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Musk melon or kharbuja: Why you must have it this season

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The days are getting warmer. That is why one needs to make certain changes to their daily routine and incorporate more seasonal fruits and vegetables. Fruits not only help keep the body hydrated and full but also help build one’s immunity in the long run. While all fruits have their own benefits, one fruit that you must have as part of your summer diet is musk melon.

Relished for their sweetness and juiciness, musk melons are easily available in the market during this time of the year. Besides keeping your body hydrated, there are some other health benefits that the fruit offers.

Want to know more? Check out what celebrity nutritionist Munmum Ganeriwal had to say.

“Musk melons are cooling and help in constipation, bladder infections, ulcers, fatigue, colitis, and blood pressure. Low in calories, it is also great for the skin and has eye-strengthening vitamin A. It ranks low on the glycemic index while being high on nutrition. Eat it any way you like but do not miss the muskmelons this season,” she said.

The fiber-content of musk melons helps add bulk to one’s diet and reduces constipation. The good amount of folic acid present in musk melons has anti-coagulant effects. These help in dissolving blood clots, reducing water retention and easing muscle cramping, and giving relief from pain.

Besides strengthening the eyes, vitamin A is also beneficial for the epithelial cells of the skin and keeps them healthy.

You can also make a delicious curry or sabzi of this wonder fruit!

Ganeriwal shared the easy recipe.

“A unique, tasty absolutely delicious sabzi made from a ‘fruit’ to try this early summer. Perfect for this time of the year when musk melon has started arriving in the markets and the rising temperatures make us crave light food. Kharbuja sabzi is quick, simple, and easy to make,” she said.

Ingredients

Musk melon – small cubes, chopped and peeled
Oil
Mustard seeds
Asafoetida
Watermelon, chopped and peeled
Salt
Spices

Method

*Peel and chop the musk melon into small cubes (even better if the fruit is slightly raw). Also, peel and chop watermelon.
*In a wok, heat some oil, and once hot add mustard seeds, hing, musk melon, watermelon, and salt.
*Let it cook on a low flame for about 10 minutes.
*Add simple spices like red chilli powder, dhania-jeera powder, and turmeric.
*Stir and cook till the melons are tender.
*Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Enjoy this sweet and savoury sabzi with piping hot rotis.

“Of course, if a fruit sabzi is too adventurous for your taste buds, you can try eating the fruit as is or use it in your smoothies,” mentioned Ganeriwal.

Would you like to try?

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This summer, detox and boost your immunity with ayurvedic ‘Agni tea’

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With the temperatures rising, it becomes extremely important to make some seasonal changes in one’s diet and fitness routine to keep the summer heat at bay. While there are many ways to do so — consume liquids and eat foods that are light — you can also opt for suitable herbal remedies. Ayurvedic practitioner Niti Sheth recently suggested some benefits of regulating one’s digestive fire during the summer months by consuming certain detox drinks.

According to the practitioner, one needs to “cleanse” as per their body type, but she added that Ayurvedic detoxes are “no quick fixes” meant to help one lose weight. “They go much deeper to yield other benefits too,” she wrote on Instagram.

Here are the benefits of such detox drinks, as per Sheth.

*They help restore your digestion or agni (deepana)
*They help to get rid of unwanted and accumulated toxicity in the body – and this brings many side-benefits like increased energy, mental clarity, and weight loss
*They help balance and recalibrate your body on all of its different tissue levels

Sheth shared a simple Agni tea recipe from Dr Vasant Lad from The Ayurvedic Institute to restore the digestive forces of the body.

Ingredients

1l – Water
1 pinch – Cayenne pepper
½ -1 inch ginger root (chopped or minced)
1-2 tsp – Rock salt
2 tbsp – Jaggery/maple syrup

Method

Bring all of the above ingredients to a boil for 20 minutes.

Take off the heat and let it cool down for a few minutes. Once done, squeeze in juice from two limes (do no boil the lime juice).

Pour the tea into a thermos so it stays warm, and sip throughout the day.

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Does eating mangoes lead to weight gain?

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Fruits must be enjoyed guilt-free as they are extremely nutritious and a great way to keep hunger pangs at bay in a healthy way. But many people tend to stay away from summer fruits, especially mangoes, fearing weight gain. But should you avoid eating them?

Here’s what a nutritionist says.

According to Pooja Makhija, mangoes have an “impressive nutrition profile with vitamin A, vitamin C, copper and folate. It has just one per cent of fat”.

Other benefits include the breakdown and digestion of protein and fibre, which keeps the digestive tract working efficiently. Dietary fibre helps to lower the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes.

But does eating a mango everyday make you fat?

“The only way it could make you fat is if you are having it in the form of aamras, milkshakes, juices, ice cream, mango and cream, mango pies every day,” said Makhija.

