New Year New Me!

May the sun bring you new energy by the day,

May the moon softly restore you by night,

May the rain washes away your worries,

May the breeze blow new strength into your being,

May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.

-Apache Blessing

Keeping this saying in mind, I resolved to turn over a new leaf in 2013.

What triggered it?

This did it!

As expected, we were eating like there was no tomorrow over the holidays. Even before that a lot binging had already begun on our trip to India in November last year. I have gained 20 lbs ever since coming to the US in 2011 and turned a size 10 from 6. Bummer! It dawned on me that some desperate measures were needed to rid myself of the extra flab and get myself back in shape for the upcoming summer and beach season.

How I started out?

I was thinking of so many ways to begin- discussed with my cousin (who is on a weight loss streak these days. Thanks Ritu Di for all the pep talk!), read articles, watched online videos and TV shows. Doing this made me realize quickly that the very first mistake all of us commit, while starting any fitness regimen, is trying to reach to the moon on the first day. I was debating on doing one thing or the other but I was sure not to pay for a gym membership as those are only short-lived measures. This is my personal opinion and a few might not agree with me. No matter what, I was ready to kick start the New Year with a new personal fitness routine.

Baby steps

I cannot thank the fitsugartv enough in helping me to get up from my couch and giving it a try. This is my second most favorite website after the LearnVest. I decided that I would first give my routine a try for 15 days of January before sharing it with all of you.

This is what I do every morning for 45 minutes to an hour

Step 1: I start out with a simple cardio routine of skipping rope for 5 minutes and it gets my blood pumping.

Step 2: I go for a full body warm up series like this one.

Step 3: I then concentrate on my trouble areas like abs, obliques and chest and try one of these.

Step 4:  I always perform Surya Namaskar (Sun salutation 1 and 2) series post shower to calm myself before starting my day.

Breakfast this morning:

Breakfast this morning. Yum!

It came together quickly, as I decided to give my favorite fruit, avocado*, a try for my post workout snack. I cannot believe how I lived without this wonder fruit all these years in India. I can never get enough of it. I brought together an avocado*, cheese and tomato sandwich. 

Lip smacking. Ahaa!

I also spread our very own home made butter (get the simplest recipe here) on the multigrain toasted loaf. Take my word for this; once you have eaten this home made butter you shall never buy any industrial butter from the store again. We showed this neat trick to Rohith’s aunt and now she is hooked on it too. This is great DIY thing in the kitchen with children- A fun project for the family :)

100% homemade butter. It couldn’t get any healthier

Dinner last night:

I kept it really simple. Earlier this week, I have bought some shiny big blubs of scallion (spring onions) from the store. I gave my dear friend’s (and now sister-in-law in London) recipe** a try. It is always a success. Rohith told me that it was lip smacking. We paired it with whole-wheat pita. 

Scallions and potatoes

I also whipped up a blackberry and yogurt dessert with a hand blender 

 (most useful equipment in the my kitchen). I added about two tablespoons of brown sugar to make it sweet. I have made a note from now on to substitute the whole milk yogurt to a 2% or skim milk one.

ingenious gadget

Ingredients for the dessert

Don’t get turned off by its color if you don’t like purple and think it’s like paint. I can’t tell you how delicious it was after the salty and spicy meal. Almost like a smoothie!

Tasty dessert

Evening movements:

I do not like sitting on the couch the entire day in front of the Mac’s screen and try to perk myself up before Rohith comes home with these yoga moves. Trust me some of these are killer. I am yet to master the crow and the balancing star poses.

Snack time:

I am also trying to quit my evening tea habit these days. My dear friend from China, Winslet, introduced me to this magical fruit called persimmon. I never gave it a thought earlier and never even picked it up in the bazaar before. Ever since I came to know about it’s waistline trimming properties, it has become my favorite. It’s sweet, a little nutty and you can compare it to our own Indian fruit cheekoo. I would say that they are related.

Benefits of the change:

I was never the one to believe in instantaneous benefits of a daily workout regimen as all my life I have practiced yoga for long term benefits. Believe me when I say that these are a few effects that I noticed immediately within a day or two

•       I don’t feel so guilty after eating a meal anymore
•        I am more cheerful and look forward to everyday as it unfolds
•        I can already feel the effects in my core, something that I have never noticed before
•        I can multitask in the kitchen as well as at the computer with concentration

Going forward:

We have a long weekend coming up this week on account of Martin Luther King Jr’s day on January 21. My routine goes for a little toss with Rohith around as we try to do one thing or the other outdoors. Nevertheless, just to stay on the track, I make sure to practice these poses for 20 minutes anytime during the day.

