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Saturday | 7 December 2024 | Epaper

WINDOWS TO MINDFUL EATING

Reviewed by Nidhi Adlakha

Published : Saturday, 25 November, 2023 at 12:00 AM  Count : 924
A Santhilakshmy
Santhilakshmy Ananthanarayanan's book aims at helping you get in tune with your body by reimagining your kitchen and what is on your plate

If you have been trying to develop a healthy relationship with food, and work on your dietary patterns, Windows to Mindful Eating is a great place to begin

'It provides triggers to relook at the food we eat, to see food as a complex web of relationships and not just a commodity� and connect the dots to clearly see the link between food, health, and state of being', reads the introductory chapter of the book authored by Santhilakshmy Ananthanarayanan. The former teacher who spent a decade at Prakriya Green Wisdom School, Bengaluru, moved on to Bhoomi College, "where I had a learning environment for sustainable living, alongside its education", she says, adding that she had the opportunity to study and work on holistic nutrition. "I associated with various organisations working on sustainability and nutrition. I created, conducted, and managed workshops on themes such as a conscious kitchen, and millets in your daily meals, alongside co-ordinating national and international conferences," says Santhilakshmy, who left Bhoomi in 2015 to kickstart Sankalpa.

"I created Sankalpa to pursue my passion in cooking, and engage with different schools, teachers, parents and children by taking them on a culinary journey to the source of good health through workshops and classroom sessions," adds the 60-year-old. Today, her organisation offers workshops such as 'Delicious Revolution' that comprises hands-on cooking sessions for children, documentary screenings; teacher-parent workshops; holistic cooking sessions for smaller groups like apartment complexes and offices; among others. Sessions that went on to become the foundation of Windows to Mindful Eating.

"By experiencing the interest and energy in children towards conscious eating, I felt that I needed to make a significant impression for change to happen. I thought the best way to do this was through a book," says Santhilakshmy, "A large part of the data has been collected and compiled from my learnings at Bhoomi, the workshops, and conferences I had the opportunities to participate in."

While the book's initial chapters address the importance of tuning into the body's natural rhythm, eating patterns, dairy alternatives, and reimagining your kitchen by understanding food labels, a significant chunk is dedicated to millets. For a beginner, or even someone who consumes millets on a daily basis, there is a lot to learn from the detailed chapters with easy-to-follow instructions.

For example, there are nine different grains commonly consumed by different communities that are labelled as millets. Did you know there are over 6,000 varieties of these nine millets? In the book, however, Santhilakshmy has elaborated on the seven most-common ones: foxtail, kodo, barnyard, finger, sorgum, pearl, and little millet. From their health benefits and market influences to social influences and farming advantages, the book has it all covered. "Millets are ancient grains which had taken a back seat during the Green Revolution wherein rice and wheat gained popularity. Millets are coarse grains with high fibre content, but the polished, smooth grains were accepted by people," she adds.

Now that they have been brought back to the limelight, Santhilakshmy says their immense health benefits is something she has witnessed first-hand. "I've realised I feel lighter when I eat millets, and end up eating a smaller quantity as compared to when I eat rice," she says, explaining that when she started consuming millets, her idea was to just create simple recipes to substitute rice.

"Hence, I started conducting workshops on millets in our daily meals. Making simple drinks with ragi, salads, and rice varieties, etc. and soon they became a part of my daily diet." These recipes now find their way in the book. Think little millet curd rice, kodo millet coconut rice, and even a millet tabbouleh. If you are looking to replicate everyday essentials such as dosa and idli batter, kozhukattai mix, ragi drink, and roti flour, you can learn how to make them with the supergrains too.

Courtesy: THE HINDU


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