So, how to ensure optimum nutrition?

*Ensure you are eating your fruit as a standalone snack and not with your large meals.
*Restrict yourself to one mango a day.
*Enjoy this juicy fruit, guilt-free daily

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Here’s why Gwyneth Paltrow ‘didn’t feel the need’ to bring up her coronavirus experience

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Gwyneth Paltrow had — earlier this year — revealed that she had COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic, some time in February 2020, and had even shared personal details of the experience in a blog post, mentioning how it caused her “fatigue” and “brain fog”.

Now, the 48-year-old actor has shared the real reason why she did not “feel the need to bring it up”. “I got it so early that there weren’t Covid tests available,” she was quoted as telling The Hollywood Reporter.

“We couldn’t even get tested for a long time, and by the time we were able to get antibody tests and all of that, there were much graver, more important things going on in the world. I didn’t really feel the need to bring it up, but it was interesting,” she said.

The actor, who played an important role in the film Contagion — that of ‘patient zero’ — also explained that she may have possibly caught the virus on a plane, while on a trip to Paris. Back then, she had posted this selfie on Instagram, of her in a mask (dated February 26, 2020), with the caption: “En route to Paris. Paranoid? Prudent? Panicked? Placid? Pandemic? Propaganda? Paltrow’s just going to go ahead and sleep with this thing on the plane. I’ve already been in this movie. Stay safe. Don’t shake hands. Wash hands frequently. 😷 (sic)”

As mentioned before, Paltrow had already detailed her experience in a post on her Goop website. The post featured some products that she claimed helped in her recovery, and may help others suffering with long Covid, too. They included: consuming keto and plant-based “but flexible” diet, and not consuming “sugar or alcohol”.

Stephen Powis, the National Medical Director of England’s NHS, had reacted to her advice, stating: “In the last few days, I see Gwyneth Paltrow is unfortunately suffering from the effects of Covid. We wish her well, but some of the solutions she’s recommending are really not the solutions we’d recommend”.

He added: “All influencers who use social media have a duty of responsibility and a duty of care around that.”

To this, the actor had responded: “We really are not to say at Goop that we have never made mistakes, because of course we have in the past, but we’re very much in integrity and we’re careful about what we say. We always feel like we understand why a lot of that [criticism] becomes clickbait for people.”

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International accolades for two Indian-origin South African women

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Two young Indian-origin women from South Africa’s Pretoria city, a 21-year-old beauty products entrepreneur and a 30-year-old architect, have won international accolades for their exemplary leadership this week.

Beauty products entrepreneur, Rabia Ghoor, received the Forbes Woman Africa ‘Young Achievers’ Award for 2021, while architect Sumayya Vally, was included in the 2021 Times100 list that acknowledges leaders who are shaping the future.

Ghoor’s award was announced during a virtual Forbes summit to celebrate African women leaders who are committed to economic and social transformation on the continent. Ghoor started ‘Swiitch Beauty’, her make-up and skincare online beauty store at just 14, dropping out of school two years later to concentrate full-time on the business, which was inspired after she spotted a gap for the African market.

American, European or Asian brands that are unavailable here in South Africa were constantly innovating and evolving, especially in the digital space, while South African brands lagged behind or just straight up didn’t exist. “I began researching product sourcing, formulation, e-commerce, packaging, manufacturing, design with the end goal in mind being to create a beauty brand that firstly, didn’t break the bank and secondly – made things that people would actually use in real life – things that did what they said they were going to do,” Ghoor said.

“After being announced as the winner, I received tonnes of emails for collaborations. That is exposure for my brand and myself. I think winning opened networking opportunities,” she added.

Vally became the youngest ever architect to make in the Times100 list for her role in the design of the pavilion for London’s Serpentine Galleries. She joins such internationally celebrated architects as Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid.

Vally established the company Counterspace five years ago in partnership with a group of friends while still lecturing at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg. She said the company was formed with the aim of developing a design language that acknowledges and celebrates the African continent.

“It is an absolute privilege to be on a list with so many artists, innovators and leaders who I look up to. It has deepened the sense of responsibility to our histories, our hybrid identities and our futures that I strive to embody in my work, and the sense of responsibility that I have to my communities,” Vally told the website Laudium Today in her hometown.

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Masaba Gupta pens note on ‘skin colour’, urges everyone to ‘keep chin up always’

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Fashion designer Masaba Gupta who is known to be bold and outspoken shared another snippet from her life. This time, she urged her fans to look beyond one’s skin colour and to be confident in their own skin, ‘no matter where they come from’. The designer who recently turned muse for fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee for Conde Nast Traveller’s wedding issue, took to Instagram to reaffirm how ‘amazing things will happen’.

