Few months back i had shared how my hairfall got cured using Kottakkal aryavaidyasala products. I just want to post an update. I am back in south korea now. During the winter months my hair wash frequency was reduced to once a week but i continue to use nilibringadi oil 20 min before bath and used lukewarm water instead of hot water on hair. I discontinued the tablets and the rasayanam.
i noticed a lot of frays and was concerned for a while but it turned out to be baby hair! I sometimes put a bit of vitamin e from evon-400 capsules on my hairline and at the ends of my hair. Maybe that is helping too. The frayshave grown out about 3 inches now. My hair is noticeably thicker. Yay!
Keeping healthy after a binge :(
One big Indian wedding over the last 2 days saw me 2kg heavier than before. Quite disheartening for sure and useless thoughts of regret abound regarding that yummy paneer tikka masala and those servings of ice cream and delicious gulab jamuns that I gulped down. A soft admonishment from my brother and father about how my arms are plumping up weighed down my heart again.
However, this is neither the first nor the last occurrence of a binge followed by weight gain and regrets. It has happened to me before and I am certain it will happen again. I gain weight easily but to be honest, I do lose easily too (of course provided I work it off physically). So I figure that the regrets weigh me down more than the food because they leech out my enthusiasm to eat healthy and work out.
Finally, I gathered myself up and managed to do a 30 min dance workout which I prefer. And once I got going and sweaty, I felt so much better! I was all set to do my regular set of 40 hindu squats and eat a small and healthy dinner. Yay for me!
Which dance workout I prefer? This one:
Thanks Bips! Readers, if there is a dance workout you personally prefer, kindly share it with me via comment down here. Maybe I’ll find a couple of other favorites to help me get some variety.
Vitamin e
After reading a lot about how vitamin e does wonders for skin hair eyelashes eyebrows etc i finally ended up buying the capsules: evion 600mg.
On the first day i did not mix it with any other ingredient. Just pierce and get the gel and use it. I tried it on my eyebrows, eyelashes and laugh lines. Dabbed the remainder on undereyes, hairline. This was left overnight. I felt it did make a difference even with 1 use but am looking forward to the 2 weeks results.
On 2nd day i mixed it with a few drops of virgin coconut oil since i had great results with applying just this oil. Its easier to apply the sticky gel this way both to face and scalp. I think i will continue this routine.
Gift makeup for a simple indian girlfriend?
This is for all those guys who would love their simple indian girlfriend or wife to take their first step into some makeup. If you want to gift them something they would easily be comfortable with, i think these 2 items are your best bet:
Lakme CC cream (bronze)
Lakme 9 to 5 lipstick (coffee command)
Extra tip: order online instead of hunting for the exact shades 😎 I recommend Flipkart.
These are far better than one of those horrendous makeup kits with a million colours, believe me
Easy Healthy Biriyani Recipe
This is a recipe I use almost every weekend because it doesn’t use a lot of oil/fat and its yummy enough to eat many times over the weekend.
- 1 kg chicken
- 1 cup yoghurt or curd
- 1 or 2 green chilly (as per taste)
- 4-5 tsp biriyani masala
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1/2tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp black pepper powder
- 1 tablespoon ginger paste
- 1 tablespoon garlic paste
All the above ingredients are mixed together to form the marinated chicken. The marinated chicken must be refrigerated overnight or atleast for 3-4 hours. The chicken is tenderized and flavoured during this time. If you have access to mint and corriander leaves you must add them too. They give a lovely touch to the dish but I don’t get any in South Korean vegetable marts so I do without.
- 3 cups biriyani rice (i have used good quality raw rice too with good results)
This must be cooked al dente. Overcooking the rice will make the biriyani a mush so I prefer to cook it in my microwave. I first soak the rice for 20 minutes and then cook it in my borosil  bowl with 4-5 cups of water. It takes me about 30 min in my microwave. Don’t forget to add salt(about 1/2tsp per cup of rice), 1 tsp of oil and if you have whole spices, throw in some cloves, cardamom, bay leaf or cinnamon to flavour it.
