“Jaldi khao! Bus aa gayi he!”

These are the words of a typical Indian mother rushing her child in the morning. Little does she know that her child is rushing through the most important meal of the day; sometimes even missing it to catch the bus to school. As children, parents, employees and employers, we often wake up running late in the morning and substitute breakfast with just fruits, carbohydrate and fat filled foodstuff such as cereal, or “rotis” and a dry vegetable sabzi. In rural regions such as the 6,50,000 villages in India, it’s even worse with “chai” and a few biscuits being the staple. This habit is harmful. We neglect the needs of our bodies by doing this repetitively, day after day.

After a long-night’s rest and repair, our bodies’ need the replenishment which breakfast provides. A wholesome breakfast would include carbohydrates along with essential vitamins, minerals, proteins and fibres. Not only does it give you energy, but it helps our minds to power up again and it helps prevent some of the most common diseases in India such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and heart disease. The far reach of these diseases pan-India highlight not only the lack of a balanced breakfast in our country but of a general healthy diet as a whole. We see malnutrition, gout, kwashiorkor, obesity, scurvy and so much more. All the result of a poor diet.

No one should have to do this to themselves and face the consequences because they didn’t know what a proper diet was. This is why we at SHARP want everyone to know. We are organizing nutrition awareness programs across India and educating them about the importance of nutrition in our everyday live. We want to promote and support people to embody a healthier, more nutritious lifestyle, so come join us to make it all a reality!