by juice cleanses. If we have the courage to survive through the days of not eating, it may help in breaking the constant mindless feeding cycle we find hard to get out of and give our body rest to heal if we do it right. But it is not a sustainable way to lose fat. You cannot starve your way out of fat; in fact, starving can make our bodies more efficien...

A flat stomach, glowing skin and a detoxed system are a few benefits promised by juice cleanses. If we have the courage to survive through the days of not eating, it may help in breaking the constant mindless feeding cycle we find hard to get out of and give our body rest to heal if we do it right. But it is not a sustainable way to lose fat. You cannot starve your way out of fat; in fact, starving can make our bodies more efficien...

One of the oldest grains in the world, barley might not be a staple but is titled the ‘king of crops’. It is cheap in cost but rich in nutrients. It has a chewy, satisfying texture and subtle nutty flavour, but is sadly highly underused. With its favourability to ferment easily, barley is one of the most sought-after ingredients used in alcoholic drinks from whisky to beer all around the globe. These sugars, which can b...

Bovine colostrum typically has a light yellow colour and a subtle taste and smell that resembles buttermilk. The taste might not be the most favourable, but the benefits certainly are! It is extremely nutritious. As a child, I spent most of my summer vacations on a farm and I remember my grandmother accepting no excuse to skip the colostrum shot. She would re-confirm several times a day, and wouldn’t bother about us playing a...

Nutrition is a nascent science, sometimes breaking its own rules. This can be very confusing. A decade back, fat was tagged as our worst enemy, and now eating only fat is good apparently, for weight loss, and the list goes on and on. As a nutritionist, I find hypotheses tried and tested by our ancestors with their sense of involvement with nature bypass our algorithms in the laboratory. The same is true for paneer doda, found easil...

Most of us ran away when we were force-fed karela as a child, least bothered with its benefits. But now, with our grown-up problems, it would be a good idea to make friends with it. If you’re not a vegetable lover, I have news for you—it’s a fruit! A bitter one, but a fruit. In fact, both karela and petha belong to the same family. Since eating a bowl of karele ki sabzi might be an unrealistic goal to start with, ...

Investing in your health is the new cool, which mostly comes along with people showing off. Raving about your dieticians and their over-the-top price tag for consultation or the latest health trend you have mastered has become the centre of any party conversation. One such story is that of a water ionizer that purifies and alkalizes water for a few lakhs. It sounds like a fair deal, something that even claims to help cure cancer, a...

We live in a world of constant change where nothing is made to last and everything is about the next big thing. In times like these, it is feeding a fear within most of us—the fear of turning irrelevant. Maybe it’s the same fear that has given life a superficial front that is cosmetic and fake. As the pressure increases, so does our bar on faking it, mostly hidden with a smile. Emojis are taking over words just like pil...

The cold and cough warrior, amla ginger juice, is an age-old remedy to boost immunity. It can conquer a whole range of infections with its tangy taste (well, that and the potent agents at work including Vitamin C, saponins, polyphenols and flavonoids). It is famous for its Vitamin C content but what many people don’t know about this super mix is that it can kick your energy levels sky-high. Many people sleep through the night...

This is a sweet and tarty mix that gets the ‘Indian date’, tamarind, together with the ‘Chinese date’, baer. Baer marks the beginning of spring in India with its arrival and is often offered during Maha Shivratri. This pocket-sized fruit has numerous benefits, from inducing sleep to ensuring a healthy gut, but when mixed with tamarind, it makes for a perfect dose of nutrition that provides hefty amounts of c...