- 2-3 large onions
- 1 tablespoon cashewnut
- 1 tablespoon raisins (seedless)
- 1 pinch kesar soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk (optional)
These form the garnish of the dish. The onions are typically deep fried. I slice them thin and stir fry them usually. Cashews and raisins are also deep fried usually, but I dry roast cashews in bulk in oven and raisins aren’t fried at all.
Now its just putting the dish together for cooking. I use a large pressure cooker to do the dum(steam) cooking of the biriyani. No traditional dough sealing for me. So, just grease the bottom and sides of the cooker, Set the chicken pieces in the bottom. Try to get the pieces to an even packed layer. Pour the marinade remaining on top, Put in half the fried onions, cashew and raisins in a layer. Add all the rice. Pour kesar milk over the rice if you are using it. Add the remaining onion, cashews and raisins, any mint and coriander leave that you have and close the lid without the whistle.
Cook on high flame for 10 minutes and low flame for 25 minutes and it is done.
Fresh popcorn at home
These make one of the yummiest and healthiest snack you can have when you are trying to eat healthy but you just don’t want to eat a fruit or a salad as a snack. Also, once you are used to the fresh ones, the store bought popcorn will never do for you, but that’s okay.
So, I make mine in a 2 litre pressure cooker which is present in any Indian home anywhere, but you can use any vessel with thick flat bottom and a lid with a steam vent. Generally, its bottom should be just wide enough to let all the corn to get the heat and oil evenly.
I pour in 2 tsp of oil and 1/4 tsp of salt and put the cooker over medium low flame. then I pour in 1/2 cup of corn kernels (regular cheap ones you get in the supermarket NOT “act 2 popcorn” or some such thing). Swish the kernels around so that they are coated with the oil and salt. Close the cooker lid without the whistle and listen. Once the popping sounds are about 5-6 seconds apart, it is done. Switch off flame, wait for 1 or 2 minutes for the popping to stop completely and open carefully. Dump the sweet smelling snack into a bowl and enjoy!!
Oil free papads
I am the biggest fan of Kerala papads or “pappadams”. I don’t think any other can compete with them ever. They are just crisp salty crunchy fragile perfections. However, they have to be deep fried and there is no way around that. They are also not good for an overweight person to crunch down on.
So to my rescue comes “Mother’s recipe” papads. These come in many types and flavors but I usually go for “punjabi masala papad” or “moong dal papad” and I just dry roast them in the microwave. It is easy, just spread them out in the microwave without overlapping and switch on. According to the power, and the quality, it may take different timings, so the practical way is just to watch them from the oven door. Once it all looks cooked with tiny bubbles all over (it may brown slightly), just switch it off noting the time. It may take as little as 30 seconds or 1 minute. So keep watching… and eat without guilt! 🙂
Weightloss and me
Current program start date: 5th Dec 2015
Starting weight: 68 kg
Medication: Himalaya Ayurslim 2 tablets twice a day after meals
Exercise: 30-40 Hindu squats
Diet: No diet really, just trying to eat more healthy food and less fried food
Current weight: 66.5 kg
Let me explain about myself:
I am quite lazy and I love food. I hate treadmills and long repetitive workouts. Ever since I passed out of college and started working, I have moved from my 55 kg approximately body to a body which ranges from 60-70 kg. Currently my weight is 66.5 kg. So with my height of 5’2″, I fall firmly in the overweight category and have been in it since 10 yrs now.
I lose weight pretty easily if I go for dance workouts but I got a knee cap injury which makes it risky to do them. Recently I started a routine which seems to be working for me, so I will share it here.
I eat normal food, diets never ever worked for me… I love my food very much. The max I can get myself to do is limit my fried food to say 1 fried pappad at lunch or microwave oven roasted pappads. And I don’t purchase junk food much. I might put them in the shopping cart but I walk around until I can give them hateful glances and put them back on the shelves before billing. I love mayo and cheese spreads, but i resist picking those up either and satisfy myself by buying cheese slices. I read somewhere that harder the cheese, less unhealthy it is and 1 cheese slice a day is not really unhealthy etc..