She wrote, “What if I told you that no matter where you come from, the colour or your skin or the hook of your nose, or that scar from 7th grade, amazing things will happen to you. But you must keep your chin up. You must always keep your chin up. You must always look up,” she said.

An active Instagram user with young followers, Masaba has time and again shared the importance of not letting anyone or anything take control of your life.

Appreciating her make-up person Elton J Fernandez for the magazine photoshoot for making her ‘look like myself’, Masaba mentioned how she is “arrogant and unapologetic about my skin colour”. Taking to stories on Instagram, the Masaba Masaba protagonist wrote the appreciation post for the artist. She said, “I’m mostly scared of makeup artists outside of those I work with – because I’m very particular about looking like myself and not being whitewashed. I’m arrogant and unapologetic about my brown skin shining in its glory and I’m so glad you feel the same way.”

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Giving credits to her diversified lineage, Masaba mentioned how she often gets asked about who she is, or who she wants to be. “I never really have an answer. My grandfather was from Benaras, my mother is from Old Delhi. My great-grandmother from Lahore. And my father from the Caribbean. But I have my eyes on the world. Then how can I be just one thing?” the 32-year-old who is the daughter of actor Neena Gupta wrote.

She also shared photos of the people who are “my world. my blood”.

 

A little Masaba can be seen with her parents in one while other is a black and white image of her grandparents.

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De-stress with this breathing exercise; Malaika Arora shows how

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Breathing exercises are known to be great stress-busters that work their magic almost immediately. But one must be regular with practice as such exercises are known to be extremely good for one’s mental and also physical health.

Stressing on the importance of concentrating on one’s breathing, actor and yoga enthusiast Malaika Arora recently took to Instagram to share how to do anulom-vilom — a simple form of Pranayama.

“Sometimes, it is not all about moving the body but concentrating on your breathing. Your breathing affects your overall wellness and that is why it is important to perform breathing exercises,” she said.

Also called the alternate nostril breathing technique, anulom-vilom has a number of benefits like:

*Improves immune system
*Boosts memory
*Improves respiratory and cardiovascular health
*Regulates blood pressure
*Improves sleep and helps to de-stress

How to do it

*Sit cross-legged, rest your hands on your knees and close your eyes.
*Keep your right thumb on your right nostril and close it. Inhale deeply from your left nostril for four counts.
*Now close your left nostril with your right ring finger and hold the breath for two seconds. At this step, you are holding your breath with both your nostrils being closed.
*Now, take off your right thumb from your right nostril and exhale deeply through your right nostril.
*Now inhale from your right nostril for four counts while continuing to keep your ring finger on your left nostril and then, close both nostrils for two seconds and exhale deeply with your left nostril.
*Repeat this process for five minutes.
*Concentrate on your breathing while doing it.

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Study finds over 78 per cent respondents have faced violence in public places

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A study on bystander behaviour has revealed that 38.5 per cent of them didn’t intervene during violence in public spaces because they did not know what to do.

According to the study — Decoding Bystander Behaviour: Actions to Address Violence Against Women — 78.4 per cent of the respondents said that they had faced violence in public spaces.

The study by Breakthrough with support from Uber India and IKEA Foundation was conducted in Jharkhand (Hazaribagh district), Bihar (Gaya district), Haryana (Jhajjar district), Delhi, Maharashtra (Mumbai), Telangana (Hyderabad) and Kolkata, covering over 721 respondents through digital survey and 91 in-depth interviews.

Most participants, particularly women, identified violence as a broad term, consisting of physical, mental, verbal, and sexual abuse. The study also highlighted how patriarchal practices were culturally embedded in society and its correlation between deteriorating mental health and everyday misogyny and patriarchy.

The study found that 54.6 per cent of the respondents said that they have intervened in an incident of violence against women in a public space, while 55.3 per cent respondents observed the discomfort of woman/girl facing violence.

Around 67.7 per cent respondents said that their intervention resulted in the violence stopping.

People who intervened to stop the violence did so in a variety of ways which included swapping seats with the survivors/victims, giving one’s mobile number to connect later, taking the survivor for medical help. Respondents also said they helped by physically escorting someone home when she is being harassed.

The study also found 45.4 per cent of the respondents said that they have not intervened in an incident of violence against women.

Over 38 per cent respondents said that they did not intervene because they did not know what to do. Around 31 per cent of them said that they were worried about their own safety, and about 11.5 per cent of them felt that they would be dragged into police/legal matters if they intervened.

“For us, promoting positive bystander action to address violence against women has been a consistent focus area. Breakthrough’s intent in undertaking such campaigns is to move the general public from identifying violence against women and girls as a personal issue to identifying violence against women and girls as a shared community issue, a shared responsibility, requiring community action,” said Sohini Bhattacharya, President and CEO, Breakthrough.

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