#BeBoldForChange

Today is International Women’s day. The UN theme for 2017 is Empowering Women: Empowering Humanity #BeBoldForChange. What better way to celebrate it than by writing a blog post about breaking the stereotype messages we hear all the time?

I am bold and strong being a woman.

I am bold and fierce being a Senior Principal Consultant in the Security Consulting world, which is dominated by Men.

I am bold and loving and caring being a Mom, in spite of having missed a few award ceremonies and a few tennis lessons for my Daughter.

I am bold and a loving Wife, and still cry on the shoulders of my amazing Husband.

I am bold and still scared while driving at night, and call my Husband.

I am bold and an amazing cook, but still crave for a plate of food to be handed to me when I return from a long day at work. I enjoy every bite of it when handed to me by none other than a Man my Husband.

I am bold and a woman, and Mentor many men at work.

I am bold and a Hindu, and still believe in the Supreme Lord Krishna.

I am bold and a staunch devote of my beloved Guru who is again a Man.

I am bold and a confident woman, and speak at many events and conferences which is filled by Men.

I am bold and adventurous and travel alone for Work.

Who says that being a woman means doing the stereotypes? I have broken several barriers, and push my Daughter, my Mentees, woman I work with, woman I met in my everyday life to break those barriers, and still be a woman.

To quote from the blog I wrote for my Company with minor changes:

This International Women’s Day, based on the theme I want to challenge women around the world to be brave and bold. Be BRAVE and be BOLD, sign up for new challenges which you have never accomplished. Challenge yourself to break the stereotypes.

I will close this post by a famous quote from our 44^th President of the United States Barack Obama “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

 

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Kartivirarjuna Mantra – iPhone

Since I posted the mantra for recovering lost items in 2009, I have seen hundreds of comments on this post. You can read the post here:

• Prayer for Recovering Lost Items

Last Saturday, we went to Costco the wholesale shop near my house to buy a few items for my Daughter Sneha who was home for Thanksgiving holiday. Just like all other girls, Sneha was excited seeing all the clothes and items on sale. We went around for almost an hour stocking up the cart, and when we were almost ready to leave Sneha says ” Mom Dad where is my iPhone?”. We were like it is with you, and we hurriedly went through all the items in the cart and the phone was found nowhere. we looked in all of our coats, pockets and handbags. Being a Saturday, Costco was jam packed with people. we were very sure we will not find the phone.

We were so upset, and I told her “Sneha, let us recite our Kartivirarjuna Mantra”. We started reciting the mantra and went to the main entrance and started to trace back our steps. I told her, have you enabled Find my iPhone, can we test it? She took my iPhone, entered the required details, and it showed us the phone was in the store and we started walking towards the direction the phone started giving us. And there it was ringing in between 4 pairs of jeans. My Husband was close there, and he immediately got the phone.

So, our great Kartivirarjuna Mantra and Find my iPhone helped us find the phone. All is well that ends well.

Just wanted to share with you all this incident. We have to do our part and leave everything else to God to help us.

South Indian Vegetarian Low Carb Diet – Our Progress

It has been almost a month since we started the low carb diet. I wrote in great detail why I wanted to go on this diet. You can read all about it here:

• South Indian Low Carb Diet

We have continued the diet, have not eaten Rice or any rice items. No Upma, No Avalakki, No Dosa, No Idli or No Chapathi(just me). And No Akki Roti  or Sabudhana Khichadi which we love. 😉

Initially for a day or two, I used to have slight headache, now even that has gone away.

We threw away all the bread, Pizza dough, all the potatoes we had. We visited my Daughter for Mothers day, but didn’t visit any restaurant. I am surprised how we always combine any celebration with food or going to a fancy restaurant. I told my daughter instead I wanted to go hiking, and we went on a hike and walked almost 7 miles.

It has been easy doing this diet since even my Husband stopped eating any rice or rice products. I make or sometimes he himself makes 1 or 2 chapathis.

So, if you wish to do this diet, make sure you have a buddy who is willing to do this with you. You definitely need a support system.

I still make all the south Indian dishes, Rasam, Sambar, Vegetables, Khadi, Yogurt, Raitas, lots of Kosambaris.

