Make the #First1000Days Healthy.

As it happens, I wasn't able to attend Nestlé's ‘Start Healthy, Stay Healthy’ event... recently organized to raise awareness about the importance of nutrition in the first 1000 days of a child’s life. Dr. Huma Fahim (a Medical Advisor at Nestlé) gave an informative presentation, which I read about and heard great things about, and the whole time all I could think about was the magic that my mother's homemade handmade butter had brought to my life, my mind, and my body overall... 

Going back to the early 80s, homemade butter was a part of life for my brothers and me. I am quite proud to say there are few people my age today who can claim they were brought up on mom's homemade anything. Mothers today don't really understand the value of nutrition, nor the concept of "healthy". I salute my mother, who was a full-time mom and school teacher till we got well into our teens. How she had time to make homemade butter, I will never know! 

As an child, a teen, and an adult I have always felt stronger mentally and physically compared to my peers. I strongly believe this is because of my mother's need to make sure we "start healthy", and I wish more parents would give their children a solid and healthy foundation to grow on. 

Scientists and Doctors change many statements annually... but one thing remains consistent: the effects and importance of the exposure we get and environment we experience from the time we are embryos to the time we start walking and talking, till about age two. The initial two years are the most scientifically amazing period for growth and development of a human being. Most of the brain develops by this time, which basically means, the blueprints for how we will grow ahead mentally and physically are written and locked by this time. 

As mothers, as bajis, phupos, and women, we must understand this idea and share it with other women and mothers. We need to understand that we owe this to our future generations - to give them a chance at being stronger, better, quicker. So tell your friends, and tell your maids about the importance of nutrition for their young kids. And the importance of nutrition for themselves when they are expecting a child. Do your part, remember the #First1000Days and ‘Start Healthy, Stay Healthy’.