Nutrition is not just about eating it is about living a healthy life. It is only when you lead a healthy life, you can help those dependent on you live a healthy and a happy life.

Pavitra, 25 years, a resident of Bilkisganj village, district Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, is now a happy and healthy mother to a 4-month-old daughter. However, things were not the same and as smooth for Pavitra before. I got married when I was in my early twenties. I was very weak back then. My hemoglobin level was 6.8 and I was anemic, Pavitra recalls. Fatigue, joint pains, frequent complaints of headaches were a common phenomenon in her life, until she was introduced to Solidaridad a year and a half ago. Her body was so weak that she suffered a miscarriage and lost her first baby to undernutrition during the first trimester. Allthis was a result of a non-disciplined and non-healthy diet schedule. 

It was a nightmare. Because I was so weak, I lost my baby in the third month of my pregnancy itself. Doctors said it was difficult for me to carry a child because of my health condition. Miscarriage made me even worse, Pavitra said with tears in her eyes adding, I thought everything was over for me. Thousands of questions like whether I will be a mother again or not, what will happen if I am not able to bear a child, etc. began hammering me.

…How Soy Helped Pavitra Give Birth to a Healthy Baby Girl

 When Pavitra was introduced to Solidaridad, she had a ray of hope. The nutrition workers ofSolidaridad explained to her the importance of consuming Soy in routine life. To promote nutrition-oriented interventions creating awareness is a crucial step in actually changing the behavioral patterns and food routine. Our major goals include spreading awareness for the consumption of nutritious food especially to women and children and Solidaridad has been successfully contributing to this mission for a long time, Dr. Suresh Motwani, Programme Coordinator, said. When we met Pavitra, she always looked tired. She was underweighted, anemic and low on her HB. Her eating habits were not healthy. It was easy to convince her to change her diet and food routine, we closely monitored her progress, especially after she announced her second pregnancy. We were determined to keep both the mother and the child healthy. She followed her food routine with complete discipline, and we are happy that we brought a positive change in her life, Nutrition Programme In charge, Sandhya Choukiker said. Despite us being soy farmers, we never thought of consuming soy. We did not know the importance of it and were not aware of how to process soy for our routine use,

she said. Pavitra attended the culinary training programmes and learnt to make a variety of dishes from soy. We started using soy in our routine meals by adding 10% soy flour in wheat flour and making rotis out of it. I then started eating soy laddu, biscuits and nuts and gradually my health started improving. Incorporating soy in routine meals helped Pavitra regain her strength and energy. My hemoglobin level increased to 8.9, which in my case is not bad, she said. When I became pregnant for the second time, I realized the changes my body felt back then and now. I now have a healthy 4-month-old daughter. I consume soy, and she gets its nutrients through my feed, she said. I am thankful to Solidaridad for their constant efforts to counsel me and guide me to lead a happy and healthy life.