I have written in the past about changes in the United States, driven by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. India, by the way, has had its own version of this for some time. Our Prime Minister recently reiterated his clarion call to reduce obesity. So should we have
Artificial sweeteners come in many forms. Aspartame, saccharine, sucralose, to name a few. So why are you having artificial sweeteners and is it good for you? Many people believe that reducing the consumption of “sugar” or “sugary” things is good for health. Of course, your intention was to reduce calories,
I am constantly surprised by the number of people I meet with gallbladder stones. So what are gallbladder stones and how can you prevent them? Your gallbladder is a small organ that stores bile to help digest fats. Depending on what you have eaten, your gallbladder will produce the bile
The world is full of people telling you what to do. It is almost as though the world is full of inept people with a handful of masters. But the best teachers are those who listen, not tell. Allow me to explain. Our method of teaching has evolved. From gurukuls
If you are among those who have high blood pressure, someone might have suggested having beetroot. So what is the connection between beetroot and blood pressure? Beetroot, among other foods such as spinach and quinoa, contains a compound known as trimethylglycine, also called betaine—a naturally occurring substance with several
Have you ever noticed how a whiff of your grandma’s curry or the sound of an old Bollywood track takes you right back to a specific moment? So what is going on? Memory driven by a stimulus is called context-dependent memory. Your brain’s way of tying memories to
It is shocking how many people walk around with a blocked nose. Thankfully, not a nose turned up, just a blocked one. But you have to ask, why is my nose blocked and what can I do? The passages of your respiratory tract respond to the environment. When they feel
A meta skill is a higher order skill that enables you to adapt and learn such that you can develop a host of other capacities. So how can you use this concept to build good health? Let us divide the human population into cohorts. Children, young adults, middle ages and
A cognitive bias is a “systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment.” We all suffer from biases. The biggest bias, perhaps, is that we are unbiased. I don’t know anyone who does not like to believe that they are completely free of biases. That they have
Set point is a defined limit set by your body. Think of it as a limit on your thermostat, at which point your body changes directions. So what does this mean in the context of weight? Let me take my example. My ideal weight is sixty kilograms. I would say
The pupils of your eyes are the small dark openings that regulate how much light enters. They also respond to your emotional and mental state. Typically, pupils measure between 2–4 millimeters in bright light, expanding to 4–8 mm in dimmer settings. But do you know that your pupils
The knowing-doing gap is a common phenomenon that illuminates the difference between understanding what one should do and doing it. We all know what to do more often than not. Yet, many of us struggle to translate insights into actionable steps. At some point we have to stop and ask