Category: Life Style

Eating healthy= Respecting your body

September 7: Food: Healthy Snacks

Writer’s Quotes Wednesdays (a Photo or Writing Challenge)

We all own ourself this duty;

To keep our bodies healthy!

What we put in our bodies is what makes us; Strong and healthy or sick and weak. Who says a healthy diet has to be boring or not tasty.

Try food combinations that can give you the maximum advantage and yet are tasty and appetizing.

Eating white meat, especially fish is healthy, adopt this habit

Shun red meat and organ meat as it will make you sick

Add fresh and green vegetables to your diet in oodles

Grain and lentils are good to keep hunger at bay

Don’t use too much white food like flour-based pasta, sugar, or salt

Fresh fruits fulfill the requirement of vitamins and minerals

Staying healthy is very much a choice and so is choosing an unhealthy diet

It is your only body: look after it for there isn’t a replacement

Healthy eating is often associated with food that is considered not appetizing. But many healthy snacks are yummy too.

Nuts, and nut butter, but do make sure they don’t contain corn syrup.

Cheese and yogurt are rich in calcium and proteins and make great snacks.

Fresh fruit like apples, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries all are great healthy snacks.

Dried fruits like cranberries, figs, and peaches, or fruit chips like banana chips, and apple chips are good to eat and satisfy hunger too.

Cucumber or carrot sticks dipped in yogurt dressing are a savoy alternative when hungry.

Potatoes, boiled, mashed, or baked are perfectly healthy options too. Just hold the butter or sour cream.

Suffice to say, we can always make healthy eating choices, provided we have the will and knowledge to do so. So go on, treat your body to some good food.

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Written for;WQW #34: Eating Your Way to Good Health, hosted by Marsha

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In my free time- Saturday Symphony- August Edition

PONDEROUS THOUGHT Prompt(

This month, share a little of the things you do in your free time; or that time you force to be free.

Time

We race against the clock everyday to finish today, before tomorrow becomes another today.

I live a life free from responsibilities. Only the ones I volunteer for are entrusted to me. The rest of time is mine to spend or waste as I like, ‘cos I’ve earned this right reaching the age of sixty.

Cooking is not my passion

Nor is gardening or housework

I delight in doing laundry because it’s the easiest of the chores

Reading books I love is what I’d like to do all day

Or perhaps write for my blog and my blogging family

Listening to music as I read or write

Finding new songs to hum along

Watching television is a strict no-no

But perhaps a movie recommended by friends or family

Going to theater was something I loved to do

Enjoying the immersive experience with popcorn to go

But alas that activity is on hold for the moment

Waiting for things to improve health-wise

Playing with my grandkids is a blast

Provided it’s not too taxing for my injured foot

These are some of the ways I like to spend my time

What about you?

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In response to Saturday Symphony- In my free time, hosted by Jude

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Energy crisis

The image is from Pexels.com.

For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows a woman standing on a stone dock by a lake tossing morsels of food into the air. She’s surrounded on the dock, in the air, and on the water, by various birds and waterfowl going after the food.

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After the shock of seeing the amount of her latest electricity invoice wore off, Tammy decided that, in order to save energy going forward, she would find a boat and live on it.

She contacted many people who dealt in selling boats and also went online to research the pros and cons of boat living. Her research convinced her that it was a good decision. She put her house on market and started looking around for a nice boat to buy.

Today was her first day on her new boat. She took some bird food with her to celebrate with her new neighbors.

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Written for FFFC # 181, hosted by Fandango

Also included FSS # 59, hosted by Fandango

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I need to talk to you!

The theme for RXC#234 is 

Isolation, Communication, Conversations

You get the drift. Come up with wherever your thought process takes you.

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( I wrote this post in October’18 and it fits perfectly with this week’s theme, so I sharing it again with a few changes!)

How many times in a week/ month, does it happen? We are planning to talk to a loved one and then get caught up in something and either forget or postpone it for tomorrow!

Time seems to be the enemy of family ties! There is work, studies, or social commitments. It is like a race that we are constantly running and the time usually wins.

It’s usually okay with our immediate family where through constant reminders and struggle with schedules we manage to make that ballet practice or the little league match. Anniversaries and birthdays are often remembered with the help of phone reminders. And I did say”usually ” as some people have trouble with those too, due to their hectic schedules.

But with long-distance relationships we often flounder! Be it siblings, parents, grandparents, cousins….. and the list goes on. Childhood friends are often in this group of people that we “always mean to call but something came up”.

Another reason that hinders inter-family communication is the small misunderstandings that have occurred over some long forgotten and trivial issues. Lay aside these differences and you will find that the other side has either forgotten about it or has grown above it.

The wake-up call sometimes comes when for some inevitable reason it is too late to talk to our loved one! The regret that strikes at our hearts at such a time is usually very sharp. We are assailed by ” if only” scenarios. And then we do realize that calling someone doesn’t take such a big effort. As little as 5 spare minutes can connect us to a person with whom we haven’t spoken in a long ( ish) while.

So the time to make that call or write that email/ letter is now. Don’t remain silent. Don’t put it off. Don’t procrastinate.

hands coffee cup apple
Photo by Stokpic on Pexels.com

Connect and reap the reward of making your loved ones and yourself happy. Remember if you stay Silent, you may regret it later.

Written for RXC # 234, hosted by Reena

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Seven stones ( Pitho)

June 6, 2022, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that features stone-stacking. How does the activity fit into a story? Who is involved? What is the tone? Do the stones have special meaning? Go where the prompt leads!

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Pitho was a very popular game when I was growing up. Two teams of minimally two players each could play this outdoor game. All you needed was a tennis ball and seven flat stackable stones.

