I believe nature has the power to heal through food and herbs, or by pulling us to enjoy the outdoors.
Food is more than just energy; many foods also contain nutrients that nourish and heal our bodies and brain of illness and disease. Nature and its remedies come in many different forms.
Choose what's good for us, and the planet too. Here's how.
Good Food, Healthy Planet
Your Kitchen Companion to Simple, Practical, Sustainable Cooking
How to Avoid Burnout
In this time of unpredictable chaos, I am offering two grounding practices that have helped me enormously over the last few years. As we continue to move forward and navigate through these times, I hope these practices will be helpful to you as well. This blog post is part of Puneeta's Staying Grounded Fortnightly-ish Newsletter. Edition May 26, 2025 How Religious are you? It may surprise you to learn that I am not a religious person. I was raised a Hindu, I still follow many Hindu practices, I feel at home in many temples, I check the box ‘Hindu’ when...
We need the boreal forest. And not just for wiping our bum.
The boreal forest covers 1.9 billion acres of forested lands. That’s 14% of earth’s land, of which 28% is in Canada. That's a lot of numbers and the covered area has changed a lot over the decades. Today, it starts just below the Arctic Circle, and spans nearly the entire Northern Hemisphere. With some breaks, it encircles the globe, like a crown. A green crown. Boreal forests occur in the more southern parts of the taiga ecoregion that spreads across the northern parts of the world. Artwork by Mark Baldwin-Smith, Wikipedia This area stores 30 to 40 percent of crucial land-based carbon,...
Facing wildfire smoke and poor air quality? Here’s what you can do
There are 400+ wildfires burning in Canada. Currently a third of them are in the eastern province of Quebec. If you live in North America (especially on the eastern side) you have experienced the orange sun and smoke, and haze too. It was so bad this week that around the country, school kids were instructed to stay indoors and avoid outdoor activities. (This article was written as a follow-up to the Maple + Marigold newsletter, June 10, 2023 edition. Sign up for your copy.) Here are some personal health tips and advice to maintain your wellbeing and to navigate this...
Top 10 Foods to Stay Cool This Summer
food can either have a heating effect on our bodies or the reverse, a cooling effect. Here is my Ayurveda-Inspired list of Top 10 cooling foods this summer. There is nothing more comforting than a big bowl of stew on a cold winter's night. It never fails to make me feel warm and cozy as the temperature drops. But with rising temps, the sun beating down and sweat trickling between the shoulder blades, a bowl of hot soup is probably the last thing on your mind. That's when you need something crisp and refreshing to cool the palate and the body....
15 Top Foods that Kids Will Actually Eat
Every year, around this time new food trends take over the headlines, and people share what we should be eating and looking for in grocery stores. But let's be real for a hot minute. "Will kids - yours and mine - eat ANY of the food that's on the trendy lists?" "Crickets?" No! "Motherless" Meat? No, thank you? Earlier this year I wrote about the Top 5 Big Food Trends of 2019. It was after that post when I received tons of questions that I started writing this tome. 2500 words of what started out as a simple list of top...
11 Tips For Eating out with Allergies: India edition
We live in Toronto and travel often especially to visit family and friends in India. This annual trip has been challenging to say the least since being diagnosed with food allergies and intolerances. Over time I have figured out ways to navigate the culinary wonders of Indian cuisine and keep my daughter's eczema at bay at the same time. Here are my tips for eating out with allergies in India. 30-40 % of the world suffers from allergies of varying degrees and types. In India, the awareness of allergies is still low but in recent years the number of diagnosed people...
7 food additives that may be harming our kids
It's confession time - candy is popular in my house. We seem to always have enough to power a small town of starved kids at any given moment. And none of this stash of candy is actually *bought* by us. It just seems to appear on the counter every weekend. Every so often and after every festive celebration like Easter, Halloween and Holi I look over the kids' candy haul and check for food additives. What are Food Additives Food companies add chemicals to our food to retain freshness, to make it look attractive and to enhance flavour or texture....
4 Travel Essentials That Make for A Comfortable Flight
Travelling with kids is a terrible experience. An easy-peasy 5-hour journey can transform into an all-day nightmare when you add in pee breaks and whining about, "I can't feel my legs. I think they are dying." And that's when you're on the road with the ability to stop and take a breather. What about long-haul flights? Travelling with kids can be a mess but flying in a tin can, breathing in recycled air and sharing an armrest with a total stranger is enough to make even well-adjusted adults go crazy? Kids are another matter altogether. Over the years of travel and...
5 Benefits of Cilantro
Spices and herbs have tremendous healing power, and our bodies already know this. It's the reason I spoon turmeric powder into my stew at that first sign of frost on the roof. And it's also the reason I often reach for cilantro. Certain spices and herbs not only add flavour to our meals but also positively influence our health. Real food, big flavour, and easy - that's why you're reading this, aren't you? What is Cilantro (Coriander)? A sweet-smelling herb, Cilantro often grows close to the ground. That's why it needs to be washed really well before use. The seeds and...
Food Allergies and Food Sensitivities in Kids Can Cause Itchy Skin
My daughter has itchy skin. As it turns out, food allergies and food sensitivities can trigger this. Over the years we have found that the food we eat has a big effect on her, her skin in particular. We manage this through identifying and eliminating certain foods that don’t suit her system. It’s a lot of trial and error but we have found a food elimination diet for kids can work. My daughter has itchy skin. Did I say that already? We have been to dermatologists, allergists, doctors, and pediatricians. She’s been on umpteen medicines and hydrocortisone creams. She’s beenwrapped...
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