My father-in-law always insists on getting fresh milk from the dairy every morning and evening. As per him once the milk is boiled and cooled its nutritive value goes down. I never paid heed to it and thought that it was just his accentuated sense of love for his grand-children and he just wanted to make that extra effort to go and get fresh milk morning and evening from the dairy farm. But after completing the NQ course by Tetrapack I understood that every subsequent boiling or heating depletes the heat sensitive vitamins and reduces milk’s nutritive value.

It is funny that most of us have had our primary education in science and have learnt the basic food chart in terms of various components of a balanced diet. Yet despite our education we are surrounded by numerous myths around food items and eating habits. I can bet that most of us at some point of time or the other have believed that fat in any form is bad. But that’s not true. Remember there were saturated fats and un-saturated fats? Well I now recall that unsaturated fats are actually important for absorption of essential nutrients and functioning of our brain and nerves. I also thought that carbohydrate rich diet at night results in higher fat deposits. This was the most common piece of advice I received while I was trying to lose my extra kilos post my first baby. In reality there is no scientific data or research to support this claim. And the rapid weight loss in the beginning of a diet where you stop or drastically reduce your carbohydrate intake is mostly due to loss of water which is actually not a sustained reduction.

While going through the free NQ certification coursework, I came across several facts that dispelled my general knowledge related to food and food habits.

I realized that as mothers and home-makers it is imperative that we free ourselves of any myths and incorrect information related to food

, lest we shall be prone to depriving ourselves and our families of a healthy diet.

To be frank, while I was taking the Nutrition Quotient Crash Course for Mothers, I found most of the content to be general knowledge. The coursework does not in anyway look like path breaking. Yet the reiteration of simple facts about the constituents of a balanced diet and suggested do’s and don’t to preserve their nutritive value comes as a welcome exposure to established knowledge. The Nutrition Quotient coursework has been designed by a team of experts who have a long standing experience in the field of diet and nutrition. The advisory panel of Nutrition Quotient constitutes of experts like Dr. Ritika Samaddar, Chief Dietician, Max Hospital and Dr. Jagdish Pai, Executive Director Protein Foods & Nutrition Development Association of India who are a chief guiding force on the nature of content that is curated to help people make sound health and food choices.

Another focal point of the NQ course work for mothers is Food Safety and prevention of food nutrition. Any packaged or non-packaged food item changes many hands before it enters our kitchens. While there are parameters to check the health of a packaged food product via the Date of Manufacturing, Expiry or Use by date, storage conditions etc., there are a lot of grey areas to ascertain food safety when it comes to non-packaged products. Even more ambiguous are the practices with regards to safety and preservation of food after it has arrived in our kitchens. One of the modules in the NQ course deals with this aspect of food safety.

I found the NQ Educational Programme to be an excellent initiative to bring the doctors, nutritionists, health professionals and common people especially mothers on the same platform on issues relating to Food Safety and Nutrition. I got my NQ Certificate by dedicating only 90 minutes to the plethora of facts about Balanced Diet and Safe Food Practices. In this age of over flowing digital information with no validation of numerous sources, the Nutrition Quotient by Tetra Pak is a highly recommended exercise for mothers to minimize the risks of choosing and consuming adulterated food items and unhealthy practices in our kitchens.

Here is my

NQ certificate

nq-certificate
Get yours now here

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