This game involved hitting and scattering the pile of stones with the ball and then trying to put it together again without getting out. It was a wonderful way to run, use excess energy and have lots of fun.

Seeing this photo took me back many decades. We kids were able to entertain ourselves without any gadgets or devices.

Beautiful, fun-filled youthful days!

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Word count; 99

Pitho, or seven stones was/is a very popular game of the Indian sub-continent.

In response to 99 Word story, hosted by Charli Mills of Carrot Ranch

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It’s clear now!

It’s very clear to me now that the energy I had even 5-6 years ago has dwindled with age. The recent shifting that we did has totally exhausted me out.

It wasn’t as if I was the only one doing the move as my daughter was fully involved too, but the stress of getting everything up and running gave me a very bad stress headache for the last two days.

Many pills later……

Now I can finally admit to myself that I’m neither invincible nor infallible. I should not presume that I would be able to;

A. Do it all in a day

B. Nothing will be lost/ misplaced

C. Smooth transactions occur only in movies or dreams.

Since I’ve attained these pearls of wisdom, I’m going to believe that all this has taught me a valuable lesson. Don’t volunteer when you don’t have to!

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Your prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “clear.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Written for Linda’s SoCS- Clear

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Going wild while decorating!

Something like what we used to have!

As a kid, I shared a room with my younger brother. When a room became available, I was given my separate room but never had the autonomy to make any changes to it.

My first experience of decorating my space was after I got married. I had full control over what I deemed right within the budget. I took the input from my husband but majority decisions were mine. And I went quite overboard with it.

It’s not that I spent a lot of money, but I the décor I chose was very elaborate and over the top. Three layers of curtains, pelmets and whatnots! I also bought a lot of decoration pieces, wall hangings, etc. it was quite a busy space.

I remember how excited I felt when someone visited and showed them proudly my interior decorations. I guess it was excusable as it was my first attempt at it.

It’s gradually that I have downsized my home to something more reasonable. Now I feel less is more and something elegant is better than something ostentatious.

I wish I had photos to share with you of the contrast from then to now.

This week’s prompt is: Decorating Your Space

Written for Throwback Thursday- Decorating your space, hosted by Lauren

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Hillside abode

Islamabad, where I am currently living is right next to Margalla hills. It’s one of the beautiful features of this city. There are a few restaurants on the top of the hills which provide the onlookers with a beautiful view of the city, specially at night.

Islamabad at night

The road up is pretty steep and has a high gradient so only a driver who is expert at hillside driving should attempt it. It takes around half an hour to go the 9-10 kilometers but the view is very much worth the drive. And of course there is food. One Resturant that is the oldest there serve all types of food, catering to all sorts of palates.

Anyone who visits Islamabad should visit these hills. And sample the food at various eateries here.

Sue W and GC are the hosts of Weekly Prompts

“It’s easier to go down a hill than up it, but the view is much better at the top.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher.

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Hillside from SueW and GC.

This week partner GC and I have chosen Hillside as our challenge for the weekend.

Collections that I collected!

Lauren and Maggie are the hosts of Throwback Thursday

This week’s prompt is: Collections – Take this prompt wherever it leads you.

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I remember collecting many things as a child but the nature of collection changed very often. Some days it was beads that I collected so that I could make small pieces of jewelry from them, and then I would switch over to paper dolls and their dresses. But the only permanent collection was of books.

I started with Enid Blyton and at one time I had all of her books available in the stores. It included old books shops, in fact these shops were the major source of my books.

As I grew, the titles of the books that I collected changed too. I fell in love with historical romances writing very cleverly by British author, Georgette Heyer. Then there was Barbra Cartland, Conan Doyal, Victor Canning, Alister MacLean, and many more. I could afford to buy their books second hand and had quite a big collection.

Over the years I added to this library and when my kids grew up, they added their own favorites. Until a few years ago, we had many bookcases filled with our beloved books. But when we moved 4- 5 years back to our latest homes, we decided to down-scale our library. Now we have two smallish book shelves and have given away many books.

The scarcity of space is one factor. Another is the ease of carrying and reading ebooks. Perhaps it’s the need of time to downsize personal possessions.

I can say that I’ve enjoyed my book collection for many years and I hope those books are still giving joy to someone out there.

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Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Preserving Food

Sue W and GC are the hosts of Weekly Prompts

“I feel blessed to have had such a background, where animals, food raising, harvesting and canning were a natural part of life.” – — Trina Paulus

Wednesday Challenge – Preserving Food From GC and SueW.

This week, my partner Susan and I invite you to write about PRESERVING FOOD.

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When I was growing up, my paternal grandmother was around a lot. She was a woman who never wasted anything, least of all food. So whatever food was in excess at home or cheaply available in the market, she would preserve it to be used later.

Her forte was jams and jellies. Apple, apricot, and guava were made into jams and distributed among the family. She was a wonderful cook and anything she made, tasted great. I would assist her as all of that chopping had to be done by hand. And she was obsessed with cleanliness so either she did it herself or I was allowed to do it. I remember my fingers getting discolored when I would cut apples.

I learned the process by watching her. She wasn’t a very literate woman so she followed her own recipes. And they always turned out so well. When tomatoes were cheap we would make tomato ketchup and at the beginning of summer, we would pickle green mangoes with limes and chilies in mustard oil. This pickle, known locally as “achar” is such a yummy treat that it makes the blandest of food heavenly.

When I was a young mom, I made lots of jams and jellies. Strawberry jam was the easiest and the yummiest one. Now I am either too lazy or too old to do it.

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