So since my delivery(I have a 2 yr old baby girl), I had been eating a bit more (possibly due to breastfeeding), though I did not put on weight. My baby constantly kept my weight between 61 and 62 kg. However the breastfeeding stopped few months back and my food habits did not change, so I gained weight. Also trips to India increase my binges and my weight increases by around 2 kg per fortnight i spend in India.
I will try to post weekly updates on my weight or changes in my regime.
On 03/01/2016, I achieved 65kg with this regime, and then a wedding happened. Now I am back to 67kg, but I wont give up. Am getting back on my routine now. Here is a post regarding that:
Hair fall cured!
I am a 31yr old mother of a 2 year old. Soon after delivery I had tremendous amount of harifall and it continued till few weeks back when I found a cure in ayurveda.
Kottakkal Nilibhringadi Keratailam
I went to one of their shops and consulted the doctor there. These are the tips she gave me:
- Do not pour warm/hot water on your hair. It will cause hairfall
- Whenever the body gets heated too much or stressed, hairfall can happen
- Nutritional deficiency can cause hairfall
I was definitely guilty of #1 since I had moved to South Korea and I had been using hot water to mitigate the cool temperature there. I do get stressed too(#2) and one of the simplest methods to mitigate it and bring relaxation is to pour(yes, pour) oil on the crown of your head and massage it into the scalp 10-20 minutes before showering. Another is to massage oil into the arch of your feet for few minutes before bath (be careful while walking around with oil under your feet). Both these simple remedies do help relax the body and promote restful sleep.
So the doctor asked me to use “Kottakkal Nilibhringadi Keratailam” everyday(or as often as possible) 20 minutes before bath on my scalp. She gave me 2 more products which are for solving any nutritional deficiencies I might have: Pravalabhasmam(200mg tablets) 1-0-1 and Brahmarasayanam (1 tsp daily).
One more important tip she added was to use a mild shampoo (I use Himalaya Baby Shampoo which she said is fine) and only use it diluted into a cup of water. She said this will let a light coating of oil remain in the hair/scalp which is good for me. I found my hair  glistening a bit too much with this tip, but I follow it unless there is a party I need my hair completely oil-free for.
I got results in 2-3 weeks and my hairfall has stopped except the normal few strands. I am very happy about this and I continue to use the oil hoping that my tresses will thicken to their earlier condition. My hair is ultra fine and wavy-curly, but I used to have enough hair strands to have a veritable bush.
I would also like to share that I am a believer of the curly girl method and prefer minimum chemicals/heat on my hair.
I hope this helps others like me. Their outlets are quite common in Kerala and also in Bangalore where I used to live before my shift to South Korea. I have stocked up on the Kottakkal products I like from India so I use them as possible even in South Korea.
Best dry skin remedy ever!
I have suffered from dry skin from early age. Due to a fascination towards ads and models, I ended up buying huge number of skin creams, lotions, oils from major brands. However, my condition was so bad that I never dared to wear even knee length skirts  or shorts which would expose my calves with scaly skin to curious stares. I am now 31 years old (and a mother to a 2 yr old) and only recently did I figure out a simple skin care routine to give me the smooth supple skin I always wanted.
Daily
I just keep a concoction of rose water and glycerin (60-40) in a spray bottle in my bathroom. After my bath (in which I usually avoid any soaps or harsh chemicals as much a possible) and cursory towel drying, I Â spray this on my skin and smooth it away. After a few seconds, I put on my clothes and exit.
Once a month
Whenever I need exfoliation, I mix up sugar and coconut oil and use it as a scrub during the bath.
Rarely
Another miraculous product I got results with is virgin coconut oil. This is a completely different product from the regular coconut oil. It is light and gets absorbed in skin or hair without causing acne and gives great results if applied overnight on face, cracked heels, hair or any place which needs nourishment, moisture or anti-fungal action.
I hope this helps someone else with dry skin. I saw results within 1 week of this appallingly easy regime. My husband for one is ultra happy, not only with my brand new soft skin, but also that the profusion of bottles and jars are now cleared from our house.
For a person who is patient and happy with a prolonged skin care regiment, I suppose this blog will be useless. I have never been one of those people though I do admire their results.
The Simple Indian Girl 