I will keep you posted next week on how much I succeeded in keeping my resolution.

Thank you very much for taking out time to read my post. Watch out for the future posts too on my other resolutions as I take them up in the near future one by one. I would really appreciate your invaluable feedback for making this blog better and useful for one and all. Let me know if you have any questions as well.

I will be rooting for you all xxxx

* As seen in the picture, I learned this neat trick of preventing an avocado from browning by keeping the pit intact. Then I cover it up with the empty shell and keep it in the refrigerator for a later use. It easily lasts for 2-3 days without browning. 

**Recipe for the aaloo hare pyaaz ki sabzi:

1/2 kilogram of medium Potatoes (Aaloo). I use the red or the white ones available at our local stores now.

4 bunches of Spring Onions  (finely chopped)

2 small Whole Red Chillies (Lal Mirch) (or to taste)

2 tsp. of Onion Seeds (Aliya/kalaunji beej)

1 tsp. of Red Chilli Powder (Pisi Lal Mirch) (or to taste)

1 tsp. of Coriander Powder (pisa dhaniya)

1 tsp. of Turmeric Powder (Pisi Haldi)

Salt (to taste)

3 tbsp. of Cooking Oil

Peel (you may not peel if you wish to) potatoes, wash and cut each potato in small dices.


Heat oil in a karhai/wok or medium pot,
 Add kalaunji seeds, red chillies, salt,  turmeric powder, and red chilli powder. Mix and fry for 2-3 minutes by stirring continuously so that the they don’t burn.


Add potatoes quickly, mix and cover pot and let cook on low heat until potatoes are done and tender. 
When potatoes are done add spring onions and saute for a minute or two until they are covered with oil.  Fry for about 2 minutes and remove from heat and serve immediately with chapatis. 

The price of being green

My husband makes sure to make green choices as long as possible in our daily life. So it was no surprise when he decided to choose wind energy for our electricity supply at home a few years ago. 

A few years later he is rethinking about what he had initially thought would mean years of gain.

The reason is our most recent electricity bill and a note attached along with it. The note mentions that if we want to go totally wind energy dependent (we are 50-50 right now), then it will cost us 75 cents more per kilowatt.

It led me to think that why we are we being reprimanded for turning green. The answer lies in the latest discovery of enormous oil and gas reserves under American soil, which is having a game changing impact on the entire economy.

America is importing less oil now. The share of US petroleum consumption coming from the importers has dwindled from 52% in 2008 to 42% in 2010 ( Source:EIA).

As revolutionary as these discoveries might seem, their impact won’t hit the homes immediately for most people. Most notably, the rising oil production is a long way from making a big difference in prices for the gas. Still, the new energy boom is already creating an upheaval in a host of other sectors, producing some new unexpected losers and winners. Cheap natural gas, for instance, has been a bonanza for companies that burn tons of it, utilities and chemical giants being the big players. Nowhere has this impact of cheaper fuel been more pronounced than in the alternative energy industry, solar, wind and even nuclear power providers to name a few.

Is it worth paying a premium for electricity at home from a cleaner source? The only certainty, experts say, is that these decisions are tricky as long as the energy dice continues to roll. 

An investment for the people, by the people

What a micro-enterprise initiative can do.
Copyrighted theriverreturns.org

Moving to America has opened my eyes to the new world in a completely different way. 

I came across such fascinating information while interning and volunteering all these months for non-profits in the city, which brought me even closer to my choice of doing good for the world. 

The other day while watching a commercial on TV,  I came to know about KIVA's initiative. What a neat idea to extend your support globally by acting locally. All at just a click of the mouse. How far can your $25 could go, this is a perfect example.  The people at KIVA  envision a world where all people, even in the most remote areas of the globe, hold the power to create opportunity for themselves and others. They believe in providing safe, affordable access to capital to those in need helps people create better lives for themselves and their families.

Then there are organizations like the Trickle Up who make a change in the life of ordinary people by providing a seed grant beginning from only $100 to develop their micro-enterprise.  This is what one of the Trickle Up's cofounder has to say about their initiative, "Everybody, no matter how poor, dreams of a better life and will fight for it, if given the opportunity." ~ Mildred Robbins Leet, Co-Founder & Board Chair Emerita. 

All these years I have been on the other side of the world doing good at ground, realizing only a little about the sweat and blood that goes into initiating and gathering all these investments to be formalized and brought into being.

Initiatives like these make the belief stronger that there are possibilities to achieve the most far fetched dream if we concentrate our efforts (and money in this case) for a worthwhile cause.