Yesterday, since it was Pushya Nakshatra if it was my normal diet, I would have made a sweet dish. However, yesterday I made Nucchina Unde, Kosambari, Majjige Huli or Khadi. No sweet dish, instead recited Rayaru’s name a couple more times.

It has also been easy doing this diet since I have not traveled anywhere. Starting next week, I am going to travel again until almost end of July. I hope to continue doing this diet.

I have more energy, sleep better, and am happy losing weight. I have no portion sizes, I eat as much as I want. Since I am eating lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains, I feel full soon. I should warn that this diet is expensive, since you need to buy lots and lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and pulses.

The one fruit which we have not eaten is Banana. The one vegetable we have not eaten is Potato. Other than that, all fruits and vegetables can be consumed. We have not skipped breakfast even for a single day, and breakfast has been oats every single day.

Share with me your experiences.

P.S: If you really have chronic illness, please consult your Doctor.

South Indian Vegetarian Low Carb Diet – Red Kidney Beans Salad

Quick and easy Red Beans Salad with colorful red and yellow peppers. No Onion. You can eat it raw, but I like it cooked for a few minutes. The pepper still has its crunch.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 Can washed and rinsed Red Kidney beans
• 1/2 large red bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 Large yellow bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 large green bell pepper (optional)
• 2-3 green chillies
• 1 tsp oil, mustard seeds, Jeera and Hing
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pan, add oil and when hot mustard seeds, jeera and hing
2. Add bell peppers and green chillies
3. Fry until translucent
4. Once done, add red kidney beans and cook covered until soft
5. Add salt, cilantro if you wish and lemon juice.

 

South Indian Vegetarian Low Carb Diet – Day 4 Lunch

A simple day 4 lunch which includes lots of proteins and really colorful vegetables. Colorful, delicious and completely healthy. This was prepared on a Thursday, so no onion was included.

So, the plate has Red Kidney beans Salad with lots of colorful bell peppers, Carrot and Cucumber Kosambari, and Cucumber Raita.

You can find recipes for a variety of Kosambaris using both Channa Dal and Moong Dal here:

1. Channa Dal Kosambari
2. Carrot Kosambari
3. Cucumber Kosambari

You can find several recipes for Raita variations other than the plain cucumber ones here:

1. Badnekayi Mosaru Bajji or Roasted Eggplant Raita
2. Carrot and Tomato Raita

I will post the recipe for Red Kidney Beans Salad soon!

 

South Indian Vegetarian Low Carb Diet – Day 3 Lunch

A simple day 3 lunch which again includes lots of proteins and vegetables. Colorful, delicious and completely healthy white beans Salad. I ate this Salad with a cup of Cucumber Raita. My Husband had it with 2 Chapathis.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 Can washed and rinsed white beans
• 1 large onion chopped ( optional)
• 1 large red bell pepper chopped
• 2-3 green chillies
• 1 tsp oil, mustard seeds, Jeera and Hing
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pan, add oil and when hot mustard seeds, jeera and hing
2. Add onion and green chillies
3. Fry until translucent
4. Once done, add white beans and cook covered until soft
5. Add salt, cilantro if you wish and lemon juice.

 

South Indian Vegetarian Low Carb Diet – Breakfast2

It is very tough to be on a low carb diet and eat any Indian breakfast. Especially if you are working since you have no time to do all the grinding for any healthy options of Idli or Dosa where you can completely eliminate rice, use just dals.

It has been 2 and 1/2 weeks, yes it is 2 and 1/2 weeks since I started this low carb diet and I have lost close to 10 lbs. I feel really better, my clothes fit a little better, way more energized.

SO, everyday in the morning it is my Husband who makes a bowl of Oat meal. The first few days I added a tsp of honey, low fat milk, and slowly and steadily moved away and now not using either milk or honey.

Ingredients:

• Steel cut Oats
• 5 Walnuts
• 5 Dates
• Almond Milk
• 5-7 any other nuts you have
• Finely chopped fruits

Procedure:

1. Cook Oats as per instructions using 1/2 water and 1/2 milk or just Almond milk
2. Add chopped walnuts and dates
3. Eat immediately
4. Add any other nuts or raisins you have in hand
5. You can also add strawberries, blue berries, red berries, apples