Home-made Squash
Instead of stocking fizzy drinks and tetrapacks, make your own fruit squashes that you can drink any time. It’s healthier, and cheaper!
Nutritionist Rashmi Chakrapani offers two easy recipes. Store squashes in the refrigerator and serve when you have guests or when you experience summer thirst.
Lime Squash
• Squeeze the juice of 20 limes/lemons. Strain out seeds.
• Add sugar to water and boil until solution becomes thick.
• After it cools, add the lemon juice.
• Your squash is ready to use!
• Pour about one-fifth of a glass of squash and add water.
• You can change the proportion of squash to suit your taste.
• Prepare enough to last for a month.
Aam Panna
• Peel and chop raw mangoes.
• Cook well in a pressure cooker with little water.
• Mash and add sugar. Mix well.
• Use this squash to make a glass or jar of juice.
• Add more sugar if needed.
• Aam panna can be stored for 3-4 months in a refrigerator. This way you can make the most of the mango season!
Day for others
Magical water
• Do you know that water constitutes more than half your body weight?
• Water is needed by the blood-stream to carry oxygen to your body cells.
• It strengthens your immune and digestive systems.
• It helps cool your body, and is needed to produce sweat.
• Your body derives its water supply not just from the water you drink, but also from foods you eat, such as fruits and vegetables.
• When you are thirsty, water is the most refreshing drink. Your body needs more water when the weather is hot, and after hard exercise.
Teacher Talk
Making positive resolutions collectively is always the better option because it helps you to keep motivating each other. However pledging better food habits is a resolution people make, but most can’t keep.
So why not take a class pledge to minimise junk food intake and choose healthy alternatives instead?
You could organise a ‘health potluck’ so that all students can present different health foods.
First, list all healthy ingredients, and adopt health inducing food preparation practices. Next collect and discuss recipes to make healthy meals.
These plans should be shared with parents. With their help, each student or group can prepare one healthy and tasty dish to bring on the day of the health potluck.
Arrange for a big table (or put together many small ones). Get plates, spoons and cups for everyone.
Make sure all children and parents are aware of the health potluck well in advance.
Everyone can bring their preparation to class. Arrange them in a circle or row, and let each student help herself to small helpings of different dishes.
