Gladful

Many months back, I underwent a routine paediatric check-up for one of my boys. I was taken aback when I found out that my little one’s protein intake was insufficient. In my opinion, I was giving him the best diet I could! The doctor exp...

Many months back, I underwent a routine paediatric check-up for one of my boys. I was taken aback when I found out that my little one’s protein intake was insufficient. In my opinion, I was giving him the best diet I could! The doctor explained how the typical Indian diet doesn’t have the amount of protein we need. Secondly, unlike fats, proteins can’t be stored in our bodies, so they need to be consumed every day! Having worked in a Food & Beverage MNC for almost 15 years, I was a bit shocked (and ashamed) that I was not even aware that a growing kid needs a minimum of 1 gram protein per kg a day! And a little more if they are active! I introduced many proteins rich foods in our diets but frankly keeping things consistent was tough. Also, since I am a vegetarian, the task was tougher. Pffffff!!!! I discussed this with my younger sibling Manu, who believes “the right way to solve a problem is to build a solution”. And right then, we got started. Manu is a young diabetic, has been living with pancreatitis, is a foodie at heart and the idea of Gladful appealed to him at a very personal level. Both of us started working towards making every calorie count! We did solid research, spoke to thousands of parents across India. We realized more than 93% of mothers did not know the functions of proteins. A lot of them believed that protein was essential but did not know how much was enough. Surprisingly, protein consumption was low across cities, economic strata and age groups. A recent NIN (National Institute of Nutrition) study revealed that more than 80% Indians and 73% of urban rich including kids were deficient in protein! These numbers were not limited to vegetarian families. Sadly, there are several myths surrounding protein, such as 2 bowls of dal are enough, protein makes you gain weight, it leads to digestive issues, proteins are only for bodybuilders and so on etc. The myths existed within educated circles too and frankly, it was baffling. For me personally, it was also a journey of self-reflection as I was also trying to bring change in the way we thought about food as a family. We started working with multiple nutritionists and chefs to design the right products, ingredients of which were sourced selectively to build foods that could be included in our diets daily. This process took many months because we wanted to ensure the right macros per serve. After endless product trials, many failures and thousands of research papers, we were happy with what we were building. All this while, we have been glad to have the support of our #Gladmoms and nutritionists.